Lab 2 sat radar Carly Hoover PDF

Preview

Summary

ATMS 120 Lab 2...

Description

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

Name and NetID: ____

__________________________________

Lab #2: Soundings, Radar, and Satellites 75 points. Remember to turn in a picture of your iCard along with your submission. Part #1: Soundings 2 point each Use the sounding below to answer the following questions. (Remember units and to look at the time zone!) 1. What is the surface temperature? ____-5_______ 2. What is the dewpoint temperature at 950 mb? __-18______ 3. At what pressure level would you find the tropopause? __250mb___ 4. Did this weather balloon pass through a cloud as it ascended? __No____ 5. What is the wind speed and direction of the fastest wind measured by the rawinsonde (pick 1)? __40kts southwest_______ 6. This sounding was launched at 12Z Dec 3rd, 2020. What time was it locally in Lincoln, IL? __6:00 AM___

74560 ILX Lincoln 

P

P



P

P



P



P



P



    ï

ï

ï

ï

ï

ï

ï

ï









12Z 03 Dec 2020

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign



ATMS-120: Winter 2021

Part #2: Soundings 2 point each Use the sounding below to answer the following questions. (Remember units and to look at the time zone!) 1. What is the surface temperature? ___-1°___ 2. What is the dewpoint temperature at 950 mb? _-14°_____ 3. At what pressure level would you find the tropopause? ___230mb____ 4. Did this weather balloon pass through a cloud as it ascended? __No____ 5. What is the wind speed and direction of the fastest wind measured by the rawinsonde? __140kts West__ 6. This sounding was launched at 12Z Dec 15th, 2020. What time was it locally in Albany, NY? _7:00 AM_

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

Part #3 Satellites and Weather Radar Matching 1 point each Answer the following questions by selecting from the list below: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Infrared Satellite Imagery Visible Satellite Imagery Radar Reflectivity Imagery Radar Radial Velocity Imagery

1.

It is the middle of the night and my phone wakes me up altering me of a tornado warning for my location. What type of imagery would I examine to see if there was strong rotation within the storm approaching my location? a. Radar Radial Velocity Imagery

2.

It is the middle of the day and there is a large winter storm headed in your direction. You want to see the extent of the cloud field. What type of imagery would you use? a. Visible Satellite Imagery

3.

I am at Opening Day for the Chicago Cubs and weather reports from the morning hinted at the possibility of rain during the game. What type of imagery would I monitor to know if the game could be delayed by rain? a. Radar Reflectivity Imagery

4.

What type of imagery would allow me to estimate rainfall rates associated with a hurricane? a. Radar Reflectivity Imagery

5.

You now want to estimate the height of the clouds field within the typhoon via their temperature. What type of imagery would you use? a. Infrared Satellite Imagery

6.

It is a clear day at noon after a large winter storm blanketed the Midwest with snow. What type of imagery would I look at to determine the how much of the ground is covered in snow? a. Visible Satellite Imagery

7.

It is 2AM local time in Louisiana and Hurricane Laura is far offshore but I know she heading toward my city. I can’t sleep and want to check on her development. What type of imagery would I use to examine the size and extent of Hurricane Laura in this situation? a. Infrared Satellite Imagery

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

Part #4 Two Satellite Images 1 point each Please use these two satellite images to answer the following questions.

1.

Which image is a visible satellite image? a. The second is a visible satellite image

2.

Which is an infrared satellite image. a. The first is an infrared satellite image

3.

Briefly explain how you determined which image was visible or infrared. a. For infrared satellite images we use lighter colors for cooler temps. Therefore, clouds would appear white, as they do in the first image. Also, visible satellite images cannot be used when it is dark and will not produce an image. In image 2 we can see that half of the earth is dark with no image, implying it is from a visible satellite.

4.

What type of orbit was the satellite in that took these images? a. This is from geosynchronous orbit

5.

Were these images taken near an equinox or a solstice? a. Equinox

6.

Why can’t we see clouds over the US on the image on right, but we can see them in the left image? a. The second image is from a visible satellite image which only works during the day. This shows that the US is experiencing nighttime when the image was taken which is why there are no clouds shown.

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

7.

What time of day was it in Illinois when these images were made (i.e., morning, midday, etc.)? a. These images would be taken in the nighttime, maybe around midnight.

Part #5: Nebraska Storms near Omaha 1 point each Examine the radar image below, which shows storms that passed through Nebraska on Sept 18, 2018. Please answer the following questions.

1.

The storms near Wahoo, NE, were producing 47 dBZ radar reflectivity echoes at the time this image was created. If Wahoo continued to receive rainfall at this intensity for the next 30 minutes, how much rain (in inches) would you expect to fall? a. 1.25 inches per hour b. 1.25(.5)= .625 in 30 mins

2.

Did the radar detect any hail in the image above? Please explain how you arrived at your answer. a. In the center of the radar near the center by the cone of silence there is some small spots of pink/purple between Mead and Gretna

3.

Outside of the storms, there are a lot of radar echoes that have a radar reflectivity value less than 20 dBZ. Most of these weak radar echoes are non-meteorological (i.e., not precipitation) radar echoes. What do meteorologists call these types of radar echoes? a. These are called ground clutter

4.

What city is located on the outer edge of the cone of silence? a. Valley. NE What is the cone of silence? a. The cone of silence is the location of the physical radar on the ground that is missing it’s satellite image because the angle of the satellite is unable to read directly above head.

5.

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

6.

This image was created at 2215 UTC on Sept 18, 2018. What time of day was it locally in Omaha, NE? Omaha is in the Central Time Zone. a. 4:15 PM

Part #6: Hurricane Laura on Radar 4 points Below are two radar images. These are the last scans the Lake Charles radar was able to take before it got destroyed by Hurricane Laura (see upper right images). The left image is radar reflectivity and the right image is radial velocity. All hurricanes rotate around their clear eyes in the center of the storm. In what direction was this hurricane rotating – clockwise or counterclockwise? Explain how the radial velocity image can be used to prove your answer. The hurricane is rotating counterclockwise because the green shows that the winds are moving towards the radar and red shows that they are moving away. By looking at the center of the radar we can see what direction the winds are moving in.

Part #7 Radar Beam Path 4 points Brookfield Zoo is about 25 miles from the nearest NEXRAD radar in Romeoville, IL. The image below shows the path the radar beam takes through the atmosphere as a function of distance from the radar dish. The y-axis represents the height of the radar beam (m) and the x-axis represents the ground distance from the radar (km). What is the altitude of the radar beam as it scans over the top of all the animals in Brookfield Zoo? Watch your units.

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

25 miles = 40.2336 km Altitude is about 500 m Part #8 Cloud Top Temperature 13 points Thermal infrared (IR) satellites measure cloud top temperatures with a high degree of accuracy. On the morning of February 7, 2018, a satellite measured a radiance of 3.648 W/m2/micrometer at the top of thunderstorm clouds over west-central Georgia. Use this value and the equation below to solve for the temperature at the top of these thunderstorm clouds. Then, use the sounding on the next page to find the height of the top of the clouds by finding the altitude (on the y-axis of the sounding) that matches the temperature in °C you solved for using the equation below. Convert the height from km to feet. How high above the ground were to tops of these thunderstorm clouds? Show all your work.

T=

C2 ! C1 $ λ * ln# 5 +1& "λ *E %

E = radiance measured by the satellite = 3.648 W/m2/micrometer λ = infrared wavelength of the satellite channel = 10.5 micrometers T = temperature (K), this is what you are solving for. c1 = 3.74*108 W/m2/micrometer4 c2 = 1.44*104 micrometer K T=205K T=-68.15°C 10 km = 32808.4 ft Hint: All of the units given for this problem are in SI units. Therefore, you do not need to convert the units before you solve for the temperature. Your final answer will have a unit of Kelvin, so you need to convert this to °C to complete the problem.

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

ATMS-120: Winter 2021

Part #9 New Polar Orbing Satellite: MAIA 10 points University of Illinois Atmospheric Sciences Professor Larry Di Girolamo is a lead scientist who helped design the new MAIA (Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols) instrument that will be launched into space very soon! This satellite will follow a sun-synchronous, polar orbit at an altitude of 700 km above Earth’s surface. It will complete one orbit around Earth every 99 minutes and provide spectacular high resolution satellite imagery of Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Please solve for the orbital velocity (in mph) of the MAIA satellite in its circular orbit around Earth. (Show all of your work.) Things you need to know: 1. Earth’s radius is 6,370 km 2. The satellite is 700 km from Earth’s surface 3. The orbit is circular and it takes 99 minutes to complete one orbit. 88.75 mph

© 2020 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign...