HSmith_AlbedoLabForm
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Texas A&M University *
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252
Subject
Geography
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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5
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ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
Hannah Smith
OCNG 252
Albedo Lab
EXERCISE 1:
Latitudinal effect on the Incoming Radiation
TABLE 1
Latitude
Lux meter reading
0° (Solar Constant)
725
15°
432
30°
163
45°
57
60°
18
75°
2
90°
1
0° (Solar Constant)15°
30°
45°
60°
75°
90°
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Latitude
Lux
Answer the following questions:
A. Is the change in incoming solar radiation versus the change in latitude linear? Explain your answer.
B. The earth is closest to the sun during the northern hemisphere winter and farthest from the sun
during the northern hemisphere summer, yet we experience the warmest temperatures in summer
and coldest temperature in winter. Why is this the case? Explain your answer.
Page
1
ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
The reasoning that the warmest temperatures are in the summer and the coldest are in the winter is due
to the tilt of the earth’s axis. In the summer, the earth’s axis is tilted 23.5
toward the sun, meaning the
rays of the sun will hit much more of the earth. On the other hand, the earth’s axis is tilted 23.5
away
from the sun, therefore not as much of the suns’ rays are hitting the earth.
EXERCISE 2:
Albedo and Heat Capacity
TABLE 2
Time (minutes)
Temperature (°C)
Light Sand
Dark Sand
Water
0
23.6
23.6
23.6
H
e
a
t
l
i
g
h
t
o
n
5
25.2
27.5
24.4
10
26.8
30.9
25.2
15
28.3
33.7
26.0
20
29.9
36.1
26.8
H
e
a
t
l
i
g
h
t
o
f
f
25
29.1
34.6
26.5
30
28.4
33.1
26.2
35
27.6
31.6
25.9
40
26.9
30.2
25.6
Page
2
ALBEDO and SEA LEVEL RISE FORM
Name:
Section:
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Time (minutes)
Temperature (•C)
Answer the following questions:
A. Compare your data for the dark sand and water. Which material heated up the fastest? Is this
what you expected? Explain your answer. (Hint: These two materials have a similar albedo.)
The dark sand heated up the quickest, having the highest temperatures of all 3 materials, whereas the water heated
up the slowest and had the least amount of temperature variation. This aligns with what I predicted as the dark
sand had a much lower specific heat capacity than water, leading it to heat up more quickly.
B. Compare your data for the dark sand and light sand. Which material heated up the fastest? Is
this what you expected? Explain your answer. (Hint: These two materials have a the same heat
capacity.)
The dark sand heated up faster than the light sand. While these two share the same specific heat capacities, the
difference in color is responsible for the varying temperatures between the two. Knowing that darker colors
absorb more light, therefore heat up faster, than light colors do, the results were aligned with what I expected.
C. Compare the slopes of your lines while the heat lamp is on versus after the lamp is turned off. Does
each respective material gain and lose heat at the same rate? Explain your answer.
Page
3
-Water
-Light Sand
-Dark Sand
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