Meteorology best version 3 - Google Docs PDF

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Origins of the Atmosphere: It was formed four-and-a-half billionlion years ago, had a thin atmosphere consisting of gases in the solar nebula. Earth's first atmosphere most likely consisted primarily of hydrogen, along with other gases including helium, ammonia, and methane. Over millions of years, volcanoes emitted water vapor, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen, transforming the atmosphere to allow the first simple life form to appear. This expulsion of gases from Earth’s interior is a process known as outgassing. The outgassed water vapor created clouds, producing rain. The rain accumulated in basins as rivers, lakes, and oceans. These basins, in turn, acted as sinks for accumulated carbon dioxide, which later became locked into deposits of limestone and other sedimentary rocks. Any significant amounts of oxygen probably did not exist in Earth’s early atmosphere. Only when tiny bacteria and other simple life forms living in Earth’s oceans developed photosynthesis, which allowed them to split water molecules apart by using the energy of sunlight, could an significant amount of oxygen begin to accumulate in the atmosphere. It was these processes that are believed to have produced the modern atmosphere consisting of about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen(also .93% i Argon and .04% is CO2). The Speed of Light/Sound: Light: 299 792 458 m/s Sound: 343 m/s earth gravity=9.8 m/s^3, mercury=3.7 m/s²,venus=uranus=8.87,mars=3.711, saturn=10.44, jupiter=24.79,neptune=11.15 The Troposphere The Troposphere is the lowest layer of the Earth’s Atmosphere. The average lightning bolt carries 100 million volts /30 thousand amps It extends upward to about 10 km (6.2 miles or about 33,000 feet) above sea level Most appear here because 99% of the water vapor in the Atmosphere is found in the Troposphere The higher you go through the Troposphere the colder it gets Is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% made up of Argon, Water Vapor, and Carbon Dioxide A lot of birds fly up at this altitude, and this is where most clouds are Air Pollution. Ozone in the troposphere, particularly near the surface, is harmful to us, humans and all of the Earth's ecosystems. Ozone in the troposphe is produced by a type of photochemical oxidation with carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of nitrogen oxid (NO + NO2 --> NOx). Seasonal Variation. It is a variable element in the time-series analysis of forecasting and refers to the phenomenon where the production and plan of product change on a certain seasonal trend depending on the characteristics of the product. B. The Stratosphere The earth's tilt is 23.3* on its axis, and will change every 41,000 years. ---The Stratosphere is the layer above the Troposphere ---It extends from the Troposphere to about 50 km (31 miles) above the ground ---The infamous Ozone Layer is found within the Stratosphere —Ozone molecules in this layer absorb high energy ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun, converting the energy in heat —Unlike the Troposphere, the higher you go in the Stratosphere the hotter it gets —This is the layer that scientists send up weather balloons and the government, spy jets —Atmospheric Pollution. Earth's stratospheric ozone layer, which contains about 90 percent of the ozone in the atmosphere, makes the planet habitable from absorbing some harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation before it gets to the planet's surface. —Seasonal Variation. It is a variable element in the time-series analysis of forecasting and refers to the phenomenon where the production and plan of product change on a certain seasonal trend depending on the characteristics of the product. C. The Mesosphere Hadley cells are strongest in winter because strong altitude gradients —The layer above the Stratosphere is the Mesosphere —It extends upward to about 85 km (53 miles) above our planet —Most meteors burn up in the Mesosphere and scientist’s sounding rockets end up —Once again the high you go in the Mesosphere the colder it gets, it can get up to -90ºC (- 130º F) —Air pressure at the bottom of this layer is 1% at sea level —The magnetosphere is the region above the Earth's surface in which charged particles are affected by the Earth's magnetic field. —Seasonal Variation. It is a variable element in the time-series analysis of forecasting and refers to the phenomenon where the production and plan of product change on a certain seasonal trend depending on the characteristics of the product. D. The Ionosphere The greatest change across dry lines is dew points —The Ionosphere is not a distinct layer like the other layer —It’s a series of a region in parts of the Mesosphere and Thermosphere where high-energy radiation from the Sun has knocked electrons from their parent atoms and molecules —The atoms are usually charged with electricity are called ion, that gives the Ionosphere its name and endowing regions with special properties. —The auroras occur mostly here. —Radio waves in radio communication reflect on this layer. —Some of the harmful air pollutants are ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead. E. The Thermosphere cyclones flow counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise —The Thermosphere is the layer above the Mesosphere in the southern hemisphere —It contains high-energy X-rays and UV radiation from the Sun —It between 500 and 1,000 km (311 to 621 miles) above the ground —The temperature range is 500º C (932º F) to 2,000º C (3,632 º F) —This is the layer where a spacecraft's orbit the earth and the auroras occur. —The atmosphere pollution contains 99% of ozone. —Seasonal Variation is a variable element in the time-series analysis of forecasting and refers to the phenomenon where the production and plan of product change on a certain seasonal trends depending on the characteristics of the product. F. The Exosphere —The “air” in the Exosphere is extremely thin making this layer even more space like then the Thermosphere —The “air” in the Exosphere is constantly “leaking” out of the Earth’s Atmosphere into outer space —It is between 100,000 km (62,000 miles) and 190,000 km (120,000 miles) above the surface —Satellites orbit the earth from this location/height —The substances that accumulate in the air to a degree that is harmful to living organisms or materials exposed to the air. They include smoke, smog, and gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen and sulfur oxides hydrocarbon fumes. An eddy is the swirling of a fluid when the fluid is in a stable flow regime and wind that develops over mountainous terrain —Seasonal Variation. It is a variable element in the time-series analysis of forecasting and refers to the phenomenon where the production and plan of product change on a certain seasonal trend depending on the ch the product . Power Solar At the upper reaches of our atmosphere, the energy density of solar radiation is approximately 1,368 W/m2 (watts per square meter). At the Earth's surface, the energy density is reduced to approximately 1,000 W/m for a surface perpendicular to the Sun's rays at sea level on a clear day. Dew point The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to achieve a relative humidity (RH) of 100%. At this point, the air cannot hold any more water in the gas form. If the air were to be cool, even more, water vapor would have to come out of the atmosphere in the liquid form, usually as fog or precipitation The higher the dew point rises, the greater the amount of moisture in the air. This directly affects how "comfortable" it will feel outside. Many times, relative humidity can be misleading. For example, a temperature of 30 and a dew point of 30 will give you a relative humidity of 100%, but a temperature of 80 and a dew point of 60 produces a relative humidity of 50%. It would feel much more "humid" on the 80-degree day wi 50% relative humidity than on the day with a 100% relative humidity. This is because of the higher the dew point. Polar region As a result, atmospheric circulation moves warm tropical air to the polar regions and cold air from the poles to the equator. Latent heat flux moves energy globally when solid and liquid water is converted into vapor. ... Finally, large quantities of radiation energy are transferred into the Earth's tropica oceans. An isohyet is a line on a map connecting points having the same amount of rainfall in a given period Insolation (incoming solar radiation) is reduced in by Earth’s atmosphere by atmospheric gases, particles, and droplets. This is known as absorption. Radiation from the sun is also known as ‘shortwave radiation’. ‘Reflection’ is defined as radiation redirected away from Earth’s surface without being absorbed. ‘Albedo’ is a term which describes the percentage of visible light reflected by an object or a substance. Freshly fallen snow has a very high albedo. That is why the atmosphere appears especially bright the day after a snowfall. When parallel beams of radiation enter the atmosphere of Earth, a percentage of the light is scattered away from its original direction. Because blue light is the most readily scattered (because of its short wavelengths), the scattered radiation contains more blue light than any other color. This is the reason our sky is blue. Sunrises and sunsets also appear to be red because, at the low sun angle, its rays pass through a larger amount of the atmosphere. As a result, lights of shorter wavelengths are removed and therefore the light of long wavelengths (i.e. red light) dominate. High amounts of air pollution, fires, and volcanic eruptions can enhance the color of sunsets. That's logical, but not the case, for Earth. Instead, Earth has seasons because our planet's axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees relative to our orbital plane – the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun. The tilt in the axis of the Earth is called its obliquity by scie Latitude: Temperatures decrease poleward. The latitude that subtropical jet streams is located at 30* Altitude: Tropospheric temperatures decrease with increasing altitude. Earth’s surface is the primary heating source for the troposphere. Atmospheric Circulation if temperature is above 65* [average]-65-cooling and if the temperature is below heating 65-[average]

As the Earth moves around its orbit, the portion leaning towards the Sun changes. As the Earth continues along its orbit around the Sun, the angle that the Earth's axis tilts changes. Eventually, the Northern Hemisphere faces the Sun, and the Southern Hemisphere leans away. The vertical motions that occur when the air is unstable are termed. The property which primarily controls how much water can be present as gas is. The change of state from gas to liquid is called phases. The temperature of rising air parcels as they move upward. The density of air at sea level is about 1.2 kg/m3 (1.2 g/L, 0.0012 g/cm3). Water has a density of 1 g/cm^3. It has an average room temperature of 20ºC(68ºC). Water affects the weather due to its gas form, water vapor, by making clouds, and when the clouds contain too much water the rain or snow. Another example of water effect on water is when small bits of frozen water (ice) bump into each other as they move through the air. All these collisions create small charges and eventually, the whole cloud is filled with positive charges and the negative charges repel the charge to the ground which is what you would call lightning. Hurricanes: The powerful tropical cyclones that become hurricanes depend heavily on large bodies of warm, still water for their creation. Warm water near the surface rises, and as it cools, it discharges the moisture as rain and spirals down. This creates the precipitation energy and rotation of a tropical storm, and as the system travels through the ocean, it builds up more energy as it goes. The longer a hurricane spends in humid air over the ocean, the more powerful it can become when it finally strikes land. In some cases, a storm that weakens significantly over land may reorganize and return to hurricane strength if its path takes it back ou over the water. The hydrological cycle tells us that the atmospheric water vapor contents are on the surface of the Earth. So the water has to evaporate from the surface. The rate of evaporation is only a temperature function to the water also includes the temperature of the air, the relative humidity of the air, the wind speed and the surface area of the water. Water vapor: is available to keep moist air in equilibrium with a surface of pure water or ice. It represents the maximum amount of water vapor that air can hold at observed temperature and pressure. Clouds: are formed when the air contains as much water vapor (gas) as it can hold. This is called the saturation point, and it can be reached in two ways. Moisture accumulates until it reaches the maximum amount the volume of air can hold. The other methods reduce the temperature of the moisture filled that fills the air, which turns the amount of moisture that can be contained bigger. Sundogs: are commonly caused by the refraction and scattering of light from plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals either suspended in high and cold cirrus or cirrostratus clouds or drifting in freezing moist air at low levels as diamond dust. A rainbow: is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric river: A long, narrow, and transient corridor of strong horizontal water vapor transport that is typically associated with a low-level jet stream ahead of the cold front of an extratropical cyclone. The wat vapor in atmospheric rivers is supplied by tropical and/or extratropical moisture sources. A thunderstorm: is a storm with lightning and thunder. Its produced by a cumulonimbus cloud, usually producing gusty winds, heavy rain and sometimes hail. Moisture, unstable air and lifts are what create thunderstorms. Atmospheric hazards : include things such as oxygen deficiencies, dust, chemical vapors, welding fumes, fogs, and mists that can interfere with the bodies ability to transport and utilize oxygen, or that have negative toxicological effects on the human body Water in the Atmosphere The atmosphere of our planet is laden with water. In temperate and tropical regions, water exists mainly in liquid form. At the poles and higher latitudes, much of Earth’s water exists as ice locked away in alpine or continental glaciers. The physical composition of Earth’s atmosphere consists primarily of water vapor. Humidity refers to the amount of water vapor that is in the air. This water vapor exists in a gaseous state. The process in which water changes from a liquid into a gaseous state is evaporation. Each water molecule th becomes water vapor takes with it a parcel of heat energy from the surface it evaporates from cooling the surface (evaporative cooling). Evaporative cooling explains why someone may feel a chill after swimming as water evaporates off the surface of their skin, taking with it heat from their body. During the spring when the amount of daylight is increasing and the declination of the hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, the intensity of solar radiation increases causing ice crystals in the upper troposphere to melt and fall as rain. As the water is exposed to increased solar radiation it evaporates and returns to the atmosphere in the gaseous state as water vapor. The humidity of the atmosphere increases as spring changes to summer. Water vapor is measured using an instrument known as a hygrometer. Measurements of humidity are often expressed as a percentage, which is termed relative humidity. The complete saturation of the air (100% relative humidity) occurs when the amount of water vapor in the air equals the amount of water vapor that the air can hold. Liquid Precipitation Rain: Moisture condensed from the atmosphere that falls visibly in separate drops. Dew: Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. Mist: A cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface limiting visibility, but to a lesser extent than fog Fog : a cloudlike mass or layer of minute water droplets or ice crystals near the surface of the earth, appreciably reducing visibility. Frozen Precipitation Snow: atmospheric water vapor frozen into ice crystals Ice Pellets/Sleet: They are small, translucent or clear balls of ice. Ice pellets are raindrops that freezeFreezing Rain : Freezing rain is the name given to rain precipitation maintained at temperatures below freezing by the ambient air mass that causes freon contact with surfaces. Hail : Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets, though the two are often confused. Virga:is precipitation that falls from clouds but evaporates while falling and never reaches the surface of the Earth. At high altitudes, precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before they melt and evaporate before reaching the ground Because of compressional heating that occurs as a result of increasing air pressure closer to the ground (remember- air is compressed becomes warmer).Atmospheric pressure, sometimes also called barometric pressure, is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. In most circumstances, atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point. Thus, in large-scale (synoptic and planetary-scale circulation systems, friction slows the wind an interacts with the Coriolis effect to shift the wind direction across isobars and toward low pressure so that within the friction layer, horizontal winds blow clockwise and outward in Northern Hemisphere anticyclones. The standard atmosphere(symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as 1013.25 mbar(101.325 kPa), equivalent to 760 mmHg (torr), 29.9212 inches Hg, or 14.696 psi. The atm unit is roughly equivalent to the mean sea-level atmospheric pressure on Earth. Air pressure is the weight of the atmosphere pressing down on th earth. It is measured by a barometer in units called millibars. Most barometers use mercury in a glass column, like a thermometer, to measure the change in air pressure. When the weather is calm the mercury in the barometer seldom moves more than half-an-inch below the 30-inch mark. If a high-pressure system is on its way, often you can expect cooler temperatures and clear skies. If a low-pressure system is coming, then look for warmer weather, storms, and rain. The weight pressing down on one square-inch sample of air at sea level is 14.7 pounds, which is equivalent to a column of mercury 29.92 inches in height (1,000 millibars). Air pressure changes with altitude. When you move to a higher place, say a tall mountain, air pressure decreases because there are fewer air molecules as you move higher in the sky. Relative humidity is the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains. The most it can hold is 100 percent. Humidity is measured by a psychrometer, which indicates the amount of water in the air at any one temperature. Air Masses and FrontsWarm Fronts: Forms when a moist, warm air mass slides up and over a cold air mass. Weather they bring: Warm air rises & condenses into a broad area of clouds. Clouds & precipitation last several days. Occluded Front: Forms when a warm air mass gets trapped between two cold air masses. When a cold front passes by, temperatures can drop down by more than 15 degrees. Continental and superior a masses are dry while maritime and monsoon air masses are moist. Weather fronts separate air masses with different density (temperature and/or moisture) characteristics. The contrast between cold air at higher latitudes and warmer air at lower latitudes results in the existence of fronts (boundaries between air masses). Meteorologists describe the horizontal movement of cold and warm air by the wind as temperature advection (the word "advection" loosely translates to "transport"). The air masses separated by a front usually differ in temperature and humidity. Cold fronts may feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe weather, and may on occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines. Warm fronts are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog. As the warm air mas...