PDF Meteorology today: an introduction to weather, climate and the environment (twelfth edition) c.
Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate and the Environment
(Twelfth Edition) C. Donald Ahrens
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Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate and the Environment (Twelfth edition) C. Donald Ahrens
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Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate, and the Environment, Twelfth Edition
C. Donald Ahrens, Robert Henson
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contents in Brief
CH a PTE r 1 earth and Its Atmosphere 3
CH a PTE r 2
CH a PTE r 3
CH a PTE r 4
CH a PTE r 5
CH a PTE r 6
CH a PTE r 7
energy: Warming and cooling earth and the Atmosphere 31
Seasonal and daily temperatures 59
Atmospheric humidity 91
condensation: dew, Fog, and clouds 113
Stability and cloud development 143
Precipitation 167
CH a PTE r 8 Air Pressure and Winds 197
CH a PTE r 9
CH a PTE r 10
Wind: Small-Scale and local Systems 227
Wind: Global Systems 263
CH a PTE r 11 Air masses and Fronts 293
CH a PTE r 12
CH a PTE r 13
middle-latitude cyclones 321
Weather Forecasting 347
CH a PTE r 14 thunderstorms 383
CH a PTE r 15 tornadoes 415
CH a PTE r 16 hurricanes 439
CH a PTE r 17 Global climate 473
CH a PTE r 18 earth’s changing climate 503
CH a PTE r 19 Air Pollution 537
CH a PTE r 20 light, color, and Atmospheric optics 567
Preface xv
CH a PTE r 1
Earth and Its atmosphere 3
The Atmosphere and the Scientific Method 4
Overview of Earth’s Atmosphere 4
The Early Atmosphere 5
Composition of Today’s Atmosphere 6
Focus on A speciAl Topic 1.1
A Breath of Fresh Air 7
Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere 11
A Brief Look at Air Pressure and Air Density 11
Layers of the Atmosphere 12
Focus on A speciAl Topic 1.2
The Atmospheres of Other Planets 14
Focus on An observATion 1.3
The Radiosonde 15
The Ionosphere 17
Weather and Climate 17
Meteorology—A Brief History 18
A Satellite’s View of the Weather 19
Weather and Climate in Our Lives 22
Focus on A speciAl Topic 1.4
What Is a Meteorologist? 26
Summary 27
Key Terms 27
Questions for Review 27
Questions for Thought 28
Problems and Exercises 29
C H a PTE r 2
Energy: Warming and Cooling Earth and the atmosphere 31
Energy, Temperature, and Heat 32
Temperature Scales 33
Specific Heat 34
Latent Heat—The Hidden Warmth 34
Focus on A speciAl Topic 2.1
The Fate of a Sunbeam 36
Heat Transfer in the Atmosphere 36
Conduction 36
Convection 37
Focus on A speciAl Topic 2.2
Rising Air Cools and Sinking Air Warms 38
Radiant Energy 39
Radiation and Temperature 40
Radiation of the Sun and Earth 40
Radiation: Absorption, Emission, and Equilibrium 41
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 2.3
Wave Energy, Sunburning, and UV Rays 42
Selective Absorbers and the Atmospheric Greenhouse Effect 43
Enhancement of the Greenhouse Effect 46
Warming the Air from Below 47
Shortwave Radiation Streaming from the Sun 47
Focus on An observATion 2.4
Blue Skies, Red Suns, and White Clouds 48
Earth’s Annual Energy Balance 49
Solar Particles, the Aurora, and Space Weather 51
Focus on A speciAl Topic 2.5
Characteristics of the Sun 52
Solar Storms and Space Weather 54
Summary 55
Key Terms 55
Questions for Review 55
Questions for Thought 56
Problems and Exercises 57
C. Donald Ahrens
Seasonal and Daily Temperatures 59
Why Earth Has Seasons 60
Seasons in the Northern Hemisphere 60
Focus on A speciAl Topic 3.1
Is December 21 Really the First Day of Winter? 64
Seasons in the Southern Hemisphere 65
Local Seasonal Variations 66
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 3.2
Solar Heating and the Noonday Sun 67
Daily Warming and Cooling of Air Near the Surface 68
Daytime Warming 68
Extreme High Temperatures 69
Nighttime Cooling 70
Cold Air at the Surface 71
Protecting Crops from the Cold Night Air 72
Record Low Temperatures 73
Daily Temperature Variations 75
Focus on A speciAl Topic 3.3
When It Comes to Temperature, What’s Normal? 77
Regional Temperature Variations 77
Applications of Air Temperature Data 80
Air Temperature and Human Comfort 82
Focus on An observATion 3.4
A Thousand Degrees and Freezing to Death 83
Measuring Air Temperature 84
Focus on An observATion 3.5
Why Thermometers Should Be Read in the Shade 86
Summary 87
Key Terms 87
Questions for Review 87
Questions for Thought 88 Problems and Exercises 89
C H a PTE r 4
atmospheric Humidity 91
Circulation of Water in the Atmosphere 92
The Many Phases of Water 93
Evaporation, Condensation, and Saturation 93
Humidity 95
Absolute Humidity 95
Specific Humidity and Mixing Ratio 95
Vapor Pressure 96
Relative Humidity 97
Focus on A speciAl Topic 4.1
Vapor Pressure and Boiling—The Higher You Go, The Longer Cooking Takes 98
Relative Humidity and Dew Point 99
Comparing Humidities 102
Relative Humidity in the Home 103
Relative Humidity and Human Discomfort 104
Focus on A speciAl Topic 4.2
Computing Relative Humidity and Dew Point 105
Measuring Humidity 107
Focus on A speciAl Topic 4.3
Which Is “Heavier”—Humid Air or Dry Air? 108
Summary 109
Key Terms 109
Questions for Review 109 Questions for Thought 110 Problems and Exercises 111
C H a PTE r 5
Condensation: Dew, Fog, and Clouds 113
The Formation of Dew and Frost 114
Condensation Nuclei 115
Haze 115
Fog 116
Radiation Fog 117
Advection Fog 118
Focus on An observATion 5.1
Why Are Headlands Usually Foggier Than Beaches? 119
Upslope Fog 119
Focus on A speciAl Topic 5.2
Fog That Forms by Mixing 120
Evaporation (Mixing) Fog 120
Foggy Weather 122
Clouds 124
Classification of Clouds 124
Cloud Identification 124
Some Unusual Clouds 130
Cloud Observations 132
Satellite Observations 133
Focus on An observATion 5.3
Measuring Cloud Ceilings 134
Focus on An observATion 5.4
GOES-16: New Windows on the Atmosphere 135
Focus on A speciAl Topic 5.5
Satellites Do More Than Observe Clouds 138
Summary 140
Key Terms 140
Questions for Review 140
Questions for Thought 141
Problems and Exercises 141
C H a PTE r 6
Stability and Cloud Development
143
Atmospheric Stability 144
Determining Stability 145
A Stable Atmosphere 145
An Unstable Atmosphere 147
A Conditionally Unstable Atmosphere 148
Causes of Instability 148
Focus on A speciAl Topic 6.1
Subsidence Inversions—Put a Lid on It 150
Cloud Development 152
Focus on A speciAl Topic 6.2
Atmospheric Stability and Windy Afternoons— Hold On to Your Hat 153
Convection and Clouds 153
Topography and Clouds 156
Focus on An observATion 6.3
Determining Convective Cloud Bases 157
Clouds That Form Downwind of Mountains 159
Changing Cloud Forms 159
Focus on An AdvAnced Topic 6.4
Adiabatic Charts 160
Summary 164
Key Terms 164
Questions for Review 164
Questions for Thought 165
Problems and Exercises 165
C H a PTE r 7
Precipitation 167
Precipitation Processes 168
How Do Cloud Droplets Grow Larger? 168
Collision and Coalescence Process 169
Ice-Crystal (Bergeron) Process 171
Focus on A speciAl Topic 7.1
The Freezing of Tiny Cloud Droplets 172
Cloud Seeding and Precipitation 174
Precipitation in Clouds 175
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 7.2
Does Cloud Seeding Enhance Precipitation? 176
Precipitation Types 177
Rain 177
Snow 178
Focus on A speciAl Topic 7.3
Are Raindrops Tear Shaped? 179
Snowflakes and Snowfall 179
Focus on A speciAl Topic 7.4
Snowing When the Air Temperature Is Well Above Freezing 180
Moist Subtropical Mid-Latitude Climates (Group C) 488
Focus on An observATion 17.2
A Desert with Clouds and Drizzle 489
Focus on A speciAl Topic 17.3
When Does a Dry Spell Become a Drought? 492
Moist Continental Climates (Group D) 492
Polar Climates (Group E) 495
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 17.4
Are Plant Hardiness Zones Shifting Northward? 498
Highland Climates (Group H) 499
Summary 500
Key Terms 500
Questions for Review 500
Questions for Thought 501
Problems and Exercises 501
C H a PTE r 18
Earth’s Changing Climate
Reconstructing Past Climates 504
Climate Throughout the Ages 506
503
Temperature Trends During the Past 1000 Years 507
Focus on A speciAl Topic 18.1
The Ocean’s Influence on Rapid Climate Change 508
Temperature Trends During the Past 100-Plus Years 509
Climate Change Caused by Natural Events 510
Climate Change: Feedback Mechanisms 510
Climate Change: Plate Tectonics and Mountain Building 511
Climate Change: Variations in Earth’s Orbit 513
Climate Change: Variations in Solar Output 516
Climate Change: Atmospheric Particles 516
Climate Change Caused by Human (Anthropogenic) Activities 518
Climate Change: Aerosols Injected into the Lower Atmosphere 518
Climate Change: Greenhouse Gases 519
Climate Change: Land Use Changes 519
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 18.2
Nuclear Winter, Cold Summers, and Dead Dinosaurs 520
Focus on A speciAl Topic 18.3
The Sahel—An Example of Climatic Variability and Human Existence 521
Climate Change: Global Warming 522
Recent Global Warming: Perspective 522
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 18.4
The Extremes of 2011 and 2012: Did Climate Change Play a Role? 523
Future Climate Change: Projections 524
Focus on A speciAl Topic 18.5
Climate Models: How Do They Work? 526
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 18.6
Ozone and the Ozone Hole: Their Influence on Climate Change 529
Consequences of Climate Change: The Possibilities 529
Climate Change: Efforts to Curb 532
Summary 534
Key Terms 534
Questions for Review 534
Questions for Thought 535 Problems and Exercises 535
C H a PTE r 19
air Pollution 537
A Brief History of Air Pollution 538 Types and Sources of Air Pollutants 539
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 19.1
Indoor Air Pollution 541
Principal Air Pollutants 542
Ozone in the Troposphere 544
Ozone in the Stratosphere 545
Focus on An environmenTAl issue 19.2
The Ozone Hole 548
Air Pollution: Trends and Patterns 549
Factors That Affect Air Pollution 552
The Role of the Wind 552
The Role of Stability and Inversions 553
Focus on An observATion 19.3
Smokestack Plumes 555
The Role of Topography 556
Severe Air Pollution Potential 556
Focus on An observATion 19.4
Five Days in Donora—An Air Pollution Episode 558
Air Pollution and the Urban Environment 558
Focus on sociAl And economic impAcT 19.5
Heat Waves and Air Pollution: A Deadly Team 560
Acid Deposition 560
Summary 563
Key Terms 563
Questions for Review 563
Questions for Thought 564
Problems and Exercises 565
C H a PTE r 20
Light, Color, and atmospheric Optics
567
White and Colors 568
Clouds and Scattered Light 568
Blue Skies and Hazy Days 568
White Clouds and Dark Bases 569
Crepuscular and Anticrepuscular Rays 571
Red Suns and Blue Moons 572
Twinkling, Twilight, and the Green Flash 573
The Mirage: Seeing Is Not Believing 576
Focus on An observATion 20.1
The Fata Morgana 577
Halos, Sundogs, and Sun Pillars 577
Rainbows 580
Focus on An observATion 20.2
Can It Be a Rainbow If It Is Not Raining? 583
Coronas, Glories, and Heiligenschein 583
Summary 586
Key Terms 586
Questions for Review 586
Questions for Thought 587
Problems and Exercises 587
a PPENDIX a
units, conversions, Abbreviations, and equations A-1
aPPENDIX B
Weather Symbols and the Station Model A-4
a PPENDIX C
Humidity and Dew-Point Tables (Psychrometric Tables) A-6
a PPENDIX D
Average Annual Global Precipitation A-10
a PPENDIX E
Instant Weather Forecast Chart A-12
a PPENDIX F
Changing GMT and UTC to Local Time A-14
a PPENDIX g
Standard Atmosphere A-15
a PPENDIX H
Adiabatic Chart A-16
Glossary G-1
Additional Reading Material R-1
Index I-1
Preface
the world is an ever-changing picture of naturally occurring events. From drought and famine to devastating floods, some of the greatest challenges we face come in the form of natural disasters created by weather. Yet dealing with weather and climate is an inevitable part of our lives. Sometimes it is as small as deciding what to wear for the day or how to plan a vacation. But it can also have life-shattering consequences, especially for those who are victims of a hurricane or a tornado.
Weather has always been front-page news, but in recent years, extreme weather seems to receive an ever-increasing amount of coverage. From the destruction wrought by extreme storms to the quiet, but no less devastating, impacts of severe drought, weather has enormous impact on our lives. The longer-term challenges of an evolving climate also demand our attention, whether it be rising sea levels, record global temperatures, intensified downpours, or the retreat of Arctic sea ice. Thanks in part to the rise of social media, more people than ever are sharing their weather-related observations, impressions, and photographs with the world at large. For these and many other reasons, interest in meteorology (the study of the atmosphere) continues to grow. One of the reasons that meteorology is such an engaging science to study is that the atmosphere is a universally accessible laboratory for everyone. Although the atmosphere will always provide challenges for us, as research and technology advance, our ability to understand and predict our atmosphere improves as well. We hope this book serves to assist you as you develop your own personal understanding and appreciation of our planet’s dynamic, spectacular atmosphere.
about This Book
Meteorology Today is written for college-level students taking an introductory course on the atmospheric environment. As was the case in previous editions, no special prerequisites are necessary. The main purpose of the text is to convey meteorological concepts in a visual and practical manner, while simultaneously providing students with a comprehensive background in basic meteorology. This twelfth edition includes up-to-date information on important topics, including climate change, ozone depletion, air quality, and El Niño. Also included are discussions of high-profile weather events, such as droughts, heat waves, tornado outbreaks, and hurricanes of recent years.
Written expressly for the student, this book emphasizes the understanding and application of meteorological principles. The text encourages watching the weather so that it becomes “alive,” allowing readers to immediately apply textbook material
to the world around them. To assist with this endeavor, a color Cloud Chart appears at the end of this text. The Cloud Chart can be separated from the book and used as a learning tool in any place one chooses to observe the sky. Numerous full-color illustrations and photographs illustrate key features of the atmosphere, stimulate interest, and show how exciting the study of weather can be.
After an introductory chapter on the composition, origin, and structure of the atmosphere, the book covers energy, temperature, moisture, precipitation, and winds. Next come chapters that deal with air masses and middle-latitude cyclones, followed by weather prediction and severe storms, including a separate chapter devoted to tornadoes. Wrapping up the book are chapters on hurricanes, global climate, climate change, air pollution, and atmospheric optics.
This book is structured to provide maximum flexibility to instructors of atmospheric science courses, with chapters generally designed so they can be covered in any desired order. For example, the chapter on atmospheric optics, Chapter 20, is selfcontained and can be covered before or after any chapter. Instructors, then, are able to tailor this text to their particular needs.
Each chapter contains at least two Focus sections, which expand on material in the main text or explore a subject closely related to what is being discussed. Focus sections fall into one of five distinct categories: Observations, Special Topics, Environmental Issues, Advanced Topics, and Social and Economic Impacts. Some include material that is not always found in introductory meteorology textbooks, such as temperature extremes, cloud seeding, and the weather on other planets. Others help to bridge theory and practice. Focus sections new to this edition include “GOES-16: New Windows on the Atmosphere,” (Chapter 5), “Rivers in the Atmosphere” (Chapter 11), “The Weird World of Tornado Damage” (Chapter 15), and “A Forecast Challenge: The Devastating Hurricanes of 2017” (Chapter 16). Quantitative discussions of important equations, such as the geostrophic wind equation and the hydrostatic equation, are found in Focus sections on advanced topics.
Set apart as “Weather Watch” features in each chapter is weather information that may not be commonly known, yet pertains to the topic under discussion. Designed to bring the reader into the text, most of these weather highlights relate to some interesting weather fact or astonishing event.
Each chapter incorporates other effective learning aids: A major topic outline begins each chapter.
Interesting introductory pieces draw the reader naturally into the main text.
Important terms are boldfaced, with their definitions appearing in the glossary or in the text.
Key phrases are italicized.
English equivalents of metric units in most cases are immediately provided in parentheses.
A brief review of the main points is placed toward the middle of most chapters.
Each chapter ends with a summary of the main ideas.
A list of key terms with page references follows each chapter, allowing students to review and reinforce their knowledge of key concepts.
Questions for Review act to check how well students assimilate the material.
Questions for Thought require students to synthesize learned concepts for deeper understanding. Problems and Exercises require mathematical calculations that provide a technical challenge to the student.
References to more than 20 Concept Animations are compiled on pp. xix. These animations convey an immediate appreciation of how a process works and help students visualize the more difficult concepts in meteorology. Animations can be found in the Earth Science MindTap for Meteorology Today.
Eight appendices conclude the book. In addition, at the end of the book, a compilation of supplementary reading material is presented, as is an extensive glossary.
On the endsheet at the back of the book is a geophysical map of North America. The map serves as a quick reference for locating states, provinces, and geographical features, such as mountain ranges and large bodies of water.
Supplemental Material and Technology Support
TECHNOLOgy FOr THE INSTrUCTOr
Instructor Companion Website Everything you need for your course in one place! This collection of book-specific lecture and class tools is available online via www.cengage.com/login. Access and download PowerPoint presentations, images, instructor’s manual, and more.
Cognero Test Bank Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero is a flexible, online system that allows you to:
Author, edit, and manage test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning solutions
Create multiple test versions in an instant
Deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom, or wherever you want
global geoscience Watch Updated several times a day, the Global Geoscience Watch is a focused portal into GREENR— our Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural
Resources—an ideal one-stop site for classroom discussion and research projects for all things geoscience! Broken into the four key course areas (Geography, Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography), you can easily get to the most relevant content available for your course. You and your students will have access to the latest information from trusted academic journals, news outlets, and magazines. You also will receive access to statistics, primary sources, case studies, podcasts, and much more!
TECHNOLOgy FOr THE STUDENT
Earth Science MindTap for Meteorology Today MindTap is well beyond an eBook, a homework solution or digital supplement, a resource center website, a course delivery platform, or a Learning Management System. More than 70 percent of students surveyed said that it was unlike anything they have ever seen before. MindTap is a personal learning experience that combines all of your digital assets—readings, multimedia, activities, study tools, and assessments—into a singular learning path to improve student outcomes. The twelfth edition MindTap course contains: Case Study activities with summaries and questions written by co-author Bob Henson, new Concept Animations, and auto-graded homework problems and exercises adapted from the text or newly written by the authors.
Changes in the Twelfth Edition
The authors have carried out extensive updates and revisions to this twelfth edition of Meteorology Today, reflecting the ever-changing nature of the field and the atmosphere itself. Dozens of new or revised color illustrations and many new photos have been added to help visualize the excitement of the atmosphere.
Chapter 1, “Earth and Its Atmosphere,” continues to serve as a broad overview of the atmosphere. Material that puts meteorology in the context of the scientific method lays the foundation for the rest of the book. Among recent events now referenced in this chapter are the severe flooding over the Southern Plains and Southeast in 2015 and the Houston flash flood of April 2016.
Chapter 2, “Warming and Cooling Earth and Its Atmosphere,” contains up-to-date statistics and background on greenhouse gases and climate change, topics covered in more detail later in the book.
Chapter 3, “Seasonal and Daily Temperatures,” includes updated details on the recently revised world high temperature record. A number of figures and tables have been updated so that they include data from the most recent reference period (1981–2010).
Chapter 4, “Atmospheric Humidity,” continues to cover essential concepts related to this important aspect of the atmosphere. A section on relative humidity and human
discomfort now stresses the danger of heat buildup in a closed vehicle, independent of humidity.
Chapter 5, “Condensation: Dew, Fog, and Clouds,” includes a new Focus section spotlighting the GOES-16 satellite and the many new capacities of the GOES-R series.
Chapter 6, “Stability and Cloud Development,” discusses atmospheric stability and instability and the resulting effects on cloud formation in a carefully sequenced manner, with numerous illustrations and several Focus sections helping to make these complex concepts understandable. A new graphic highlights the differences between absolutely stable, absolutely unstable, and conditionally unstable conditions.
“Precipitation” (Chapter 7) includes updated information on precipitation measurement from satellites, including the new Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission.
Chapter 8, “Air Pressure and Winds,” includes a recently enhanced description and revised illustrations of the interplay between the pressure gradient and Coriolis forces in cyclonic and anticylonic flow.
Chapter 9, “Wind: Small-Scale and Local Systems,” references the destructive Midwest windstorm of March 2017 and includes updated information on the continued growth of wind energy .
Chapter 10, “Wind: Global Systems,” features several new images as well as updates on a number of phenomena, including the El Niño event of 2014–2016, the California drought of 2011–2016, and recent trends in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
In Chapter 11, “Air Masses and Fronts,” the discussion of occluded fronts has been revised to incorporate recent perspectives, and a new Focus box illuminates the concept of atmospheric rivers.
Chapter 12, “Middle-Latitude Cyclones,” continues to provide a thorough and accessible introduction to this important topic. The Focus section on nor’easters has been revised to center around the intense storm of January 2016.
Chapter 13, “Weather Forecasting,” has undergone a major restructuring and revision. After introducing the observations used by forecasters, the chapter includes an explanation of numerical weather models and other forecast techniques, the types of forecasts that apply to various time scales, and the difference between forecast accuracy and skill. A new illustration depicts the usefulness of short-term, high-resolution mesoscale models in predicting showers and thunderstorms.
Chapter 14, “Thunderstorms,” includes updated discussions of such topics as microbursts, heat bursts, and record hailstones, featuring several new photos. The use of lightning mapping arrays to map flashes in three dimensions has also been added.
Chapter 15, “Tornadoes,” includes a new Focus section on the surprising types of damage that tornadic winds can
produce. Storm chasing is discussed in the context of the VORTEX and VORTEX2 field campaigns and the tragic deaths of several storm researchers in 2013.
Chapter 16, “Hurricanes,” includes extensive background on recent and historically significant tropical cyclones, as well as new and updated illustrations depicting storm surge processes and wind-speed probabilities. A new Focus section covers the devastating hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria of 2017.
Chapter 17, “Global Climate,” continues to serve as a standalone unit on global climatology and classification schemes. Recent updates and revisions have incorporated the 1981–2010 United States climate averages.
Chapter 18, “Earth’s Changing Climate,” has undergone extensive updating to reflect recent developments and findings, including the sequence of record-setting global temperatures in 2014, 2015, and 2016; regional variations in sea-level rise; and the Paris climate agreement.
Chapter 19, “Air Pollution,” reflects a number of updates, including the vast number of deaths associated with both indoor and outdoor air pollution and the importance of the smallest airborne particulates as a health hazard.
The book concludes with Chapter 20, “Light, Color, and Atmospheric Optics,” which uses exciting photos and art to convey the beauty of the atmosphere. Several compelling new photos have been included.
acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to this twelfth edition of Meteorology Today. Special thanks goes to Charles Preppernau for his care in rendering beautiful artwork and to Alyson Platt for professional and conscientious copy editing. We are indebted to the team at SPi Global, including Matthew Fox and Catherine Higginbotham, who took the photos, art, and manuscript and turned them into a beautiful end product in both print and digital forms. Special thanks go to all the people at Cengage who worked on this edition, especially Brendan Killion, Lauren Oliveira, Hal Humphrey, and Rebecca Berardy Schwartz.
Thanks to our friends who provided photos and to those reviewers who offered comments and suggestions for this edition, including:
Eric Aldrich, University of Missouri
Peter Blanken, University of Colorado Boulder
Kerry Doyle, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Daehyun Kim, University of Kentucky
Ryan Fogt, Ohio University
John Harrington, Kansas State University
Keeley Heise, Oklahoma State University
Cody Kirkpatrick, Indiana University Bloomington
Zachary Lebo, University of Wyoming
Kennie Leet, SUNY Broome Community College
Mark McConnaughhay, Dutchess Community College
Lou McNally, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University
Justin Maxwell, Indiana University Bloomington
Greta Nisbet, Broward College
Keah Schuenemann, Metropolitan State University of Denver
David Schultz, University of Manchester
Bruce Sherman, Southeastern Louisiana University
Tim Wallace, Mississippi State University
Lori Weeden, University of Massachusetts Lowell
To the Student
Learning about the atmosphere can be a fascinating and enjoyable experience. This book is intended to give you some insight into the workings of the atmosphere. However, for a real appreciation of your atmospheric environment, you must go outside and observe. Although mountains take millions of years to form, a cumulus cloud can develop into a raging thunderstorm in less than an hour. The atmosphere is always producing something new for us to behold. To help with your observations, a color Cloud Chart is at the back of the book for easy reference. Remove it and keep it with you. And remember, all of the concepts and ideas in this book are out there for you to discover and enjoy. Please, take the time to look.
Donald Ahrens and Robert Henson
explore the concept Animations
additional animations
● Temperature versus Molecular Movement (Chapter 2)
● Radiant Energy and Wavelengths (Chapter 2)
● Daily Temperature Changes Above the Surface (Chapter 3)
● Air Temperature, Dew Point, and Relative Humidity (Chapter 4)
● Condensation (Chapter 4)
● Ice Crystals (Bergeron) Process (Chapter 5)
● Geostrophic Wind (Chapter 8)
● Thermally Driven Circulations (Chapter 9)
● General Circulation of the Atmosphere (Chapter 10)
● Introduction to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (Chapter 10)
● Evolution of El Niño and La Niña (Chapter 10)
● Thunderstorm Evolution (Chapter 15)
These animations have been carefully created to bring to life key points in the chapters. They are also the perfect tool to help refresh students’ memories of previous concepts, so they can keep building on knowledge already acquired. Concept Animations are accessed through the MindTap platform, which can be acquired separately or together with print or loose-leaf versions of this book. Some examples of Concept Animations are shown here.
For a visual interpretation of the energy emitted by the earth without and with a greenhouse effect, watch the Greenhouse animation (Chapter 2).
Doppler radar images are used extensively throughout this book. To better understand Doppler radar images, watch all four parts of this Doppler Radar animation (Chapters 1, 11, and 15).
Learn about how air rises above an area of low atmospheric pressure and sinks above an area of high atmospheric pressure. Converging and DivergingAir (Chapters 12).
Seasons provides a complete picture of Earth revolving around the sun while it is tilted on its axis. While viewing this animation, look closely at how the sun is viewed by a mid-latitude observer at various times of the year (Chapter 3).
The concept of atmospheric stability can be a bit confusing, especially when comparing the temperature inside a rising air parcel to that of its surroundings. Watch the animations StableAtmosphere, UnstableAtmosphere, and Conditionally Unstable Atmosphere (Chapters 6, 14, and 15).
For a visualization of the stages that a wave cyclone goes through from birth to decay, watch the animation entitled Cyclogenesis (Chapter 12).
To view air rising over a mountain and the formation of a rain shadow desert, watch Air Rising Up and Over a Mountain (Chapter 6).
a visual presentation of the Coriolis force, watch Coriolis Force (Chapter 8).
For visualizations of a cold front and a warm front moving across the landscape, watch the animations Cold Front in Winter and Warm Front in Winter (Chapters 11 and 13).
For a depiction of the components of storm surge as a hurricane approaches land, watch Storm Surge (Chapter 16).
For
CONTENTS
The Atmosphere and the Scientific Method
Overview of Earth’s Atmosphere
Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere
Weather and Climate
Earth and Its Atmosphere
I WELL REMEMBER A BRILLIANT RED BALLOON which kept me completely happy for a whole afternoon, until, while I was playing, a clumsy movement allowed it to escape. Spellbound, I gazed after it as it drifted silently away, gently swaying, growing smaller and smaller until it was only a red point in a blue sky. At that moment I realized, for the first time, the vastness above us: a huge space without visible limits. It was an apparent void, full of secrets, exerting an inexplicable power over all the Earth’s inhabitants. I believe that many people, consciously or unconsciously, have been filled with awe by the immensity of the atmosphere. All our knowledge about the air, gathered over hundreds of years, has not diminished this feeling.
Theo Loebsack, Our Atmosphere
Our atmosphere is a delicate life-giving blanket of air that surrounds the fragile Earth. In one way or another, it influences everything we see and hear—it is intimately connected to our lives. Air is with us from birth, and we cannot detach ourselves from its presence. In the open air, we can travel for many thousands of kilometers in any horizontal direction, but should we move a mere 8 kilometers above the surface, we would suffocate. We may be able to survive without food for a few weeks, or without water for a few days, but, without our atmosphere, we would not survive more than a few minutes. Just as fish are confined to an environment of water, so we are confined to an ocean of air. Anywhere we go, air must go with us.
Earth without an atmosphere would have no lakes or oceans. There would be no sounds, no clouds, no red sunsets. The beautiful pageantry of the sky would be absent. It would be unimaginably cold at night and unbearably hot during the day. All things on Earth would be at the mercy of an intense sun beating down upon a planet utterly parched.
Living on the surface of Earth, we have adapted so completely to our environment of air that we sometimes forget how truly remarkable this substance is. Even though air is tasteless, odorless, and (most of the time) invisible, it protects us from the scorching rays of the sun and provides us with a mixture of gases that allows life to flourish. Because we cannot see, smell, or taste air, it may seem surprising that between your eyes and these words are trillions of air molecules. Some of these may have been in a cloud only yesterday, or over another continent last week, or perhaps part of the life-giving breath of a person who lived hundreds of years ago.
In this chapter, we will examine a number of important concepts and ideas about Earth’s atmosphere, many of which will be expanded in subsequent chapters. These concepts and ideas are part of the foundation for understanding the atmosphere and how it produces weather. They are built on knowledge acquired and applied through the scientific method. This technique allows us to make informed predictions about how the natural world will behave.
The Atmosphere and the Scientific Method
For hundreds of years, the scientific method has served as the backbone for advances in medicine, biology, engineering, and many other fields. In the field of atmospheric science, the scientific method has paved the way for the production of weather forecasts that have steadily improved over time.
Investigators use the scientific method by posing a question, putting forth a hypothesis*, predicting what the hypothesis would imply if it were true, and carrying out tests to see if the prediction is accurate. Many common sayings about the weather, such as “red sky at morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight,” are rooted in careful observation, and there are grains of truth in some of them. However, they are not considered
*A hypothesis is an assertion that is subject to verification of proof.
to be products of the scientific method because they are not tested and verified in a standard, rigorous way. (See ● Fig. 1.1.)
To be accepted, a hypothesis has to be shown to be correct through a series of quantitative tests. In many areas of science, such testing is carried out in a laboratory, where it can be replicated again and again. Studying the atmosphere, however, is somewhat different, because Earth has only one atmosphere. Despite this limitation, scientists have made vast progress by studying the physics and chemistry of air in the laboratory (for instance, the way in which molecules absorb energy) and by extending those understandings to the atmosphere as a whole. Observations using weather instruments allow us to quantify how the atmosphere behaves and to determine whether a prediction is correct. If a particular kind of weather is being studied, such as hurricanes or snowstorms, a field campaign can gather additional observations to test specific hypotheses.
Over the last 60 years, computers have given atmospheric scientists a tremendous boost. The physical laws that control atmospheric behavior can be represented in software packages known as numerical models. Forecasts can be made and tested many times over. The atmosphere within a model can be used to depict weather conditions from the past and project them into the future. When a model can accurately simulate past weather conditions, we can have more confidence in its portrayal of tomorrow’s weather. Numerical models can also provide valuable information about the types of weather and climate we may expect decades from now.
Overview of Earth’s Atmosphere
The scientific method has not only illuminated our understanding of weather and climate but also provided much information about the universe that surrounds us. The universe contains billions of galaxies and each galaxy is made up of billions of stars.
● FIGURE 1.1 Observing the natural world is a critical part of the scientific method. Here a vibrant red sky is visible at sunset. One might use the scientific method to verify the old proverb, “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”
Stars are hot glowing balls of gas that generate energy by converting hydrogen into helium near their centers. Our sun is an average-sized star situated near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. Revolving around the sun are Earth and seven other planets (see ● Fig. 1.2).* Our solar system comprises these planets, along with a host of other material (comets, asteroids, meteors, dwarf planets, etc.).
Warmth for the planets is provided primarily by the sun’s energy. At an average distance from the sun of nearly 150 million kilometers (km) or 93 million miles (mi), Earth intercepts only a very small fraction of the sun’s total energy output. However, it is this radiant energy (or radiation)** that drives the atmosphere into the patterns of everyday wind and weather and allows Earth to maintain an average surface temperature of about () 15 C59F88 † Although this temperature is mild, Earth experiences a wide range of temperatures, as readings can drop below () 85 C 121 F 28 28 during a frigid Antarctic night and climb, during the day, to above () 50C 122 F 88 on the oppressively hot subtropical desert.
Earth’s atmosphere is a relatively thin, gaseous envelope that comprises mostly nitrogen and oxygen, with small amounts of other gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide (CO2). Nestled in the atmosphere are clouds of liquid water and ice crystals. Although our atmosphere extends upward for many hundreds of kilometers, it gets progressively thinner with altitude. Almost 99 percent of the atmosphere lies within a mere 30 km (19 mi) of Earth’s surface (see ● Fig. 1.3). In fact, if Earth were to shrink to the size of a beach ball, its inhabitable atmosphere would be thinner than a piece of paper. This thin blanket of air constantly shields the surface and its inhabitants from the sun’s dangerous ultraviolet radiant energy, as well as from the onslaught of material from interplanetary space. There is no definite upper limit to the atmosphere; rather, it becomes thinner and thinner, eventually merging with empty space, which surrounds all the planets.
*Pluto was once classified as a true planet. But recently it has been reclassified as a planetary object called a dwarf planet
**Radiation is energy transferred in the form of waves that have electrical and magnetic properties. The light that we see is radiation, as is ultraviolet light. More on this important topic is given in Chapter 2.
†The abbreviation 8 C is used when measuring temperature in degrees Celsius, and 8 F is the abbreviation for degrees Fahrenheit. More information about temperature scales is given in Appendix A and in Chapter 2.
● FIGURE 1.2 The relative sizes and positions of the planets in our
system. Pluto is included as an object called a dwarf planet. (Positions are not to scale.)
THE EARLY ATMOSPHERE The atmosphere that originally surrounded Earth was probably much different from the air we breathe today. Earth’s first atmosphere (some 4.6 billion years ago) was most likely hydrogen and helium—the two most abundant gases found in the universe—as well as hydrogen compounds, such as methane () CH 4 and ammonia ) ( NH3 . Most scientists believe that this early atmosphere escaped into space from Earth’s hot surface.
A second, more dense atmosphere, however, gradually enveloped Earth as gases from molten rock within its hot interior escaped through volcanoes and steam vents. We assume that volcanoes spewed out the same gases then as they do today: mostly water vapor (about 80 percent), carbon dioxide (about 10 percent), and up to a few percent nitrogen. These gases (mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide) probably created Earth’s second atmosphere.
As millions of years passed, the constant outpouring of gases from the hot interior—known as outgassing—provided a rich supply of water vapor, which formed into clouds. (It is also believed that when Earth was very young, some of its water may
solar
● FIGURE 1.3 Earth’s atmosphere as viewed from space. The atmosphere is the thin bluish-white region along the edge of Earth. The photo was taken from the International Space Station on April 12, 2011, over western South America.
*For CO 2 , 410 parts per million means that out of every million air molecules, 410 are CO 2 molecules. **Stratospheric values at altitudes between 11 km and 50 km are about 5 to 12 ppm.
have originated from numerous collisions with small meteors that pounded Earth, as well as from disintegrating comets.) Rain fell upon Earth for many thousands of years, forming the rivers, lakes, and oceans of the world. During this time, large amounts of carbon dioxide () CO 2 were dissolved in the oceans. Through chemical and biological processes, much of the CO 2 became locked up in carbonate sedimentary rocks, such as limestone. With much of the water vapor already condensed and the concentration of CO 2 dwindling, the atmosphere gradually became dominated by molecular nitrogen () N 2 , which is usually not chemically active. It appears that molecular oxygen () O 2 , the second most abundant gas in today’s atmosphere, probably began an extremely slow increase in concentration as energetic rays from the sun split water vapor () HO 2 into hydrogen and oxygen during a process called photodissociation. The hydrogen, being lighter, probably rose and escaped into space, while the oxygen remained in the atmosphere. It is uncertain whether this slow increase in oxygen supported the evolution of primitive plants, perhaps two to three billion years ago, or whether plants evolved in an almost oxygenfree (anaerobic) environment. At any rate, plant growth greatly enriched our atmosphere with oxygen. The reason for this enrichment is that, during the process of photosynthesis, plants, in the presence of sunlight, combine carbon dioxide and water to produce sugar and oxygen. Hence, after plants evolved, the atmospheric oxygen content increased more rapidly, probably reaching its present composition about several hundred million years ago.
COMPOSITION OF TODAY’S ATMOSPHERE ▼ Table 1.1 shows the various gases present in a volume of air near Earth’s surface. Notice that molecular nitrogen () N 2 occupies about 78 percent and molecular oxygen () O 2 about 21 percent of the total volume of dry air. If all the other gases are removed, these percentages for nitrogen and oxygen hold fairly constant up to an elevation of about 80 km (50 mi). (For a closer look at the composition of a breath of air at Earth’s surface, read Focus section 1.1.)
At the surface, there is a balance between destruction (output) and production (input) of these gases. For example, nitrogen is removed from the atmosphere primarily by biological processes that involve soil bacteria. Nitrogen is also taken from the air by tiny ocean-dwelling plankton that convert it into nutrients that help fortify the ocean’s food chain. It is returned to the atmosphere mainly through the decaying of plant and animal matter. Oxygen, on the other hand, is removed from the atmosphere when organic matter decays and when oxygen combines with other substances, producing oxides. It is also taken from the atmosphere during breathing, as the lungs take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide () CO 2 . The addition of oxygen to the atmosphere occurs during photosynthesis.
The concentration of the invisible gas water vapor () HO 2 , however, varies greatly from place to place, and from time to time. Close to the surface in warm, steamy, tropical locations, water vapor may account for up to 4 percent of the atmospheric gases, whereas in colder arctic areas, its concentration may dwindle to a mere fraction of a percent (see Table 1.1). Water vapor molecules are, of course, invisible. They become visible only when they transform into larger liquid or solid particles, such as cloud droplets and ice crystals, which may grow in size and eventually fall to Earth as rain or snow. The changing of water vapor into liquid water is called condensation, whereas the process of liquid water becoming water vapor is called evaporation. The falling rain and snow is called precipitation. In the lower atmosphere, water is everywhere. It is the only substance that exists as a gas, a liquid, and a solid at those temperatures and pressures normally found near Earth’s surface (see ● Fig. 1.4).
Water vapor is an extremely important gas in our atmosphere. Not only does it form into both liquid and solid cloud particles that grow in size and fall to Earth as precipitation, but it also releases large amounts of heat—called latent heat—when it changes from vapor into liquid water or ice. Latent heat is an important source of atmospheric energy, especially for storms, such as thunderstorms
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“And so Angela Vaughn became Neville Tremaine’s wife.”
Angela was mute. She understood even better than Neville the depth, the height, and the breadth of the resentment which Neville Tremaine’s course had aroused in the hearts of his mother and father. Then they went into the little shabby study; the ghost-like dawn was peering through the windows. “This place is the spot where I always see you in my imagination,” said Neville, “and in my dreams, for a soldier dreams more than other men, I can tell you. But you are always in my dreams a little girl, in a short, white frock, with a long plait of hair down your back, and very sweet and restless, and a little spoiled, I think.”
Her silence for the first time struck Neville. He was holding her by the hand, and, drawing her toward him, he said: “Are you sorry for what you have done?”
“No,” replied Angela, “I would do it over again, but I am a little stunned, I think. Everything is so strange, so unlike what I thought a marriage would be.”
“Yes, very unlike, but in a little while, I think, I shall contrive a way for you to be with me. Richard will see that you reach me, and then our honeymoon will begin, dearest.”
They returned to the hall, and it was now the moment of parting. Neville, drawn by an irresistible impulse, ascended the stairs to where his father sat, still leaning upon Archie.
Father and son looked at each other steadily. Neville had halfextended his hand, but it dropped to his side when he saw the expression on Colonel Tremaine’s face, and then Neville, standing at attention, formally saluted his father, as a soldier salutes his superior; a salute which Colonel Tremaine returned in the same formal manner, standing as straight and rigid as Neville. Archie’s boyish heart could not see Neville go without a word. He ran forward and caught his brother around the body, crying: “Good-by, brother, good-by!”
Neville kissed the boy on the brow.
True, these Tremaines were bone of one bone and flesh of one flesh, because each of them was ready to sacrifice the heart, the soul, all present, all future happiness to the principle of honor as each understood it.
Neville went to the sofa where his mother sat. He meant to say some words of farewell, but he could not speak, and for the first time since his manhood he wept, the silent tears of a strong man, wrung from him like drops of blood. Mrs. Tremaine, too, wept, but said no word. She could bestow upon him neither her forgiveness nor her blessing, but this wrenching apart was like the separation of the flesh and the spirit. Neville could only turn to Angela and, taking her hand, place it silently within his mother’s. That was his farewell.
CHAPTER VIII
THE MEETING
ALL Virginia had caught fire and was immediately a blazing furnace of enthusiasm. The people were of a military temper and the spirit militant had always possessed them. Their ancestors, having fought stubbornly for Charles the First, had come to Virginia rather than submit to Cromwellianism. Almost as soon as these cavaliers became Virginians, they took up arms in Bacon’s Rebellion and fought so stubbornly that fifty years afterwards families who had been in the Nathaniel Bacon cause would not walk on the same side of the street or road as those who had upheld Sir William Berkeley. They welcomed fighting during the whole of the Revolution and in 1812 they again faced the Redcoats. They were a primitive and isolated people and belonged more to the eighteenth than to the nineteenth century; their place in chronology, in truth, was of a time when fighting was loved for fighting’s sake. They knew little and cared less concerning the forces against which they were hurling themselves. Being an untraveled people, they had no conception of any better or other life than their own. They gave high-sounding names to things and places and fully believed in the illusions thus created.
No people on earth ever went more seriously into a civil war than did these Virginians, and civil war is serious business always. Every family in the county was united except the Harrowby family, that one which had been the most united, the most devoted of them all.
The news of the tragic happenings of that April night were known magically through the whole community. Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine were extolled as was Virginius, the Roman father. They were considered to have performed an act of the loftiest patriotic virtue in giving up the son whom they reckoned to have given up his honor.
Angela was generally condemned and had in the whole county only one partisan; this was Mrs. Charteris, who was scarcely less of a Spartan mother than Mrs. Tremaine, but who remembered that she had once been young herself and rashly assumed that Angela must have been too desperately in love with Neville Tremaine to refuse him anything.
Vain delusion, and wholly unshared by Angela! The entire face of existence seemed to have changed for her in that April night and nothing seemed to have its right proportions. But one sad truth made itself felt at the moment when she became Neville Tremaine’s wife— she was not in love with him. She loved him deeply and truly and would not have turned from him in any event, even though the mother that bore him did so. But mothers have a sense of responsibility in their love, and Mrs. Tremaine felt as if, through some secret wickedness on her part or Colonel Tremaine’s, she had brought into the world a traitor and that God’s judgment was upon Neville therefor. She could not make this intelligible to anyone except Colonel Tremaine, who himself inclined to the same dread theory.
Richard Tremaine’s broad intelligence took a more just view of Neville’s course, but Richard was powerless to move his parents. From the hour when Neville went forth an outcast from his father’s house, his name was never mentioned at family prayers, an omission which went like a sword to the hearts of all those assembled at those prayers. Also by a tacit understanding Neville’s name was no more spoken in the presence of the master and mistress of Harrowby.
Apparently there was not the smallest outward alteration in Angela herself or in her position. But in reality a stupendous change had occurred. Angela was a wife, and subject to no authority except that of her husband, and could no longer be disposed of as if she were a child. Something of this showed subtly in her air and manner from the beginning. There was a gravity and self-command which she adopted instinctively with her new name of Angela Tremaine. No one saw and felt this more than Lyddon. He read Angela’s heart like an open book, and sighed for her.
Three days after her marriage, a small parcel addressed to Lyddon reached Harrowby. It had been forwarded through the British consul at Norfolk. Within was a letter addressed to Mrs. Neville Tremaine, and the parcel consisted of a considerable sum of money in gold eagles. Lyddon handed it to Angela in the presence of Mrs. Tremaine. It was a sweet spring morning and the two were superintending the work in the old garden just as they had done since Angela was a child. After reading the letter she had not offered to show it to Mrs. Tremaine, but put it quietly into her pocket.
Mrs. Tremaine, knowing from whom it came, and panting for news of the outcast, still would not speak, and Angela, who was as sensitive to Neville’s honor as if she were in love with him, had the haughtiness of a wife in the presence of those who have dealt injustice to her husband. She balanced the little packet of gold in her delicate fingers, and her eyes, which had grown dark and serious, suddenly assumed the inquisitiveness of a child.
Lyddon, who was watching her, knew she had never before owned so much money as the modest sum which Neville had sent her. She glanced at Lyddon, who was smiling, and knowing the thought in his mind, she blushed deeply, and dropped the money into her pocket. Lyddon walked away and Angela went on with her work of suggesting and assisting Mrs. Tremaine in the planting of flower seeds.
Mrs. Tremaine was outwardly calm and her voice unmoved, but Angela knew that storm and tempest raged within. An impulse of divine pity, like the sun upon snow, flashed into her heart, and after a minute of struggle she said softly to Mrs. Tremaine: “He is well.”
Mrs. Tremaine averted her head as if she had not heard, but Angela knew she had, and then the next moment the mother turned quickly and kissed the daughter-in-law who had shown mercy to her.
From the day after his return from Richmond, Richard had actively canvassed the county for the raising of a battery of artillery of which he wished to be elected captain. On the evening of the day when Angela had got her first letter from Neville, Richard rode home tired with his three days of riding and working, but exultant over his
prospects. The family were already at supper when he entered the dining room in his riding dress and sat down to the table.
“I think, sir,” he said to his father, “the matter is settled and I have enough votes pledged to me to secure the captaincy. We hope to raise the whole equipment by subscription so that the State shan’t be put to any expense whatever.”
“I, myself, will contribute all the wheat grown on the middle wheat field,” replied Colonel Tremaine. And then, looking toward Mrs. Tremaine, added: “We can afford to be generous now that we have but two sons whom we can in honor own.”
Angela, who was sitting at the table, turned pale and then crimson, and after a moment rose quietly and left the room. All knew what she meant by this silent protest—she was Neville Tremaine’s wife and nothing could be said against him in her presence, even by implication, without her resenting it.
After supper, when Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine were in the library, they sent for Angela and she came in promptly.
“My dear,” said Colonel Tremaine, in his most polished and elaborate manner, “I have to beg your pardon for a most unfortunate allusion which I inadvertently made at supper.”
“It was, indeed, most unfortunate,” answered Angela quietly.
Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine looked at her and felt as if the center of the universe had dropped out. Here was this child, the companion of Archie, daring to assert herself, nay, to assert the dignity of her position as Neville Tremaine’s wife.
She was, however, so clearly right that Colonel Tremaine, after a gasp or two, finished what he had begun to say.
“We understand perfectly what your attitude must be, and if by chance allusion we seem to forget this, I beg that you will excuse us, and believe that it is very far from intentional.”
Angela bowed and left the room.
It was not uncommon for Colonel Tremaine to make these elaborate apologies and to ask pardon from the Throne of Grace when he had offended, and he had been known, when the family was assembled for prayers, to offer a ceremonious explanation for having thrown his boot jack at Jim Henry’s head.
Toward Angela, however, Colonel Tremaine had ever been indulgence itself and had always treated her as a favored child.
After the little scene in the library, Angela returned to the study, where Richard and Lyddon sat, and told them what had happened. “I don’t know how it was,” she said, “but although I was not thinking of Neville at the time, the instant Uncle Tremaine said that about his sons whom he could in honor own, I felt that I must not sit quiet under it. It makes a great difference,” she added sagely, “when a woman is married to a man.”
“A very great difference,” answered Lyddon, who could not forbear laughing, and then growing serious he said: “You were always wanting something to happen; wonderful things have happened and will continue to happen, and the time may come when you will apply to the present the old saw, ‘Happy the country which has no history.’”
Richard then took out a letter. “I had this to-day from Isabey, who seems to have reached Richmond a few hours after I left. He is lucky enough already to have got his captaincy of artillery and has been sent to Virginia on a secret mission. He writes that he wishes to see me and is likely to arrive at any moment.”
Angela listened to this with the new sense which had come to her since the marriage ceremony between herself and Neville—the sense of analysis. She had taken such tremendous interest in Isabey and had dreamed so many idle dreams about him, decorating him with all the girlish fancies of her heart; and now Isabey, the muchtalked-of, the long-expected, was nothing to her. She was still at the age when the only interest possible was a personal interest, when her own destiny she thought must be affected by every person who crossed her path.
Then she remembered that Isabey’s coming could mean nothing to her, that she could no longer steal into Richard’s room to look at Isabey’s sketches on the wall, and it gave her a slight shock. Many other things in her new position puzzled her. She did not know in the least whether she ought to be interested in Richard’s account of the raising of troops in the county, and it suddenly occurred to her that when she should join Neville, she would still be at a loss to know which side she should take. She had been red-hot for war, but quickly and even instantly had learned to sit silent when the coming conflict was spoken of before her
A day or two after was the time when the artillery volunteers were to meet at the courthouse and elect their officers. Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine sent Richard off with their blessing. He reached the courthouse, which was ten miles away, by ten o’clock in the morning. It was a day of brightness, and the old colonial courthouse and clerk’s office lay basking in the warm April sun.
A great crowd had assembled, chiefly men from eighteen to fortyfive, but there were boys and graybeards present, and a few ladies. The election of officers was held viva voce, and Richard was elected, almost without a dissentient vote, captain of the battery of artillery. The enrollment was large because Richard Tremaine carried men’s bodies as well as minds with him.
When the business part of the programme was over, there was a call for a speech, that invariable concomitant of every species of business transacted in Virginia. This was responded to by Colonel Carey, who had an inveterate passion for speechmaking, inherited from a long line of speechmaking ancestors.
The colonel mounted the stone steps of the old courthouse and began with his usual preliminary, which was the declaration that he was totally unprepared for this honor and averse to public speaking, and then promptly drew from his pocket a manuscript of the speech it took him precisely three-quarters of an hour to deliver and which had been prepared for the occasion as soon as secession had become a living issue. The exordium of the colonel’s speech was
that which is invariably required of every orator on Virginia soil—a tribute to the women of Virginia.
Richard Tremaine, standing on the edge of the crowd of all sorts and conditions of men, listened gravely to the colonel’s roaring platitudes, his torrent of adjectives, his prophetic visions. The colonel was a fighting man, but Richard had no doubt would indulge his speechmaking, if allowed, when bullets were whizzing and shell tearing up the ground around him.
Colonel Tremaine had frequently complained that during the Mexican War, Randolph Carey was always making speeches when the Mexicans were doing their best work, while Colonel Carey often told of his annoyance when, in a ticklish position, Colonel Tremaine would insist upon discussing tailors and quoting long excerpts from the “Lake Poets.”
Richard, remembering this, smiled. Never were there two more determined old fire-eaters than this couple of Virginia colonels.
While these thoughts were passing through Richard’s mind, Colonel Carey was still thundering upon the courthouse steps. Like many others, he believed that a loud enunciation had all the force of reason, and wound up his speech by shouting that he saw among them a young man destined to lead the hosts of Virginia to victory upon many a hard-fought field and who, when the Southern Confederacy had achieved the first place among the nations of the world, would stand high upon the roll of statesmen. He referred to his young friend, young in years, but old in wisdom, courage, and understanding, Richard Tremaine, Esq., of Harrowby.
At this, Richard Tremaine bowed gracefully and recognized that the colonel had made a very good opening for the battery of artillery. Cries of “Speech! Speech!” came in deep tones of men’s voices and pretty feminine cries, and Richard Tremaine, mounting the courthouse steps in his turn, said more in three minutes than the colonel had said in his three-quarters of an hour.
Standing in the noonday light of the springtime, his figure outlined against the mass of the old brick building, Richard Tremaine looked
like one of the straight vigorous young trees transplanted from the primeval woods.
When he had finished speaking he walked across the courthouse green to the clerk’s office. There was still much business to be attended to concerning the enrollment and while Richard, with a group of gentlemen, including Mr. Wynne, the gray-haired clerk of the court, were discussing details, a horseman appeared before the open door, and, flinging himself from his horse, entered the clerk’s office. A shout went up, “Here’s George Charteris!”
He was a handsome, black-browed youth with a hint of mustache, and wore a students’ cap set rakishly on the side of his head.
Cries of “Hello, George!” “How are you, George?” welcomed him. “Where did you come from?”
“From Baltimore, straight,” answered George Charteris, going up to Richard Tremaine and clapping him on the shoulder. “I heard four days ago how things had gone and I determined to make straight for home. Maryland is all right, gentlemen, she will be out of the Union in a week. Baltimore is on fire with enthusiasm, and everybody might have known what would happen as soon as Abe Lincoln tried to put his foot on the neck of Maryland.” Here he raised his slight boyish figure up, and his dark eyes flashed as he said: “I was in the fighting on the 19th of April.”
They all looked at him with new eyes. This stripling had seen blood flow and smelled powder burn. Murmurs of interest arose and Richard Tremaine cried out: “Go on, boy, tell us about it.”
“I was staying at Barnum’s Hotel,” said George, delighted with the joy of seventeen at telling his own “Iliad,” “and early in the morning I was out on the streets which were crowded. Everybody knew the Yankee troops would be passed through Baltimore that day, and the people were determined that it shouldn’t be done without a struggle. The Governor, an infernal old rapscallion, would not call the State troops out, so we could only get together a lot of fighting men with stones and brickbats in their hands and revolvers in their pockets. There were hundreds of us around the station when the train full of
bluecoats, thousands of ’em, came rolling in. I never saw so many soldiers in my life before. We began to throw stones at the train so as to force the soldiers to come out, and we did. There was a crash of breaking glass. I, myself, threw a stone at a car window out of which an officer was peering and I saw him fall back with blood upon his forehead. Then, after a fusillade, the bluecoats came pouring out of the train and met us face to face. We fired at them with our pistols and then the soldiers formed and charged up the street. Of course, we couldn’t resist them, so we scattered, but we made a stand at two or three places and did as good street fighting as was ever done in Paris. I had read how they made barricades by just upsetting a cart and tearing up paving stones. There were a lot of us youngsters and in ten minutes we had made a first-class barricade.”
George’s face was flushed and he pushed his students’ cap still more rakishly to one side. He felt himself every inch a man and gloried at coming into the heritage of manhood. While he was speaking he turned his back to the open door. Before it came a lady, dark-haired and white-skinned like himself—his mother. Mrs. Charteris raised her hand for silence among the listening group and smiled, but her eyes, which were exactly like these of her tall stripling, sparkled as did his. George continued, folding his arms and drawing himself up as he talked:
“A line of bluecoats came charging up the street. They were very steady, but so were we. They fired a volley, but we knew it was blank and didn’t mind it. Then when they got close to us we gave them our pistol fire. We didn’t use blank cartridges; three of the bluecoats fell over and then all at once the soldiers swarmed upon us. It seemed to me as if the earth and air and sky were all full of soldiers. They were on top of me and around me and then, in some way, I can’t imagine how, I tore myself loose and ran as hard as I could. I found myself down on the docks among the shipping. There was a schooner making ready to leave, and the captain was just stepping aboard. I spoke to him and as soon as he opened his mouth I knew he was a Virginian. I told him that I was a Virginia man, boy, I mean, trying to get back to tidewater Virginia, and he told me to come along with him, that he was bound for York River. We got off directly, but
the wind failed almost as soon as we reached Chesapeake Bay We lay there becalmed for three days and on the last day we got the Baltimore newspapers and one of them had a poem in it, a great poem. It’s called ‘Maryland, My Maryland.’ It’s the finest thing I ever read in my life.”
He took out of his pocket a newspaper clipping and, in a ringing voice and with all the power of feeling, read the lines of the poem.
The effect was something like that produced by the first rendering of the “Marseillaise.” As George finished, every man present sprang to his feet and followed Stonewall Jackson’s advice, to “yell like devils.”
Richard Tremaine found himself hurrahing as loud as anybody. George stood in an involuntarily heroic attitude, tasting the rapture of being a hero. In a minute or two a soft arm stole around his neck, and close to him he saw his mother’s delicate, handsome, middleaged face, her eyes, still young and exactly like those of the boy. He caught her in his arms and kissed her rapturously. The mother and son were evidently near together. When the cheering had subsided a little, Mrs. Charteris turned to Richard Tremaine.
“Mr. Tremaine,” she said, “I have a contribution to make to your battery of artillery. Here is my son, the only son of his mother, and she a widow. You are welcome to him. I only wish I had ten more sons to give my country.”
Richard Tremaine took Mrs. Charteris’s hand and kissed it. “It was mothers like you,” he said, “who made Sparta and Rome.”
Mr. Wynne, the clerk of the court, a small, oldish man, with stiff gray hair and a prim pursed-up, thin mouth, spoke: “Wait a bit,” he said. “This Charteris boy is under age. He is too young to enlist.”
“I assure you he is not,” replied Mrs. Charteris positively. “He was eighteen years old his last birthday. I, his mother, should know.”
Everybody present doubted whether George Charteris was really eighteen or not, but Mr. Wynne settled it. He coolly took down a ledger and turning over the leaves rapidly, came to a certain entry in it.
“Here, madam,” he said, suavely, “is the record of your marriage license. It is dated fourth of June, 1843. Not quite eighteen years ago.”
There was a moment’s silence and then an involuntary burst of laughter from everyone present except Mrs. Charteris, who blushed deeply, and the stripling, who looked thoroughly disappointed at the turn of affairs.
“Never mind, my son,” said Mrs. Charteris, smiling. “Another two years will see you old enough to serve your country.”
“Meanwhile,” said Richard Tremaine, putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “send him to Harrowby and let Mr. Lyddon teach him along with Archie. That boy, you know, is just about as crazy as your boy to enlist, and I shouldn’t be surprised if George and Archie and my father were all to run away together and join the army.”
“You are very kind,” answered Mrs. Charteris, “and if Colonel Tremaine will allow it, and Mr. Lyddon will be so good, I think I can’t do better with my boy.”
“I think you could do a great deal better, ma’am,” replied George, promptly. “There are plenty of schools where nobody knows my age and I can easily pass for eighteen or even twenty, and I am going to do it.”
“That’s just the way my brother Archie talks,” said Richard Tremaine. “But sixteen-year-old boys are not good for campaigning.”
“Aren’t we, though,” replied George, slyly, “wait and see.”
“Observe, gentlemen,” continued Richard Tremaine, smiling as he looked about him. “It is much to have such a spirit in our lads, but far more such a spirit in their mothers, as Mrs. Charteris has shown. That alone will make us invincible.”
CHAPTER IX SPARTANS ALL!
THE next day was Sunday, and half the county, that as to say, the aristocratic moiety, had assembled at Petworth Church for the morning service. The great wave of dissent which swept over Virginia after the Revolution, and which was powerfully reënforced by the eloquence of John Wesley and George Whitfield and other Methodist and Baptist divines, had very much reduced the congregation of Petworth Church. If, however, the vacant pews had been filled by the descendants of those who had left it, these who had remained stanch to Anglicanism would have resented it deeply. With the loss of numbers and of political power, the social influence of the remnant remained unimpaired and was even enhanced. The spirit of resentment which had originally caused those who had remained true to the traditions of Petworth and set a social ban upon those who had seceded into the newer communions was added to the force of long custom and the indifference of the dissenters.
Occasionally, a Baptist or Methodist family would appear in a shamefaced way at Petworth Church, but in that age and time proselytes were not welcomed or even desired.
The old church, which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was a bit of the seventeenth-century architecture, standing serene and undismayed in the nineteenth century, which in that part of Virginia yet lagged a hundred years behind the age. The church was overgrown with ivy, in which innumerable birds nested. In summer, when the diamond-paned windows were opened to let in the blue and limpid air, the voice of the clergyman was almost drowned in the splendid improvisations of the larks and blackbirds that thronged about the old, ivy-covered walls. The dead and gone vicars were
buried under the main aisle, while in the churchyard outside were ancient tombstones covered with long inscriptions, moss-grown like everything else about the church.
Usually, the place was as placid as peaceful Stoke Pogis at evening time, but on this April Sunday it was alive with people all throbbing with excitement and on fire with enthusiasm. Besides the great event which had stirred them all, the secession of Virginia, and the sending forth to war of all the men capable of bearing arms, was the local tragedy—Neville Tremaine turning traitor. The Tremaines were, taken all in all, the greatest people in the county. Their wealth was considerable, and their heritage of brains larger still. They had always given the county something to talk about and did not fail in this emergency.
In the minds of the people assembled at Petworth Church on that Sunday morning was the species of curiosity, which is miscalled sympathy, to see how the Tremaines bore the first disgrace in their family. Colonel Tremaine was a stanch churchman, and Mrs. Tremaine never failed, rain or shine, on Sunday morning to walk into church upon Colonel Tremaine’s arm and to marshal her flock before her, a flock which for many years past had consisted only of Angela and Archie.
There was no pretense in the community of sympathy with Angela, only inquisitiveness mixed with scorn and contempt. Many doubted whether she would have the assurance to present herself at church after her late disgraceful alliance, for so her marriage with Neville Tremaine was reckoned. But Angela, surmising this and with the hot courage of youth, would not remain away.
The Tremaines were always prompt in arriving, and on this Sunday morning, punctually at a quarter before eleven, the great lumbering Harrowby coach, with the big bay horses, drew up before the iron gate of the churchyard. It was Hector’s privilege to drive the carriage on Sundays according to the peculiar custom by which the regular coachman was superseded whenever there seemed any real occasion for his services. The Sunday arrangement was of Mrs. Tremaine’s making, who, regularly on Sunday morning, directed
Hector after leaving his horses in charge of Tasso, who was on the box, to come into church and pray to be delivered from the devil of drink. This invariably gave great offense to Hector, but he could not forego the honor and glory of driving the Harrowby carriage on Sunday and the pleasure of a weekly gossip with his colleagues who drove other big lumbering coaches.
The horses were quiet enough, but it was Hector’s practice to lash them violently just as he was entering the grove in which the church stood and to pull them up almost upon their haunches before the churchyard gate. This programme was executed to the letter on this particular Sunday.
The congregation gathered about the green churchyard and, standing upon the flagged walk which led to the door, watched Colonel Tremaine descend and then assist Mrs. Tremaine out of the carriage. There was some one else to alight, Angela, now Mrs. Neville Tremaine.
At the same moment, Richard and Archie, who preferred riding to driving, dismounted from their horses, and Lyddon, who had walked through the woods to church, contrived to appear upon the scene, desiring to see for himself how Angela would be received. As Colonel Tremaine, with Mrs. Tremaine on his arm, walked along the flagged path, it seemed as if another twenty years had been laid upon them since the last Sunday. Colonel Tremaine’s stiff military figure had lost something of its rigidity, and instead of looking about him and bowing and saluting with the elaborate and somewhat finical courtesy which distinguished him, he looked straight ahead, neither to the right nor to the left, and walked heavily, as if conscious of his seventy-two years.
Mrs. Tremaine was pale and wan and it was noticed that she was all in black, although her dress, as usual, was rich—a black silk gown with mantle and bonnet of black lace. Behind them walked Angela. The day was warm and she wore a white gown and a straw hat crowned with roses. One rapid survey had showed her what to expect. The girl friends with whom she was most associated, for she could not be considered intimate with any, the Carey girls and Dr.
Yelverton’s three granddaughters, looked timidly at her and instead of coming forward with effusion to greet her, as they had done all their lives, turned away. George Charteris, who had cherished for Angela the love of a sixteen-year-old boy for a nineteen-year-old girl, stared her angrily in the eye, and would not have spoken to her but for a vigorous nudge given him by Mrs. Charteris, who alone spoke kindly to Angela. She did not, however, advance, and Angela, for the first time in her life, walked alone and shunned across the churchyard and to the church door.
She suddenly grew conscious of Richard’s voice behind her speaking with a stranger, evidently in surprise at seeing him, and then both advanced. Angela turned involuntarily and recognized instantly from his picture Philip Isabey.
He was of a type site had never seen before—the unmistakable French creole, below rather than above middle height, his dark features well cut and delicately finished as a woman’s, and more distinguished than handsome. He wore a perfectly new Confederate captain’s uniform, and gilt buttons glittered down the front of his wellfitting coat. To most of the people present it was the first Confederate uniform they had seen, and it stirred them with consciousness of war and conflict at hand.
Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine had stopped at the church door, and Richard, coming up with Isabey, introduced him to them. “My old university friend,” he said, “and chum of my Paris days.”
Colonel Tremaine greeted Isabey with overwhelming courtesy, and Mrs. Tremaine said with sweet reproach: “Why is it that you didn’t come straight to Harrowby?”
“Because, my dear madam,” replied Isabey, holding his cap in his hand, “I only reached here last night and I was told by the tavern keeper at the courthouse that I should certainly meet my friend Tremaine at this church to-day.”
“You went to Billy Miller’s tavern?” cried Colonel Tremaine, aghast. “Great God, nobody goes to a tavern who has any respectable
acquaintances! We could get on very well without such a thing as a tavern in the State of Virginia.”
Isabey smiled a winning smile which showed his white teeth under his close-clipped black mustache, and then Richard said coolly: “Let me introduce you to my sister, Mrs. Neville Tremaine.”
Isabey bowed, and was astonished to see Angela blush deeply when she returned his bow. He had gathered something from the talk of those around him, in the previous half hour, of Neville Tremaine’s action and of Angela’s position, and he had seen the hostile glances which attended her Isabey, well versed in women, took a comprehensive view of Angela, and thought her most interesting. The subdued excitement, the smoldering wrath, the burning sense of injustice which animated her, spoke in her air, in the expression of her red lips, and in the angry light from her eyes. But Isabey’s glance was kind. He looked at her as if he did not think her a criminal. On the contrary, he conveyed to her a subtle sympathy; in truth, he thought with the good-humored tolerance of a man of the world that these haughty provincials were engaged in a rather cruel business toward this young girl.
The two did not exchange a single word beyond the formal introduction, Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine taking up the few minutes which remained before the service began in demanding and commanding that Isabey return with them to Harrowby and bringing also any friends he might have with him.
“No one at all is with me,” replied Isabey. “I am simply sent here on military business which I shall be able to transact in a day or two with the assistance of my friend Tremaine and then I must report at Richmond, but it will give me the greatest pleasure to make Harrowby my home the little while that I shall be in this part of the country.”
Then Mr. Brand’s voice was heard through the open door proclaiming that “the Lord was in His Holy Temple.” The wags had it that the Lord never was in His Holy Temple until Mrs. Charteris was seated in her pew, but on this occasion Mr. Brand, after waiting ten minutes for his congregation to finish their gossip in the churchyard,
had boldly proclaimed that “the Lord was in His Holy Temple,” while Mrs. Charteris was still gossiping at the church door. The congregation then flocked in and the services began. The Tremaines’ pew was one of the old-fashioned square kind, with faded red moreen curtains. In it sat Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine with Angela. They were followed by Richard Tremaine and Philip Isabey. Archie had taken advantage of the occasion to lag behind and sit in a back pew with George Charteris, where they could whisper unheard by their respective mothers during the whole of the sermon.
Lyddon, who could by no means stand Mr. Brand’s sermons, remained outside, preferring to face Mrs. Tremaine’s gentle reproving glances for having missed the words of wisdom.
To Angela, the sudden shock of seeing Isabey, this man about whom she had dreamed her idle girlish dreams so many years, was secretly agitating. For the first time in her life a personality overwhelmed her, as it were. She was conscious of, rather than saw, Isabey’s clear-cut olive profile, his black eyes, with their short, thick, black lashes, his well-knit figure, and detected the faint aroma of cigar smoke upon his clothes. She forgot the presence of Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine and Richard. She heard not one word of Mr. Brand’s vaporings, nor was she conscious of any sound whatever, except the rapturous trilling bursting from the full heart of a blackbird upon the willow tree just outside the window.
Isabey was different from Richard and Neville Tremaine, and yet not in the least inferior to them. His grace in small actions was infinite— that composed grace which only comes with thorough knowledge of the world. His speech, even, had been new to her. It had the correctness of a language which was first learned from books, for Isabey’s first language was French, not English. He kept his eyes fixed upon Mr Brand and apparently listened with the deepest attention to the thundering platitudes which resounded from the pulpit. In reality he heard not a word. His heart was filled with pity for the pale girl who sat next to him, her eyes fixed upon the open prayer book, of which she turned not a single leaf. She looked much younger than her nineteen years and seemed to Isabey a precocious but unformed child. Her angles had not yet become curves and she
had that charming freshness of the April time of girlhood. The one thing about her which indicated womanhood was her eyes. They were not the wide and fearless eyes of a child, but downcast, sidelong, and with the varying expression of the soul which has thought and felt. Isabey concluded that her mind was considerably older than her body. Angela sat during the whole service and sermon thrilled by Isabey’s personality. When the first hymn was announced and the congregation rose she mechanically joined in the singing. Her voice was clear and sweet, though untrained, and Isabey, listening silent, turning upon Isabey two lustrous, wondering eyes. She was singularly susceptible to music, and the beauty and glory of Isabey’s voice, a robust tenor of a quality and training more exquisite than anyone in that congregation had ever before heard, completed the enchanting spell he had laid upon her. One by one other voices dropped off like Angela’s, and the last verse was almost a solo for Isabey. He was averse to displaying this gift and was almost sorry that he had joined in the singing except for the interest he took in surreptitiously watching Angela. She looked at him with the eyes of a bewitched child, like those who followed the Piper of Hamelin. And Isabey, who knew that a siren lurks in all music, felt more of pity than of gratified vanity when he noticed Angela’s rapt gaze.
Mr. Brand preached a stormy sermon full of patriotism and breathing forth fire and slaughter against everything north of the line drawn by Mason and Dixon. His warlike denunciations, his tremendous philippics, echoed to the roof of the church which had heard Cromwell denounced by vicars who had been driven from England by the Roundheads, and who exhorted their congregations to be true to their royal masters. It had heard a royal master denounced at the time of the Revolution, and now heard the union of the States condemned as roundly. The prayer for the President of the Confederate States was followed with a sort of fierce piety by the congregation. Meanwhile, the fair day grew suddenly dark. The wind rose and the great limbs of the willow trees dashed against the church windows, while the landscape was flooded in a moment with a downpour of April rain. Loud thunder was heard and the dark church was illuminated by frightful flashes of lightning, which seemed to enter every window at once.
