Upload
bertha-bridges
View
217
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Tools: Digital Technology
• Remote Sensing – Data collected from aerial photography and satellite imagery.
• GPS – Global Positioning System – System of satellites & receivers to plot location.
• GIS – Geographic Information System - System to manipulate & display spatial data.
Remote Sensing
• Aerial Photography
Remote Sensing
• Geostationary Satellites
– GOES (Weather)
• Global Positioning System– 24 satellites orbit earth every 12 hours
– Time of signal to receiver gives distance
– Triangulation gives location
• Geographic Information Systems– System for storing, analyzing and manipulating
spatially referenced data– Data consists of layers of one variable such as:
vegetation, landforms, or soils– Layers can be overlaid/combined for analysis or display– Applications include: resource management, planning,
hazard assessment, etc.
GEOG 1112: Weather and Climate
Earth-Sun Geometry
Seasons
Our Place in Space
Speed of Light• 299,792 km/s (186,282 m/s)• Milky Way Galaxy – 100,000 ly across• Our Solar System – 11 ly across• Moon is 1.28 light seconds away• Gravity – mutual attracting force exerted by
the mass of an object on all other objects
The Sun
• About 4.6 Billion Years Old
• Average Star, Nothing Special
• 100 times diameter of Earth
• Powers most natural processes on Earth
• 8.3 min. for Sun’s energy to reach Earth
• Strong Magnetic Fields/Sunspots
Solar Activity and Solar Wind• Solar wind = clouds of electrically charged
particles• Sunspots are caused by magnetic storms. These
cause changes in the solar output• Sunspots have activity cycles
Auroras
Earth-Sun Relationship
• Most Physical Processes on Earth powered by incoming radiation from Sun
• Earth-Sun Relationship Complex – Depends on:–Latitude–Position of Sun in Sky–Time of Year–Earth’s Rotation/Axial Tilt
Shape of the Earth• Insolation
• Variation in Sun Angle by Latitude
• Oblate Spheroid
• Subsolar Point
Atmospheric Beam Depletion
Solar radiation is
diminished relative to the
amount of atmosphere
the radiation passes
through.
High solar angles
see little reduction in
intensity as the path
from the top of the
atmosphere to the
surface is short.
Earth’s Orbit Around the Sun
• Plane of the Ecliptic
• One Revolution = 365.24 Days
• Elliptical Orbit
• Perihelion/Aphelion
• Seasons not due to distance from Sun
Dimensions and Distances
• Earth’s orbit– Average distance from Earth to the Sun is
150,000,000 km (93,000,000 mi)– Perihelion – closest at January 3• 147,255,000 km (91,500,000 mi)
– Aphelion – farthest at July 4• 152,083,000 km (94,500,000 mi)
– Takes energy 8 min 20 sec to reach Earth– Plane of Earth’s orbit is the plane of the
ecliptic