The Suns Effect on

Weather

Contents

The Suns Key Roles

Effects on Earths
weather

Moving Air: The

Wind

Evaporation

Hurricanes

What is the Sun??

The Sun is a star, the closest star to planet earth.

It is the largest object in the solar system,

contains 99.8% of the total mass.

It is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.

Lets take a look!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4445502369/in/set 72157623527696147/

The Suns Key Roles

The sun supplies light and heat to our solar

system.

The sun is the Earths major source of heat

energy.

The Suns heat sustains life and controls our

climate.

The Suns Key Roles

The Sun keep the temperature of most of the

Earths surface at 51 to 49 degrees Celsius.
Most living things can only survive at 0 to 49
degrees Celsius.

Did You Know: If the amount of sunlight

reaching the Earth was cut by 1/10th, the
oceans would turn to ice and life on Earth
would cease to exist.

Suns Effect on Weather

The Sun is a major contributor to the worlds
weather.
The Suns heat warms the Earths land and
water surfaces.
The Earth absorbs the heat and releases it into
the atmosphere, which heats the air above, and
causes moving air.
The movement of air causes winds which lead
to weather changes.

Suns Effect on Weather

The Wind
The absorption and release of heat energy into
the atmosphere results in moving air, also
known as Wind.
The air moves, because the surface is unevenly
heated. (some surfaces absorb heat faster than
others)
With movement, the air pressure (weight of air
pressing on everything around it) changes, these
changes affect weather.

The Wind: Sea Breeze

On a Beach: When land heats up faster than
water, air above land becomes warmer than air
above water.
The warm land air rises, and is replaced by cool
moving air from above the water.
This is known as a breeze (or Sea Breeze)
This type of air movement can happen anywhere
where the surfaces are unevenly heated.

The Wind: Sea Breeze

Evaporation

One factor that affects air and weather is water

vapor.
Creates Air Moisture

Evaporation is the process of changing liquid to

gas. When Earths liquid water (oceans etc)
evaporates, it releases gas called water vapor.

Heat from the Sun speeds up evaporation

Evaporation

The water vapors are held in the atmosphere, as

air cools, the vapors become condensation (tiny
droplets of water that form clouds)

When the droplets grow larger and get too heavy,

they fall back to Earth as precipitation:
rain, snow, hail, or sleet.

Evaporation

Water vapors in the air causes humidity.

Humidity and temperature combined causes

moving air masses, which results in weather
front.
Cold Front moving mass of cool air
Warm Front moving mass of warm air

Evaporation and Air Movement

Water vapors in the air cause humidity. Humidity and
temperature combined causes moving air masses, which
results in weather fronts.
A front refers to the front or leading edge of a moving
air mass:
Cold Front leading edge of a mass of cool air
Warm Front leading edge of a mass of warm air

Lets take a look at this process, click

on the umbrella!!!

Hurricanes

Weather Fronts can lead to severe weather, such

as Hurricanes.

Hurricanes are large, violent tropical storms

with wind speeds greater than 117km/hr

Hurricanes begin as thunderstorms over warm

water, the heat from the water, wind, and
moisture help fuel the storm.

Hurricanes

Hurricane winds move counterclockwise, while

the eye of the storm (middle) remains calm.

Lets take a look at the movement of a

hurricane.
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?
title=Hurricane_Ike_by_3D_Weather_Globe&video
_id=49703

Lesson Recap:

The Suns Key Roles

Effects on Earths
weather

Moving Air: The

Wind

Evaporation

Hurricanes

Online Resources
www.HurricaneK
atrina.com
www.teachertub
e.com
www.Google.com
http://nineplanet
s.org/sol.html

http://www.windows
2universe.org/sun/so
lar_atmosphere.html
http://www.intellicas
t.com/Local/WxMap
.aspx?
weather=hdVisSatIR
Blend