Atmospheric Water

Global energy balance

Atmospheric circulation
Atmospheric water vapor

Reading: Sections 3.1 and 3.2 for today,

3.3 and 3.4 for next Tues
Also, please read article by Morel from
Gewex News, Vol. 17 No. 4, Nov 2007
 Atmospheric Water
Global energy balance
Atmospheric circulation
Atmospheric water vapor
 Radiation
Two basic laws
Stefan-Boltzman Law
R = emitted radiation
R T 4

(W/m2) All bodies emit radiation

= emissivity (0-1)
= 5.67x10-8W/m2-K4
T = absolute
3
temperature (K)
2.90 *10
Wiens Law
= wavelength of
emitted radiation (m)
T
Hot bodies (sun) emit short wave radiation
Cool bodies (earth) emit long wave radiation
 Net Radiation, Rn
Rn Ri (1 ) Re
Ri Incoming Radiation

Ro =Ri Reflected radiation

Re

albedo (0 1)

Rn Net Radiation

Average value of Rn over the earth and

over the year is 105 W/m2
 Net Radiation, Rn
Rn H LE G
H Sensible Heat LE Evaporation

G Ground Heat Flux

Rn Net Radiation

Average value of Rn over the earth and

over the year is 105 W/m2
 Energy Balance of Earth
20 70
100
6
6
26
4

38
15

19

21
51 Sensible heat flux 7
Latent heat flux 23
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/energy/radiation_balance.html
 Diurnal variation
Diurnal Variation
Downward shortwave
of fluxes,

July 2003
San Marcos
Upward Longwave Basin

Downward longwave
Upward shortwave

Ground

Fluxes in W/m2
Latent

Sensible
Energy Balance in the San Marcos
Basin from the NARR (July 2003)
Note the very large amount of longwave radiation exchanged between land and
atmosphere

Average fluxes over the day

495

61
72 112
3

310
415

Net Shortwave = 310 72 = 238; Net Longwave = 415 495 = - 80

Increasing carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere (from
about 300 ppm in
preindustrial times)

We are burning fossil

carbon (oil, coal) at
100,000 times the rate it
was laid down in geologic
time
Absorption of energy by CO2
 Atmospheric Water
Global energy balance
Atmospheric circulation
Atmospheric water vapor
 Heating of earth surface
Heating of earth
surface is uneven
Solar radiation strikes
perpendicularly near the
equator (270 W/m2)
Solar radiation strikes at
an oblique angle near
the poles (90 W/m2)
Emitted radiation is Amount of energy
transferred from equator to
more uniform than the poles is approximately 4
incoming radiation x 109 MW
 Hadley circulation

Atmosphere (and
oceans) serve to transmit
heat energy from the
equator to the poles

Warm air rises, cool air descends creating two huge

convective cells.
 Conservation of Angular
Momentum (Coriolis Force)
No external forces on air, so mV1r1 = mV2r2

mV1r1
r1 < r2 so V1 > V2

mV2r2

Intertropical Convergence Zone

V1

Earth r1
rotation r2
Earth rotation V2

Looking down from North

Pole, earth is rotating
Near equator, air starts to fall behind the earth counterclockwise
Atmospheric circulation
Circulation cells
Polar Cell
1. Hadley cell
2. Ferrel Cell
Ferrel Cell 3. Polar cell

Winds
1. Tropical
Easterlies/Trades
2. Westerlies
3. Polar easterlies
Latitudes
1. Intertropical
convergence zone
(ITCZ)/Doldrums
2. Horse latitudes
3. Subpolar low
4. Polar high
Effect of land mass distribution
Uneven distribution of land and ocean, coupled with different
thermal properties creates spatial variation in atmospheric
circulation

A) Idealized winds generated by pressure gradient and Coriolis

Force. B) Actual wind patterns owing to land mass distribution
 Shifting in Intertropical
Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
Owing to the tilt of the
Earth's axis in orbit, the
ITCZ shifts north and
south.

Southward shift in
January

Creates wet Summers

(Monsoons) and dry
winters, especially in India
and SE Asia Northward shift in July
 ITCZ movement

http://iri.ldeo.columbia.edu/%7Ebgordon/ITCZ.html
 Atmospheric Water
Global energy balance
Atmospheric circulation
Atmospheric water vapor
Structure of atmosphere
 Atmospheric water
Atmospheric water exists
Mostly as gas or water vapor
Liquid in rainfall and water droplets in clouds
Solid in snowfall and in hail storms
Accounts for less than 1/100,000 part of
total water, but plays a major role in the
hydrologic cycle
 Water vapor
Suppose we have an elementary volume of atmosphere dV and
we want quantify how much water vapor it contains

mv
Water vapor density v dV
dV
ma ma = mass of moist air
Air density a mv = mass of water vapor
dV

Atmospheric gases:
Nitrogen 78.1%
Oxygen 20.9%
Other gases ~ 1%
http://www.bambooweb.com/articles/e/a/Earth's_atmosphere.html
 Specific Humidity, qv
Specific humidity
measures the mass of
v
water vapor per unit
mass of moist air qv
It is dimensionless a
 Vapor pressure, e
Vapor pressure, e, is the
pressure that water vapor
exerts on a surface
Air pressure, p, is the
total pressure that air
makes on a surface
Ideal gas law relates
pressure to absolute
temperature T, Rv is the
e v RvT
gas constant for water
vapor
e
0.622 is ratio of mol. wt.
of water vapor to avg mol. qv 0.622
wt. of dry air p
Daltons Law of Partial Pressures
John Dalton studied the effect of gases in a
mixture. He observed that the Total Pressure of
a gas mixture was the sum of the Partial
Pressure of each gas.

P total = P1 + P2 + P3 + .......Pn

The Partial Pressure is defined as the pressure

of a single gas in the mixture as if that gas
alone occupied the container. In other words,
Dalton maintained that since there was an
enormous amount of space between the gas
molecules within the mixture that the gas
molecules did not have any influence on the
motion of other gas molecules, therefore the
pressure of a gas sample would be the same
whether it was the only gas in the container or if
it were among other gases.
http://members.aol.com/profchm/dalton.html
 Avogadros law
Equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and
pressure contain the same number of molecules
regardless of their chemical nature and physical
properties. This number (Avogadro's number) is
6.023 X 1023 in 22.41 L for all gases.
Dry air ( z = x+y Moist air (x dry and y water
molecules) vapor)
Dry
air
Water
vapor

d = (x+y) * Md/Volume m = (x* Md + y*Mv)/Volume

m < d, which means moist air is lighter

than dry air!
Saturation vapor pressure, es
Saturation vapor pressure occurs when air is holding all the water vapor
that it can at a given air temperature

17.27T
es 611 exp
237.3 T

Vapor pressure is measured in Pascals (Pa), where 1 Pa = 1 N/m2

1 kPa = 1000 Pa
 Relative humidity, Rh

es

e
Rh Relative humidity measures the percent
of the saturation water content of the air
es that it currently holds (0 100%)
Dewpoint Temperature, Td

Td T

Dewpoint temperature is the air temperature

at which the air would be saturated with its current
vapor content
 Water vapor in an air column
We have three equations 2 Column
describing column:
Hydrostatic air pressure,
Element, dz
dp/dz = -ag
Lapse rate of temperature,
dT/dz = -
Ideal gas law, p = aRaT
Combine them and 1
integrate over column to
g / Ra
get pressure variation T2
elevation p2 p1
T1
 Precipitable Water
In an element dz, the 2 Column
mass of water vapor
is dmp
Element, dz
Integrate over the
whole atmospheric
column to get
precipitable water,mp
Area = A
1
mp/A gives
precipitable water per
unit area in kg/m2 dm p qv a Adz
Precipitable Water, Jan 2003
Precipitable Water, July 2003
January

July