Lesson 1-Weather, Climate, and Meteorology (Unit 1)

What is Weather?

The state of the atmosphere.

Weather

Short-term conditions (minutes or days) of the restless atmospheric system.

Climate

Long-term conditions of a region; not just an “average of weather” but a comprehensive statistical analysis of aggregate weather conditions for a specific region.

Weather includes the following elements….

Air temperature, air pressure, humidity, clouds, precipitation, visibility, and wind

Air Temperature

degree of hotness or coldness of the air

Air Pressure

The force of the air above and area

Humidity

Measure of the amount of water vapor in the air

Clouds

Visible masses of tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals that are above Earth’s surface

Precipitation

Any form of water, either, liquid or solid (e.g. rain, snow), that falls from clouds and reaches the ground

Visibility

The greatest distance one can see

Wind

The horizontal movement of air

What is the Atmosphere?

Is a mostly gaseous envelope gravitationally bound to a celestial body (e.g., a planet, its satellite, or a star)

The atmosphere consists of…..

gases, solids and liquids

What is Climate?

The slowly varying aspects of the atmosphere-land surface system

How is climate typically characterized?

In terms of suitable averages of the climate system over time (months, years, decades), taking into consideration the variability in time of these averages quantities.

Climatic classification includes?

the spatial variation of these time-averaged variables.

What five components of the climate system interact.

They are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere, and the biosphere.

Weather is what you ____, climate is what you _____

get, expect

What is Meteorology? (Aristotle)

In Aristotle’s day, all substances that fell from the sky, and anything seen in the air, were called meteors, hence the term meteorology which comes from the Greek word meteors meaning “high in the air”.

What is Meteorology? (Now)

The study of the physics, chemistry, and dynamics of Earth’s atmosphere, including the related effects at the air-earth boundary over both land and the oceans.

What is the underlying science for meteorology?

weather and weather forecasting.

Fundamental topics of meteorology

composition, structure, and motion of the atmosphere

The goals ascribed to meteorology

The complete understanding and accurate prediction of atmospheric phenomena

What laid the foundation of modern meteorology

The invention of meteorological instruments and the introduction of meteorological observations

When did scientist invent tools to study weather

During the Renaissance and Scientific revolution

Anemometer

Consisted of a device place perpendicular to the direction of the wind that would spin due to the wind, the angle of inclination of the disk momentarily reveling its forces

Hygrometer

Measures humidity by calculating the weight of wool’s absorption of water vapor against a balance beam

Thermoscope

(Not a thermometer) it couldn’t measure meter temperature because it had no scale

Thermometer (sort of…)

By adding a numerical scale to the thermoscope we got closer to the thermometer but not there quite yet

Physics

Is used to explain the behavior of gases, liquids, and solids in the atmosphere (and weather systems)

Mercury Barometer

A tool used to measure atmospheric pressure, also called barometric pressure. This is the oldest type of barometer.

Alcohol Thermometer

The first thermometer to depend on the expansion and contraction of a liquid (alcohol) which was independent of barometric pressure.

Fahrenheit

Creates a reliable scale for measuring temperature with a mercury-type thermometer

Celsius

temperature scale

Telegraph

Allowed for the transmission of routine weather observations

National Weather Service (NWS) was originally?

The U.S. Signal Service

The use of the radar to observer weather developed when?

As an outcome of the intensive work on radar technology during World War 2

What is the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)?

Led to operational numerical weather prediction within five years and paved the way for remarkable advances in weather prediction and climate modeling

The first computer weather forecasts were made using this.

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

Where was the first operational Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR) deployed?

US

Doppler Radar

Developed for meteorological use and became operational with introduction of NEXRAD.

Doppler Radar observes what?

The frequency of light and sound waves was affected by the relative motion of the source and the detector (the phenomenon became known as the doppler effect)

What is the most significant achievement in monitoring weather by instrumentation

satellite imagery

TIROS Program (Television Infrared Observation Satellite)

NASA’s first experimental step to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of Earth. Provided extemely successful providing the first accurate weather forecasts based on data from space

World’s First Successful weather satellite

Infra-Red Observation Satellite (TIROS-1)

NOAA’s National Severe Storm Laboratory

First doppler weather radar was located in Norman Oklahoma

NEXRAD Radar located

WSR-88D Radar Operations Center, Norman OK

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) is also known as

Next-Generation Radar of NEXRAD

WSR-88D radars

Operate 24/7 to support the weather warning and forecast missions of the National Weather Service, FAA and DoD. Additionally, real-time radar data is made available to the nation’s academic and commercial weather enterprise.

NEXRAD

Obtains weather information (precipitation and wind) based on returned energy. Emits a burst of energy. If the energy strikes an object (raindrop, snowflake, hail, bug, bird, etc.), the energy is scattered in all directions.

NEXRAD spends the vast amount of its time doing what?

Listening for returning signals that is sent out. The process of emitting the next signal, listening for any returned signal, then emitting the next signal, takes place very fast.

What do the computers do for the WSR-88D

Analyze the strength of the returned pulse, time it took to travel to the object and back, and phase, or doppler shift of the pulse.

GOES-R Series

NOAA’s most sophisticated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). provides critical atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, climatic, solar, and space data, significantly improving the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property, and economic health and prosperity.

GOES-R Series

GOES-R, GOES-S, GOES-T, and GOES-U

Weather Satellites

Satellite data, having global view, complements land-based systems such as radiosondes, weather radars, and surface observing systems.

Two types of weather satellites

1. Polar Orbiting

2. Geostationary

Polat Orbiting Satellites

In the north-south orbits, observe the same spot on Earth twice daily, once during the daylight and once at night. This means the Satellite will always observe a point on the Earth as if constantly at the same time of the day.

What does Polar Orbiting Satellites provide.

Imagery and atmospheric soundings of temperature and moisture data over the entire Earth.

Geostationary Satellites

Circle earth above the equator from west to east following Earth’s rotation-taking 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds by traveling at exactly the same rate as Earth

Weather and Climate affect what parts of our lives

Clothing, Travel, Crops, Utilities, Extreme cold and heat, Tornadoes and Hurricanes, and Constant availability of forecasts.

Middle-latitude cyclonic storm systems

form outside the tropics

Hurricanes

swirling band of sustained surface winds greater winds are calm in the eye

Thunderstorms

Grow from cumulus clouds; accompanied by thunder, lightning, strong gusty winds, and heavy rain

What are strong Downdrafts inside thunderstorms

Create turbulent winds strong enough to destroy crops and damage buildings

What does a rapid change in wind speed and/or direction can create

Wind shear, which can cause an airplane to crash

Tornadoes

Intense rotating columns of air that extend downward from the base of a thunderstorm with a circulation that reaches the ground.