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METEOROLOGY
REVIEW GUIDE
Here are
just some answers that have come from
my meteorology classes and exams... |
TEST # 1
- Average sea level
pressure is 29.92 inches of mercury: this is equivalent to
approximately 1013 millibars.
- If an object
absorbs more energy than it emits (and everything else
remains constant), the objects temperature increases.
- A region of
surface low pressure is characterized by low level
convergence and upper level divergence.
- Carbon dioxide,
methane, and ozone are all greenhouse gasses.
- In terms of
spatial scales, a tornado would be considered a mesoscale
event.
- The pressure
gradient force wants to move air from higher toward lower
pressure everywhere on Earth.
- The geostrophic
wind is a balance between the pressure gradient force and
the Coriolis effect.
- On average,
temperature drops 3.6 degrees F per 1000 feet in the
troposphere. This is called the environmental lapse rate.
- When objects emit
more radiation than they absorb they undergo a net cooling.
- . When clouds
form the evaporation process is reversed. This is called the
latent heat of evaporation.
Essays
- The nitrogen
cycle is how nature recycles materials. Decaying bacteria
break down dead plants and animals to form ammonia nitrates
(salts). Plants use these nitrates to make plant protein.
When animals or humans eat the plants it makes animal or
human protein. When humans or animals die, the whole cycle
starts over again. Also, lightning causes nitrogen in the
air to join with oxygen to make nitrates which mix with rain
and fall to the earth.
- The doppler
effect is when an object is moving towards a radar and has a
high frequency, when it moves away it has a lower frequency.
Doppler radar is actually radial velocity mode which shows
wind speed and direction. Conventional radar, base
reflectivity, shows precipitation and storm intensity, whats
in the air.
- The four ways a
front can be located on a map are by looking at the isobars,
isotherms, isodrosotherms, and streamlines.
TEST #
2
- Rising air cools
at a rate of 5.5 degrees per 1000 feet, this is called the
dry adiabatic lapse rate.
- Downdrafts and
updrafts found side by side relate to the mature stage of a
thunderstorm.
- Other than
evaporation, transpiration and sublimation are two ways
water vapor is put into the atmosphere.
- Where the
pressure gradient force equals the pull of gravity is called
hydrostatic equilibrium.
- Mesoscale
Convective Complexes (MCC's) form primarily at night and are
fed by low level jet streams.
- Gust fronts are a
direct result of downdrafts within a thunderstorm.
- Water vapor
molecules respond to increasing heat by exerting a greater
pressure called vapor pressure.
- On a windy day
the vapor pressure gradient would be larger.
- Clouds become
visible when water vapor condenses onto tiny airborne
particles called condensation nuclei.
- . Precipitation
loading occurs when strong updrafts suspend raindrops and
hailstones high in a thunderstorm.
- . Two things
needed for clouds to form are warm humid air, and cooling
until net condensation occurs.
- . The moist
adiabatic lapse rate of cooling is 3.3 degrees F per 1000
feet.
- . Jet streaks are
pockets of faster moving winds embedded within the jet
stream.
- . The process by
which air is forced to rise because of terrain is called
orographic lifting.
Essays
- The precipitation
theory is when ice crystals, or water high in a cloud
collide with hail and create friction which staticly
electrifys a cloud. This is the theory on how lightning
begins.
- Dew point is the
temperature at which the air needs to be cooled to for
moisture / condensation to form. Relative humidity is the
percentage of water vapor in the air. If the dew point is
equal to the temperature, humidity will be at 100%.
- The jet stream is
a small fast-moving pocket of air aloft. When the jet stream
migrates it can move the location of pressure systems which
in turn can change weather patterns throughout the country.
A meridianal flow is when the flow can bend and usually
creates troughs and ridges. The zonal flow is just a West to
East pattern.
- A rain shadow is
usually formed when orographic lifting occurs. A rain shadow
usually occurs on the leeward side of the island because
that is where the air is rising creating cumulus clouds and
rain. When the air reaches the moutain peak it will race
down the other side of the mountain, (cooler air falls).
TEST #
3
- The Intertropical
convergence zone (ITCZ) is a region of surface convergence
and rising motion.
- A well-developed
low pressure system typically has a cold front extending to
its South and a warm front extending to its East.
- The subtropical
jet stream overhead is not a favorable condition for
hurricane formation.
- Increasing
surface pressure, on average off the coast of Peru is not a
characteristic of El Nino.
- Tropical
Disturbance, Tropical Depression, Tropical Storm, Hurricane
are in order from least to most organized when talking
stages leading to a hurricane.
- As a cold front
"catches up" to a warm front, the warm sector shrinks and a
occlusion forms.
- Swift high level
winds that blow from West to East in latitudes near 30
degrees make up the Sub-tropical jetstream.
- In a mature
mid-latitude cyclone, the mild region of uniform
temperatures and moisture is called the warm sector.
- The forced ascent
of warm air over cold air is called overrunning.
- The monsoon
season is a seasonal change in the wind direction.
Cloudiness, precipitation, and air temperature may be
altered in response to this change in wind direction.
- The low moving
away from the area of maximum divergence is what actually
causes an occlusion.
- Surface waters
diverging over equatorial regions produces upwelling.
- As a mass spirals
closer to axis of rotation, it spins faster. This is known
as conservation of angular momentum.
- Hurricanes do not
form at the equator because the Coriolis effect is too
small.
Essays
- The structure of
a hurricane is not that complex. First you have individual
cells that will pop up far out from the storm. Next you will
have some lowering of the clouds which will be associated
with the outer rain bands. Then the storm will get very
intense with the rain shield bringing heavy winds and
horizontal rain. The most intense part of the storm, the
eyewall, comes next. Then you reach the eye where it will be
calm and nice and bring that "false sense of security". The
process will then reverse.
- In the ITCZ air
from the Northern hemisphere rushes South and air in the
Southern hemisphere rushes North. This "convergence" creates
a cloud ring that encircles the globe!
This page is the copyrighted © property of Paul
Stofer
Page last modified:
August 7th, 2006
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