Wonderful Weather

The atmosphere is the whole mass of air that surrounds the Earth. Earth's atmosphere is composed of four basic layers the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, and the thermosphere.

Atmosphere

The TroposphereThe layer of the atmosphere closest to the earth is the troposphere. This is where all weather occurs. The troposphere starts at the surface of the earth and extends upwards about 4-12 miles. The temperature of the troposphere decreases with height. This layer is known as the lower atmosphere.

The Stratosphere The stratosphere is the second closest layer to Earth. It is above the troposphere and extends to about 30-35 miles above the earth's surface. The temperature in the stratosphere rises within it but still remains to stay well below zero.

The Mesosphere

The mesosphere is the layer approximately 30-50 miles above the stratosphere. This area of the atmosphere reaches the coldest temperatures of all. It can reach up to -130 degrees and lower. This is where meteors come too close to the earth and burn up.

Thermosphere

The thermosphere is the about 50-400 miles above the Earth's surface. The temperature can increase to a high of 3,600 degrees fahrenheit. The air would still feel cold because the hot molecules are so far apart. This layer is known as the upper atmosphere.

Convection● Convection is the moving of molecules in a liquid by

heating it.

● Pretend the liquid is the cold mug of hot chocolate and there are millions of teeny tiny marshmallows sitting still inside.

● When you put the mug in the microwave to heat it the liquid turns hotter and the marshmallows inside begin to move. This is called convection.

● Convection occurs in weather when there are drops and rises in cold and warm wind.

Wind Currents A wind current is a large blow of wind that is registered as a type.

The four types of wind currents are:

● Westerlies – winds that blow on the latitude lines (lines that have degrees and flow horizontally on maps and globes.)

● Trade winds – surface winds found near the lower section of the troposphere

● Equatorial winds – wind patterns that happen across the earth's equator

● Polar easterlies - dry, cold winds that spread and flow from the high pressure areas of the north and south pole

Wind Currents

Ocean Currents

● Density Currents- These are warm currents(wave type length)

that float on a cooler currents.

● Surface Currents- These currents make up 10% of oceans water.

The first 400 ft of ocean water are surface currents.

● Deep Water Currents- These currents make up the other 90% of

the ocean and these waters are salty and cold and sink back into deep ocean.

● Northern Hemisphere Currents- These ocean currents are

pushed by winds northern.

Ocean Currents

High PressureHigh pressure basically makes good weather. It creates clear skies, sometimes cool air, and no precipitation. Sometimes it can create clouds. High pressure is created because of the Earth being heated unevenly.

Low PressureLow pressure is the term used to describe an area

of air pressure that has a lower concentration than the area surrounding it. It holds warm air, high winds, precipitation and clouded storms.

FrontsA front is basically a boundary between two large air masses with very different air masses. The two main types of fronts are warm fronts and cold fronts.

○ Cold fronts usually bring cold weather, precipitation, and winds.

○ Warm fronts bring warm weather, humidity, and clear skies.

○ Two more types are stationary fronts, and Occluded fronts.

Fronts 1: Cold Front 2: Warm Front 3: Stationary Front 4: Occluded Front

HurricanesHurricanes are formed when cold air from the ocean and warm air from land collapse together at a point, mixing in a spiral motion. Then these storms move to land, bringing thunder, lightning, and high winds that can cause enormous amounts of damage.

Twisty Tornadoes

Tornadoes are usually the extreme results of a huge thunderstorm that is called a supercell. During the dangerous storm cold air and warm air combine. The cold air goes drops as the warm air rises. The warm air will at some point twists into a spiral and form what is called a funnel cloud. There are many clear signs of a tornado like the changing direction and speeding up.

Meteorological instruments used by scientists

There are many examples of these instruments such as an Anemometer, Barometer, Weather Vane, Rain Gauge ,Thermometer, and a Hygrometer. All of these instruments are very important for telling you the weather, and for scientific studies.

Isotherm and isobarIsobars- Isobars are areas of equal pressure. Air pressure on earth is measured in millibars.The normal pressure at sea level is is about 1,013 millibars. In the image below a circle is marked 1,000mb and the area between that and the inner circle is an area of equal pressure or a Isobar.

Isotherms are areas of equal temperature. On the image below you can see a circle marked 20 C and the inner part of the circle has the same temperature so it is an area of equal temperature or a Isotherm.

PrecipitationThere are four types of precipitation. Precipitation is just stuff that falls out of clouds.

Rain Hail Snow Sleet

Rain Is formed after lots of water has evaporated and formed clouds that became rainclouds after more water evaporated, then droplets of water fall.

Hail is formed in similar way but it freezes in the clouds and stays in the form of ice as the temperatures rises on it long fall. Hail is formed when it is really cold high up but much warmer lower towards the ground

Snow is formed the same way as hail with slight differences. it is cold high up and lower to the ground. Everyone loves playing in the snow.

Sleet is really just a mixture of rain and hail so its formed both ways. some people don't like calling it a type of precipitation because it is just a mix of rain and hail

The Sky High CloudsThere are four main types of clouds cumulus, stratus, and cirrus clouds.

Cumulus Stratus Cirrus

Stratus clouds are usually a greyish color and can cover the whole sky. They can also cause fog. These clouds do not produce precipitation.

Cumulus clouds are the puffy clouds. The Cumulus clouds are the second highest ones in the sky. These clouds can cause stormy weather.

The Cirrus clouds are the highest in the big blue sky.These clouds are also the thinnest. They look like streaks in the sky.

Nimbus

Nimbus most often causes storms and snow. they are usually completely gray.

How Scientist get ImagesScientist get images in many ways but the one we are going to talk about is satellite images. We have satellites in space that can take pictures of earth and scientist can look at them and use these images for many helpful purposes, one is they can look at an area before and after a hurricane to see the difference in land forms.

Dew Point

The dew point is how much water vapor is in the air compared to how much water vapor could be in the air. The amount that can fit in the air usually depends on temperature. The warmer it is the more water vapor can be in the air and opposite, colder equals less water vapor. Dew point is measured by a mathematical equation based on temperature, pressure and relative humidity.

Sun and sun’s energy Imagine a really cold pitch black day, when i say

really cold i mean freezing. No one could live like that, and thats why we have the sun a source of heat and light. Without the sun we would have no energy, no food. Everyone, and everything relies on the sun for many things. The sun's energy Causes many things like differences in air pressure, that cause local, and global winds. The sun also causes different ocean currents.

Work

Nikolas:● Title slide● Slides:17-24● Weather Map● Created PowerPoint● Many Pictures

Pranav:● Slides: 2-16● Many pictures● Uploaded● helped emphasize

requirement #1

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