More Weather

Coriolis Effect the effect of Earth’s rotation on movement

of air masses

If we were not rotating – this is generally what would happen…

Northern hemisphere winds deflected to the rightSouthern Hemisphere-winds deflected to the left

• Doldrums – a zone at the equator where heated air raises vertically, so there appears to be no wind (wind is actually going UP

• Trade winds – steady winds, about 15 degrees north and south of the equator

Wind

air moving at a speed fast enough to be noticed; high pressure moves to low pressure

• Weather Vane – an instrument that measures wind direction

• Anemometer – an instrument that measures wind speed

Sea breezewind blowing from sea to land during the

day when the sun warms the land faster and cool air from above the water forces the warm air above the land to rise

Sea breeze

Land Breezewind blowing from land to sea at night

because the land cools faster than the sea, causing the air to rise over the water and sink over the land.

Evaporation

the process of changing from liquid to gas; molecules in a liquid state GAIN energy to change into a gaseous state

(latent heat energy is the stored in molecules through evaporation)

Evaporation DRIVES the water cycle

Evaporation

Condensation • the process of changing from gas to liquid;

molecules in a gaseous state that LOSE energy to change into a liquid state.

Clouds

• a visible mass of dense water vapor or ice suspended in the atmosphere; formed by surface heating & convection and/or warm air lifted by rising over mountains

Air Mass A large region of air with similar properties

throughout (ie. temperature, humidity)

• Air Pollutant – any harmful matter added to the air

• Ozone – a three-atom form of oxygen that absorbs ultraviolet sunlight

Front – the boundary between two different air masses

• Cold front – a front that moves so that cold air replaces a warmer air mass

Fronts• Warm front – a front that moves so that

warm air replaces a cooler air mass

• Occluded front – a front formed when a cold front overtakes a warm front

• Stationary front – a front that is not moving

• Polar front –low pressure zone where polar and tropical air masses meet

Inversion

a layer of warm air lying above a layer of cold air

Greenhouseeffect ability of the

atmosphere to let much sunlight in, but little infrared radiation to escape.

Greenhouse effect

Greenhouse gasses: carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs, & chlorofluorocarbons or CFC’s; CFC’s are chemicals used in refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. and aerosol spray cans that destroy ozone molecules

Causes of the Greenhouse effect

• burning oil, natural gas and coal (increasing CO2 levels)

• deforestation - burning of cleared forests release more CO2; no trees to convert CO2 to oxygen

Major Air Masses

• cA – Continental Artic – dry, very cold

• cP – Continental Polar – dry and cold

• cT – Continental Tropical – dry and warm

• mP – Maritime Polar – moist and cold

• mT – Maritime Tropical – moist and warm