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160 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are surface maps |
Surface stations with contour lines so meteorologist can see things clearer |
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What are the different types of contour lines |
Isotherms- counters constant temperature Isobars- contours constant pressure Isotachs- constant wind speed Isogons- constant wind direction |
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What are isotherms good for |
Quick identification of air masses and fronts |
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What are the sources of carbon dioxide |
Animal respiration, organic decay, and combustion |
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What is water vapor referred to as |
Atmospheric moisture |
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Where does temp change the most |
Near the surface |
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Why do temperature inversions happen in the stratosphere |
Because of the ozone layer- UV absorption heats air |
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Does weather occur in stratosphere |
No |
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What does the big dot on a station plot represent |
•Location •How much is shaded represents cloud coverage |
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What usually comes along with fronts |
Clouds, perception, and strong winds |
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Where do you find atmospheric pressure on station plot |
By the big dot |
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What does the little dot to the big dots left represent on a station plot |
The due point and temperature. The closer those two numbers are the more likely it is the rain |
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What do the symbols next to the little dot on a station plot represent |
Depending on the symbol it represents the current weather Two dots= rain Two snow flakes= snowing Half a rectangle with a arrow= thunderstorm |
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Why do meteorologist take elevation out of picture |
Because locations at higher elevations have average pressure that is lower than locations near sea level. |
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What can isobars on pressure map help identify |
Centers of low pressure, centers of high pressure, trough of low pressure, ridge of high pressure |
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What is high pressure center |
Pressure increases towards maximum value |
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What are low pressure centers |
Pressure decreases towards minimum value |
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Define air masses |
Regions of air that is relatively similar in temperature and moisture |
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What is a front |
Boundary between air masses |
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What is a cold front |
Cold air masses push war air masses out of the way and is represented by blue semi circle with triangles |
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Warm front |
Warm air masses move in behind cold air mass. Represented by red semi circle and little circles |
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What is a trough |
Axis of lower pressure like mountain valley |
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What is a ridge |
Axis of higher pressure like mountain |
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What is a change in pressure called |
Pressure gradient |
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What is the sun |
A star that is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium |
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What do surface pressure maps tell us about wind |
Change in pressure=a change in wind. So the closer the lines are to each other the greater the change in pressure so the faster the winds are |
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General characteristics of atmosphere |
Composed of invisible gas molecules and aerosols |
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What effects almost every aspect of weather such as season, climate, server weather etc |
The transfer of the sun’s energy through the atmosphere |
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What does the atmosphere do for us |
Provides air for us to breath and protects us from sun’s radiation |
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General characteristics of atmosphere |
Composed of invisible gas molecules and aerosols |
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What does the atmosphere do for us |
Provides air for us to breath and protects us from sun’s radiation |
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What are the two categories of gases |
Permanent and variable |
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What does the sun have very strong gravitational force |
Because if it’s incredible mass |
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What are permanent gases |
Nitrogen (78%) Oxygen 21% Argon (1%) |
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What are variable gases |
Aka trace gases are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous dioxide and ozone |
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What are variable gases critical for |
Weather and climate |
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What are greenhouse gases |
Most variable gases Carbon dioxide Water vapor Ozone |
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What are greenhouse gases good for |
Absorbing heat |
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What is carbon dioxide? And what is it good for? |
It’s a greenhouse gas and a controlling factor on temperature |
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C02 trends |
Seasonal variation- related to decay and production of leaves Increase related to burning of fossil fuels and deforestation |
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What is climatological mean |
Study of earths climate |
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What is PPM |
part per million |
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For every 1 million air molecules how many are c02 |
375 |
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What is water vapor |
A very potent greenhouse gas that effects temperature |
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Concentration of water vapor can vary from how much |
0% (desert) to 4% (along coast) |
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What does the gravitational force of the sun do |
Compresses helium and hydrogen near the center to very high temperature and pressure which leads to nuclear fusion which releases tremendous amounts of energy |
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Concentration of water vapor can vary from how much |
0% (desert) to 4% (along coast) |
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Where is water vapor have the greatest concentration |
Lower in the atmosphere so near the earths surface |
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What is water vapor vital for |
The the atmospheric process -forms clouds -Transfers emery through atmosphere via latent heat -phase transformation are huge source of energy in atmosphere |
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When energy leaves the sun how many miles does it travel to earth |
93 million miles |
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Concentration of water vapor can vary from how much |
0% (desert) to 4% (along coast) |
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Where is water vapor have the greatest concentration |
Lower in the atmosphere so near the earths surface |
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Because the sun is so much bigger what happens to the rays of solar energy |
They are essentially parallel when they reach Earth |
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What are the phase changes |
Evaporation- liquid to gas Condensation- gas to liquid Freezing- liquid to solid Melting- solid to liquid Deposition- gas to solid Sublimation- solid to gas |
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Sources of water vapor |
Evaporation Transpiration |
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What is water vapor less dense than |
Dry air |
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What can water vapor cause |
Thunderstorms |
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Where is ozone found |
High up in atmosphere |
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Does everywhere on earth get the same amount of sunlight? |
No |
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Where is ozone found |
High up in atmosphere |
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What does the ozone do for us |
Shields us from suns radiation |
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What is pollutant |
Found near surface and is main ingredient in smog |
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Which layer of the atmosphere will light traveling from sun to earth encounter first |
Thermosphere |
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What is density |
Vertical distribution of mass |
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What does cortical distribution of temperature involve |
Speed of gas molecules |
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When density decreases what else does |
Pressure |
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When you go up in the atmosphere what happens to density |
Lessens |
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Density formula |
Mass per unit volume |
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Why is earth closer to sun at certain times |
Because of the earths elliptic orbit |
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What is temperature profile |
Change in temperature with height usually displayed as temperature on the x axis and height on y axis |
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Density formula |
Mass per unit volume |
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Perihelion |
Earth is nearest to the sun (around January 4th) |
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Lapse rate |
How quickly temperature changes with height |
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Temperature inversion |
Negative lapse rate; temperature increasing with height |
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What doe’s temperature is at do with height |
Decrease |
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Where do we live |
Troposphere |
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Where does most weather occur |
Troposphere |
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How is the troposphere heated |
From earths surface |
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Depth varies with what |
Latitude and season |
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What is tropopause |
Boundary between troposphere and stratosphere |
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Aphelion |
Earth is farthest from the sun (July 5th) |
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What does tropopause act as |
Upper boundary for thunderstorms |
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What does temperature do in the stratosphere |
It increases |
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Why is the stratosphere in a temperature inversion |
Because of the ozone layer— UV absorption heats air |
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What is the tilt from vertical |
23.5 degrees from vertical |
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What happens because there is a constant tilt and rotation |
The northern hemisphere will point towards sun for half of the year and the southern hemisphere for the other half |
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Why is the tilt important |
Tilt causes the sun not be as intense everywhere because it is spread out |
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When does island of Madagascar revive the most direct sunlight |
Northern hemisphere winter |
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What happens to radiation as it passes through the atmosphere? What happens to radiation emitted by the earth? |
A - absorption R- reflection T- transmission S- scattering |
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What does temperature usually do with absorption |
increases |
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Absorbtion_____ enegry |
gains |
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Why is there an increase in temperature with absorption |
molecules absorb longwave radiation and it gives them energy causing them to move so there is an increase in tremp |
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Greenhouse gases come into play during what process |
absorption |
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what is reflection |
a bounce in radiation |
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what are good reflectors |
clouds |
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Do all substances reflect light? |
yes, with varying effectiveness |
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What does amount of reflection depend on |
surface type |
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What is Albedo |
describes the % of light that is reflected |
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The lighter the surface the greater the____ |
albedo |
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how reflective is Earth |
30% |
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What is transmission |
the movement of EM radiation through the atmoshphere without absorption |
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Transmission at other wave lengths depends on what |
greenhouse gases concentration |
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Scattering is what |
redirection of energy; no energy is absorbed |
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Why is the sky blue |
rayleigh scattering the blue color of the sky, since blue light is scattered slightly more efficiently than red. |
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what is rayleigh scattering |
the scattering of light by particles in a medium, without change in wavelength |
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which direction can energy be scattered |
forward and backward |
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how to change knots to MHP |
multiply knots by 1.15 |
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What defines fall |
when the center of the solar spear and the center of the sun cross the equator |
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Globally average the _____ radiation equals the ____ radiation so the earths temp is stable |
incoming, outgoing |
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What does energy do at equator? |
surplus of energy at the equator |
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what does energy do at the poles? |
deficit of energy |
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On a smaller scale what drives the temperature at a specific location |
-daily temp changes -average temp of location -climatic variation in temp |
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Define Dirunal |
daily |
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Diurnal temperature variation are driven by what |
Earths roation |
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The monthly temprature averages make up what |
average temperature (typically over a year) |
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Monthly temp averages depend on what |
S- surface types E- elvation L-latidude C-cloud cover |
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What does the evaporation of water do |
reduces temperature extremes over and near lakes and oceans |
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What does vegetation do for temperature |
- reduces temp range through transpiration |
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True or False: A place closer to a body of water would have a lower temp range |
true |
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Clouds ____ solar energy above the clouds and ___ warming ____ clouds during____ |
reflect, reduce, the day |
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clouds emit what |
longwave radiation and increase warming below |
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when do clouds warm below |
night |
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What is tempature profile |
a graph that shows changes in temp at different location in the atmosphere |
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Temperature profile changes with what |
height |
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What can we use temperature profile to access |
atmospheric stability |
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atmospheric stabilty definition |
condition of atmosphere that affects the strength of vertical motion |
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How is atmospheric stability defined |
positive or negative buoyance of parcel air |
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Positive buoyancy |
tendency to rise |
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negative buoyancy |
sink |
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Why is stability important? |
1) it determines the nature of vertical motion 2) and what clouds (if any) form in rising saturated air |
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Cumuliform clouds |
unstable air |
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stratiform clouds |
(layered clouds) means stable air |
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Define stability |
comparing temp of rising or sinking air to air parcel to environmental air temp |
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Unstable equilibrium |
distrubance has occurred and cannot return to the noraml state- will keep moving in the direction it git distributed in |
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Why do we care about temperature stability |
vertical motion |
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what does vertical motion effect |
storms/ weather |
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What is horizontal motion |
what we feel Ex: cold, hot, warm |
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Unstable temperature means? |
positive buoyancy- where we get rain and stuff |
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Cold air is more ______ |
dense |
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How do we figure out density? |
compare different temperature of the atmosphere |
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what will hot air do when surrounded by less hot air |
rise |
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what is a parcel? |
a bubble of air separated from other air |
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if the parcel wants to sink what does that mean |
stable |
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Tp |
parcel temperature |
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Te |
environmental temperature |
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If Tp is COLDER than Te what will happen? |
parcel will sink |
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If Tp = Te what does that mean? |
neutral- nothing will happen |
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If Tp is WARMER than Te what will happen |
parcel will rise (unstable) |
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How is temperature stability determined |
- by lifting a parcel of air to some altitude -comparing parcel temp with environmental temp |
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What is adiabatic cooling |
the process of reducing heat through a change in air pressure, which is caused by volume expansion |
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Pressure decreases with_____ |
altitude |
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Why do parcels expand and contract |
to account for the pressure change |
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How are parcels adiabatic cooling |
parcels expand to account for pressure and cools down due to the expansion as it rises |
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what is dry Adiabatic laspse rate |
-10 degrees celsius even 1,000 meters |
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In adiabatic cooling the increase in volume requires______ |
work (force x distance) |
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air molecules expanding kinetic energy to do work for _____ |
explosion |
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as parcels rise what happens |
potential energy increases and molecules' kinetic energy is converted to potential energy Less kinetic energy of molecules= lower temp |
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What do parcels encounter when they sink |
Adiabatic warming- an increase in temperature and pressure |
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What does the pressure from parcels sinking cause |
the parcel to compress |
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What does the compress caused by the pressure from a parcel sinking cause |
compression= an increase of kinetic energy of molecules and therefore an increase in temperature |
