Recommended Readings from Moran and Morgan (1997):
pages 97-99; 102-105.
Today's Lecture Objectives:
To identify the electromagnetic spectrum and to describe how the various
forms of electromagnetic radiation differ from one another.
To state in your own words the basic electromagnetic radiation laws describing
the amount and spectral character of the emitted 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 suitable 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, explaining the existence
of the diurnal and seasonal cycles and identifying the approximate dates
of the solstices, the equinoxes, perihelion and aphelion.
To sketch the key features of the solar illumination geometry (in terms
of solar altitude and daylight length) for various locations on earth at
the solstices and equinoxes.
To explain how solar altitude influences the intensity of solar radiation
received at the earth's surface.
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.
To explain the atmospheric effect ("greenhouse effect") and identify the
gases chiefly responsible for this effect.
To summarize the cause and possible effects of stratospheric ozone depletion.
Last revision 6 June 2000
Produced by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706
hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu