Exam 2: Energy - Warming the Earth and the Atmosphere

​A vertical exchange of heat is called

If Earth's average surface temperature were to increase, the amount of radiation emitted from Earth's surface would ____________________, and the wavelength of peak emission would shift toward ____________________ wavelengths.​

​Solar radiation reaches Earth's surface as

​Heat is transferred in Earth's atmosphere by radiation.

The magnetosphere is​

​Sunlight that bounces off a surface is said to be ____ from the surface.

​In the discussion of Earth's annual energy balance, we saw that Earth absorbed approximately 51 units of solar energy but emitted 117 units of infrared energy. What prevents Earth from getting colder and colder?

​The atmospheric greenhouse effect is produced mainly by the absorption and re-emission of

​Earth's surface temperature often ____________________ on a calm night as a low cloud moves overhead.

​In the Northern Hemisphere, we call the green-yellow light show observed in the sky the ____________________; its counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is the ____________________.

A small increase in temperature results in a large ____________________ in the amount of radiation emitted because doubling the absolute temperature of an object ____________________ the maximum energy output by a factor of 16, or 24.

Solar winds are composed of

​What determines the type (wavelength) and amount of radiation that an object emits?

At night, low clouds weaken the atmospheric greenhouse effect.

​Suppose the Sun's surface temperature suddenly cools to 2000oC. Why would the sky appear more red than blue?

Each year, Earth's surface radiates away more energy than it receives from the Sun.

​Solar wind is composed of ____________________, or ____________________, travelling through space.

​How do red and blue light differ?

Temperature and heat describe the same characteristic of Earth's atmosphere.

In most of the world temperature is recorded in