Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Interior, Atmosphere, and Ocean / / Energy transfer in the Earth’s interior, atmosphere, and ocean results from three fundamental processes: convection, conduction, and radiation. Using typical examples, you will examine these three processes in greater depth in this session.
Have you ever experienced a daytime sea wind on the beach? I’m sure you’ve also felt the warmth of the sand beneath your feet and the sun’s beams when sunbathing. If yes, then you have experienced all three heat transmission processes: convection, conduction, and radiation. These are the three fundamental ways of heat movement in the physics of the Earth’s system.
The transmission of heat occurs when an item such as your feet makes touch with the warmer earth below. Conduction is the transmission of energy from a warmer item to a colder object through physical contact and vibrating molecules. When a warmer item or medium comes into touch with a cooler object, this often occurs prior to convection.
- As demonstrated by the sea breeze, convection is a macroscopic phenomenon involving the movement of fluid or air.
- The sea breeze is primarily caused by the differential in heat capacity between the water or ocean and the land.
- The heat capacity of a thing is its ability to retain heat.
- Since water has a greater heat capacity than land, it takes longer for the water’s temperature to change.
With the Sun shining during the day, the land heats up more quickly than the water, thus the air over the land is warmer than the air above the ocean. The outcome is the formation of a low pressure system over land and a high pressure system over the ocean.
- This results in a pressure imbalance as air flows from the high-pressure system (ocean) to the low-pressure system (land).
- This is a unique type of convection known as a daytime sea breeze, which we may feel on a bright, sunny day at the beach.
- This mechanism that occurs during a sea breeze is also known as convection currents.
Using the same example of our day at the beach, the third phase referred to as radiation happens when we are uncomfortable lying on the extremely hot sand in order to develop a tan. Because the surface of the sand has been heated by the Sun’s rays all day, infrared radiation is released from the surface.
- Through the relationship between the temperature differential between the land and ocean and the surrounding air, there is a significant coupling between the atmosphere and the ocean in our example of a sea breeze.
- On a far bigger scale, or one including the entire ocean or Earth system, we may extend this sea breeze to the well-known weather phenomena known as El Nio.
When the water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America heats, an El Nio develops. 
| |
Remember that in our example of a sea breeze, the wind moves from colder air over the water to warmer air over the land. During an El Nio, winds move from the cooler water in the western tropical Pacific to the warmer ocean in the middle and eastern tropical Pacific.
This event can last a year or more and can occur between two and seven years on average. It is known to influence global weather and ocean patterns. To access this lesson, you must be a member of Study.com. Are you an educator or a student? There are over 30,000 video courses and instructional tools in one location.
I would absolutely suggest Study.com to my coworkers. It’s as if a teacher waved a magic wand and completed the assignment for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline. : Energy Transfer in the Interior, Atmosphere, and Ocean of the Earth
How does energy circulate around the planet?
Energy Cycle – The Sun’s energy drives several Earth System activities. This energy enters the atmosphere and warms up this system. It also warms the Hydrosphere and Geosphere’s land surface, and drives several Biosphere activities. Differences in the quantity of energy absorbed at various locations set the atmosphere and seas in motion and contribute to determining their overall temperature and chemical composition.
- Wind patterns and ocean currents, for example, transfer energy across the ecosystem.
- Eventually, the energy that began as Sunlight (short-wave radiation) leaves the planet as Earthshine (light reflected by the Atmosphere and surface back into space) and infrared radiation (heat, also known as longwave radiation) emitted by all parts of the planet and reaching the top of the Atmosphere.
This movement of energy from the Sun, through the environment, and back into space is a crucial link in the Earth system; it determines the temperature of the planet.
Covered Topics – Energy circulates throughout the Earth from several sources and in numerous ways. The sun and the earth’s interior are the principal energy sources in the global biosphere. The two fundamental geological processes, the rock cycle and the water cycle, are intimately connected to these energy sources.
- Both processes are powered by the recirculation of stuff like as rock, magma, water, ice, gases, and the remnants of living organisms.
- Between the surface and deep layers of the Earth, rocks and materials undergo uplift, weathering, erosion, deposition, melting, crystallization, and metamorphism during the rock cycle.
Water particles undergo evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and flow during the water cycle. As matter traverses these cycles, it can undergo physical and chemical changes. Frequently, a physical change involves a change in the state of matter, such as melting, crystallization, evaporation, or condensation.
- Similar to folding, faulting, breaking, physical weathering, transport, and deposition, deformation is a physical change.
- When rock, water, and air come into contact, chemical reactions occur, similar to the process of chemical weathering.
- Solar energy is primarily responsible for driving activities that occur at the earth’s surface, such as the water cycle, wind, weathering, erosion, and growth.
Energy from inside the planet is responsible for internal processes including volcanism, metamorphism, and plate tectonics. Below is a preview of each game included in the learning objective. With a teacher account, you may access all Legends of Learning games for free, forever.
How do matter and energy circulate across the planet’s systems?
Decomposers receive matter and energy from dead producers and consumers, as well as their waste products. Decomposers convert organic matter back into inorganic forms that are recyclable within an ecosystem. Therefore, the energy that enters an ecosystem in the form of sunshine eventually exits as heat.
