Structure of the atmosphere and the earth's energy balance...

We started Friday's lesson by recapping the vertical stratification of the atmosphere (see earlier post for diagrams) - the words ending in "-pause" were the upper limits of each layer, and Tom Sings Musical Tunes was the mnemonic we came up with to remember the order of the layers as you move upwards.

We then looked at the earth's energy balance....

Although it is written for Scottish Highers, this bit of the BBC Bitesize website has a nice and fairly straightforward summary...

Wednesday

A reminder that I will not be in school on Wednesday as I am off to the RGS in London.

(Photos - Flickr users sarchi and stevecadman)

For the nosy/curious ones amongst you, this is what I'll be doing...

In my absence, I would like you to do some reading about the uneven heating of the earth's surface. Mr Bradley will be happy to lend you a textbook if you want to borrow one, there is lots of info on the Higher section of the Met Office website, and lots of other bits and pieces out there... Make sure, also, that you are happy about the structure of the atmosphere from Friday.

Climatic Hazards and Change...

Start of a new unit today...

For those of you whose copies of the spec have mysteriously disappeared from your folders, a reminder that you can download it from the AQA website - pages 19-20 are the ones you need for the content of the physical part of the AS course.

We talked about the definitions of weather (atmospheric conditions on a short-term basis) and climate (average weather conditions over an extended period of time) - make sure that you are clear about the difference between the two - and extreme weather events (tropical revolving storms, tornadoes, floods, storm surges, etc.).

We also had a look at the ways in which weather and climate affect our lives - economically, socially, environmentally...

Finally, we started to look at the vertical stratification of the atmosphere:

http://www.visionlearning.com/

It is well worth you having look at The Atmosphere on the Met Office website - lots of other useful bits and pieces on there as well.