Weather Review

What is the difference between weather and climate?

• Weather: Atmosphere conditions at a given time or place

• Climate-Average weather conditions in a given region over a long period of time.

What are the following instruments used to measure?

Thermometer-Measures TemperatureHygrometer- Measures HumidityBarometer-Measures Air PressureWind Gauge- Measures Wind SpeedRain Gauge- Measures Amount of Rain

List and describe the major features of each atmosphere

• Thermosphere-temp rises

• Mesosphere-temp decreases

• Stratosphere- temp rises, ozone layer is found here

• Troposphere- temp decreases, where weather occurs

Why is carbon dioxide of greatest interest to meteorologist, even though carbon dioxide is

only found in small amounts in the atmosphere

• CO2 is a greenhouse gas that absorbs energy and traps it in the atmosphere causing a rise in temperature.

How is global warming and the greenhouse effect related?

• Greenhouse effect causes global warming- greenhouse gases trap energy causing an increase in the temp (Global Warming)

What evidence supports the idea of global warming? What evidence disputes the idea of Global Warming?

• Support- - increase temperature out of the “normal” range

-Ice caps melting/ sea level rising-Increase of storms/increase of intensity of storms

• Dispute-Data misinterpreted-Not enough data-”Normal” earth cycles causes warming

What is the ozone, and why is it important?

• Three oxygen's bonded together – exists in a layer in our atmosphere

• Blocks ultraviolet rays (UV rays) which causes skin cancer.

What is the name given to the group of chemicals that cause destruction to the ozone?

• Chlorofluorocarbons CFCs

Conduction

• Description: transfer of energy through contact

• Example: Layer of air in contact with ground being heated

Convection

• Description: rising/sinking of air due to temp/density difference

• Example: Air rising due to heating of earth’s surface

Radiation

• Description: all forms of energy that travel through space as waves

• Example: Energy traveling through space to earth.

List and describe the major causes of temperature differences around the world

• Latitude-more direct sunlight at equator, less direct at poles

• Unequal heating- land heats/cools more rapidly than H2O

• Altitude- temp drops 3.5 degrees per 1000 feet in elevation

• Geographic- coastal areas experience more moderate temps.

• Albedo/Cloud Cover- Clouds, Ice/ Snow reflect energy and decrease temp.

Why would a city near a body of water have less temperature variation than a city located in the center of a continent? Make sure to reference specific heat in

your answer

• Water takes longer to heat/cool meaning it has a high specific heat- this slow heat transfer moderates temperatures along the coast

• Land heats/cools quicker (lower specific heat) causing variable temps in the center of continents

What is the relationship between the heating of the earth's surface and the air temperature?

• The earth's surface heats the air/ atmosphere above it

• Differently earth materials heat the air above differently – Example sand heating faster than the water at the

beach, creating land and sea breeze

What causes global winds? How do you name them and what makes them curve?

• Convection causes air to rise and the rotation of the earth causes them to curve

• The apparent deflection due to the rotation of the earth is known as Coriolis effect

Land breeze

• Description: wind blows from land to sea• Example: Cooling of land at night causes

sinking air (high pressure). The water stays warmer longer leading to rising air (low pressure)

Sea Breeze

• Description: Wind Blows from sea to the land• Heating of land causes rising air (low

pressure)- wind blows in from the sea to fill the void

Air Masses

• Continental Polar-cP-Dry, Cold- Forms Over Canada

• Continental Tropical-cT-Dry, Warm, Forms over Mexico, South west U.S.

• Maritime Tropical-mT, Humid, Warm, Forms over Gulf of Mexico

• Maritime Polar, MP, Humid, Cold, Forms over North Atlantic, North Pacific

Types of Fronts• Cold- Cold air moving into area of warmer air-Cooler

temperature, heavy precipitation, Thunderstorms• Warm- Warm air moving into area of cooler air-

warmer temperature, moderate precipitation

Type of pressure cells

• High- Clear Skies• Low- Change in temp, Precipitation, Clouds

How are high and low pressure systems related to convection?

Which direction does weather move across the United States and why?

• West to East due to jet streams and westerlies

How could a mountain range impact weather? Large bodies of water

• Mountains force air up which can lead to cloud formation on precipitation

• Body of water moderate temperature.

Describe how tornados form.

• Winds traveling at different speeds in the atmosphere cause horizontal rotation within a thunderstorm

• Updrafts tilt the spinning column vertical creating the tornado.

What are some ways to stay safe from lightning?

• Stay indoors away from windows.• Stay inside for 30 min after last thunder clap• If outside seek shelter-> squat down on balls

of feet

How do scientist study and track major weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes

• Study Radar and predicts wind direction and wind speed.

• Use computer forecast models

How do thunderstorms commonly form? At what time of day do they form and why?

• Warm moist air is forced upward quickly where H20 Vapor cools and condenses and forms clouds- updraft and downdraft move precipitation and charged particles through the clouds causing lightning

• Afternoon- need enough heat for air to rise.

Locations

• A) Clear skies- High pressure is sinking air which prevents condensation/cloud formation

• B) Cooler temp- cold front moving counter clockwise.

• B)Storms -cold from forces air up to cool,H2O vapor condenses forming clouds/storms

• C) Warm Temp- Warm front moving counterclockwise low.

• C) Moderate Rain- warm air rises up over colder air, water vapor

Be able to read and interpret climate graphs. What is the temp in Rio de Janeiro in November?

24 C