Chaper 9

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 29 May, 2020
Notes of Ch 9 Solar Radiation, Heat Balanceand Temperature| Class 11th Geography
Notes of Ch 9 Solar Radiation, Heat Balance and Temperature| Class11th Geography
Solar Radiation
• The earth’s surface receives most of its energy in short wavelengths. The energyreceived by the earth is known as incoming solar radiation which in short is termed as
insolation 
.• As the earth is a geoid resembling a sphere, the sun’s rays fall obliquely at the top of the atmosphere and the earth intercepts a very small portion of the sun’s energy. Onan average the earth receives 1.94 calories per sq. cm per minute at the top of itsatmosphere. During its revolution around the sun, the earth is farthest from the sun (152 millionkm) on 4th July. This position of the earth is called aphelion.• On 3rd January, the earth is the nearest to the sun (147 million km). This position iscalled perihelion.• Therefore, the annual insolation received by the earth on 3rd January is slightly morethan the amount received on 4th July.
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• Variation in the solar output does not have great eect on daily weather changes onthe surface of the earth.
Variability of Insolation at the Surface of the Earth
• The amount and the intensity of insolation vary during a day, in a season and in ayear.• The factors that cause these variations in insolation are:(i) the rotation of earth on its axis;(ii) the angle of inclination of the sun’s rays;(iii) the length of the day;(iv) the transparency of the atmosphere;(v) the conguration of land in terms of its aspect.The last two however, have less inuence.• The fact that the earth’s axis makes an angle of 66° with the plane of its orbit roundthe sun has a greater inuence on the amount of insolation received at dierentlatitudes.• The second factor that determines the amount of insolation received is the angle of inclination of the rays. This depends on the latitude of a place. The higher the latitudethe less is the angle they make with the surface of the earth resulting in slant sunrays.
The Passage of Solar Radiation through the Atmosphere
• The atmosphere is largely transparent to short wave solar radiation. The incomingsolar radiation passes through the atmosphere before striking the earth’s surface.• Within the troposphere water vapour, ozone and other gases absorb much of thenear infrared radiation.• Very small-suspended particles in the troposphere scatter visible spectrum both tothe space and towards the earth surface. This process adds colour to the sky.• The red colour of the rising and the setting sun and the blue colour of the sky are the
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result of scattering of light within the atmosphere.
Spatial Distribution of Insolation at the Earth’s Surface
• The insolation received at the surface varies from about 320 Watt/m2 in the tropicsto about 70 Watt/m2 in the poles.• Maximum insolation is received over the subtropical deserts, where the cloudiness isthe least.• Equator receives comparatively less insolation than the tropics. Generally, at thesame latitude the insolation is more over the continent than over the oceans. Inwinter, the middle and higher latitudes receive less radiation than in summer.
Heating and Cooling of Atmosphere
• There are dierent ways of heating and cooling of the atmosphere (i) Convection(ii) Radiation(iii) Advection(iv) Conduction• The air in contact with the land gets heated slowly and the upper layers in contactwith the lower layers also get heated. This process is called conduction. Conductiontakes place when two bodies of unequal temperature are in contact with one another,there is a ow of energy from the warmer to cooler body.• Conduction is important in heating the lower layers of the atmosphere.• The air in contact with the earth rises vertically on heating in the form of currentsand further transmits the heat of the atmosphere. This process of vertical heating of the atmosphere is known as convection.• Horizontal movement of the air is relatively more important than the verticalmovement.• In tropical regions particularly in northern India during summer season local winds
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called ‘loo’ is the outcome of advection process.• In middle latitudes, most of diurnal (day and night) variation in daily weather arecausedby advection alone.
Terrestrial Radiation
• The insolation received by the earth is in shortwaves forms and heats up its surface.• This energy heats up the atmosphere from below. This process is known asterrestrial radiation.• The earth after being heated itself becomes a radiating body and it radiates energyto the atmosphere in long wave form.• The atmosphere in turn radiates and transmits heat to the space. Finally the amountof heat received from the sun is returned to space, there by maintaining constanttemperature at the earth’s surface and in the atmosphere.
Heat Budget of the Planet Earth
• Above gure depicts the heat budget of the planet earth. The earth as a whole doesNot accumulate or loose heat. It maintains its temperature.• This can happen only if the amount of heat received in the form of insolation equals
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