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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Microscale of Atmospheric Motion |
Smallest scale, lasts short periods (wind gusts, down drafts, dust devils) |
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Mesoscale Atmospheric circulation |
Winds that last minutes to hours Less than 100km in diameter Thunderstorms and tornadoes Embedded within larger systems Land and sea breeze and mountainbvalley winds |
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Macroscale Atmospheric Motion |
Large wind systems on planetary scale Unchanged for weeks at a time Trade winds and westerlies Tropical cyclones and storms (hurricanes) |
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Global circulation |
Combination of all winds |
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Characteristics of tropical cyclone |
Planetary scale Hurricanes move from E to W Cumulonimbus towers inside hurricane Lasts hours No clouds in eye Microdisturbances occur (gusts) |
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Local winds |
Mesoscale wind Linked to pressure differences (temperature gradient differences) or topography changes Named from direction from which they blow Berg winds = Chinook winds |
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Land and sea breeze process |
Daily temperature differences develop between land and sea resulting in pressure differences |
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Why does land heat quicker than ocean? |
Ocean transparent, convective currents, evaporation, specific heat (water 3x greater than land, more energy is needed to heat it up) |
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Summarize land and sea breeze process. |
Day: Air above land heats quickly- low pressure at surface and high pressure aloft Cool air over water moves landward (high to low p) = sea breeze Night: reverse takes place. (Land cools rapidly and land breeze takes place) |
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Sea breeze circulation. |
Sea breeze moderates coastal temp- cold air off ocean 100km inland Begins before noon, peaks mid arvie Affects precipitation and cloud cover Tropical areas = more intense than mid-lat |
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Valley breeze |
Day: air along mountain slopes heats faster than air at valley flow and glides up mountain slope. Creates cumulus clouds - afternoon thunderstorms |
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Mountain breeze |
Night: Rapid heat loss on mountain slopes leads to cooling and sinking of air down slopes- breeze created |
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Frost pocket |
Coldest air found at lowest point in a valley |
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Other names of Berg winds |
Chinook and Faehn winds |
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Berg process |
Hot dry wind blowing off interior plateau of ZA Occur in winter when there is low pressure system along coastal areas with high pressure system over continent Air goes from HP to LP and heated adiabatically |
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Country Breeze |
Warm, less dense air over cities rises- initiates the country to city airflow |
