Atmospheric Physics for School Kids by Ed O’Lenic, Chief

Atmospheric Physics for
School Kids
by
Ed O’Lenic, Chief
Climate Operations Branch
NOAA-NWS-Climate Prediction Center
The Sun is the
source of nearly*
all energy on the
earth, including
that in the
atmosphere, the
oceans and on
land.
*Exceptions are geothermal and
nuclear
The Sun is a
furnace almost a
million miles across
that makes
radiation through a
process where 2
atoms of hydrogen
are forced
together (by
gravity) to make 1
helium atom and
lots of energy (in
the form of
radiation).
The Sun’s
behavior affects
the space
environment
near the Earth.
Solar flares and
coronal holes
cause auroras,
which affect
radio
communication,
satellites, and
manned space
vehicles.
The Sun
spews out a
continuous
stream of
particles.
We can see
this using a
coronagraph,
which blocks
out the solar
disk, showing
only the sun’s
hot corona.
Solar particle streams make Earth’s magnetic field visible
and affect electric power grids and space operations.
The Sun’s radiation travels to Earth, 93 million miles
away, in 8 1/3 minutes. When it gets to our planet:
Half (5/10) of it reaches the ground and warms the
land and ocean.
3/10 of it is reflected off of snow, ice, clouds and
dust back to space.
2/10 of it gets absorbed by (gaseous) water, ozone,
dust and in clouds.
What happens to the half that reaches the ground?
The sun’s
radiation drives
motions in the
oceans and
atmosphere that
make our planet
habitable.
Meteorologists and Oceanographers:
1. Observe and describe the global ocean and atmosphere,
2. Formulate hypotheses to explain the observations,
3. Use the hypotheses to make predictions.
4. Perform experiments to test the predictions.
5. Repeat 3., 4. Until hypotheses & experiments agree.
This process is called the Scientific Method, which
is a highly idealized model for scientific inquiry.
Climate and Weather are
closely related.
Daily weather events for
a given location and day
of the year, represented
here by temperature
(top), averaged over 30
years, gives the smooth
graph, called the
climatology. Daily
weather events for a
given year differ from
the climatology. These
are shown as red and
blue shading (top).
When you average daily
weather over 31 days and
subtract the climatology
(bottom) you see shortterm climate variations.
Warm weather events
Cold weather events
Warm short-term climate events
Cold short-term climate events
Some Recent Observations
Instruments Used to Make Observations
Cinder Cone near Mount Lassen, California
Cinder Cone from North
Reading
Topographic
Maps
Observations – Ocean Temperature Climatology
Isabel
Hurricane Isabel about to make landfall Sep 18, 2003
The Coriolis Force
Causes rotation in
large-scale motion
systems, NOT
SINKS or
BATHTUBS.
http://www.ems.psu.edu/%7Efraser/BadMeteorology.html
MAJOR REGIONS OF TROPICAL STORM ACTIVITY
Hurricane
Floyd 2029
Universal
Time (0429
Eastern
Standard
Time)
September
14, 1999
U.S. Hazards Assessment
The Great Snow and Wind Storm
of Thanksgiving, 1950
STORMS FEED ON AND WEAKEN
TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCES
From Nov 23-Dec 2, 1950. An
intense, slow-moving extra-tropical
storm along the U.S. East Coast was
accompanied by sustained gale-force
winds for several days, wind gusts to
hurricane-force (including a gust to
110 mph on a sky scraper in New
York City), wind-driven flooding near
the coast (12 feet of flood water at
La Guardia Airport), heavy snow in
Western Pennsylvania. East Coast
and Great Lakes shipping suffered.
Record low temperatures occurred
in the South, including 3 degrees F
at Atlanta, Georgia. The insured
loss from the storm was ~$6-7 B
(recent $).
Sea Surface Temperatures
El Nino
Precipitation
La Nina
Precipitation
El Nino summer: Few Atlantic Storms
La Nina summer: Many Atlantic Storms
La Plata Tornado 2002
Flood damage
Dust storm 1935
Wave
Blizzard
Snowflake
Full Earth
Summary
Weather and climate forecasts protect lives and property
and help us plan ahead.
Meteorologists and oceanographers are scientists (they use
the scientific method, in principle).
Weather and climate phenomena are global and need
international cooperation.
Weather and Climate scientists need to know about the
sun’s radiation, seasons, electricity, magnetism, atomic
physics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, mathematics.
They also have to be able to talk about what they do so
people understand and listen to forecasts and warnings.
Air Pressure:
The total weight of the air
above (measured in units of
mass/area or column height):
1 atmosphere = 1010 hectopascals
= 1010 millibars
= 29.9 inches of mercury
= 33.9 feet of water
= 10.3 meters of water
= 14.7 psi
= 1.06 tons per square foot
Air Temperature:
A measure of the speed of
movement of air molecules,
fast = hot
slow = cold
Density:
The weight of a unit volume
of air (for example, the number of
grams in a cube 1 centimeter on each
side)
Perfect Gas Law:
Pressure = Constant x Temperature
Density
Temperature differences
cause density differences
(when the pressure stays the same)
http://www.nws.noaa.gov
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
http://www.srh.noaa.gov
http://www.erh.noaa.gov
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov
http://www.crh.noaa.gov
http://www.arh.noaa.gov
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/
http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~gadomski/ewall.html
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Flagstaff/science/cloud.htm
http://www.weatherman.com/
http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/
http://www.wmo.ch/index-en.html
http://www.drought.unl.edu/error_files/ndmc_redirect.htm
http://lumahai.soest.hawaii.edu/Enso/index.html
http://www.ems.psu.edu/%7Efraser/BadMeteorology.html
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov
http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov
http://iri.ldeo.columbia.edu/
http://www.ipcc.ch
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/
http://www.al.noaa.gov/
http://www.arl.noaa.gov
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/
http://www.ndsc.ncep.noaa.gov
http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ncep/
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
http://www.met-office.gov.uk/research/nwp/
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/regionalclimatecenters.html
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleo.html
http://www.metservice.co.nz/learning/forecasting_modelling.asp
http://www.metservice.co.nz/home/index.asp
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/weather.html
http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/weather/index.html
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~bnewkirk/