Submitted by: Submitted by dartflight64
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Category: Science and Technology
Date Submitted: 11/12/2011 08:10 AM
Weather and Climate
Weather – refers to the state of the atmosphere at a given place and time.
Climate – “average weather” – the sum of all statistical weather information that helps describe a place or region.
Weather and Climate
Atmosphere
Earth is surrounded by a life-giving gaseous envelope called the atmosphere;
The atmosphere is thin and tenuous. It not only provides the air that we breathe but also protects us from the Sun’s intense heat and dangerous radiation.
The energy exchanges that continually occur between the atmosphere and Earth’s surface and between the atmosphere and space produce the effects we call weather and climate.
Earth as a System
A System is a group of interacting, or interdependent, parts that form a complex whole.
The Earth system is powered by energy from two sources.
The sun drives external processes that occur in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and at Earth’s surface. Weather and climate, ocean circulation, and erosion processes are driven by energy from the Sun.
Earth’s interior is the second source of energy. Heat remaining from when our planet formed, and heat that is continuously generated by radioactive decay, powers the internal processes that produce volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountains.
Humans are part of the Earth system, a system in which the living and nonliving components are entwined and interconnected. Therefore, our actions produce changes in all of the other parts.
When we burn gasoline and coal, build seawalls along the shoreline, dispose of our wastes, and clear the land, we cause other parts of the system to respond, often in unforeseen ways.
Resources
Resources are commonly divided into two broad categories.
Some are classified as renewable, which means that they can be replenished over relatively short time spans.
Common examples are plants and animals for food, natural fibers for clothing, and forest products for lumber and paper. Energy from...