1-3: Atmospheric Structure and Circulation

Pre-Class Preparation

Objectives

• To understand how shortwave and longwave radiation create differential patterns of heating and cooling and establish the vertical and horizontal patterns of atmospheric temperature and pressure.
• To understand the time and space scales and flow patterns that constitute the circulation of the global atmosphere.

Procedure

1. Read the learning unit.

   Class images

2. Take the learning unit quiz. Quizzes are available from your portfolio. You may access your portfolio via the list of students participating in this years course, as represented by the icon below.
   
   

Class Discussion

• Problem to ponder...
  You are driving down Interstate 35 with a semi full of canaries and you are required to stop at a weigh station. You know full well that your load is overweight, so when your truck is on the scale, you bang the side of the trailer to get all the canaries flying and reduce your wieght. Is your truck still overweight? What does this have to do with atmospheric pressure measured at the earth's surface?

• Class Discussion Summary: by classmate Renato Silva

  We saw that the earth moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun and that the closest distance is at December and the maximum distance is at June. More energy per square meter reaches the low latitude regions. Energy may be transmitted from the tropics toward the polar regions as thermal energy or as latent heat. The transport of heat may be by the atmosphere or by the ocean currents. The temperature decreases with height at troposphere and up to tropopause, that is about 8km at poles and 17 km at tropics, the temperature increases with height (at stratosphere).

  In the tropical area, the warm less dense air rises and at medium latitudes (about 30 degree latitude) the air subsides, that creates the sub-tropical high-pressure regions. The Coriolis force that is created by the rotation of the earth deflects the air flux toward the right in the North Hemisphere and toward left at the South Hemisphere. This "apparent" force creates a predominant westerly wind belt at mid-latitudes and the trade winds near the equator.

Post-Class Activities

• Participate in the electronic dialog. Use this forum for:
  • continuing class discussion;
  • posing new questions to students or the instructor;
  • responding to issues/questions raised by students in class/electronic dialog.

  Visitor Access (Visitors are welcome to participate in the dialog. Just click on the icon below)	Student Access (Students must post all dialog from their portfolio. Click on the icon below to access the student list.)

• Recommended Reading Materials

  	Hidore, John J. and John E. Oliver, 1993: Climatology: An Atmospheric Science. Macmillan Publishing Co.,NY. 423 pp.
  	Houghton, J. T., L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell, 1996: Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 59-64.
  	Lutgens, Frederick K., and Edward J. Tarbuck. 1986: The Atmosphere. An Introduction to Meteorology. Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NY. 492 pp.

• References

  	Climatic Extremes and Weather Events-- Maps, Tables, Reports, etc.
  	Global Summary of the Day, 6 to 8 week lag on statistics, graphics included. (courtesy of National Climatic Data Center)
  	Monthly Mean Temperatures Animation (courtesy of Sustainable Development Dimensions)
  	National Climatic Data Center Best of the Rest - Weather Links
  	The National Drought Mitigation Center
  	National Weather Service Links
  	The Weather Calculator

• Weather Servers

  	Australian National University
  	The Daily Planet
  	Meteorology 206 Weather Products and Links
  	Michigan State University
  	Storm Chaser Homepage
  	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign module for the "beginning meteorologist"
  	University of Michigan Underground
  	WeatherNet
  	The WXP Weather Processor