HOW DOES ENERGY GET INTO THE ATMOSPHERE? -THE SUN IS THE MAJOR SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR THE EARTH THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM -THE SUN AND OTHER STARS GIVE OFF ENERGY IN A WIDE RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS THAT MAKE UP THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

*SHORT WAVES: GAMMA, X-RAYS AND ULTRAVIOLET *LONG WAVES -INFARED AND RADIO WAVES - MOST OF THE OUTPUT THAT REACHES THE EARTH’S SURFACE IS VISIBLE LIGHT -THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE FILTERS OUT MOST OF THE DANGEROUS SHORT WAVE RADIATION

THE EARTH INTERCEPTS ONLY A SMALL FRACTION OF THE ENERGY RADIATED FROM THE SUN! -APPROXIMATELY ¾ OF THIS ENERGY IS USED TO EVAPORATE WATER FROM THE OCEANS EVAPORATION: -CHANGE OF STATE FROM LIQUID TO GAS -ADDS ENERGY AND MATTER TO THE ATMOSPHERE

FACTORS THAT INCREASE THE RATE OF EVAPORATION 1) WATER IS UNCOVERED 2) THE WATER IS HEATED 3) WHEN WIND BLOWS OVER IT

*THE THREE STATES OF WATER* FIGURE 7-4 IN REVIEW BOOK HEAT OF FUSION: -THE ENERGY NEEDED TO MELT ONE GRAM OF A SUBSTANCE AT ITS MELTING POINT -THE HEAT OF FUSION OF ICE IS 80 CALORIES PER GRAM

HEAT OF VAPORIZATION : -THE ENERGY NECESSARY TO CHANGE ONE GRAM OF A SUBSTANCE FROM LIQUID TO VAPOR STATE.OCURRS AT 100 O c -HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF WATER IS 540 CAL/G -IF WATER VAPOR IS COOLED TO 100 O c, IT WILL CONDENSE AND RELEASE 540 CLAORIES OF LATENT HEAT (KINETIC ENERGY)

ENERGY IN THE ATMOSPHERE: *RELEASE ENERGY: -CONDENSATION AND FREEZING *ABSORB ENERGY: -MELTING AND EVAPORATION -WATER VAPOR HOLDS AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF ENERGY AND IS THE MAIN RESOURCE OF ENERGY

SYNOPTIC WEATHER MAP -WEATHER MAPS THAT SHOW A VARIETY OF ATMOSPHERIC FIELD QUANTITIES -SHOW INFORMATION ABOUT TEMPERATURE,AIR PRESSURE, PRECIPITATION, AND OTHER CONDITIONS OVER A LARGE GEOGRAPHIC AREA.

STATION MODELS -USED TO REPRESENT VARIOUS WEATHER CONDITIONS IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS - STATION MODELS ARE IN ABBREVIATED FORM BECAUSE OF THE LARGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION THEY CONTAIN

A STATION MODEL.25 PRESSURE PRECIPTATION WIND DIRECTION WIND SPEED CLOUD COVER DEW POINT PRESENT WEATHER TEMPERATURE

EXAMPLE: DECODING PRESSURE ON A STATION MODEL 121 1) PLACE A DECIMAL POINT BETWEEN THE 2ND AND 3RD DIGITS ) IF THE FIRST NUMBER IS LESS THAN 5, PLACE A 10 BEFORE THE FIRST NUMBER

EXAMPLE: 856 STEP 1:(DECIMAL POINT) STEP 2: IF THE FIRST NUMBER IS 5 OR GREATER, PLACE A 9 IN FRONT OF THE FIRST DIGIT

-WEATHER MAPS ARE USEFULL TO IDENTIFY BODIES OF AIR WITH UNIFORM TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE AND HUMIDITY CALLED AIR MASSES. -IT IS THE MOVEMENT OF AIR MASSES THAT BRINGS CHANGES IN THE WEATHER

-THE CHARACTER OF AN AIR MASS DEPENDS ON ITS GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN cA CONTINENTAL ARCITC: AN UNUSUALLY COLD AND DRY AIR MASS FROM CANADA * CONTINETAL AIR IS DRY * MARITIME AIR IS MOIST *TROPICAL AIR IS WARM *POLAR AIR IS COLD * ARCTIC AIR IS EVEN COLDER

cT CONTINENTAL TROPICAL: A WARM, DRY AIR MASS, THAT MAY HAVE ORIGINATED OVER MEXICO OR THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST DESERT REGION cP CONTINENTAL POLAR: A COLD, DRY AIR MAS THAT MAY HAVE ORIGINATED OVER CENTRAL CANADA

mT MARITIME TROPICAL: A WARM, MOIST AIR MASS, THAT MAY HAVE ORIGINATED OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO mP: MARITIME POLAR: A COLD, MOIST AIR MASS THAT MAY HAVE ORIGINATED OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC OR NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN

HOW CAN WE PREDICT THE WEATHER? -WEATHER SYSTEMS USUALLY MOVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES FROM WEST TO NORTH-EAST -IF WE KNOW THE WEATHER IN CHICAGO, YOU HAVE A ROUGH INDICATION OF NEW YORK A DAY OR TWO LATER

HIGHS AND LOWS HIGH PRESURE CENTERS: -REPRESENTED BY A LARGE “H” ON A WEATHER MAP -“ANTICYCLONE”. WINDS MOVE IN A CLOCKWISE DIRECTION -ZONES OF DIVERGENCE, WHERE SINKING AIR AT THE CENTER CAUSES AIR TO BLOW OUTWARD -BRING COOL DRY AIR WITH CLEAR SKIES AND STABLE CONDITIONS

LOW PRESSURE CENTERS -REPRESENTED BY A LARGE “L” ON A WEATHER MAP -”CYCLONE”: WINDS MOVE IN A COUNTER-CLOCKWISE DIRECTION -GENERALLY AREAS OF WARM MOIST WEATHER

-RISING AIR AT THE CENTER OF THE LOW DRAWS IN CONTRASTING AIR MASSES ALONG WITH THEIR ASSOCIATED FRONTS -ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGEABLE WEATHER, CLOUDY SKIES AND PRECIPIATION

FRONTS: -SHOWN BY LINES THAT SEPARATE TWO AIR MASSES -OFTEN FOUND IN LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENT AIR MASSES THAT CONVERGE TO FORM A CYCLONE -UNSTABLE CONDITIONS ALONG THE FRONT BOUNDARY

SYMBOLS FOR FRONTS -SYMBOLS POINT IN THE DIRECTION THE FRONT IS MOVING

COLD FRONT LEADING EDGE OF COOL AIR COMES IN AND REPLACES WARM AIR

WARM FRONT LEADING EDGE OF WARM AIR COMES IN TO REPLACE COOLER AIR

OCCLUDED FRONT A COLD FRONT CATCHES UP TO A WARM FRONT

STATIONARY FRONT -CREATES STABLE CONDITIONS

March 14

MARCH 15

-VIOLENT STORMS CAUSE PROPERTY DAMAGE AND OFTEN TIMES LOSS OF LIFE! -STORMS ARE DESTRUCTIVE MAINLY AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR ENERGY -THE ENERGY BECOMES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE PROCESS OF CONDENSATION, WHICH OCCURS WHEN CLOUDS FORM WITHIN THESE STORMS

THUNDERSTORMS -MOST OCCUR IN THE SUMMER WHEN THE AIR IS WARM AND MOIST. -COLD AIR PUSHES INTO WARM AIR FORCING THE WARM AIR UP QUICKLY CAUSING GIANT CLOUDS AND LARGE AMOUNTS OF PRECIPITATION -USUALLY OVER IN LESS THAN AN HOUR

TORNADOES -MOST COMMON IN CENTRAL UNITED STATES DURING SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER -MARITIME TROPICAL AIR FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO COLLIDES WITH COLDER AIR FROM THE NORTH -USUALLY LESS THAN O.3 MILES IN DIAMETER

-WINDS ARE FASTER THAN HURRICANES BUT DIFFICULT TO MEASURE BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SHORT LIVED (USUALLY MINUTES OR LESS) -WINDS IN SOME TORNADOES WERE CLOCKED AT 280 MILES PER HOUR BEFORE THE RECORDER BROKE

HURRICANES -USUALLY DEVELOP IN LATE SUMMER AND EARLY AUTUMN IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN BETWEEN SOUTH AMERICA AND AFRICA THE REGION HAS AN ABUNDANCE OF SOALR ENERGY AND WARM TROPICAL WATER -THEY GATHER STRENGTH AS THE DRIFT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

-GROW INTO HUGE ROTATING SYSTEMS, WHICH AVERAGE 400 MILES ACROSS -AT THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE, PRESSURE IS EXTREMELY LOW. THIS ALLOWS FOR A LARGE PRESSURE GRADIENT TO DEVELOP (HIGHER AND LOW PRESSURE ARE VER CLOSE TOGETHER CAUSING WIND TO BLOW FAST

-WHEN THE STORM MOVES INLAND IT IS DEPRIVED OF ITS ENERGY SOURCE; WARM, TROPICAL OCEAN WATER -IN A MATTER OF DAYS IT BECOMES A MID-LATITUDE CYCLONE WITH THE FRACTION OF THE POWER THAT IT HAD AS A HURRICANE

Likely area of formation TornadoesHurricanes Area of U.S. most likely to receive damage from Size Duration(How long they last) Wind speed Appearance Time of year they are most likely to form Precautions