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Mod 1 > Meterology > Flashcards

Meterology Flashcards

1
Q

What is the role of the ozone?

A

Absorbs short wave solar radiation. it too acts as a heat source in the atmosphere.

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2
Q

What are the characteristics of the troposphere?

A
  • Lowest layer in the atmosphere
  • In this layer temperature decreases with height.
    the temperature decrease is about 2 degrees per 1000ft or 0.65 degrees per 100m (or 0.65 degrees per km.)
  • Layer is 11km thick
  • Lapse rate decreases to less than two degrees per km (1.98 degrees.)
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3
Q

What are the characteristics of the tropopause?

A
  • Height where temperature no longer decreases with altitude > air is ‘stable’
  • Acts as a barrier no air can rise through it.
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4
Q

What are the heights of the tropopause? Why are they like this?

A

-8-10km over the poles and 16-18km over the equator. (reaches the tropopause)

At the poles the air is much cooler so the air is retained closer to the surface.

-At the equator, the air expands and ‘pushes’ the tropopause outwards and away from the surface (in the latitude.)

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5
Q

When is the height of the tropopause lowest and at its highest?

A

Highest height at summer. Lowest height at winter.

‘the height is determined by the temperature of the air in the troposphere near the surface.’ > the warmer the air the higher the tropopause the colder the air the lower the tropopause.

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6
Q

Where are the tropopause breaks?

A

They are where fast moving upper air currents (jet streams) found?

Ferrel and Polar cells is knows as a ‘break or fold’

30 degrees and 60 degrees.

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7
Q

what is the average surface temperature? How much does the temperature decrease by per height.

A

+15 degrees
2 degrees per 1000ft

1km = 3280ft

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8
Q

What are the characteristics of the tropopause?

A
  • Temperature increases with altitude
  • Temperature is constant with with height (isothermal) > as height increases so does the temperature.
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9
Q

What causes the increase in temperature in the stratosphere?

A

Its caused by the absorption of the suns ultraviolet (UV) by the ozone layer. Ozone layer is found 25km AMSL.

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10
Q

why is the stratosphere a good place to fly?

A
  • Stable and generally uniform > no convection.
    -Avoids hazards.
  • Cold dry conditions with no active weather and no convective turbulence.
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11
Q

What are the characteristics of the mesosphere?

A
  • Temperature decreases with height > 0- 90 degrees.
  • Mesosphere extends from 50km to 80-90km.
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12
Q

What dare the readings of a radioscope measure?

A

Temperature
Pressure
Humidity
Tracks wind but does not measure.

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13
Q

What’s terrestrial radiation?

A

When the earth absorbs solar radiation it heats up. The atmosphere is heated up by the surface.

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14
Q

What is conduction?

A

Transfer of heat by direct physical contact which occurs at the bottom few thousand feet of the atmosphere.

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15
Q

What is convection?

A

Vertical transfer of heat upwards and downwards.

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16
Q

What is Advection?

A

Horizontal transfer of heat.

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17
Q

What is Turbulence?

A

Chaotic interference between two airflows. this is the changes in heat between the surface and upper layers.

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18
Q

What is insolation?

A

Short wave energy that penetrates through the atmosphere and reaches the earths surface

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19
Q

What is albedo? What factors affect it?

A

Albedo is incident light reflecting by the surface.

Factors:
Seasons
Latitude
Surface type
Reflectivity of surface
Reflectivity of cloud

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20
Q

What are Greenhouse gases?

A

-Absorb terrestrial radiation emitted from surface
-Maintain habitable temperatures
-Absorption causes global temperatures to rise.
-Contains water vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane, ozone and carbon monoxide.

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21
Q

What are the effect of clouds?

A

Daytime: Solar radiation (insolation)
Nighttime: terrestrial radiation > re-radiates the atmosphere

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22
Q

How is energy transferred through the atmosphere?

A

Terrestrial/thermal/infrared radiation
Conduction
Convection
Advection
Latent heat

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23
Q

what are the causes of wind

A

Mixing of warmer layers with cooler layer > causes turbulence.

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24
Q

What is the polar stratospheric cloud called?

A

Nacreous

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25
Q

What is the standard mesosphere called?

A

Noctilucent

26
Q

What are the densities at different feet?

A

10,000ft = 0.903kg/m^3
22,000ft = 0.602kg/m^3 (when density is half.)
40,000ft = 0.302kg/m^3

27
Q

What are the pressures at different feet?

A

Ascending pressure (hpa) = descending feet (ft)
100hpa = 50,0000ft
200hpa = 40,000ft
300hpa = 30,000ft
400hpa = 20,000ft
500hpa = 10,000ft

28
Q

Whats a subsidence inversion?

A
  • Common in high pressure area
  • Descending dry air warms faster than static environmental air
29
Q

What is a Frontal layer?

A

Warm, less dense, air flows up and over cooler, denser air

30
Q

Whats a friction layer?

A

Created by turbulent mixing modifying the surface layer lapse rate.

31
Q

Whats a valley inversion?

A

Formed at night when colder, denser air sinks, displacing warmer air apwards

32
Q

What’s ITCZ

A

Intertropical convergence zone

33
Q

What happens in a high pressure area?

A
  1. Upper level convergence
  2. Sinking air
  3. Adiabatic warming
  4. Surface level divergence (as it cannot go any further so it expands horizontally.)
34
Q

What happens in a low pressure area?

A
  1. Surface level convergence
  2. Rising air
  3. Adiabatic warming
  4. Upper level divergence (as it cannot go any further past tropopause so it expands horizontally.)
35
Q

Absolute humidity is?

A

The amount of water vapour that a given quantity of air holds

36
Q

What is the humidity mixing ratio?

A

The number of grams of water vapour per kilogram of dry air

37
Q

Saturation is?

A

When a sample of air contains the maximum amount of water vapour that it can support at a given temperature and pressure

38
Q

Relative humidity is?

A

The amount of water vapour in a sample of air compared to how much that sample of air could contain.

39
Q

What is the diurnal relative humidity?

A

increases with a decrease in temperature

relative humidity is inversely proportional to temperature.

40
Q

What is the ELR, DALR & SALR

A

DALR = 3 deg/1000ft or 1deg/100m
ELR = varies
SALR = 1.8 deg/1000ft or 0.6 deg/100m

41
Q

What is it called when a force drives an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure?

A

Pressure gradient force (PGF)

42
Q

what are isobars?

A

Lines of equal pressure

43
Q

What affects density the most and what affects density the least?

A

Most - Pressure
Least - Humidity

44
Q

Air is saturated when?

A

It cannot hold anymore water vapour and it begins to condensate (after it meets the dew point)

45
Q

What is disposition?

A

when gas turns into a solid

46
Q

What is sublimination?

A

when solid turns into a gas

47
Q

What is latent heat in melting

A

Latent heat is absorbed from the solid surroundings and stored in liquid water.

48
Q

What is latent heat in evaporation/vapourisation?

A

Adding heat gives the energy to break apart H2O molecules resulting in latent heat being taken from its surroundings

49
Q

What equipment measures humidity?

A

Digital Hygrometer
Psychrometer

50
Q

What is the cumuliform cloud base?

A

Cloud base (ft) = temperature - Dew point) x 400

51
Q

What triggers thunderstorms?

A

Convection, orthographic uplift, frontal uplift, TURBULENCE

52
Q

The earth has 3 global pressure system cells; where are they located?

A

Northern hemisphere

1st Polar (0-30 deg) 8-10km over the tropopause
2nd Ferrel (30-60 deg) 11km tropopause height
3rd Hadley (60-90deg) 16-18km troposphere height

Southern Hemisphere

1st Hadley (90-120 deg) 16-18km troposphere height
2nd Ferrel (120-150 deg) 11km tropopause height
3rd Polar (150-180 deg) 8-10km over the tropopause

53
Q

ITCZ

A

CB’s!!

54
Q

What are the columbs in the met form 214

A

1st column = Altitude in 1000s ft
2nd/3rd column = Wind direction and speed
4th column = Temperature

55
Q

Characteristic of Microburst

A

A downflow of cold air.
Lasts 4min and 4km (4/4)

56
Q

Radiation Inversion

A

Often occurs at night when temperature leaves the surface and increases with height. Remember no blanky on the earths surface

57
Q

What measures the

A
58
Q

Explain terrestrial radiation

A

Short wave insolation penetrates through the atmosphere
Long wave terrestrial radiation absorbed by the atmosphere

59
Q

Precipitation types and sizes

A

Cloud/water droplets: 0.02mm diameter
Drizzle (DZ): Diameter less than 0.5mm
Snow grains (SG): less than 1mm
Snow pellets: 2 – 5 mm
Small Hail (GS): < 5mm
Hail (GR): Hail 5 – 50mm

60
Q

What happens to altitude in hot and cold temperatures?

A

When the air is warmer (higher pressure) the altitude will be higher than ISA (SAFE)

When the air is colder (low pressure) the altitude will be lower than ISA (DANGER -> HIGH TO LOW, LOOK OUT BELOW! )

Mod 1 (6 decks)

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