HSmith_AlbedoLabForm
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Dec 6, 2023
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ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
Hannah Smith
OCNG 252
Albedo Lab
EXERCISE 1:
Latitudinal effect on the Incoming Radiation
TABLE 1
Latitude
Lux meter reading
0° (Solar Constant)
725
15°
432
30°
163
45°
57
60°
18
75°
2
90°
1
0° (Solar Constant)15°
30°
45°
60°
75°
90°
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Latitude
Lux
Answer the following questions:
A. Is the change in incoming solar radiation versus the change in latitude linear? Explain your answer.
B. The earth is closest to the sun during the northern hemisphere winter and farthest from the sun
during the northern hemisphere summer, yet we experience the warmest temperatures in summer
and coldest temperature in winter. Why is this the case? Explain your answer.
Page
1
ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
The reasoning that the warmest temperatures are in the summer and the coldest are in the winter is due
to the tilt of the earth’s axis. In the summer, the earth’s axis is tilted 23.5
toward the sun, meaning the
rays of the sun will hit much more of the earth. On the other hand, the earth’s axis is tilted 23.5
away
from the sun, therefore not as much of the suns’ rays are hitting the earth.
EXERCISE 2:
Albedo and Heat Capacity
TABLE 2
Time (minutes)
Temperature (°C)
Light Sand
Dark Sand
Water
0
23.6
23.6
23.6
H
e
a
t
l
i
g
h
t
o
n
5
25.2
27.5
24.4
10
26.8
30.9
25.2
15
28.3
33.7
26.0
20
29.9
36.1
26.8
H
e
a
t
l
i
g
h
t
o
f
f
25
29.1
34.6
26.5
30
28.4
33.1
26.2
35
27.6
31.6
25.9
40
26.9
30.2
25.6
Page
2
ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Time (minutes)
Temperature (•C)
Answer the following questions:
A. Compare your data for the dark sand and water. Which material heated up the fastest? Is this
what you expected? Explain your answer. (Hint: These two materials have a similar albedo.)
The dark sand heated up the quickest, having the highest temperatures of all 3 materials, whereas the water heated
up the slowest and had the least amount of temperature variation. This aligns with what I predicted as the dark
sand had a much lower specific heat capacity than water, leading it to heat up more quickly.
B. Compare your data for the dark sand and light sand. Which material heated up the fastest? Is
this what you expected? Explain your answer. (Hint: These two materials have a the same heat
capacity.)
The dark sand heated up faster than the light sand. While these two share the same specific heat capacities, the
difference in color is responsible for the varying temperatures between the two. Knowing that darker colors
absorb more light, therefore heat up faster, than light colors do, the results were aligned with what I expected.
C. Compare the slopes of your lines while the heat lamp is on versus after the lamp is turned off. Does
each respective material gain and lose heat at the same rate? Explain your answer.
Page
3
-Water
-Light Sand
-Dark Sand
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ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
D. If you continued to take measurements after the 40-minute mark, what would your data look like?
(Hint, project your cooling trends back to the starting temperature). Which material would cool to the
initial temperature the fastest? The slowest? What does this tell you about the heat capacity of each
material?
EXERCISE 3:
Factors contributing to sea level rise: thermal expansion
TABLE 3
Readings
0 min
5 min
10 min
Temperature (°C)
20.0
21.0
22.0
Water height in
straw (cm)
3.0
3.6
4.3
Water height
increase in straw
(cm)
Not
applicabl
e
0.6
0.7
Total Volume
Increase (cm
3
)
Not
applicabl
e
1.9
2.2
% Volume
Increase
Not
applicabl
e
1.3
1.5
A. How did the volume of water change as the temperature changed? I.e. did it increase, decrease, or
stay the same? Why did the water behave this way? Explain your answer
B. Is thermal expansion linear with increasing temperature? (Hint use Figure 4 and concepts learned in
the density lab). Explain your answer.
Page
4
ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
C. The average temperature of surface water is ~20°C. If the surface ocean were rapidly warmed to
60°C, how much would the volume change? (Hint: use Figure 4)
EXERCISE 4:
Factors contributing to sea level rise: melting sea ice versus continental ice
TABLE 4
Initial water depth
(cm)
Final water depth
(cm)
Sea level rise (cm)
[Final – Initial]
Sea Ice Beaker
4.1
4.1
0
Continental Ice
Beaker
4.1
4.5
0.4
Answer the following questions:
A. Which scenario had the greatest sea level rise: sea ice melting or continental ice melting? Is this what
you expected? Explain your answer.
B. Sea ice extent in the Arctic has been steadily decreasing in recent years, meaning that more sea ice is
melting in the summer. How does this affect sea level rise?
Page
5