Meteorology for Kids Children's informational book By: Madi and Adrienne
Atmosphere The atmosphere is all of the air surrounding the Earth. It has four very important layers 1. Troposphere: This is the first layer of the atmosphere, and is the closest to Earth. It goes up to ten kilometers 2. Stratosphere:This layer is above the troposphere and contains the ozone layer. It also protects us from harmful sunlight. It is from 10-25 kilometers above Earth 3. Mesosphere: This is the third layer from Earth just above the stratosphere. This layer is 25-100 kilometers above the Earth 4. Thermosphere: This is the very last layer of the atmosphere and the furthest from Earth. It breaks small meteorites, and is where aura borealis occurs, also known as the Northern Lights
Convection Convection is the way heat moves by liquid. This can also cause convection currents. A convection currents occurs when warm air rises and cool air lowers. These convection currents happen in many places including the air! FUN FACT! Most of the heating in the troposphere is done by convection
Wind currents What are currents? The different movements of the wind caused by differences in air pressure due to temperature and humidity changes. There are 5 types of wind currents:
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Doldrums- Warm air that rises near the equator making an area of low pressure, but quickly warms up before moving very far. Horse Latitudes- At the equator, warm air rises, then divides going 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south. There, the air stops moving and sinks. Trade Winds- After the cold air from horse latitudes sinks, an area of high pressure is created causing winds to blow away from the equator. These winds are steady and pretty strong. Prevailing Westerlies-They are the winds blowing towards the north and south poles coming from the east. Polar Easterlies- Cold air sinking near the poles to flow back towards the equator
Ocean Currents The only difference between wind currents and ocean currents is that one takes place is the air, the other in the water. The two types are Surface and Deep Water. â—? Surface- These take place in the top 400 meters of the water â—? Deep Water- Take up the rest of the ocean currents deeper in the water.
High and Low Pressure High Pressure is a high amount of weight the air is pushing on an area. In high pressure areas occur when air cools, becomes denser, and moves towards the ground. High pressure is usually associated with clear skies and calm weather. Low Pressure is a low amount of weight the air is pushing on an area. Low pressure is usually associated with warm air, wind, precipitation, clouds, and storms.
Fronts Warm Fronts- When a moving air mass collides with a slowly moving cold air mass. Cold Fronts- A rapidly moving cold air mass running into a slowly moving warm air mass. Occluded Fronts- When warm air masses are caught between two colder ones. During this, warm air is cut off from the ground, making the air down low cooler. Stationary Fronts- When cold and warm air masses meet, but neither have enough force to move the other.
On November 11, 1911, an intense cold front called a Blue Norther hit the southern half of America causing temperatures to drop over 40 degrees in an hour.
Hurricanes A hurricane is a type of tropical storm that is usually accompanied by thunderstorms, heavy rain, and floods. In the Northern half of the globe it spins counterclockwise, but in the southern it spins clockwise. Hurricanes are very dangerous and can cause serious damage of anything in its path. A hurricane begins to form when heat and moisture rise due to convection and create a tropical disturbance. The clouds then start to spin either clockwise or counterclockwise depending where it is. The storm then sucks up water vapor from the ocean to give it energy. Once the storm reaches land it slows down and loses energy turning FUN FACT! back into clouds. Hurricanes only form over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern Pacific Ocean
Hurricane picture
Tornadoes
A tornado in 1925 traveled over 200 miles, destroying everything in its path.
A tornado is a violent rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. To form, you need an equal amount of cold, dry air and warm, moist air to collide with each other. They also usually occur where strong, high wind are taking place. What do they look like? Falling from a funnel shaped cloud, tornadoes either look like a rotating cone shape or a thin, rope-like tube.
Sun and it's Energy The Sun is what gives Earth almost all of its energy. The energy travels by electromagnetic waves such as, visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light. The atmosphere absorbs the sun's energy. The ozone layer, in the Stratosphere, absorbs ultraviolet light. Clouds also reflect the energy back into the atmosphere. The sun is also responsible for providing the energy to create convection currents in the atmosphere and oceans. These convection currents then lead to ocean and wind currents because they are caused by the heating and cooling provided by convection. The Sun has a huge effect on Earth, and it causes most of our weather.
Weather Map
Isotherm and Isobar Isotherm and Isobar are both found on a weather map. An Isotherm shows an area of equal temperature. An Isobar shows areas of equal pressure.
Precipitation There are four types of precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
Why does it rain? Water vapor in the sky condense to form little water droplets inside clouds so that when they get heavy enough, it will fall from the sky as rain. Snow is formed just like this, but can only happen in temperatures of 32 degrees or lower. Must like snow, sleet is formed the same way only it melts and then halfway down refreezes as ice. Hail occurs when it is so cold in the sky that the water droplets in cloud freeze before falling to to the ground.
Clouds Clouds are formed by water vapor, or the evaporated water floating in the air. When the water vapor cools it condenses into water droplets, that are sometimes frozen creating ice crystals. These droplets combine with dust and other things in the air and form a cloud. There are three types of clouds; Cumulus, Stratus, and Cirrus.
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Cumulus clouds are puffy white clouds with flat bottoms Stratus clouds form in layer, and are very low. Fog is a type of stratus cloud Cirrus clouds are gray, feather like, wispy clouds made of ice crystals.
Dew Point THe temperature at which air becomes completely full of water and condenses, producing what is called dew.
How Scientists Get Images Scientists use satellite images and radar signals to predict the weather. Radars use special antennas to send out radio waves that detect the solids and liquids in the air to determine moisture and other things. Satellites are able to capture images from space of the clouds coverage on Earth as well as the temperature.
Meteorological Instruments Barometer is an instrument used to measure changes in air pressure. Anemometer is an instrument used to measure wind speed. Thermometers measure temperature. Weather vanes measure wind direction. FUN FACT! Did you know there are two types of barometers? Aneroid and Mercury
who did what Madi Wind currents Ocean Currents scientists images Fronts Tornadoes Weather Map Precipitation Dew Point
Adrienne Atmosphere Convection High Pressure low Pressure Sun and energy Isotherm and Isobar clouds Science instruments Hurricanes