The Climate System: Heat Transfer

• The climate system is driven by a close interaction between the Atmosphere, the Geosphere (Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Cryosphere) and space

• Human activities can affect/modify these interactions


• There are constant heat exchanges occuring on the planet between the cold poles and the warm equatorial latitudes

• The earth receives energy from the sun equal to approximately 1360 W m-2 (as an annual average) and has an approximate albedo (reflectivity) of 0.3. As such, without any atmosphere the average temperature of the earth would be approximatly – 18 deg C8

• There are two main systems by which temperatures are distributed around the planet which affect the weather:
-The atmospheric air circulations
-The oceanic currents

• The transfer of heat is derived from solar energy and from the motion of the earth around its axis

•The global temperature of the planet and how it is distributed has an important impact on the behaviour of the climate system

• Climate change is changing this temperature distribution which is expected to have major repercutions on our climate and weather system.

• The global energy balance is the balance between incoming energy from the sun and outgoing heat from the earth

• The global energy balance regulates the state of the earth's climate and modifications to it, as a result of natural and manmade climate-forcing, is causing the global climate to change.

Source of Information : Climate Change: A Silent Threat by Sylvain Richer de Forges

The Climate System: Heat Transfer