Basic Meteorology

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Basic Meteorology
Dr. Kevin Kloesel kkloesel_at_nwc.ou.edu National
Press Foundation March 12, 2007
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Some analogies with the human body.
Blood pressure hypertensive versus normal
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On any given dayor two
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GOALS Earths rotation on its axis Earths
rotation (orbit) around the Sun Patterns of
Uneven Heating Patterns of Pressure Patterns of
Weather!
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Equatorial (Tropical) Regions
Polar Regions
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The uneven heating should produce a global
temperature pattern that looks like this...
Does it?
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Quantitative Temperature measurements look like
this...
WHY?
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And in July.
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Mean annual temperature by latitude (shading
indicates variability)
Note! Be careful with graphs like this!
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Coriolis Force

• An apparent force due to the earths rotation.
• Found in all moving reference systems.
• Occurs when reference systems interact.
• Ever tried to throw a ball on a rotating disk?

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The real world - Notice the global connectivity
Polar Stereographic Projection - Northern
Hemisphere
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Notice the ridge in the Central Plains and the
troughs in the east and west. The trough is
where you observe low 500mb heights (low
thickness values and cold temps.). The ridge is
where the highest thickness values (and highest
temps.) are observed.
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TROUGH TROF
TROUGH
RIDGE
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Anomalies are departures from normal. In this
case, the warm colors indicate above normal, and
the cold colors indicate below normal. Notice the
alternating pattern as you move around the
pole. These data are from May 2001.
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Air Mass Classification
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A global composite water vapor image.
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SO MUCH COMPLEXITYSO MUCH TO LEARNITS ALL
ABOUT RESOLUTION!
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VOXELS mapped into PIXELS, at different
resolution.
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Review!
The Earth is round, spins, orbits an energy
source, and is tilted on its axis at 23.5
degrees. Therefore, we have cold (dense) air at
the poles, and warm (less dense) air in the
tropics. Cold air takes up less space (more
dense) than warm air. The Earth is constantly
trying to reach an equilibrium (moving warm air
poleward and cold air equatorward). Ever-changing
ingredients stirred by troughs and ridges bring
the changing weather conditions that we observe
on Earth.
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Review cont!
Ridge-trough patterns exist around the Earth and
are connected in a circumpolar fashion in each
hemisphere. Therefore, pattern changes in one
region can impact the weather in others.
Ridge-trough patterns result in the migration
of air masses around the planet. Air mass
boundaries are called fronts, and tend to be the
focus for storms and precipitation.
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BREAK TIME!Please do not hesitate to email me
with any questionsKevin Kloeselkkloesel_at_nwc.ou.
edu