The sun is the “engine” which produces climate, biomass and energy on earth.
What does that mean…?
The sun is our source of life; it produces the largest output of energy that fuels the biological and physical procedures around the world. The sun is capable of producing heat; as a result the sun heats up the air as well as the surrounding atmosphere, allowing for change in the weather. Climate being the long-term pattern of atmospheric conditions, we must analyze weather statistics over a large span of time, in order to determine climate change. As we know, the earth constantly orbits around the sun changing its position frequently from time to time. It is said that this orbital relationship between the earth and the sun, may change the geographical distribution of energy throughout the earth. As a
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Everything from the sun is a source or form of energy. Energy is considered, the ability or capacity to do work. This would mean, without the sun we are unable to fuel any of our biotic organisms, thus destroying their functions. Of course there are alternate ways of producing energy, however as the sun is our largest output of energy by far; the earth does not have the sufficient resources to survive without it. The sun gives life to plants and animals as well. Later on these plants and animals may turn into fossil fuels, acting as an alternate source of energy, or even using the plants themselves as sources of energy. The sun not only acts as an energy source itself, but indirectly creates other sources of energy as well. Think of it like a tree diagram. All sources of energy, branch off from the sun, without the sun there is no energy, thus halting all functions throughout the world. Energy is essential, and the sun again, being the main source of energy, is also essential for humans to continue living on earth. As a result, the sun too acts as an “engine” for energy on
Conclusion: As the angle of insolation increased, the rate of heating also increased. As the latitude increases, the rate of heating decreased. Therefore, the hypotheses were proved
-Solar energy is the energy expelled by our sun, it powers our planet and was the source of nearly all energy on this planet. It’s immediate use is by plants to grow, which gives food to organisms all the way up the food chain. Solar energy can create energy that we as humans can harness directly, it creates energy that we can collect through solar panels, but it also heats and cools the atmosphere creating wind, another form of energy which can be harnessed. Solar energy is incredibly important to all life on earth. Everything would die without it and the oceans would
All energy used by living organisms ultimately comes from the sun. energy enters living systems through photosynthesis by plants and some bacteria. (MHHE, N.D)
Most of the processes that are critical for our day-to-day lives are driven by energy provided by the Sun. Energy from the Sun warms the planet and keeps the global temperature within a range that allows life to flourish. The energy stored in the food you eat can be traced back to the Sun, through the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy in the process of photosynthesis. You might think that the gasoline that makes your car run or the oil that
Throughout history climates have drastically changed. There have been shifts from warm climates to the Ice Ages (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.204). Evidence suggests there have been at least a dozen abrupt climate changes throughout the history of the earth. There are a few suspected reasons for these past climate changes. One reason may be that asteroids hitting the earth and volcanic eruptions caused some of them. A further assumption is that 22-year solar magnetic cycles and 11-year sunspot cycles played a part in the changes. A further possibility is that a regular shifting in the angle of the moon orbiting earth causing changing tides and atmospheric circulation affects the global climate (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009,
Climate change is when the amount of solar energy Earth receives changes due to an alteration to Earth’s
The Milankovitch Mechanisms are central to long-term climate history discourse (Berger, 2013) and incorporate three orbital changes, which are named Precession, Eccentricity and Obliquity. Eccentricity is the first Milankovitch Mechanism, whereby the orbit of the Earth around the sun varies from a nearly perfect circular shape to a more elliptical shape (Figure 1A). At its most elliptical orbit, the Earth passes ~6 million miles (Scofield, n.d) further from the sun at the point of aphelion, and subsequently, the winter climate would be extremely cooler due to the reduction in incoming solar radiation. With Eccentricity, the insolation received can change by ~30% (Maslin and Ridgwell, 2005) and occurs at cycles of ~100,000 years (Maslin and Ridgwell, 2005). Obliquity is the second Milankovitch
Solar radiation also changes over decades and centuries, time scales that are comparable to the human influence on climate.
Answer: Life on Earth wouldn’t be possible without the sun. It gives us light and warmth. Also, by studying the sun, we can predict weather forecasts. These aided farmers in knowing when they should plant and harvest their crops. The sun’s energy also helps power many electrical appliances on Earth and in space.
In the last 100 years, Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4°F. The rising global temperatures have caused changes in weather and climate. Global warming refers to the ongoing rise in the average temperature near Earth’s surface. This is causing a climate change, which refers to any significant change (major change in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns) in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time (several decades or longer). Due to this, it is projected that the temperature will rise from 2 to 11.5°F in the next hundred years (US EPA, 2014). The “drivers,” which are the principal causes making this occur, are very controversial. It is debated whether a change in temperature is due to the work of
Over the years there has been a lot of controversy on if climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed and solved. There is a constant debate among scientist on if human actions are contributing the changing of earth’s climates. Climate change is defined as the change in average weather patterns for a specific region or Earth as a whole. This could include the change in an average temperature for a city or the amount a rainfall it receives (Dunbar, 2015). The main difference between weather and climate is the period of time specific patterns are recorded. Weather patterns are looked at over a much shorter period of time, meaning that these patterns are going to be more sporadic and change more frequently. Climate on the other had is recorded over a much longer period of time and usually show less drastic changes in patterns when compared to weather. Some people may argue that climate change is not an issue because Earth’s temperature is always changing do to natural effects. What people don’t realize is that human activity has effected the rate that earth’s temperature is changing, and just the smallest changes can lead to drastic consequences (Dunbar, 2015).
The human race all around the world wonders if the climate is changing due to human activity or if it is just a natural occurrence. At certain parts of the Earth's surface, the climate can be observed much differently than other locations. As the years go by the average temperature of the Earth increases by little intervals. There are several different reasons why people believe the climate is changing every year. However, the increase of worldwide population and production of heat to the atmosphere is due to the increase of human activities that take place on a daily basis. Human activity is the main cause of the global climate change. The human impact on climate exceeds any known changes due to natural processes. The impact of this human activity is often misunderstood when looking at climate change.
The Earth has been experiencing a considerable amount of climate change for the last several decades. Natural factors that contribute to the climate system consist of: solar output, volcanic activity and earth’s orbit around the sun. The two factors relevant on timescales of contemporary climate exist in volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation. The earth’s energy balance primarily influences the amount of incoming energy from volcanic eruptions, which have a relatively short-term effect on climate. Changes in solar output have contributed greatly to climate trends over the past century. The effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been at least ten times that of changes in the Sun’s output and the ocean covers more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface, receiving twice the amount of earth’s radiation. Although the sun is the engine that drives all the weather, oceans and atmosphere control the sun 's energy along certain
Energy from the sun drives the earth’’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the
Scientists have discovered 'climate forcing’s ' influence variations in climate systems and based on the depth and period of such forcing’s the adjustments to climate may be in a shorter or longer earth cycle. Natural forcing’s like variations in earth 's orbit, solar variation, volcanic eruptions and motion of tectonic plates have influence on the Earth 's climate