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Monitoring the Weather. Chapter 1. Driving Question:. What is the difference between weather and climate? Join with a partner to figure this out and come up with 2 examples of each so we understand. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at any given moment in time in a certain place .
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Monitoring the Weather Chapter 1
Driving Question: What is the difference between weather and climate? Join with a partner to figure this out and come up with 2 examples of each so we understand.
Weather is the state of the atmosphere at any given moment in timein a certain place. Climate is the sum of the weather conditions (temperature, moisture, etc.) of some locality over some defined period (say 30 years) .
Where do we get our weather information? Many sources; including: TV radio internet National Weather Service / weather radios (NWR) newspaper
How long have we recorded actual data? In USA: since about 1819 (National Archives) World-wide: Italy, 1654 Grand Duke of Tuscany created first weather observing network that reported in regular intervals. (Wikipedia) What types of data are recorded? Temperature: thermometer invented - 1640's Pressure: barometer invented - 1640's Humidity: hygrometer invented - 1700 Wind Speed: anemometer invented - 1450's Wind direction: wind vane invented - 48 B.C. Precipitation amount in inches (US) in 24 hours (game here)
Atmospheric Pressure Two types of air pressure - high and low United States
Skywatching Look up! What types of clouds? (We will study in detail in chapter 7) What percentage? Any precipitation? Sun?
Satellite Imagery Two types: Geostationary Operational Environmental (E-W orbit) Images include: visible light infrared water vapor Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental (N-S orbit) Activity using NWS site
Images Visible Reflectivity of objects; dark is less reflective than light. Infrared Water vapor in the atmosphere White is high, dark gray is low. Temperature of objects; specifically cloud tops. High clouds are bright white, low clouds are darker. Water Vapor
RADAR - (radio detection and ranging) An instrument that broadcasts and receives microwave signals back from targets to determine the location, height, movement, and intensity of precipitation areas. (Glossary of Weather and Climate, 1996) Sometimes are "Doppler" units, where one setting is based on the Doppler effect.
Image produced
Resources Weather.gov/NOAA Weather Studies: Introduction to Atmospheric Science, Joseph M. Moran, 2009 http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7d.html American Meteorological Society http://earth.usc.edu/classes/geol150/stott/weather/massesfronts.html