ENV 305 Milestone Two
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Course
305
Subject
Geography
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
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4
Uploaded by DukeHummingbirdMaster1028
1
II.
The Earth’s Climate System
First, I want to acknowledge that climate and weather are two different things. Climate refers
to a long-term pattern of weather. Weather itself will and can change from each minute, hour,
day, month, and year (All About Climate, n.d.). Our climate system has five major components
to it. There is the atmosphere, this is the air that is all around us on Earth, the hydrosphere, is all
the water on Earth, the cryosphere which is the ice on Earth, the land surface, and the biosphere.
The atmosphere made of gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. The hydrosphere
refers to all of the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds. Finally, the biosphere is all of life on
Earth.
The sun and the orbital cycles of earth are vital in the climate of the Earth. Much of the
energy from the sun is received here on Earth. The sun sends/forward heat down to the Earth. It
is then absorbed in. Once absorbed it heats the Earth up. Earth rotates around the sun. During the
rotation, Earth can be closer than usual to the sun than other times. Depending on where the
Earth sits during rotation, this is what produces our seasons. We get temperatures to change
depending on how close Earth is to the sun and how much energy is absorbed from the sun.
Orbital cycles also cause wind currents.
Energy is received through radiation from the sun. The radiation that comes from the sun is
considered what is called a shortwave. The sun sends radiation and energy to the Earth. The
energy that is produced is cycled, once its cycled its then recycled to produce more energy. First
the energy is released from the sun, then it pass through the Earth's atmosphere before it can
reach the surface of the Earth. Not all of the energy reach Earth's surface, because it’s reflected
off the clouds. The energy that is released from the surface of the Earth and then sent towards the
atmosphere, is then reflected off the clouds and back towards the surface. So basically, the sun
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shines down on Earth and reflects off things like clouds and open space. Once that happens it
drops down and the Earth absorbs it up.
While climate change is directly driven by the sun and our planet’s greenhouse gases,
radiative forcing also plays a role in energy absorption. This measurement shows the net
adjustment in our planet’s balance of energy, when influenced by a factor such as the sun
(Kitchen 2014). When we talk about the human effect, we refer to fossil fuel and coal burning
which releases CO2 and particles into the atmosphere. Controlled burning and deforestation of
our forest areas, along with aerosols and volcanic eruptions are causing changes in our global
temperature.
III.
Climactic Impact from Atmospheric Energy and Geologic Events
Advection is how energy is transported horizontally through the atmosphere. It can be seen
through the constant movement of the planet's oceans and atmosphere causing climate cycles and
global weather patterns (Kitchen,2014). Thermohaline circulation and surface winds drive ocean
current and with the exchange of energy and mass generates major weather events such as
hurricanes (Kitchen, 2014).
Waters flow in all directions always which is referred to as ocean circulation. The ocean also
absorbs energy from the sun due to the sun sending energy down. The ocean also gets energy
from the atmosphere in addition to all this circulation. The Earth warms when energy becomes
trapped, the process looks the same as when energy is trapped in a greenhouse. Oceans are
excellent at absorbing this energy however, the ocean gets warmer because of absorbing more
heat energy.
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Climate change is impacted by volcanoes. Massive volumes of volcanic gas, ash, and
aerosol droplets are released during eruptions. Volcanic carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, has
the potential to encourage global warming, sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases can cause
global cooling (Volcanoes Can Affect Climate | U.S. Geological Survey, n.d.). The conversion of
sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid, which condenses quickly in the stratosphere to form fine sulfate
aerosols, has the greatest climatic effects from volcanic injections into the stratosphere. The
Earth's lower atmosphere, or troposphere, cools because of the aerosols' increased ability to
reflect solar radiation back into space (Volcanoes Can Affect Climate | U.S. Geological Survey,
n.d.).
ENSO (El Niño southern oscillation) is the part of the climate oscillation. An example of
short period climate oscillation can be seen with El Niño and La Niña. The southern oscillation
of El Niño causes normal patterns of trade winds to weaken or change direction thus bringing
warm water to the surface and putting a stop to upwelling (Kitchen, 2014). When this happens
some of the regions receive greater than average rainfall and droughts occur in others. La Niña
on the other hand, follows the movement of a traditional year pushing trade wins from east to
west but in a more extreme fashion (Kitchen, 2014). The North Atlantic oscillation affecting the
climate of Europe (Kitchen, 2014) is a small oscillation.
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Citations
Paleontological Research Institution. (2021, August 25). Are orbital changes causing global
warming? — Earth@Home. Earth@Home.
https://earthathome.org/quick-faqs/are-orbital-
changes-causing-global-warming/
All about climate. (n.d.).
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/all-about-climate/
Atmospheric Circulation | Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.).
https://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-
environment/atmosphere-and-weather/meteorological-instruments/atmospheric-circulation
Volcanoes can affect climate | U.S. geological survey. (n.d.).
https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/volcanoes-can-affect-climate