Lec 7: Energy, Weather and Climate

Question 1

what is the big difference between pressure-driven air movement and landform-driven air movement?

Answer 1

It is the same equation but for pressure-driven air movement, the most important factor is temperature changes
For landform-driven air movement it is the pressure changes that are most important

Question 2

what is a jet stream?

Answer 2

area of very fast air movement in the upper atmosphere
when it moves it impacts pressure regions

(polar jet and subtropical jet)

Question 3

Finish the sentence
Weather is your… Climate is your…

Answer 3

Mood, personality

Question 4

what is a climate forcing?

Answer 4

factors which have been shown to influence climate (global or regional)

Question 5

what are the 2 global climate forcings

Answer 5

1. precipitations
2. energy received from solar radiation

Question 6

what are the 2 principals behind global temperatures changing over time

Answer 6

1. the more an object faces the sun the more energy it receives
2. planet orbits the sun with an axis tilt (this creates temporal differences, greater at the poles and lesser at the equator)

Question 7

what are climatic oscillations?

Answer 7

cyclical variations in climate that do not follow annual cycles like seasons
any recurring global or local climate pattern

Question 8

what does ENSO stand for?

Answer 8

El Nino southern oscillation
(climatic oscillation involved with the atmospheric and oceanic processes)

Question 9

what is the ENSO?

Answer 9

cyclic variations in the sea surface temperatures and convection cells in the equatorial region of the pacific ocean

Question 10

what is the typical pattern in ocean and atmospheric circulation in the pacific?

Answer 10

1. Surface winds *trade winds) at the equator drive surface ocean currents westward
2. surface water moved westward is replaced by colder water from deeper in the ocean (upwelling)
3. Warmer water collects westward (heats up the air through conduction and drives air circulation through convection)
4. air circulation moves air eastward (fueling further movement of surface winds westward!)

Question 11

what is the el nino pattern?

Answer 11

warm surface water shifts eastward towards South Americas
(warm water now distributed across the entire equatorial region -> not concentrated in the west)

Warm water still drives a convection cell
(except that is starts more centrally in the ocean)