Weather Flashcards
What is the weather?
The day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere
How do you measure the air pressure?
With a barometer
How do you measure the air temperature?
With a thermometer
How do you measure wind speed?
With an anemometer
How do you measure wind direction?
With a wind vane
What is climate?
The average weather conditions based over a minimum of 30 years based on temperature and precipitation
What 3 cells affect the climate of the worlds countries?
Polar, Ferrell and Hadley
Why does the UK’s weather change so much?
The polar cell has cold air (north), subtropical air (south) change the conditions from warm & wet to cold & icy
Why is the Sahara so dry?
In the Ferrel cell the air sinks, no clouds, no precipitation, no vegetation so it’s dry
Why do we have tropical rainforests?
The Hadley cell creates a hot & sweaty, humid, cloudy atmosphere around the equator with high rainfall
Artic air
Cold and dry. In winter it brings cold/snowy weather
Polar continental air
Very cold, dry air from Siberia. It brings cold/frosty weather in winter
Tropical continental air
Hot, dry air mass from North Africa and brings hot weather in summer
Tropical maritime air
Warm, wet air from the Caribbean. It brings warm, cloudy weather often with rain
Polar maritime air
Cold air from Greenland. It brings cool, showery weather
What’s a high pressure system?
It circulates clockwise causing a sinking motion in the atmosphere, generating fairer, clearer and often sunnier skies
What’s a low pressure system?
A counter-clockwise circulation forcing air upwards resulting in condensation, cloud formation and ultimately precipitation
Hydrological cycle
Transpiration. Condensation. Precipitation. Infiltration. Through-flow. Surface runoff. Groundwater flow. Evaporation. Percolation. Interception
Dredging
Silt builds up on river bed over time. During heavy rain, river floods. Diggers or vacuum pumps can be used to remove silt and increase river capacity. But after an extreme flood, river accumulates more silt as flow slows down
