ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS (continued):

RADIATION

To describe how the various forms of electromagnetic radiation differ from one another.
To state in your own words the basic laws describing electromagnetic radiation.
To distinguish between solar radiation and the radiation emitted by the earth-atmosphere system.
To distinguish between scattering, reflection, absorption and transmission.
To explain how the radiant flux emitted from a point source diminishes with the inverse square of the distance and evaluate the variation of flux for various planets at known distances from the sun.
To give a definition for the solar constant and provide a currently accepted value of the solar constant.
To describe the basic motions of the earth (in space).
To explain the existence of the seasonal cycle and the changes in day length (and the daily march of the solar altitude angles) that accompany the march of the seasons.
To list the basic characteristics of the solstices and the equinoxes, identifying the dates and the key features of the solar illumination geometry (subsolar point and the regions of 24 hour darkness and sunlight) at the solstices and equinoxes.
To define albedo, explain its significance and list the factors that cause variations in the albedo of an object.
To explain why the atmosphere is heated chiefly by terrestrial radiation.

Additional information can be found on the Internet through the following sites:

Last revision 16 September 1997

Produced by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706

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