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Meteorology Chapter 3

Terms in this set (54)

Air-Temperature Data basic calculations
-Daily Maximum and Minimum
-Daily mean
-Daily temperature range
-Monthly mean
-Annual mean
-Annual temperature range
What is the daily mean?
Average of 24 hourly readings
What is the daily temperature range?
Difference of daily high and low
What is the monthly mean?
Average of daily means
What is the annual mean?
Average of month means
What is the annual temperature range?
Difference of highest and lowest monthly mean
Isotherm
A line connecting places of equal temperature
What two months represent the temperature extremes?
January and July
What are temperatures adjusted to?
Sea level
Temperature gradient
Change in temperature over distance
What is the most important control of temperature?
Receipt of solar radiation
What are other controls of temperature?
-Differential heating of land and water
Land heats more rapidly than water.
Land gets hotter than water.
Land cools more rapids than water.
Land gets cooler than water.
-Ocean current
-Altitude
-Mountain Ranges
-Prevailing wings
-Interior of continents
-Cloud cover
-Albedo
What is mobile?
Water
How is heat transferred with water?
Convection
What is opaque?
Land
Where is heat absorbed on land?
Only on the surface
What is three times greater for water than land?
Specific heat
What is greater over water? What does it absorb?
-Evaporation
-Absorbs energy
(latent heat)
What decrease with altitude?
Temperature (environmental lapse rate)
When is atmosphere thinner?
At higher altitudes
-Higher solar radiation during day
-More radiation cooling during the night
What does higher altitudes produce?
A greater daily temperature range.
What do more clouds cause?
Lower surface temperatures during the day (clouds have high albedo) and warmer temperature at night (clouds absorb terrestrial radiation).
What does a high albedo reduce?
Surface temperature (especially near ice and glaciers)
Why does Earth have seasonal variation in climate?
Earth rotates on a titled axis. As it revolves around the sun, it changed the duration and intensity of the solar radiation.
Why is the sky blue?
The articles of our atmosphere, particularly oxygen, scatter energy in the blue wavelengths.
Where is the north star located?
-North pole
-Polaris
Where is the south star located?
-South pole
-South cross
What is the largest control for daily temperature variations?
Solar radiation and sun angle
Terrestial radiation also plays a big role.
-Vary by seasons, cloud cover, precipitation, and weather systems.
What controls annual temperature variations?
-Lag of maximum
-Highest and lowest mean temperatures do no coincide with maximum or minimum incoming solar radiation.
-In northern hemisphere, August has the highest mean temperature, while June has the highest incoming solar radiation.
Where has a smaller temperature range?
The equator
Where has a larger temperature range?
Higher latitudes
Where has a higher temperature range?
Interiors of continents
Where has a smaller temperature range?
Coastal regions
What happens at mid and low latitudes?
A high sun angle results in a large variation throughout the day.
What happens at higher latitudes?
A low sun angle results in lower temperature variations.
Where has smaller variations?
Windward coasts
Where has larger variations?
Inland areas
What does temperature change depend on?
The amount of cloud cover and water vapor.
What happens poleward from the tropics?
Temperature decreases
What does isotherms exhibit?
A latitudinal shift with the seasons
What does isotherms show?
-Ocean currents
What is the annual temperature range of isotherms?
-Small near equator
-Increases with an increase in latitude
-Greatest over continental locations
What happens with isotherms in the Southern Hemisphere?
-Isotherms are higher.
-Isotherms are more stable.
What is the difference between mechanical and electrical thermometers?
Mechanical:
-Liquid in glass expands/contracts with temperature change
-Maximum thermometer--mercury
-Minimum thermometer--alcohol
-Thermograph--bimetal strip
-Contant record of temperatures

Electrical:
-Thermistor--electrically resistance at different temperatures
-Very fast
What are some instrument shelters?
-White box
-Louvered sides
-Over grass
-1.5 m above ground
Fahrenheit
-1715
-Gabriel Fahrenheit
-Based of lowest temp of brine before freezing and human body temperature
Celsius
-1742
-Anders Celsius
-Based on freezing and boiling water
Kelvin
-Based on absolute zero (-273 degrees C): temperature at which molecular activity ceases
-Therefore, no negatives
What are some fixed points on temperature scales?
-Ice point (Ice melts):
32 degrees F, 0 degrees C, 273 K
-Steam point (Water boils):
212 degrees F, 100 degrees C, 373 K
Temperature conversions
-Degrees F = (degrees C x 1.8) + 32
-Degrees C = (degrees F - 32) /1.8
-Degrees K = degrees C + 273
What is the human perception of temperature?
Anything that influences the rate of heat loss from the body also influences the sensation of temperature
-Important factors:
Air temperature
Relative humidity
Wind speed
Sunshine= radiation
Apparent temperature
The temperature a person perceives.
What is heat stress caused by?
High temperature and high humidity
-Sweat does not evaporate from body.
-Evaporation absorbs energy=cooling
-Feels hotter
-Heat index
Wind chill
The cooling power of moving air.
-Removes insulating warm air
-Evaporated moisture
-Cools body
-Feels colder
-Can cause frostbite
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