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Handouts

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  • Unit 0: Weather, Climate, and You [unit]

    • what is weather?
      • observed conditions in a location, like temp, precip, wind, moisture, pressure, cloudiness
      • basic of these elements of weather: units, measurement, relationships
    • what is climate?
      • average weather considering multiple (usually 30) years
    • why should you care?
      • even in the digital age, we are safer and more productive if we understand weather
      • human activities change land and air, affecting weather patterns
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit0slides Required Unit0slides.pptx Edit Unit0slides Delete Unit0slides
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 1: Origin, Composition, and Structure of the Atmosphere [unit]

    • what differentiates the troposphere and the stratosphere?
      • temp changes with height
      • ozone concentration
      • air pressure and density
    • Is atmospheric composition constant?
      • permanent gases (mostly N2 and O2) are constant
      • variable gases (water vapor and GHGs) and aerosols are not
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit 1 Slides Required Unit1Slides.pdf Edit Unit 1 Slides Delete Unit 1 Slides
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 2: Heat and Energy Transfer [unit]

    • Conduction: heat transfers through contact
    • Convection: heat moves via displacement
    • Radiation: heat is transmitted via oscillating magnetic and electrostatic fields
    • radiation is reflected, scattered and absorbed; when it is absorbed, it is converted to heat
    • While a great deal of radiation is emitted from the sun, Earth and its atmosphere are also important emitters
    • The proportion of received radiation that is absorbed by an object is described by its albedo; a “black body” is a perfect absorber with an albedo of 0
    • gases in the atmosphere absorb radiation of specific radiation, called absorption bands. These gases allow the atmosphere to warm, as well as the Earth’s surface (due to re-emittance and positive feedback looping).
    • Incoming radiation is stronger near equator than poles (due to angles through atmosphere and incident on surface), but emitted radiation is about constant over globe. This leads to net warming at equator and net cooling at poles. This is exacerbated by high-albedo snow and ice at the poles versus low-albedo oceans at equator.
    • Changes in angles of incoming radiation also lead to seasons.
    • surface warming begins after sunrise, when incoming radiation exceeds outgoing; similarly, surface cooling begins before sunset, when incoming radiation drops to less than outgoing. Along these lines, the peak surface temps come just before surface cooling begins.
    • conduction and convection mix surface warmth up into the atmosphere in daytime
    • conduction cools the lowest atmosphere in the nighttime
    • clouds flatten the diurnal cycle due to scattering incoming radiation and absorbing/re-emitting outgoing radiation.
    • water has a high heat capacity, making it slower to warm via incoming radiation
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit 2 Reading Guide Required Unit2ReadingGuide.pdf Edit Unit 2 Reading Guide Delete Unit 2 Reading Guide
    Unit 2 Slides Required Unit2Slides_smpics.pdf Edit Unit 2 Slides Delete Unit 2 Slides
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 3: Water [unit]

    • energy is circulated around the globe via latent heat, or the energy required to change phase of water
    • the amount of water that air can hold depends on its temperature. When air holds its max amount of water, it has reached saturation
    • The amount of water vapor in the air is called humidity. Relative humidity depends on air temperature.
    • When air cools, water vapor condenses. The temperature at which this occurs is called the dew point and it depends on the water vapor pressure. In other words, the dew point is the temperature at which the actual water vapor pressure is equal to the saturation water vapor pressure.
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 4: Cloud Formation [unit]

    • clouds form when air rises, and correspondingly pressure decreases and temperature decreases until the temperature is below the dew point. Then water vapor condenses around cloud condensation nucleii
    • The height at which this occurs is called the lifting condensation level and can be calculated from the surface air temp and moisture, using the dry adiabatic lapse rate and the dew point lapse rate
    • air parcel lifting can occur via convection (when env. lapse rates lower than dry adiabatic lapse rates), orographic lifting (winds encountering barriers such as mountains), convergence, or frontal lifting
    • cloud height is determined by the starting air temp and moisture, and the moist adiabatic lapse rate and the dew point lapse rate. 
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit 4 Slides Required Unit4Slides.pdf Edit Unit 4 Slides Delete Unit 4 Slides
    Cloud ID guide Required cloud_identification_guide.png Edit Cloud ID guide Delete Cloud ID guide
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 5: Precipitation [unit]

    • water droplets supercool then turn to ice as pushed upward
    • in warm clouds, water droplets grow by colliding and coalescing
    • highest rate of coalescence (collision efficiency) comes when droplets are varied in size but not too disparate
    • In temps warmer than -40 C, water droplets need an ice nucleus to initiate freezing
    • ice crystals grow (by deposition) while rain droplets shrink because e_sw > e_si (Bergeron process)
    • ice crystals have vastly different shapes, based on temp, moisture content, turbulence, updrafts, etc.
    • hail forms when cloud droplets are suspended a long time and move throughout a cloud with varying temp and moisture characteristics, growing layers onto graupel
    • lake-effect snow occurs when water is warmer than land and winds blow a long distance (fetch) over water before converging on land and lifting to form precip
    • fronts and precip
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 6: Wind [unit]

    • changes in temperature cause pressure gradients which drive winds
    • wind direction gets altered by Coriolis Force
    • When PGF and CF balance, winds are in geostrophic equilibrium
    • Centrifugal force alters winds around curves
    • Surface friction also alters winds
    • Local geography can also drive winds—sea and land breezes, mountain and valley breezes
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 7: Global Wind Systems [unit]

    • Cyclones and anticyclones
    • Jet streams
    • Trade winds and ITCZ
    • Subtropical highs
    • subpolar lows
    • polar highs
    • easterly trade winds
    • mid-latitude westerly winds
    • polar easterly winds
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 8: Air Masses, Fronts, and Midlattitude Cyclones [unit]

    • types of air masses
    • cold front
    • warm front
    • life cycle of midlatitude cyclone
    • overrunning
    • occluded front 
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit 8 Reading Required Hakim and Patoux -- chpt. 10.pdf Edit Unit 8 Reading Delete Unit 8 Reading
    Midlatitude Cyclones Handout Required MidlatitudeCyclonesWorksheet.pdf Edit Midlatitude Cyclones Handout Delete Midlatitude Cyclones Handout
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 9: Climate and Climate Zones [unit]

    • climate (average weather) is primarily influenced by latitude, proximity to ocean, and topography
    • climates can be classified by averages of weather observations (climatology) or by climate influencers
    • since vegetation is so influenced by climate, it is a good indicator of climate types
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit 9 Worksheet

    Complete this worksheet after viewing the Unit 9 Class Session 1 pre-recorded lecture. Please contact your table-/team-mates to work together. 

         		Required Unit9Worksheet.docx Edit Unit 9 Worksheet Delete Unit 9 Worksheet
    Unit9Slides Required Unit9Slides.pdf Edit Unit9Slides Delete Unit9Slides
    Climograph_game.pdf Required Climograph_game.pdf Edit Climograph_game.pdf Delete Climograph_game.pdf
    Climograph_game.pptx Required Climograph_game.pptx Edit Climograph_game.pptx Delete Climograph_game.pptx
    Unit 9 Slides 2 Required Unit9Slides2.pdf Edit Unit 9 Slides 2 Delete Unit 9 Slides 2
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 10: Climate Change and Weather [unit]

    • what is causing climate change (focus on natural vs anthropogenic forcings)
    • how will climate respond?
    • what new weather will we see?
    Name Description Status Source
    Unit 10 Reading Required Hakim and Patoux -- chpt. 15.pdf Edit Unit 10 Reading Delete Unit 10 Reading
    Unit 10 Reading Guide Required Unit10ReadingGuide.docx Edit Unit 10 Reading Guide Delete Unit 10 Reading Guide
    Unit 10 Worksheet Required Unit10Worksheet.docx Edit Unit 10 Worksheet Delete Unit 10 Worksheet
    Unit 10 Slides Required Unit10Slides_smpics.pdf Edit Unit 10 Slides Delete Unit 10 Slides
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Final [unit]

    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Ungrouped

    Name Description Status Source
    Final Exam Study Guide Required MET125FinalExamStudyGuide.pdf Edit Final Exam Study Guide Delete Final Exam Study Guide
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

Bookmarks

Get help using 'Bookmarks'

  • Unit 0: Weather, Climate, and You [unit]

    • what is weather?
      • observed conditions in a location, like temp, precip, wind, moisture, pressure, cloudiness
      • basic of these elements of weather: units, measurement, relationships
    • what is climate?
      • average weather considering multiple (usually 30) years
    • why should you care?
      • even in the digital age, we are safer and more productive if we understand weather
      • human activities change land and air, affecting weather patterns
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 1: Origin, Composition, and Structure of the Atmosphere [unit]

    • what differentiates the troposphere and the stratosphere?
      • temp changes with height
      • ozone concentration
      • air pressure and density
    • Is atmospheric composition constant?
      • permanent gases (mostly N2 and O2) are constant
      • variable gases (water vapor and GHGs) and aerosols are not
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 2: Heat and Energy Transfer [unit]

    • Conduction: heat transfers through contact
    • Convection: heat moves via displacement
    • Radiation: heat is transmitted via oscillating magnetic and electrostatic fields
    • radiation is reflected, scattered and absorbed; when it is absorbed, it is converted to heat
    • While a great deal of radiation is emitted from the sun, Earth and its atmosphere are also important emitters
    • The proportion of received radiation that is absorbed by an object is described by its albedo; a “black body” is a perfect absorber with an albedo of 0
    • gases in the atmosphere absorb radiation of specific radiation, called absorption bands. These gases allow the atmosphere to warm, as well as the Earth’s surface (due to re-emittance and positive feedback looping).
    • Incoming radiation is stronger near equator than poles (due to angles through atmosphere and incident on surface), but emitted radiation is about constant over globe. This leads to net warming at equator and net cooling at poles. This is exacerbated by high-albedo snow and ice at the poles versus low-albedo oceans at equator.
    • Changes in angles of incoming radiation also lead to seasons.
    • surface warming begins after sunrise, when incoming radiation exceeds outgoing; similarly, surface cooling begins before sunset, when incoming radiation drops to less than outgoing. Along these lines, the peak surface temps come just before surface cooling begins.
    • conduction and convection mix surface warmth up into the atmosphere in daytime
    • conduction cools the lowest atmosphere in the nighttime
    • clouds flatten the diurnal cycle due to scattering incoming radiation and absorbing/re-emitting outgoing radiation.
    • water has a high heat capacity, making it slower to warm via incoming radiation
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 3: Water [unit]

    • energy is circulated around the globe via latent heat, or the energy required to change phase of water
    • the amount of water that air can hold depends on its temperature. When air holds its max amount of water, it has reached saturation
    • The amount of water vapor in the air is called humidity. Relative humidity depends on air temperature.
    • When air cools, water vapor condenses. The temperature at which this occurs is called the dew point and it depends on the water vapor pressure. In other words, the dew point is the temperature at which the actual water vapor pressure is equal to the saturation water vapor pressure.
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 4: Cloud Formation [unit]

    • clouds form when air rises, and correspondingly pressure decreases and temperature decreases until the temperature is below the dew point. Then water vapor condenses around cloud condensation nucleii
    • The height at which this occurs is called the lifting condensation level and can be calculated from the surface air temp and moisture, using the dry adiabatic lapse rate and the dew point lapse rate
    • air parcel lifting can occur via convection (when env. lapse rates lower than dry adiabatic lapse rates), orographic lifting (winds encountering barriers such as mountains), convergence, or frontal lifting
    • cloud height is determined by the starting air temp and moisture, and the moist adiabatic lapse rate and the dew point lapse rate. 
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 5: Precipitation [unit]

    • water droplets supercool then turn to ice as pushed upward
    • in warm clouds, water droplets grow by colliding and coalescing
    • highest rate of coalescence (collision efficiency) comes when droplets are varied in size but not too disparate
    • In temps warmer than -40 C, water droplets need an ice nucleus to initiate freezing
    • ice crystals grow (by deposition) while rain droplets shrink because e_sw > e_si (Bergeron process)
    • ice crystals have vastly different shapes, based on temp, moisture content, turbulence, updrafts, etc.
    • hail forms when cloud droplets are suspended a long time and move throughout a cloud with varying temp and moisture characteristics, growing layers onto graupel
    • lake-effect snow occurs when water is warmer than land and winds blow a long distance (fetch) over water before converging on land and lifting to form precip
    • fronts and precip
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 6: Wind [unit]

    • changes in temperature cause pressure gradients which drive winds
    • wind direction gets altered by Coriolis Force
    • When PGF and CF balance, winds are in geostrophic equilibrium
    • Centrifugal force alters winds around curves
    • Surface friction also alters winds
    • Local geography can also drive winds—sea and land breezes, mountain and valley breezes
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 7: Global Wind Systems [unit]

    • Cyclones and anticyclones
    • Jet streams
    • Trade winds and ITCZ
    • Subtropical highs
    • subpolar lows
    • polar highs
    • easterly trade winds
    • mid-latitude westerly winds
    • polar easterly winds
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 8: Air Masses, Fronts, and Midlattitude Cyclones [unit]

    • types of air masses
    • cold front
    • warm front
    • life cycle of midlatitude cyclone
    • overrunning
    • occluded front 
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 9: Climate and Climate Zones [unit]

    • climate (average weather) is primarily influenced by latitude, proximity to ocean, and topography
    • climates can be classified by averages of weather observations (climatology) or by climate influencers
    • since vegetation is so influenced by climate, it is a good indicator of climate types
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Unit 10: Climate Change and Weather [unit]

    • what is causing climate change (focus on natural vs anthropogenic forcings)
    • how will climate respond?
    • what new weather will we see?
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Final [unit]

    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Ungrouped

    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.