Analysis Conclusion

As each hour passes, the surface temperatures of Huntington High School’s practice field and student parking lot change for multiple reasons. Solar radiation, Earth’s energy budget and absorption are just a few. Solar radiation spreads as the sun rises, the sunlight that strikes the Earth’s surface composes as the energy budget. As the sun “rises” it’s sunlight, or energy, which these surfaces absorb. As the day goes on, hour to hour, the surface temperatures within the allotted times of observation (approximately 9:20 a.m.-1:00 p.m.) increased. The time which had the greatest difference in temperatures was 9:20/9:30 (depending on when the class went outside). This difference is because, at that time, the grass of the field was wet and the water was being evaporated. Another difference that the temperature observations show is albedo. Grass has a higher albedo than the parking lot’s asphalt. The albedo is simply energy reflected and asphalt reflects less energy than grass because it is black, where grass is green. Color and water content both affect the albedo. Water also affects which will cool down faster. Water changes temperature slowly, so the grass is slower than asphalt.

 As the surfaces cool, the energy which they absorbed is re-emitted into the atmosphere as long wave infrared radiation. This is significant to climate change because this type of radiation gets trapped by greenhouse gases, such as water vapor and nitrogen, and heats up the atmosphere. The heating of the atmosphere is known as the greenhouse effect. Another thing that is related to greenhouse effect is Urban Heat Islands. These are “islands” of heat that have numerous surfaces, such as asphalt, that absorb heat, which is energy. This energy gets re-emitted as long wave infrared radiation.