GC/GEOG 431/531 CLASS

ACTIVITY 1

This activity has three parts:

1. Familiarization with the Course Home Page
2. Examination and analysis of global images of components of the RADIATION BALANCE
3. Your first class Listserv assignment

Part 1: The Course Home Page

Spend about 10 minutes briefly visiting as many links on the Course Home Page as you can. Identify one or two that you found especially intriguing and make a note of these. Next, you will each be assigned one of the "Climate Links" to look at in some detail. Your assignment for this part is to write up a short (2 -3 sentences) description that captures the essence of the "Climate Link" site you have examined. E-mail your description to Katie and she will incorporate it into the course page. (Due by midnight, Tuesday, January 23)

Part 2: Images of Radiation Balance Components

The Energy Budget -- A schematic diagram of the various components of the Earth's Radiation/Energy Budget

Following are links to images of different components of the RADIATION BALANCE. Compare these recent satellite-derived global patterns based on observations in a single year (1987) with the figures in Chapter One of Barry & Chorley, which are based on an earlier satellite study (Stevens et al., 1981) and on the classic work of Budyko et al., (1962). [See Figures 1.22, 1.35, 1.39, and 1.40.]

1. The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Description of experiment and satellite being used to obtain measurements of the radiation balance components
2. Visualization of the Earth's Radiation Budget -- the year 1987
3. Visualizations of the Earth's Climate -- the year 1987
4. ERBE images for January 1986:
   Albedo -- total-scene, for Jan 1986
   Clear Sky Albedo -- for Jan 1986
   Longwave Flux -- total-scene, for Jan 1986
   Clear-sky Longwave Flux -- for Jan 1986
   Net Radiation -- total-scene, for Jan 1986
   Clear-Sky Net Radiation -- for Jan 1986
   Longwave Diurnal Range -- for Jan 1986
   Longwave Cloud Forcing -- for Jan 1986
   Shortwave Cloud Forcing -- for Jan 1986
   Net Cloud Forcing -- for Jan 1986

You will be assigned to a group to concentrate on one or more of the radiation balance components. Pooling all of your observational skills together, describe in detail the patterns you see and propose some explanations for these patterns. Be sure to address regional variations in latitude, ocean vs. land, etc. Compare the satellite information (based on a single year's observations) with the "mean" conditions depicted in figures in your text. Note that no satellite images are provided for the patterns of LE (Latent Heat Flux) and H (sensible heat flux), so for now, we will rely on the Budyko et al., (1962) figures (Fig. 1.41 and 1.42 in Barry & Chorley) to get a feel for these components. Based on your group observations, each person should individually write a short paragraph on what you observed about your assigned component and what possible explanations you came up with. (These paragraphs should either be e-mailed to me by midnight Tuesday January 23, or given to me in paper copy form in class on Tuesday.)

PART 3: The Class Listserv

Your assignment for this part is to subscribe to the Class Listserv and post an introductory message about yourself to the List at: gc431@LTRR.arizona.edu. In your message, also state which of the Course Home Page links you noted as especially intriguing (in Part 1) and explain why. Finally, include some of your thoughts from the discussion in class about the excerpt from Cliff Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil, Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. [NOTE: Some of your future listserv posts will be more formal, but this one can be as informal as you like.] (Due by midnight, Tuesday, January 23)