atm ocn100 quiz 4

eddy

land-sea breeze, mountain breeze, thunderstorm, tornado

high, low, front, hurricane

long waves in the jet stream (ridges, troughs)

air flow resulting from heating and cooling of air = warm, less dense air rises and cold, denser air sinks

Sea breeze,Land breeze, and Monsoon

blows from ocean to land, especially in the mid-afternoon

blows from land to ocean, especially during the night

seasonal winds that blow from different directions at different times of year, like a giant sea breeze, that lead to heavy summer rains = South Asia (India), East Asia (China), West Africa, northern Australia, North America (Southwest U.S., northern Mexico), South America (Brazil)

is a peninsula surrounded by warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic. Afternoon convergence of sea breeze fronts (leading edge of sea breezes) from both bodies of water causes frequent thunderstorms as the land heats up.

Florida

solar radiation, Earth’s rotation, and land-sea difference

Hadley (in tropics), Ferrel (in mid-latitudes), Polar (in polar regions)

Tropics/Equatorial (between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn), Subtropics (where many deserts are found), Mid-Latitudes (where we live), Subpolar, and Polar (north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle)

Saharan Desert, Arabian Desert, Sonoran Desert, Mojave Desert, Chihuahuan Desert

steady winds in the tropics, blowing from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere

Intertropical Convergence Zone = trade winds from both hemispheres convergence, causing rising air and thunderstorms = usually located in the Northern Hemisphere in July and the Southern Hemisphere in January (follows the seasonal shift in max solar radiation)

vast, stable cold anticyclone over Asia that drives the wintertime monsoon over India and China = caused by extremely cold, vast land mass and its snowpack during winter

narrow band of swiftly flowing, wavy upper-level westerly air current, around the tropopause = types: polar jet stream (around 45 degrees latitude) and subtropical jet stream (around 30 degrees latitude) = jet streams are strongest in winter

rising of deeper cold water toward the surface = example, off of the coast of northern California associated with the cold California Current

warmer-than-normal water temperatures in the eastern-central tropical Pacific Ocean = weak trade winds = intensified subtropical jet stream and heavier rainfall over southern U.S.

cooler-than-normal water temperatures in the eastern-central tropical Pacific Ocean = strong trade winds = weaker subtropical jet stream and drier over southern U.S.

linkage between weather changes occurring in widely separated regions of the world = example: impact of ENSO on U.S. climate

El Niño-Southern Oscillation

large body of air that has similar horizontal temperature and moisture characteristics

mP=maritime polar, mT = maritime tropical, cA = continental Arctic, cP = continental polar, cT = continental tropical

type of precipitation event is likely triggered by a continental polar or continental Arctic air mass passing over the Great Lakes in early winter

a “river” of high-level atmospheric moisture from the tropics/subtropics to the mid-latitudes = associated with mT air

transition zone between two distinct air masses with different densities = types: cold front (blue line with blue triangles), warm front (red line with red semicircles), stationary front (alternating blue triangles and red semicircles on opposite side of line), occluded front (triangle and semicircles on the same side of the line)

When the cold front catches up to the warm front, and the warm sector of a cyclone gets squeezed out, occlusion is occurring.

a line of intense damaging winds and thunderstorms that travel a long distance = often favored by a stationary front

explains the life cycle of an extratropical (mid- or high-latitude) cyclone, forming along the polar front

1=stationary front, 2=frontal wave, 3=open wave, 4=mature initial occlusion, 5=advanced occlusion, 6=cut-off cyclone

transport of cold air by the wind = usually favors sinking motion

transport of warm air by the wind = usually favors rising motion

piling up of air

spreading out of air

low-level convergence, rising motion, upper-level divergence

low-level divergence, sinking motion, upper-level convergence