History of Atmospheric Studies Flashcards
What temperature gauge was invented in 1593 and how does it work?
Galileo’s thermoscope, which measures temperature changes by observing the rise and fall of a liquid in a tube
Who amended Galileo’s thermoscope to make it a thermometer and when?
Santorio Santorio, who added a scale in 1612
Who created the barometer and when?
Evangelista Torricelli in 1643
How does Torricelli’s barometer work?
A 35’’ column of mercury was used to represent air pressure, with 760mmHg representing 1 atm. As pressure was exerted on the mercury, it flowed up the inverted tube to a higher reading
What did Torricelli propose as the cause of winds?
Differences of air temperature & density between 2 regions of the Earth
What did Pascal & Perier find as they climbed Puy de Dome, and what conclusions did this lead to?
Higher elevations had lower pressure, which they concluded was caused by differences in the weight of the air. This also implies that a vacuum exists above the atmosphere
What did de Saussure find as he climbed Mount Blanc? What did von Helmholtz infer from this data?
Air temperature decreased by ~0.7C per 100m, which implies that temperature is absolute 0 at 30km (it isn’t due to radiation dynamics)
Who discovered the Stratosphere and how?
de Bort found an area in which temperature stopped dropping and remained the same (8 to 13km) after launching weather balloons around Paris in 1902. Assmann found similar results at the same time
What was Inspiration I?
A lawn chair tied with 40 weather balloons, with which Larry Walters rose to 5,000m (he expected 30m)
Who first proposed Hadley Cells & how do they differ to modern understanding?
Edmond Halley & George Hadley proposed Hadley Cells in the early 1800s as large, hemisphere spanning circulations. This was amended due to the presence of high pressure zones in mid latitudes & Trade Winds blowing wind from the east in the tropics
Who discovered jet streams & how was their rediscovery significant?
James Glaisher discovered jet streams; Wasaburo Oishi rediscovered in the 1920s. Japanese government used them to launch hydrogen balloons to America during WWII
