GEOG 120 Online Your Name ______________________________ ASSIGNMENT #4 Air Temperature, Air Pressure, and Atmospheric Winds 1) Consider the Heat Storage Capacity for water (vs. for land): * For such a small molecule, water has an incredibly (high or low) _____________ Heat Storage Capacity. * This means that to get a given increase-in-temperature, water must gain (a little or a lot)_______________ of Heat Energy. * Likewise, to get a given decrease-in-temperature, water must lose (a little or a lot) _______________ of Heat Energy. * Thus, Water-Bodies do what to temperature-change? Water-bodies ________________ temperature-change. * Thus, all other things being equal, continental interiors experience (greater or lesser) ______________annual temperature ranges than do coastal locations. 2 2) FOR EACH, CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING 3 ISOTHERM MAPS: (If you are stuck, then make-up your own reasonable numbers for the isotherms, using a CI = 10[oF].) ➢ Indicates cooler temperatures along the coastal regions, and warmer temperatures in the continental interiors. _______ ➢ Typical summertime temperature distribution. _______ ➢ The temperature distribution that would result if the only control on temperature were the latitudinal variation in insolation receipt. _______ 2 3) FOR EACH, CHOOSE ONE FROM THE FOLLOWING 5 RELATIONSHIPS: A B C D E Vertical Axis (V) (H) Horizontal Axis ➢ Assume: Vertical Axis = “Elevation” and Horizontal Axis = “Temperature.” Which line shows the “Average Temperature change up through the Troposphere? _________ ➢ Assume: Vertical Axis = “Elevation” and Horizontal Axis = “Temperature.” Which line shows the “Average Temperature change up through the Stratosphere?” _________ 4) Draw in the North Pacific Oceanic Gyre. Draw in the North Atlantic Oceanic Gyre. Label the California Current, the Gulf Stream, and the North Atlantic Drift. Of the three, indicate which are “warm water currents” and which are “cold.” 3 5) Fill-in the blanks (From the “Atmospheric Winds” Handout…and note that the following maps are “isobar” maps, NOT “isotherm” maps!) Surface Weather Maps (“Isobar Maps”) show: ✓ ✓ The air pressure distribution at Earth’s surface (i.e., how much air is above the surface from place-to-place, calibrated to Sea Level), and, The resultant direction that the wind blows. Air Pressure: ✓ “__________” are lines on a map that link together points of equal atmospheric pressure (on Surface Maps calibrated to Sea Level). Isobars are read in the same manner as are “isotherms.” ✓ As such, “Surface Isobar Maps” show how much _____ is above Earth’s surface from place-to-place (so that a “center of High pressure” is analogous to a “mountain of air”) ✓ H-Pressure is associated with “_____ skies;” L-Pressure generally brings “________ weather” (though this is not generally the case with a “____________ L” as typically found over a ____ ________ surface) ✓ Standard Sea Level Atmospheric Pressure = _________ [mb] (“mb” means “millibars”). ✓ A “Contour Interval” of __ [mb] is commonly used on Surface Weather Maps (i.e., an isobar is drawn every time the pressure changes by 4 [mb]). Wind Direction: ✓ Given a difference in pressure (i.e., a “pressure gradient”), winds blow from ___ to ___ pressure (i.e., wind blows across the lines from Higher to Lower pressure). o However, winds don’t actually go straight across the isobars, as “Earth rotation” deflects winds to the _______ in the Northern Hemisphere (the so-called “Coriolis Force”). o So…surface winds get deflected part-way across the isobars toward lower pressure, at about a ___o angle. Wind Speed: ✓ Winds blow fastest where gradients are _________ (i.e., where lines are __________ together). Naming Winds: ✓ Winds are named ______ where they blow (e.g., “Westerly” blows from _____ to _____, or “Northeasterly” blows from the northeast to the southwest, or “Sea Breeze” blows from the _____ to the ______, etc.). 4 6) “Santa-Ana Winds” and the “Fallbrook Fire” (Feb. 11, 2002) On the map below (over “The 48”): Prominently label (1) the “Great Basin High,” and (2) the “Midlatitude Cyclonic Storm.” Color the following “fronts:” COLD FRONTS = blue, WARM FRONT = red, OCCLUDED FRONT = yellow. Then, label the following 5 cities, and complete the table: (1) (2) City Surface Air Pressure [mb] (3) (4) (FROM where they blow) (slow, med, fast) (remind instructor to answer these together) __________ Name this offshore wind:______________ Surface Relative Wind Direction* Wind Speed (5) Weather-related Questions a) San Diego ___________ ______________ b) Salt Lake City ___________ ______________ __________ Name this H-Pressure system: _________ c) Kansas City ___________ ______________ __________ d) Miami ___________ ______________ __________ e) Pittsburgh ___________ ______________ __________ Fair-skies or Storm? How can you tell?___________________ What’s approaching from the west? _____________________ Fair-skies or Storm? How can you tell?___________________ (in the Mountains) Use of the terms “Offshore” or “Onshore” does NOT follow the Naming Convention for winds * At any city where the direction of the Pressure Gradient is unknown-at-this-scale, write Wind Direction “unknown” Arrows have been drawn to indicate wind direction at selected locations. CI = 4mb. 2) On the Isobar Map below: (1) Label the following cities, (2) draw an The map above shows a major “Great Basin High” that generated strong, wintertime “Santa Ana” winds into San Diego County, destroying over 30 homes in the 2002 “Fallbrook Fire.” 5 7) “Midlatitude Cyclonic Storm” vs. “Tropical Cyclone:” (a) Prominently label the “Desert Thermal Low,” the “Midlatitude Cyclonic Storm,” and the “Tropical Cyclonic Storm.” (b) Color the Fronts: Cold = blue, Occluded = Yellow, Stationary = gray (pencil). (c) Label the 5 cities listed below. (d) Draw a small arrow at each of the 5 cities showing wind direction. Then (e) complete the following table: (1) (2) City Surface Air Pressure _ [mb] a) San Diego ___________ b) Salt Lake City c) (3) (4) Surface Relative Wind Direction* Wind Speed (5) (slow, med, or fast) Weather-Related Questions___________ ______________ __________ Name this onshore wind:_____________ ___________ ______________ __________ Fair-skies or Storm?________________ Kansas City ___________ ______________ __________ d) Miami ___________ ______________ __________ e) Pittsburgh ___________ ______________ __________ What just passed thru? ______________ But what’s now building?____________ Name the feature now passing thru Florida:________________ What feature over Indiana is approaching?_____________ (from where they blow) 2004’s Hurricane Francis, a Tropical Cyclone, is hitting the Florida Panhandle, downgrading into Tropical Storm (TS) strength. NOTE – Florida was to be hit by a whooping four Hurricanes in the 2004 Season! Then in 2005, Hurricanes Katrina & Rita would decimate New Orleans, as long predicted. Meanwhile a major winter-type Midlatitude Cyclonic Storm batters eastern Canada (its “frontal region” extends from Ontario down into Mexico!), while a cold (but “fair-sky”) Anticyclone (a “High”) builds behind the Cold Front. Also, a “Desert Thermal Low” remains persistent over the hot desert east of San Diego. * At any city where the direction of the Pressure Gradient is unknown-at-thisscale, write Wind Direction “unknown”
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