Weather ABCs By: Nimit Kalra and Alan Huo
Who did what Nimit
Alan
Convection
Atmosphere
Fronts
Ocean Currents
Weather Maps
High Pressure
Precipitation
Low Pressure
Types of Clouds
Sun
Wind Currents
Dew Point
Tornadoes
Isobar
Meteorological instruments used by scientists
Isotherm Hurricanes
Page design
Pictures/page design
Pictures
How scientists get images
What you will learn from this book This book is designed for children who are between the ages of 7 and 8. When we designed this book, we knew we had to present this high level information in a format that would be easy for children of this age group to understand. That's why we went beyond looking for an already made format and decided to make our own format. Our format includes the main information the reader would have to know for each topic, such as the Intro, How it's formed, and How it interacts to form weather patterns and currents*. These help the reader fully grasp each individual topic bit by bit. *= Not every topic will contain all these subtopics because some do not apply to certain topics.
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Intro: The atmosphere protects the Earth from the harmful rays of the sun. It also keeps the Earth warm. The atmosphere almost acts like a big blanket surrounding the Earth. The atmosphere is made of 4 different layers. 4 major layers of the atmosphere: ● ● ● ●
Thermosphere Mesosphere Stratosphere Troposphere
How it interacts to form weather patterns and currents: ● Gases from the Troposphere help warm Earth by releasing a portion of the Sun's heat back to Earth. ● The ozone layer or the Stratosphere, protect the Earth from the Sun's harmful rays by absorbing the ultraviolet radiation. ● The gases in the atmosphere help retain heat are called greenhouse gases. It is mostly made up of Carbon Dioxide but as people release more and more Carbon Dioxide in the air, it starts to retain more and more heat which makes the Earth hotter.
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Isobars ...are lines on a graph that show an equal or constant pressure on a graph. This helps meteorologists predict the wind direction and what kind of weather to expect.
C is for Convection Currents
Intro: Convection is just one of the three ways heat can be transferred from object to object. Convection allows heat to be transferred through liquids or gasses. How it's formed: Convection Currents occur when a hot material rises and a cold material sinks, this starts a cycle of convection currents. How it interacts to form weather patterns/currents: Warm air rises which causes it expands. Then it becomes cooler, and condenses. This forms clouds and it is also low pressure. When this warm air rises, some other air needs to take it's space, so the air on the ground rushes in towards where the air rose. Air needs to take that air's space, so air from above comes down. This is usually nice weather, no clouds, high pressure, because air is sinking there.
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Intro: The Dew point temperature is the temperature at which air must become cooled down to in order to become completely saturated with water. When the air is cooled down to the Dew point temperature, condensation will begin to form. How it's formed: Have you ever woke up early in the morning and found that your grass has small water droplets on it? This is dew that has been formed because the air has most likely reached the dew point temperature. How it interacts to form weather patterns and currents: A cloud consist of tiny water droplets. On a summer day the heat warms up the ground and the air. Since warm air is lighter than cold air, it rises up until it gets cooled down to the dew point temperature and then it can no longer hold the water vapor so it rains.
E is for
Maps
This is a weather map. The different symbols mean different weather activities are happening in that area. Some mean rain, and others mean cold wind is coming.
F is for Fronts
Intro: Fronts are what mainly make big weather happen. There are 4 types of fronts.
How it's formed: Fronts are formed when 2 air masses of different densities come together.
How it interacts with weather patterns and currents: Some fronts produce no rain or snow and little cloudiness, while some do. The weather usually quickly clears after a front passes.
4 types of fronts: -Warm Front -The boundary of an advancing mass of warm air -Cold Front -When a cooler air mass goes into an area of warmer air -Stationary Front -When 2 air masses come together but since they are the same strength, none of them triumph the other -Occluded Front -When a cold front overtakes a warm front
H is for High pressure
The weather effects of high pressure include... ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
clear skies sunshine dry weather high day and low night temperatures calm weather dew and frost fog and mist
High pressure is when the atmosphere's pressure on the surface is larger than the environment.
I is for Isotherm
Isotherm...
are lines drawn on a
map of a certain area of the Earth's surface connecting points of equal pressure. The spacing between the lines depend on the amount of change of temperature over distance.
L is for Low Pressure
The weather effects of low pressure include...
● ● ● ● ● ●
cloudy skies small levels of sunshine wet weather temperatures are warm and mild very windy changeable weather.
Low pressure means that the surface atmosphere's pressure is lower than its surrounding.
O is for Ocean currents
Ocean currents
can affect the weather by
trapping the suns heat. When the ocean, gets warmed up by the sun, the currents of it can warm up the coastal regions of land.
surface currents
are basically created by the
rotation of the Earth and then enhanced by the dragging effect of the winds that blow west, then bent around the basins by the Coriolis effect.
Deep ocean currents are formed from differences in density within the water. Cold water sinks while warm water rises. This creates convection and ocean currents.
P is for Precipitation
Intro: Precipitation is either rain, snow, sleet, or hail falling to the earth from clouds. How it's formed: Precipitation occurs when a cold front mixes in with a warm front. This creates small air particles and pushes them into the atmosphere. The clouds hold a condensed form of water, called water vapor, in them. When it gets humid outside, the water vapor falls to the earth as rain. If it is cold outside, the rain turns to snow. Sometimes if it is cold enough, the rain will turn to hail. How it interacts to form weather patterns/currents: Since precipitation is either rain, snow, sleet,, or hail, it is a weather pattern.
R is for toRnadoes
Intro: A tornado is a violent rotating funnel of strong wind that touches the ground. Tornadoes are extending from thunderstorms. How it is formed: When warm, moist air and cold, dry air meet, they shake up the atmosphere! The change in wind speed and direction creates the violet spinning funnel of strong wind we call a tornado. How it interacts to form weather patterns/currents: Since tornadoes are violent funnels of wind, they are a weather pattern. Also, if a tornado forms on a body of water, a waterspout is formed. This causes the water to spray from the violent spinning motion of the waterspout.
S is for Sun
The sun... is a star in our solar system. The sun heats up the Earth because it is very hot. The rays of the sun shines down on earth but the atmosphere protects the earth from the suns powerful heat making the Earth a place where life can sustain. There are many theories on how the sun was formed...
T is for Types of Clouds
Intro: A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. These droplets, also known as water vapor, are able to float in the air because they are light enough and also because they are a type of gas. How they are formed: All air contains water, but the closer you are to the ground the more there is of it. When the warm air rises, it expands and cools. Since cool air can't hold as much water vapor as warm air, some of it condenses into tiny pieces of dust. Then a tiny water droplet forms around the dust particle. When billions of the water droplets come together, a cloud is formed. How they interact to form weather patterns/currents: Precipitation falls from clouds, therefore clouds form rail, snow, and hail which are all weather patterns.
Types of Clouds: There are 3 main types of clouds. These include the cirrus clouds, the stratus clouds, and the cumulus clouds. Cirrus Clouds: The most common cloud They are composed of ice crystals and are thin, wispy clouds. They are usually white. They also make pleasant weather. Stratus Clouds: These are grayish clouds that often cover the entire sky. Usually some light mist or drizzle falls out of these clouds. Cumulus Clouds: These are white, puffy clouds. Nice weather usually comes when these are out, but they can also become thunderstorm clouds. They are very rounded clouds compared the the other kinds of clouds.
Cirrus-
Stratus-
Cumulus-
U is for hUrricanes
Hurricanes
only form over really warm
ocean water of 80째F or warmer. The Coriolis Force is needed to create the spin in the hurricane.
Hurricanes have only light winds and fair weather. When they come onto land, the heavy rain, strong winds and large waves can damage buildings, trees and cars.
W is for Wind currents
Wind currents, or wind patterns, is a term used for the wind patterns seen in different parts of the world. For example, in some areas, the wind moves in a certain direction, while in another area, it moves in a different direction. This is a map of all the major wind currents in the world-
Trade Winds: The trade winds are air movements toward the equator. They are warm breezes that blow all the time. These winds are never shakey. They seem to be curving to the west due to the Coriolis Effect even though they may be traveling from the south or the north. Doldrums: The doldrums is an area of very calm weather. The trade winds coming from the south and the north meet at the equator. Since it is very hot at the equator, the winds are pushed up (remember, hot air rises and cold air sinks). Therefore there is no wind on the land, making it an area with calm weather.
Westerlies: The westerlies is a wind pattern in which the wind that is moving towards one of the poles, appears to curve east. They are named the westerlies because the wind comes from the west direction and ultimately goes east. Easterlies: The easterlies is a wind pattern that the westerlies join with to reduce upward motion. The easterlies then form when the atmosphere above/around the poles cool. This cool air then sinks and spreads over the surface. As the air flows away from the poles, it is turned to the west by the Coriolis effect.
Have you ever wondered...?
How do scientists get images?
Have you ever wondered how scientists can take pictures of earth so much in detail? This is the same instrument the meteorologists use to predict weather. You've guessed. The Satellite! Satellites work by orbiting around the Earth like a moon. These satellites are like really big cameras that can take photos with their lenses!
What instruments does a Meteorologist uses?
A meteorologist is a scientist who studies the weather and predicts what the weather will be like in the future. To do this, they must use a bunch of different tools, such as-A barometer to measure air pressure -A thermometer to measure the current temperature -An anemometer to measure the current wind speed -A evaporimeter to measure how fast evaporation is taking place -A wind vane to see the wind's direction -Rain gauges to measure the amount of rain or precipitation that has fallen in a certain area -A Psychrometer to measure the humidity in an area
Now you know!