Stephaniel's Encyclopedia to Help the Common Storm Chaser
Atmosphere The atmosphere is where all weather takes place. The atmosphere is made up of four layers, or parts: The troposphere -The mesosphere -The thermosphere -The stratosphere.
Atmosphere Troposphere: The closest to the surface and it is around 10 kilometers (around 6 miles) high. Stratosphere: Is right above the troposphere. It contains the ozone layer, which keep out harmful sunlight. The stratosphere is around 10-25 kilometers high (around 6-16) high.
Atmosphere Mesosphere: It is right above the stratosphere and is 25-100 kilometers (16-62 miles) high. Thermosphere: It is the highest layer and is above the others. It is where cool things like meteorites burn up and the northern lights occur. It is very high up at 100-400 kilometers high (62-249 miles)
Convection Convection is when the air rises and falls due to temperature. The warm air rises and as it cools, it falls. Air Cools Off
Storm chasing fact! Storm chasers go out searching for the biggest storm so they can get scientific data. These super-cell storms are actually created by convection currents!
Hot Air Rising
Cool Air Sinking
Diagram made by Nicole Rewerts
Dew Point Water vapor is in the air all around us. At a certain point the air cannot hold all the water vapor. It starts condensing together and creating clouds, dew, or even fog. What this happens, it is called the dew point.
Fronts Fronts are the boundaries of air masses and are a large cause weather. There are three kinds of fronts: Warm Fronts, Cold Fronts, Occluded Fronts, Stationary Fronts.
Fronts Warm Fronts: Warm fronts bring warm air. The cooler air lifts it up. As the warm air rises up it expands and cools down. It can cause rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
Fronts Cold Fronts: Cold fronts bring in a large amount of cold air. Cold fronts move along the ground, making them slower because of friction. They tend to be more sloped than warm fronts. Storm chasing Fact!
Since cold fronts move faster than warm fronts, it quickly push up the warm air and causing it to cool quickly. This creates really crazy weather.
Fronts Occluded Fronts: An occluded front is the combination of two fronts. It occurs when a cold front takes over a warm front.
Fronts Stationary Fronts: Stationary Front: It is a boundary between two fronts that don't move. Some stationary fronts move back and forth just a little bit.
High Pressure Where the air pressure in the atmosphere is higher than the air around it. This can also be called an anticyclone. Storm chasing Fact!
Calm, Clear weather
Storm chasers don't like high pressure because it usually brings sunny, clear skies.
Cold Air Sinks
Diverging Winds
Diagram by Nicole Rewerts
Hurricanes A hurricane is a large storm with winds spiraling upward and inward. When they move over warm oceans, they gain energy. They have an eye in the middle, where it is calm. They rotate Clockwise in the Southern hemisphere, and Counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.
How scientists get images Scientists get their images by using a radar. These radars scan the skies and take pictures, and scientists analyze these images and use them in making weather predictions. Storm Chasing Fact! Storm chasers use radars to see where the biggest storms are. The Red on this radar is where the storm is the strongest.
Isobar
An isobar is a line of equal pressure you would find on a weather map.
Isotherm An isotherm is a line of equal temperature you would find on a weather map.
Low Pressure Low pressure is warm moist air that brings strong winds and stormy weather. It is when the pressure is lower than the area around it. Storm Chasing Fact!
Stormy, Cloudy Weather
Storm chasers love low pressure systems because they bring stormy weather and great potential for a weather event!
Hot Air Rises
Converging Winds
Diagram by Nicole Rewerts
Meteorological instruments used by Scientists Scientists use many tools to measure various parts of weather.They use thermometers, barometers, psychrometers, rain gauges, wind vanes, anemometers, weather maps, and hygrometers. Storm chasing Fact! All these tools are very useful to storm chasers and are used very often.
Meteorological instruments used by Scientists Thermometers are used to measure the temperature of the air. When the air around the tube gets hot, it warms up the liquid inside the tube. The liquid expands and rises. Barometers measure air pressure by rising or falling. If one is rising it is sunny and dry. If a barometer is falling it is stormy or wet.
Meteorological instruments used by Scientists Psychrometers are used to measure relative humidity. A rain gauge is used to measure the amount of rainfall over a period of time.
Meteorological instruments used by Scientists Wind vanes are used to determine the direction of the wind. Anemometers measure the speed of wind. The cups catch the wind and a dial shows the wind speed.
Meteorological instruments used by Scientists Weather maps show weather, pressure, isobars, and/or isotherms all over a portion of the earth. We have seen them earlier in this book! Hygrometers measure the water vapor in the air or humidity.
Ocean Currents Surface Currents: Flows of water that move through the ocean hundreds of meters below the surface. Currents in the northern hemisphere move clockwise, while currents in the southern hemisphere move counter clockwise. The currents affect the temperatures on the coasts.
Ocean Currents Gulf Stream: It flows from Florida northeast toward North Carolina. It brings warmer water because it starts around the equator.
Ocean Currents Density Currents: Form when more dense water sinks beneath less dense water. Water becomes more dense as it gets colder deep in the ocean. Density Currents are very much like conveyor belts.
The Sun Provides the energy that fuels the convection currents in the Earth's atmosphere as well as the convection currents in the ocean. This convection produces winds and currents and it is all caused by the Sun and the heat it gives off.
Sun and Sun's Energy
Tornadoes Tornadoes form from thunderstorms and are big dark spinning clouds. They form when warm, moist air, and cool, dry air meet and create an unstable atmosphere. A directional change in the wind creates the spinning, and soon a tornado is formed.
Storm Chasing Fact! Tornadoes can be classified from EF0-EF5. All storm chasers have the dream of catching an EF5 tornado. Winds in an EF5 tornado can reach 300mph!
Types of Clouds Clouds are formed by little water droplets clumping together, and when you have enough clusters of water droplets, a cloud is formed. There are 3 main types of clouds; cumulus, stratus, and cirrus.
Types of Clouds- Stratus Stratus- Stratus clouds are clouds that are made up of water droplets and they form in layers. These types of clouds are very low in the troposphere, and these are the types of clouds that are what we call fog.
Types of Clouds-Cirrus Cirrus- Cirrus clouds are made of tiny ice crystals which are frozen water droplets. They look like wisps in the sky or feathers.
Types of Clouds-Cumulus Cumulus- These clouds are made of water droplets. They look like cotton balls. They are puffy, white clouds with flat bottoms.
Types of Precipitation There are four main types of precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, and hail. Rain
Hail Diagram by Alec Bush
Snow
Sleet
Types of Tides There are four different types of tides; high and low tides,and spring and neap tides.
Types of Tides- High Tide High Tide occurs where the moon is, and the side opposite of that. Some places don't have much variation between high and low tide,and it is hard to tell which is which. Bay of Fundy at High Tide
Types of Tides- Low Tide Low tides occur every 12 hours or so and are when basically the water is at its lowest. They occur on the sides not in line with the moon.
Bay of Fundy at Low Tide
Types of Tides- Spring Tide Spring Tide occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up. There are two possibilities of Spring Tide occurring. One is when the moon is between the Earth and the sun,and the other is when the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun.
Types of Tides- Neap Tide Neap Tides occur when the Sun is at a Right angle to the line between the Earth and the Moon.
Weather Maps
Meteorologists use weather maps to show how the weather is in certain areas.
Weather map made by: Nicole Rewerts
Wind Currents Local Winds: Local winds are caused by unequal heat of the earth in a small area. there are two types of local winds: Sea Breezes and Land Breezes. Sea breezes blow from sea to land, while land breezes blow from land to sea.
Wind Currents Coriolis Effect: Because of the rotation of the earth, moving water and air changes directions depending on the hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere winds curve to right, while in the southern hemisphere winds curve to the left.
Wind Currents Global Winds: There are four types of global winds: Doldrums, Trade Winds, Prevailing Winds, and Polar Easterlies. -Doldrums: Surface winds are calm at the equator.
Wind Currents -Trade Winds: 30 degrees north and south of the equator. They are very calm, and the warm air from the equator cools and sinks. Is also known as horse latitudes. -Prevailing Westerlies: They have strong winds, and are located 30-60 degrees north and south of the equator.
Wind Currents -Polar Easterlies: They have cold, weak winds and are near the north and south poles. Jet Stream: Contains high speed and high pressure winds up a few miles high.
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How the Work was divided Nicole: Slide 5 slide 12 Slide 13 Slide 14 Slide 17 SLide 26 Slide 27 Slide 28
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Alec: Slide 2 Slide 3 Slide 4 Slide 6 Slide 7 Slide 8 Slide 9 Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 15 Slide 16 Slide 18
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