Atmospheric Circulation and Weather
Terms to Learn are in BOLD in the outline below:
Topic outline:
- Factors in uneven heating of earth's surface
- angle of incidence
- apparent atmospheric thickness
- albedo
- Basic atmospheric concepts
- Development of major wind belts
- Trade Winds, Westerlies, Polar Easterlies
- Coriolis effect
- Atmospheric stability
- stable air vs unstable air
- Air masses
- Warm vs cold fronts
- Formation of tornadoes
- Formation of hurricanes
- ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation)
Interesting places to visit:
Comprehensive info on atmospheric processes: http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/home.rxml
Lots of info on tornadoes: http://www.noaa.gov/tornadoes.html
Tornado Project: http://www.tornadoproject.com/
Comprehensive guide to hurricanes: http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hurr/home.rxml
Lots of links for hurricane info: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
When you are finished with this topic, you should be able to answer these questions:
- What latitudinal factors can affect the amount of solar radiation arriving at the surface of the earth?
- How does uneven heating of the earth's surface lead to development of large-scale wind belts?
- What is the Coriolis effect and what causes it?
- What causes air to be unstable?
- What are the differences between warm and cold fronts?
- How are tornadoes formed?
- Why does the greatest concentration of tornadoes occur in the central U.S.?
- What conditions are necessary for the formation of a hurricane?
