Energy and Earth - Fundamentals of the Physical Environment - page 51

Robinson, P. J., and Henderson-Sellers, A. (1999) Contemporary Climatology , second edition,
Harlow: Longman (chapters 1 and 2). Written as an introductory text for geography and
environmental scientists, it provides a good foundation in the area of energy and radiation flow s.
KEY POINTS
1 Energy is the driving force of all the processes operating in the global system. It
performs the work in processes such as moving rocks, eroding valleys, lifting
mountains, and making water flow, the wind blow and plants grow. This work is
performed through the transfer and transformation of energy. These
transformations tend to follow well defined routes.
2 The work is carried out because of differences in the energy status of different
objects or conditions. Inequalities in the distribution of available energy (that
which is capable of performing work) lead to energy transfers; in the course of
these transfers work is done. The energy involved in the transfers is not
destroyed; it merely changes form.
3 The energy transfers that operate in the global system derive from the inequalities
in inputs and outputs across the world. On a global scale, they involve the
movement of energy as sensible heat and latent heat by the atmosphere and as
sensible heat by the oceans.
4 At a more detailed level, these transfers permeate every part of the global system.
They involve transfers from rocks to soil, from soil to plants, from plants to
animals and the atmosphere; in fact all the components of the world are
interconnected by these transfers. They also involve transformations of energy
from one state to another.
5 Together these transfers and transformations provide the power for all the
processes operating in our environment. They bind the global system into a
unified whole. They are the lifeblood of our planet.