ATM OCN 100 - Fall 2000 LECTURE 1B

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ATM OCN 100 - Fall 2000LECTURE 1B

• OBSERVATIONS of EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE
• A. INTRODUCTION Practical Questions
• What constitutes the atmosphere?
• What can we learn about the atmosphere?
• Why do we want to know about it?

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B. THE PLANET EARTH

• Uniqueness of Planet Earth
• Water Planet
• The planet with life
• Components of Planet Earth System
• Lithosphere
• Atmosphere
• Hydrosphere
• Cryosphere
• Biosphere
• Interactions within System
• Weathering
• Hydrological cycle

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From Geog. 101 UW-Stevens Point
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C. SURVEY of PLANET EARTHS ATMOSPHERE

• Importance of Earth's atmosphere
• Moderates temperature of planet
• Shields life from harsh space environment
• Provides life with water, oxygen, etc.
• Overall Dimensions of Earth's atmosphere
• About 100 km (62 mi) thick
• Compare with 6370 km (3950 mi) earth radius
  but ....

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VERTICAL VARIATION in ATMOSPHERIC
DENSITIESSource U.S. Std. Atmosphere, 1976
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C. SURVEY OF PLANET EARTHS ATMOSPHERE (cont)

• Importance of Earth's atmosphere
• Overall Dimensions of Earth's atmosphere
• Comparison with other components of Earth System

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ESTIMATED VOLUMES MASSES of EARTH SYSTEM
COMPONENTSSource J.Y. Wang, 1975
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D. WEATHER-CLIMATE ELEMENTS

• What we need to Know
• Weight (mass), Energy, Constituents, Motion.
• Observed Weather-Climate Elements
• AIR PRESSURE
• AIR TEMPERATURE
• ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY
• PRECIPITATION
• CLOUD TYPE, AMOUNT
• WINDS (SPEED DIRECTION)

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E. PROBING THE ATMOSPHERE

• Surface vs. Aloft
• Locations
• Problems
• Surface Weather Station
• Human observer,
• Thermometers, barometers, rain gauges, wind
  instruments, etc.

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Traditional Surface Weather Station
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Automated Weather Station (ASOS)
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NWS FAA Automatic Weather Stations
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Automated Weather Buoy
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E. PROBING THE ATMOSPHERE (cont.)

• Other Observation Tools/Platforms
• Radiosondes
• Weather Radar
• Weather Satellites
• Meteorological Rockets
• Wind Profilers

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Radiosonde
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Radiosonde (cont)
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RADIOSONDE LOCATIONS
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Weather Radar
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Weather Radar (cont.)
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Weather Radar (cont.)
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NWS DOPPLER RADAR SITES
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GOES Satellite
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Geosynchronous Satellite Field of View
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ATS-III in 1968
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GOES-11 in 2000
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Visible vs. IR Images
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Man Computer Data Acquisition System (McIDAS)
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TIROS in 1960s
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F. VISUALIZING THE WEATHERTHE SURFACE WEATHER
MAP

• Meaning of synoptic weather analysis
• synoptic syn same optic to see
• Goal of synoptic weather analysis
• Requirements for synoptic weather analysis
• Same time of observation
• Uniform instruments observation techniques

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MAP of TIME ZONESU.S. Naval Observatory, 1996
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F. THE SURFACE WEATHER MAP (cont.)

• Historical perspective
• First weather map in 1819 of 1783 Storm
• Early U.S. Weather maps in 1870s.

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Surface weather map Sep. 1872
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F. THE SURFACE WEATHER MAP (cont.)

• Interpretation of modern surface weather maps
  where...

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ON THE SURFACE WEATHER MAP

• Pressure systems
• Isobars (iso bar)
• Highs Lows
• Winds
• Circulation around Highs Lows
• The Hand-twist Model
• Clouds
• Fronts
• Cold fronts, warm fronts stationary fronts

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Warm Front
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Cold Front
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Stationary Fronts