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Review Questions: Earth's Radiation & Energy Balance

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Definitions

1. What is a calorie?
2. What is an energy flux?
3. What is radiant energy?
4. What is heat energy?
5. What is specific heat (heat capacity)?
6. What is sensible heat?
7. What is latent heat?
8. What is net radiation?
9. What is direct beam solar radiation?
10. What is diffuse solar radiation?
11. What is scattered solar radiation?
12. What is albedo?
13. What is an energy gradient?
14. What is radiation?
15. What is convection?
16. What is conduction?
17. What is sensible heat flux?
18. What is latent heat flux?
19. What is ground heat flux?

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Content

1. How does the temperature of a substance affect the intensity of radiation emitted by that substance?
2. How does the temperature of a substance affect the wavelength of radiation emitted by that substance?
3. How is solar radiation different from terrestrial radiation?
4. How does sensible heat flux affect temperature?
5. How does latent heat flux affect temperature?
6. What changes in the state of water result in heat energy being absorbed, and what changes in the state of water result in heat energy being released? How does this affect the temperature of objects in contact with water?
7. How does the heat capacity of a substance affect its temperature?
8. Does a substance with a high heat capacity warm up slowly or quickly compared to a substance with a low heat capacity?
9. How does the heat capacity of land compare to the heat capacity of water?
10. What two forms of insolation make up net shortwave radiation?
11. What atmospheric characteristics determine which form of insolation is dominant at any given place or point in time?
12. What can happen to shortwave radiation when it strikes the earth's surface?
13. How does albedo affect the shortwave portion of the earth's radiation balance?
14. What is the main characteristic that determines the albedo of a particular place?
15. What temperatures should places with high albedos have compared to places with low albedos assuming everything else about the places is the same?
16. What is the source of incoming shortwave radiation?
17. What is the source of outgoing shortwave radiation?
18. What is the source of incoming longwave radiation?
19. What is the source of outgoing longwave radiation?
20. What determines how much incoming shortwave radiation there is?
21. What determines how much outgoing shortwave radiation there is?
22. What determines how much incoming longwave radiation there is?
23. What determines how much outgoing longwave radiation there is?
24. What happens to substances that absorb radiation?
25. How is net radiation calculated?
26. How do the following vary geographically:
    1. albedo?
    2. incoming shortwave radiation?
    3. outgoing shortwave radiation?
    4. incoming longwave radiation?
    5. outgoing longwave radiation?
    6. net radiation
27. How do the following vary seasonally:
    1. albedo?
    2. incoming shortwave radiation?
    3. outgoing shortwave radiation?
    4. incoming longwave radiation?
    5. outgoing longwave radiation?
    6. net radiation
28. Do the items listed in question 27 vary seasonally in all places or only some places? Why?
29. Does the water vapor content of the atmosphere affect the longwave or the shortwave portion of the earth's radiation balance? Why?
30. Does the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere affect the longwave or the shortwave portion of the earth's radiation balance? Why?
31. Does the particulate content of the atmosphere affect the longwave or the shortwave portion of the earth's radiation balance? Why?
32. How does net radiation affect temperature?
33. In what types of substances is heat energy primarily transferred via conduction, and in what types of substances is heat energy primarily transferred via convection?
34. What determines whether available energy is utilized for sensible heat flux or latent heat flux?
35. How does the amount of energy used for sensible and latent heat flux affect the temperature of a place?