First of all, the atmosphere has 5 layers, but only 4 which with we are concerned. First, there is the trophosphere,which is the one closest to us, and is where weather occurs. Second, there is the stratosphere, the lower part (and the upper part of the trophosphere) in which temperature stabilizes, and about one-third of the way up the stratosphere there is the ozone layer. Third, there is the mesosphere, lastly, the thermosphere. As one goes down in altitude (closer towards us on Earth), the mass increases and so does water vapor. As one goes up in altitude, the amount of ozone increases. Here is a picture I found that is nearly if not completely identical to the one in our handout in class.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/atmosphere/q0090.shtml
Next: Global air circulation is affected by 3 main factors:
1) uneven heating of Earth’s surface by the sun mainly due to the Earth’s tilt on its axis. We demonstrated this in class by letting the “sun” (a heat lamp) shine on the “Earth” (a globe) with 3 thermometers on it: one at the equator, one at approximately the latitude of North Carolina, and one at the North Pole. All 3 thermometers started out at 70 degrees. After a few minutes, we went back and checked them and the one at the equator had become 80 degrees, the one at North Carolina had risen to 78 degrees, and the one at the North Pole remained at 70 degrees. Thus due to Earth’s tilt, the Earth is unevenly heated.
2) Rotation of Earth on its axis. Season is not caused by “distance from the Sun”, but by Earth’s place in rotation. Thus depending on the position of the Earth in its rotation, it will be facing a certain way from the Sun due to its rotation and this will cause change in the season.
3) Properties of air, water, and land.
This leads to “formation” (? Word choice?) of three types of “cells”: hadley cells, ferrel cells, and polar cells. Ferrel cells govern the temperate regions, Hadley cells govern the tropics, and the polar cells govern the poles.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/weather5.htm
Lastly, the Coriolis Effect. The sun more directly and intensely heats the equator as opposed to the poles, where the sun has to penetrate more atmosphere and the atmosphere in turn deflects or absorbs the sun’s energy. The poles thus have colder air, and the air descends towards the equator. The equator thus has warmer air, which rises towards the poles. Wind can also travel laterally (East and West) in addition to its North and South directions. Due to Earth’s rotation on its axis, wind is given its curved direction, and is named the Coriolis Effect. The way I think of it is when you can go to a carnival and you can go to those stands where you put the paint on a flat surface and then once they start spinning it really fast the paint forms a really cool circular design. The winds are doing their own thing, blowing North and South and East and West, and then when you throw in the Earth’s rotation, and the winds curve.
http://www.marine.tmd.go.th/marinemet_html/lect14.html (click on this link for a very thorough, clear explanation of the Coriolis Effect)
