Download List the three main types of winds

NREM 390 – FIRE ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT – FALL 2010
OUTCOMES – September 2 and 7
FIRE BASICS: FIRE WEATHER
TEMPERATURE, MOISTURE, RH
Reading assignment: Pyne, pp. 128-162
After doing the assigned readings and participating in class discussions, you should
be able to:
 Explain the processes by which the Earth maintains its heat balance.
 Explain vertical changes in atmospheric pressure, temperature, volume, and mass
in the troposphere.
 List three factors that influence the amount of radiation reaching the ground.
 Explain how the following surface properties affect temperature:
absorption
reflectance
transparency
conductivity
heat capacity
moisture
 Describe the effect of wind on heating.
 Define the following terms:
o Relative humidity
o Saturation
 Explain the diurnal (daily) changes in RH.
 Explain how temperature affects relative humidity.
 Explain how RH and rainfall affect moisture of different fuel types.
Homework – Choose a current fire (preferably in your “group project ecoregion”, but if
this is not possible, then choose any fire). Then find the hourly temperature, dew point,
and relative humidity for 6:00 am – midnight on September 2nd, 2008 for that site. Use
www.weather.com and the ‘hour-by-hour’ forecast. Bring information on the fire’s burn
behavior and weather data to class on Thursday.
ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY
Reading assignment: Pyne, pp. 128-162
After doing the assigned readings and participating in class discussions, you should
be able to:
 Define atmospheric stability
 Explain how night inversions and marine inversions occur, and how they may
affect fire behavior.
 Explain the process of subsidence, and how it may affect fire weather conditions.
 Be able to identify the signs of a stable and unstable atmosphere.
 Define dew point.
 Be able to determine dew point and RH from tables if given the appropriate
information.
 Explain the difference between dry adiabatic lapse rate, moist adiabatic lapse rate,
and super adiabatic lapse rate, and how they affect atmospheric stability.
WINDS
Reading assignment: Pyne, pp. 128-158
After watching the film and participating in class discussions, you should be able to:
 List the three main types of winds
 Define circulation cell and apply it to the sun’s heating of the Earth.
 Define the following terms
o Low pressure cell
o High pressure cell
o Cold front & warm front
o Gradient wind
o Standing waves, mountain waves
o Foen (pronounced “fern”) winds
o Virga
o Anvil
 What are the three factors that determine the behavior of gradient winds?
 Give the names of 5 different foen winds
 Explain sea breeze and land breeze
 Explain slope winds and valley winds
AIR MASSES & FRONTS
Reading assignment: Pyne, pp. 128-158
After doing the assigned readings and participating in class discussions, you should
be able to:
 Explain the difference between high and low pressure systems
 Define
o Air mass
o Front
o Cold Front
o Warm Front
o Occluded front
o Stationary Front
o Squall line
 Identify the source regions of different air masses and describe their properties.
 Explain how the properties of air masses can change after they leave their source
region.
 Explain expected wind shifts with different kinds of fronts.
 Describe expected weather changes with the approach and passage of different
kinds of fronts (both fast- and slow-moving).
CLOUDS & THUNDER STORMS
Reading assignment: Pyne, pp. 128-158
After doing the assigned readings and participating in class discussions, you should
be able to:
 Describe how clouds are formed
 Describe 5 types of cloud formations and indicate the kind of weather they signal.
 List the three components necessary for thunderstorm development
 Discuss the three stages of a thunderstorm and indicate how they affect wind and
temperature on the ground.
 Describe the process by which lightening is generated in a thunderstorm.
 Discuss the kinds of lightening that exist in a thunderstorm, and indicate which
kind is most responsible for starting fires.