- Why the earth has seasons?
- Why does the southern hemisphere receive slightly more solar radiation
than the northern hemisphere?
- Explain differences in the tilt of the Earth, the degree of
eccentricity of the Earth's orbit about the sun, and the time of the year
that the Earth is closest to the sun. The orbital images shown in the
lecture can be viewed
here.
- Composition of the atmosphere. Selective absorbers.
- What are two most abundant gases in the atmosphere?
- What are trace gases?
- What are the
greenhouse gases?
- What is the most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere?
- Where is most of ozone located?
- Which gases do not occur naturally and are anthropogenic compounds
that were virtually non-existent before 1950?
- Greenhouse effect -- The composition of the atmosphere has positive
enhancement effects on the heating of the Earth's surface and keeping the
earth's mean surface temperature higher than it otherwise would be. This
effect is called the planetary "greenhouse" effect or
atmospheric greenhouse effect. Note that the Earth's atmosphere is
different from the glass of a florist's greenhouse in terms of their roles
in keeping the air warm.
- Absorption, scattering and reflectance (albedo). What do they mean?
- Radiation budget.
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