Physical - Atmosphere and Weather Systems Flashcards
particles attracted to water eg. Dust or pollution
Hygroscopic Nuclei
Average weather over a period of 30 yrs
Climate
Day to day changes in the Earth’s atmosphere
Weather
The layer of atmosphere with: cloud formation, 50% of atmosphere’s gases + rapidly increasing temps
Troposphere
The layer of atmosphere with: light winds (increase in strength with heights), steady temp increase, ozone layer + low pressures
Stratosphere
The layer of the atmosphere with: very little gas, decreasing temps + winds reaching 3000km/hr
Mesophere
The layer of the atmosphere with: warming up to 1500ºc (oxygen absorbing insolation)
Thermosphere
A gas which is an essential macronutrient for plants, 80% of the atmosphere and dilutes oxygen concentration to 20%
Nitrogen
A gas which is used for respiration and combustion. 20% of the atmphere
Oxygen
A gas that is used in photosynthesis, traps heat + absorbs long-wave radiation. 0.005-0.03% of the atmosphere (changed over 100yrs from 0.027-0.04%)
Carbon dioxide
A gas that is essential for weather and the formation of clouds, a natural greenhouse gas + absorbs/reflects radiation
Water vapour
A trace gas that is a natural greenhouse gas, absorbing/reflecting radiation and is essential for life (filters out harmful UV rays)
Ozone
A gas that is a natural greenhouse gas. 0.0002% of the atmosphere
Methane
The perfect balance between insolation absorbed by the earth and terrestrial radiation escaping it in the form of radiation
Earth’s heat budget
The amount of solar radiation reaching a given area.
Insolation
A movement of heat from cold to hot regions and vice versa by wind (80%) and ocean currents (20%)
Horizontal heat transfers
A movement of heat upwards, preventing the Earth’s surface getting hotter and atmosphere getting colder by: radiation, convection, conduction and latent heat
Vertical heat tranfere
The heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapour, or a liquid into a vapour, without a change of temperature.
Latent heat
Changes due to fluctuations that happen during the day and the variations in the day-night cycle
Diurnal variations
A model that gives an understanding as to how our atmosphere’s circulatory patterns functions
Tri-cellular model,
Intercontinental tropical zone
ICTZ
A large air mass that rotates around a strong centre of low atmospheric pressure, a type of meteorological hazard
Cyclone
Weather phenomenon of a large-scale circulation of winds around an area of high pressure where air is sinking and gets colder, pushing warm moist air upwards
Anticyclone
A narrow band of powerful air currents between the cells: polar front (arctic), subtropical (tropics), conventional (equator)
Jet streams
Movement of air from the equator due to the Earth’s axial rotation
Coriolis effect
The coldest cell of the tri-cellular model,
Polar cell
A cell where air flows poleward, playing a major part in horizontal transport
Ferrel cell
A cell which circulates around the equator rising, then falling on the tropics
Hadley cell
Particles attracted to water that readily permits condensation eg. dust or pollution
Hygroscopic nuclei
The merging of water droplets after colliding
Coalescence
Hot, rising air which is unpredictable and lighter than the atmosphere
Unstable air
A region having little rainfall because it’s sheltered from prevailing rain-bearing winds by a range of hills
Rain shadow
The temperature the air needs to be cooled at in order to condense + form clouds
Dew point
Facing the wind
Windward
Slopes oriented away from the wind, little rainfall
Lee slope
Downwind from the wind, sheltered
Leeward
Hills on land from the sea
Relief rainfall trigger
Collision of warm air to cold air, usually up a hill
Frontal rainfall
Rise in flat ground’s temperature
Convectional rainfall trigger
An air mass known as “the beast of the east” from Russia. Winter: cold+ snow (from North Sea), high wind chill factor. Summer: warm and stable
Polar continental
An air mass that only occurs during the summer when sub-tropical high pressures move north, heatwave conditions in lower layers and unstable at upper layers (conventional uplift leads to thunderstorms), gentle winds, dusty haze
Tropical continental
A cold and wet air mass that brings snow and stong winds
Arctic Maritime
An air mass hotter and wetter than tropical maritime
Equitorial Maritimes
Bands of fast-moving winds between cells of the tri-cellular model. Move in a westerly direction and can be up to 200km/h. Jet streams are within these
Rossby waves
The formation of waves
Cyclogenesis
Stage where two fronts of air, warm and cold and produced due to Coriolis force and jet streams
Embryo stage
As the warm sector gets squeezed eventually the cold front catches up with the warm front and all of the air is now pushed up into the upper atmosphere creating a layer of cloud that eventually breaks up and the depression dies.
Occluded front
Large areas of low pressure that form and are being pusher East to West across the Atlantic. They usually last for 4-5 days
Depression
Fast-moving air cold air that have large towering cumulonimbus clouds and heavy rainfall with strong winds and a large pressure gradient
Cold front
An area of no rain and high cirrus clouds at the beginning and as it moves towards the warm sector, there’s long periods of heavy drizzle and thicker nimbostratus clouds as moisture rises along the front forming long lasting rain
Warm front
An area of a depression where there’s no clouds and stable conditions with a uniform pressure gradient
Warm sector
An area of a depression where conditions are stable with some cumulus clouds, little rain and clear skies
Cold sector
When the cold front meets the warm front and air rises and dissipates and the depression ends
Decay
Where the cold front reaches the warm front
Occlusion
In a normal summer where westerly winds are blocked by anticyclonic systems and jet streams over UK bring stable conditions
Blocking phase
In the summer when jet streams flow across UK, allowing Atlantic depressions increasing the chance of floods and storms
Progressive phase
A weather map, showing simple weather patterns
Synoptic chart
A British saying for high pollution and smog
Pea souper
Amount of solar radiation received on the earths surface at a given time
Insolation
A localised, very intense low-pressure wind system, forming over tropical oceans and with winds of hurricane force. Known as Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons. Formed by: 27c, warm, shallow seas, 5-25 N and S of equator, Coriolis effect and low pressure
Tropical Storm
A coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones due to the displaced water from swelling at low pressure areas.
Storm surge
cloud forming a towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top, in tropical storms and depressions
Cumulonimbus
A scale 1 to 5 based only on a hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speed. Doesn’t take into account: storm surges, rainfall flooding, or tornadoes. Estimates potential property damage.
Saffir Simpson Scale
The price of a product or service measured in comparison to the price of another product/ region eg. for the Philippines, $12bn Typhoon Hayan damages was a lot
Relative Cost
The cost of something on a global economic scale
Absolute cost
A decrease in the usual amount of precipitation for that area over an extended period of time (usually a season)
Drought
A calculation that lets us analyze data points by creating a series of averages based on different subsets of a data set
Rolling average
A drought where lack of precipitation effects water supplies eg. Groundwater levels, rivers, lakes and reservoirs
Hydrometrological
A drought due to lack of precipitation or dryness from region to region
Metrological drought
A drought where the lack of precipitation affects agriculture or where the overuse of agriculture causes droughts
Agricultural drought
A drought where the demand for water has an economic impact eg. HEP or water needed for Social aspect could be lack of water leading to disease like cholera usually in an LEDC
Socioeconomic drought
Water in this zone is used by plants + animals and can infiltrate or be evaporated + lost to the atmosphere
Surface water
The boundary between water-saturated ground and unsaturated ground
Water table
Water in this zone can be stored for long periods of time (100,000yrs) and can flow out as springs. It can be recharged by rains infiltrating through the unsaturated zone, pumping water in. It’s lost via extraction, creating a cone of depression around a well. Droughts lead to groundwater deficit.
Groundwater/aquifer
Causing a shape of an inverted cone in the water table and develops around a well from which water is being withdrawn
Cone of depression
Water in this zone can by used by plants + animals and can infiltrate and be stored as soil moisture. During hot weather, sun increases evaporation and water is drawn upwards via capillary action +lost to the environment
Subsurface Water
Volume of water flowing through a river channel; measured at any given point
River discharge
Shows the predicted path of the typhoon, grows wider and further away from the storm
Cone of uncertainty
Data that require supercomputers to sort
Big data
Predicts weather forecast
Supercomputers
Balloon that carried instruments aloft to send back info on atmospheric pressure, humidity + wind
Weather balloon
Standard shelter (from wind + precipitation) for meteorological instruments eg. wet+dry bulb thermometers recording humidity + air temp
Stevenson screen
Weather stations that measure a large variety of different meteorological parameters
Ground stations
Measures velocity (speed+direction) of objects eg. precipitation
Doppler radar
The scientific term for a weather map providing information on distribution, movement and patterns
Synoptic charts
Weather buoys that collect data on open seas
Ocean buoys
Military aircraft flying routine weather reconnaissance tracks to detect the formation of tropical cyclones eg. Hurrican hunters
Weather aircraft
Satellites that stay over a particular spot, orbiting with the earth, detecting development of rapidly changing weather
Geostationary satellites (GOES)
Satellites that move pole-to-pole, orbiting perpendicular to the Earth, monitoring long-term weather changes
Polar-orbiting satellites
Uses mathematical modelling of atmosphere + ocean to predict the weather based on current weather conditions (using supercomputers)
Numerical weather prediciton
Flood defences made of compacted soil to provide protection to small areas but are expensive and require lots of land
Levees
Vertical walls for flood protection made of manmade materials, common in urban areas with deep foundations and high costs
Flood walls
Area designated to flood because of land gradient to protect vulnerable floodplains
Controlled flooding
Flood protection with level surrounding it that contains water
Compartmentalising flooding
