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Unformatted text preview: surface, a little way below there will be a sinusoidal variation with a smaller amplitude and phase shifted from the input. The further in the larger the phase shift and the smaller the amplitude. The temperature at a great depth approaches the average value of the input variation. This equation can be used to explain things like the existence of permafrost. In the tundra regions, although the surface temperature may go well above zero in the summer months, a few meters below the surface it oscillates around the yearly average of the surface, and if that is below zero, the ice below the surface will never melt. Notice also that the peak temperature will be phase lagged compared to the surface - there will be a layer below the surface where the maximum temperature occurs at the point where the surface is at its coldest....
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This note was uploaded on 12/15/2011 for the course AST AST1002 taught by Professor Emilyhoward during the Fall '10 term at Broward College.
- Fall '10