Visualizing Weather and Climate

by Anderson, Bruce; Strahler, Alan H.

• ISBN13: 9780470418123
• ISBN10: 0470418125
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Loose-leaf
• Copyright: 2008-09-22
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Visualizing Weather and Climate Change will capture the reader's interest in weather and climate and then use that interest to engage them in activities that demonstrate the science that serves as the basis of the discipline. Sections such as Eye on the Atmosphere use beautiful imagery to help them see the atmosphere through the eyes of a meteorologist and ask scientific questions that place significant features in atmospheric context. It also includes expanded coverage of global change and recent phenomena. Chapter summaries, self-tests and critical thinking questions help prepare readers for quizzes and tests while the illustrated case studies offer a wide variety of in-depth examinations that address important issues in the field of environmental science.

Author Biography

Bruce T. Anderson is an Associate Chair of the Department of Geography and Environment at Boston University. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department. He serves as a Research Consultant for the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment (NECIA) project and heads the Experimental Center for Remote Observations of Production (ECROP). He serves on the Membership Committee for the American Meteorological Society. He has been a National Research Council Fellow and a NOAA Visiting Scientist Fellow. He has over 25 peer-reviewed articles published or in press over the last 5 years and has been the invited speaker at both national and international universities, conferences, and workshops. His research interests include regional impacts of climate variability, large-scale and regional atmospheric dynamics and hydrology, coupled ocean-atmosphere variability, and climate/vegetation interactions and feedbacks. He received his Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1998 and graduated with a B.S. in Physics from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1994.

Table of Contents

1 Introducing Weather and Climate 2

Introducing Weather and Climate 4

Weather 7

Climate 7

What a Scientist Sees: Actual Temperatures and Temperature Departures 10

Weather and Climate 13

Visualizing Weather and Climate 15

Graphs 15

Maps 17

Standard Measurements in Weather and Climate 21

2 The Earth’s Atmosphere 28

Composition of the Atmosphere 30

Radiatively and Chemically Inactive Gases 30

Radiatively and Chemically Active Gases 31

Ozone in the Upper Atmosphere 37

Ozone in the Lower Atmosphere 38

Temperature Structure of the Atmosphere 39

What a Scientist Sees: Temperature Changes Along a Mountain Slope 39

Troposphere 40

Stratosphere 41

The Ionosphere 41

Atmospheric Pressure and Density 43

How Air Pressure and Density Change with Altitude 45

The Ideal Gas Law 46

3 The Earth’s Global Energy Balance 50

Electromagnetic Radiation 52

Radiation and Temperature 55

Solar Radiation 56

Longwave Radiation from the Earth 59

The Global Radiation Balance 59

Geographic Variations in Energy Flow 62

Insolation Over the Globe 62

Net Radiation, Latitude, and the Energy Balance 63

Sensible and Latent Heat Transfer 64

The Global Energy System 66

Solar Energy Losses in the Atmosphere 66

Albedo 67

What a Scientist Sees: Surface Characteristics and Albedo 69

Counterradiation and the Greenhouse Effect 70

Global Energy Budgets of the Atmosphere and Surface 71

Climate and Global Change 74

4 Surface Temperature and Its Variation 82

The Earth’s Rotation and Orbit 84

Earth’s Rotation 84

The Earth’s Revolution Around the Sun 86

Solstice and Equinox 87

Variations in Insolation Over the Globe 90

Solar Heating of Land and Water 96

Air Temperature 99

Urban Heat Island 101

What a Scientist Sees: Urban and Rural Surfaces 103

The Daily Cycle of Air Temperature 104

Daily Insolation and Net Radiation 104

Factors that Influence Daily Temperatures 106

The Annual Cycle of Air Temperature 107

Net Radiation and Temperature 107

Land and Water Contrasts 108

World Patterns of Air Temperature 109

Factors Controlling Air Temperature Patterns 109

Measurement of Air Temperature 112

Applications of Temperature Data 113

5 Atmospheric Moisture 120

Atmospheric Moisture and Precipitation 122

Three States of Water 122

The Hydrosphere and the Hydrologic Cycle 122

The Hydrologic Cycle and Global Water Balance 124

Humidity 126

Specific Humidity 126

Saturation Specific

Humidity 127

Relative Humidity 128

The Adiabatic Process 130

Dry Adiabatic Rate 130

Moist Adiabatic Rate 132

Clouds 133

Cloud Forms 135

Fog 136

What a Scientist Sees: Smog 137

Precipitation 138

Precipitation Processes 139

Types of Precipitation 144

Measuring Precipitation 148

6 Winds 154

Winds 156

Measurement of Wind 157

Winds and Pressure Gradients 159

Winds and Pressure Gradients 159

Pressure and Temperature Gradients 160

Local Winds 161

What a Scientist Sees: Winds and Fire 164

The Coriolis Effect and Winds Aloft 166

The Geostrophic Wind 168

Cyclones and Anticyclones in Upper Air 169

Winds at the Surface 172

Cyclones and Anticyclones at the Surface 173

Divergence and Convergence 175

7 Global Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation 182

Surface Winds 184

Global Wind and Pressure Patterns 188

Winds Aloft 194

Global Circulation at Upper Levels 195

Jet Streams and the Polar Front 197

Disturbances in the Jet Stream 199

Oceanic Circulation 201

Temperature Layers of the Oceans 202

Surface Currents 202

What a Scientist Sees: Three Images of the Gulf Stream 204

Deep Currents and Thermohaline Circulation 206

Heat and Moisture Transport 208

8 Midlatitude Weather Systems 216

Air Masses 218

Cold, Warm, and Occluded Fronts 222

Midlatitude Anticyclones and Cyclones 225

Anticyclones 225

What a Scientist Sees: Surface Winds and Cloud Cover Associated with Midlatitude Cyclones and Anticylcones 225

Cyclones 226

Midlatitude Cyclones 228

Midlatitude Cyclones and Upper-Air Disturbances 231

Vorticity 232

Cyclone Tracks and Cyclone Families 237

Cold Air Outbreaks 238

9 Tropical Weather Systems 244

Tropical Cyclone Structure 246

Easterly Waves 246

Tropical Cyclones 247

What a Scientist Sees: Rainfall within a Tropical Cyclone 249

Development and Movement of Tropical Cyclones 252

Tropical Cyclone Tracks 253

Impacts of Tropical Cyclones 256

Changes in Weather and Sea Level 256

Impacts on Coastal Communities 260

Changes in Tropical Cyclone Activity 263

10 Thunderstorms and Tornadoes 268

Thunderstorms 270

Air-Mass Thunderstorms 271

Mesoscale Convective Systems 276

Thunder and Lightning 280

Charge Separation 281

Thunder 282

Tornadoes 284

Tornado Characteristics 284

Tornado Development 285

Weather Conditions Leading to Tornado Formation 287

Tornado Alley 287

Tornado Destruction 288

What a Scientist Sees: Doppler Radar Images of Tornadoes 289

Tornado Forecasting 292

11 The Global Scope of Climate 298

Factors Controlling Climate 300

Temperature and Precipitation Regimes 302

Temperature Regimes 302

Precipitation Regimes 303

Seasonality of Precipitation 306

What a Scientist Sees: Drought and Vegetation 306

Climate Classification 309

Overview of Climates 310

Dry and Moist Climates 314

Köppen Climate Classification System 314

12 Climates of the World 320

Low-Latitude Climates 322

Wet Equatorial Climate 322

What a Scientist Sees: Rainforests and Agriculture 323

The Trade-Wind Coastal Climate 324

The Wet-Dry Tropical Climate 325

Monsoon Climates 327

The Dry Tropical Climate 327

Midlatitude Climates 330

The Dry Subtropical Climate 330

Moist Subtropical Climate 332

The Mediterranean Climate 334

The Marine West-Coast Climate 336

Dry Midlatitude Climate 338

Moist Continental Climate 339

High-Latitude Climates 342

Boreal Forest Climate 342

Tundra Climate 343

The Ice Sheet Climate 344

13 Climate Variability 352

Annual to Centennial Climate Variations 354

Historical Record 354

What a Scientist Sees: Ice Cores and Temperature Records 356

Volcanoes 356

El Niño and La Niña 358

Pacific Decadal Oscillation 362

North Atlantic Oscillation 363

Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation 366

Millennial Climate Variations 367

Changes in Earth’s Rotation and Revolution 367

Climate Feedbacks 371

Longwave–Temperature Feedback 371

Water Vapor–Temperature Feedback 372

Ice–Albedo Feedback 373

Cloud-Cover Feedback 374

Biological Feedback 375

Ocean Feedback 378

Geological Feedback 378

14 Human Interaction with Weather and Climate 384

Severe Weather 386

Heat Waves 386

Cold Waves 389

Flooding 390

Severe Climate 395

Drought 395

Famine 396

What a Scientist Sees: Drought and Famine in the Sahel 396

Fire 397

Examples of Changes in Severe Weather 398

Shifts in Climate Regimes 400

Human Impact on Weather and Climate 401

Pollution 401

Land-Cover Change 404

15 Weather Forecasting and Numerical Modeling 412

Local and Synoptic Weather Forecasting 414

Local Weather Forecasting 415

Synoptic Weather Forecasting 420

What a Scientist Sees: Using Visual Information 423

Numerical Weather Forecasting 424

Visualization 426

Operational Weather Forecasting 428

Use of Synoptic Charts 428

Use of the Analog Method 429

Use of Numerical Forecasts 430

Use of Local Observations 431

Watches, Warnings, and Advisories 432

Validation 433

16 Human-Induced Climate Change and Climate Forecasting 440

Greenhouse Gases 442

Changing Chemical Composition of the Atmosphere 443

Sources and Sinks of Anthropogenic CO₂ 446

Residence Time 448

Future Emissions 449

Numerical Modeling 453

Ocean Models 454

Land-Surface Models 455

Modeling “Experiments” 456

Climate-Change Predictions 458

Global and Regional Temperature Forecasts 458

Global and Regional Precipitation Forecasts 460

Sea-Level Rise 460

Changes in Extreme Weather Events 462

Change in the Thermohaline Circulation 463

What a Scientist Sees: Observed and Predicted Changes in Arctic Sea Ice 463

Other Impacts 464

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies 465

Appendix

A Units of Measurement and Conversion 472

B The U.S. Standard Atmosphere 473

C Weather Station and Map Symbols 474

D Self-Test Answer Key 475

Glossary 476

Credits 489

Index 493