WEATHER QUETIONS

1 Radiation from the sun warms up the earth.
2 The equator is closer to the sun then the polar regions so it receives much more radiation from the sun.
3 Albedo: the proportion of the incident light or radiation that is reflected by a surface, typically that of a planet or moon. A black roof would heat up better then a snow covered mountain because black absorbs more heat than any other colour.
4 Lapse rate: the rate at which air temperature falls with increasing altitude.
5 Aspect: the positioning of a building or thing in a specified direction. The plants on a mountain facing south would grow better because there is more sun in the south.
6 The sun tilts as it rotates and when a region is tilted away it gets colder and becomes winter, then it is tilted forward and gets hotter so it becomes summer. When the earth is shifting from tilt to tilt fall and spring arrive.
7 Water is a slow conductor of heat and so it needs more energy then dry land in order for its temperature to increase.
8 The prairies are very far away from the water so the condensation levels are lower because the water needs to travel a longer distance so the prairies are very dry.
9 The warm water a temperature contrast along the edge of the Gulf stream often increases the intensity of cyclones.
10 The Fraser river is the water current that runs past B.C.
11 When extra Carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere it tarps the suns radiation on earth and to the rays stay in earths atmosphere making earth hotter and hotter.
12 Convection: the movement caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and therefore less dense material to rise and closer denser material to sink under the influence of gravity, which consistently results in the transfer of heat.
13 Wind is moving air and is caused by differences in air pressure within our atmosphere. Air under high pressure moves toward areas of low pressure. The greater the difference the greater the air flows.
14 Heat island refers to any area populated or not, which is consistently hotter then the surrounding area. The main cause of the urban heat island effect is from the modification of land surfaces, which use materials that effectively store short wave radiation.