Poleward heat transport

Effects of poleward heat transport by extratropical weather systems As we saw in the weather lab, extratropical cyclones and anticyclones transport heat from the warm tropics to the cold pole, keeping the temperature ofthe polar region higher than otherwise. How much higher ? Here we quantify this using a simple energy balance model. In the class and in homework 3 we considered the global balance between the incoming solar radiation and the outgoing terrestrial radiation. This is written as: wa25(1_A)=4naZUT” (W), (1) where T (K) is the temperature of the planet(we do not make a distinction between the ground and the atmosphere here) and cr = 5.67×10’3Wm’2K’4 (Stefan Boltzmann constant ) a = 6378km (radius of Earth ) A: 0.3 (Earth’s albedo) S = 1360W rn’2 (incoming solar radiation = solar constant } Written for per-square-meter of the Earth’s surface, the above energy balance reduces to S(1—A) 0T4:—=238 (Wm—2), (2) 4 which leads to T : 255K. 01 (8 pts)Now we consider energy balance for the polar region and for the tropics separately. Because of the spherical geometry of the planet ,the tropics receives more solar energy per unit area per unit time. The net incoming solar energy is 460 W/m2 in the tropics whereas 120 W/m2 in the polar region ,as opposed to the global average of 238 W/m2 as computed above. In each region, assume that all ofthis net incoming solar energy is absorbed by the planet and it is balanced by the outgoing terrestrial radiation .The outgoing terrestrial radiation is determined by the Stefan -Bo|tzmann law F = 0T4. The temperature of the polar region is T1 and the temperature of the tropics is T2. Compute T1 and T2