Earth science assignment
Answer the following questions thoroughly.1. What happens to air and water during the steps of cloud formation? (10 points)When the water evaporates it cools and condenses into a cloud than comes down in precipitation.
2. As different types of air masses collide, they will create fronts that produce changing weather. (10 points)
A. How does an occluded front form? (5 points)
An occluded front forms when a cold front moves over a warm front. Cold fronts are faster moving than warm fronts and so they overtake them, forming the occluded front. Occluded fronts are moving, as compared to stationary fronts which do not move. Occluded front stypically bring rain and thunderstorms because the cold front is pushing the warm front up and causing interactions in the air. The two fronts are still separate except where they have collided, so the cold front area of the occluded front is colder and has more intense storms while the warm front area is warmer and less intense.
B. What kind of weather comes before and after an occluded front? (5 points)
Before – cold and wet
After – warm or cool but the air becomes dry
3. A psychrometer is a tool used to measure humidity. (10 points
A. What are the main parts of a psychrometer? (4 points)
the wet bulb thermometer and the dry bulb
B. What steps should you follow to measure humidity with a psychrometer? (4 points)
A sling psychrometer (or hygrometer) uses the difference in readings between a wet bulb thermometer and another with a dry bulb to measure the relative humidity. The bulb that is wet will cool by evaporation to the "dew point", which is the temperature at which the currenthumidity would be the maximum possible. Comparing that to the dry bulb (the general airtemperature) on a comparative chart will yield the approximate relative humidity.
C. What result will let you know the air has a high humidity? (2 points)
The relatively higher temperature on the psychrometer's thermometer, because less water can evaporate into humid air. (And evaporating water has a cooling effect on the thermometer.)
4. Meteorologists use several different prediction methods to figure out what weather is coming. (10 points)
A. Which prediction method is best for making a short-term forecast for a severe weather event? (4 points
Analog Method
B. How does this method work? (3 points)
Scientists compare current conditions to past days with the same conditions.
C. What makes this method most useful for this situation? (3 points)
They look at the weather brought on by past conditions and conclude that similar weather is coming
5. The pressure of air will influence the weather. (5 points)
A. What kind of weather is associated with a high-pressure area? (2 points)High pressure generally means clear skies and drier conditions.
B. What happens to the air of high-pressure areas that leads to this type of weather? (3points)
Air sinks towards the surface of the planet in areas of high pressure and the opposite is true for low pressure areas. Because air rises in low pressure areas, it also cools andcondenses. This condensation can cause precipitation.
6. Use this radar image from the National Weather Service to answer the following questions. (10 points)
A. What type of energy wave is used with radar? (1 point) eletrical
B. How is reflectivity measured with radar? (3 points)
Used to estimate precipitation intensity and rainfall rates
C. What does the level of reflectivity tell meteorologists? (3 points)
Energy waves are sent out from an antenna. Some of them are reflected back. Rain, snow,sleet, and even swarms of bugs reflect the beam back. If more of the beam is sent back, theobject is said to have a high reflectivity. Objects that return a smaller amount of energy havea low reflectivity. Usually, this means that big storms have higher reflectivity than smaller storms. So as a rule, higher reflectivity = higher rainfall amounts
D. What weather is this map showing? (3 points)
Radar maps use color symbols to describe the amount of reflectivity. blue shows the lightreflective area, which is the area with the least rainfall
7. A volcanic eruption can influence climates all over the globe. (15 points)
A. What are three other major factors that influence climate? (3 points)
Distance from the Sea, Altitude, and Latitude
B. How do these factors affect climate? (12 points)
Distance from the Sea
The sea heats up more slowly then land. It also loses heat more slowly then land. Thismeans that coastal areas are neither too hot nor too cold. This is described as low temperature range, Areas that are far away from the sea tend to have a large temperature range, which is described as Continental climate.
Altitude
It is a well known fact that the lower ,in terms of sea level, you are the warmer weather youshould experience. For instance, Mount Kilmajaro is almost at the equator, but its summit is snow-capped all year round. This is because the air surrounding mount kilmanjaro's summitis less able to keep the heat and lets the heat to escape easier.
Latitude
Latitude is the distance from equator at the angle of equator-pole. the Poles are located at90 degrees north and south , meaning that they are 90° over and below the earth's core. if your latitude is greater than 45°, it means that the distance between you and the equator isgreater that between you and the pole. The Equator is at 0° neither north or south.
