Download Meteorology Terms and Key Concepts

SCIENCE 4th Grade – Mrs. Butman
Meteorology Terms and Key Concepts
Guide sent home:
Meteorology is the scientific study of weather.
TEST DATE:
The scientist who studies Meteorology is identified as a Meteorologist.
The science of weather (Meteorology) has advanced through
contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at
different times in history.
The early Greeks named the study of weather Meteorology. Names
from history: Aristotle, Theophrastus, Galileo, Fahrenheit, Torricelli,
Celsius, and Benjamin Franklin.
A thermoscope is the earliest form of a thermometer.
Climate: the pattern of weather that occurs over long periods of time.
Weather: the condition of the atmosphere at a given time and place.
Weather impacts what we wear, how we move, our economy, and our
health, basically, all of our daily activities.
The interaction of air, weather, and the sun causes varying
weather.
The Coriolis Effect is the deflection of winds caused by the rotation
of the earth on its axis.
Atmosphere: the layer of gases that surrounds the earth.
The atmosphere is a mixture of gases. Nitrogen about 78%, and
Oxygen 21%, remaining 1% is composed of small amounts of argon, neon,
helium, krypton, xenon, radon, and carbon dioxide. Also, varying
amounts of water vapor, dust, and pollutants are always present.
The sun causes all weather because it heats the earth unevenly.
The sun heats the earth unevenly due to the tilt of the earth and its
rotation.
Different places on our Earth have different climates because they
receive sunlight from varying angles.
World Climatic Regions include: Polar, Marine, Semiarid, Desert,
subtropical, Tropical, Mt. and Highland
The continental United States regions include: Marine, Mt. and
Highland, Semiarid, Humid Continental, Desert, and Humid SubTropical.
The water cycle is also known as the hydrologic cycle.
Water plays an important part in our weather.
Water may be in one of three basic forms. Water can be in liquid,
solid or gas form.
The amount of water on the earth is constant. The amount of water
on the earth has remained the same since its formation.
The water on the earth and in the atmosphere continuously moves
throughout the earth and its atmosphere in the repeated process of
the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Evaporation: moving of water from a liquid state to as gaseous state.
Heat and air cause water to evaporate more quickly.
Condensation: movement of water from a gaseous state to a liquid
state.
Precipitation: Occurs when water droplets in liquid and solid form
become so large and heavy they can no longer stay in the earth’s
atmosphere.
Groundwater is water that runs off from precipitation and may be
hidden in underground aquifers or in-ground.
Air temperature affects what kind of precipitation falls. Rain, hail,
sleet, and snow, are all forms of precipitation.
Layers of the Atmosphere:
Exosphere
The Layers
of the
Atmosphere
Thermosphere
Ionosphere – found here: ions bounce
radio waves back down to Earth.
Mesosphere
Stratosphere
Top of thunderstorms can reach here
Airplanes, weather balloons, hot air
balloons fly here to avoid
troposphere’s weather
Troposphere
310 miles high
Border between Earth and
Space
Satellites found here
Skylab station
50-150 miles high
Temperatures rise to several
thousand degrees F
Northern and Southern lights
are here
30-50 miles high
Coldest part of atmosphere
(-100-300 F)
Shooting stars seen here
Meteorites usually burn up
here to protect Earth
Space shuttle orbits here
7-30 miles high
Clear, dry air
Ozone layer here absorbs
sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays
0-7 miles high
Closest to Earth
Weather/clouds form here
We live here
EARTH the ground
Cold air is heavier than Warm air. Cold air moves in and forces warm
air to rise.
The line of contact between air masses of different temperature is a
front.
Cold Front: Where a cold air mass meets up with a warm air mass and
there is a sharp change in the weather. There is a drop in the
temperature. Clouds are denser, lower in the sky.
Gusty winds, heavy rain or snow, possible hail, thunder and lightning are
typical weather conditions during the front.
Cold Front Symbol (in Blue)
Warm Front: Where a warm air mass meets up with a cold air mass and
there is a gradual change in the weather. Warm fronts move slower
than Cold fronts. Clouds are less dense in the sky; they are higher,
typical type: Cirrus. No set wind pattern and usually only a light drizzle
during the front.
Warm Front Symbol – (in Red)
Stationary Front: When a warm front and a cold front meet and move
very little.
Symbol for Stationary Front
Occluded Front: The quickly moving cold air collides with the warm air
masses.
Symbol for Occluded Front:
Air pressure – is a measurement of force exerted on a given unit of
space by the weight of air; it is also known as barometric pressure.
A barometer is an instrument used for measuring air pressure.
Low pressure systems: Regions of rising warm moist air are called lowpressure systems, depressions, or cyclones. Low pressure systems
move in a counter-clockwise direction. They usually forecast cloudiness
and precipitation.
High pressure systems: High pressure systems move in a clockwise
direction. They usually forecast clear skies.
Weather moves from west to east, about 500 miles a day.
High, cold air travels faster than low, warm air.
Elevation, or altitude, of an area is its distance above sea level.
Humidity is moisture in the air.
Isobars are lines on a weather map that connect areas of equal
barometric pressure.
Latitude is the distance of a place north or south of the equator.
The National Weather Service was established in 1870 by the US
government to keep people informed of changing weather conditions.
Weather satellites, or meteorological satellites, are orbiting high
above the Earth’s atmosphere. They make images of clouds and storms
and can track their movement.
Radar (radio detecting and ranging) instruments send out radio signals
that are reflected from object such as clouds and rain. The reflections
are then turned into images.
Weather boxes are an organized collection of symbols used to
represent the data.
Forms of precipitation: rain, sleet, snow, hail
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in
contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus
cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud.
Tornadoes are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone.
Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form
of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth
and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust.
The area of the US where most tornadoes occur is called Tornado
Alley.
A hurricane is a tropical cyclone, occurring in the North Atlantic
Ocean or the Northeast Pacific Ocean, east of the International
Dateline.
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a lowpressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong
winds and heavy rain.
Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is
released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water
vapor contained in the moist air.
While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and
torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and
damaging storm surge as well as spawning tornadoes.
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm,
thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized
by the presence of lightning and thunder. The cloud type associated
with the thunderstorm is the cumulonimbus.
Thunderstorms result from the rapid upward movement of warm, moist
air. They can occur inside warm, moist air masses and at fronts. As the
warm, moist air moves upward, it cools, condenses, and forms
cumulonimbus clouds that can reach heights of over 20 km.
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge (spark)
accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms.
From this discharge of atmospheric electricity, a bolt of lightning can
travel at speeds of 220,000 km/h (140,000 mph) and is many times
hotter than the sun.
Refer back to the Meteorology Booklet for any additional information.