Chapter 1: Monitoring the Weather

What causes high thin cirrus clouds to appear fibrous or wispy?

Composed of ice crystals where temperatures are relatively low

Describe the type of weather that usually accompanies a high and a low in middle latitudes.

High (anticyclone): descending air, fair weather, winds blow clockwise and spiral outward Low (cyclone): ascending air, cloudy, rainy, or snowy weather; winds blow counterclockwise and spiral inward

Water vapor satellite image

Image processed from a satellite radiometer that senses infrared radiation at those wavelengths emitted by clouds and water vapor in the atmosphere

Pressure systems

Individual synoptic-scale features of atmospheric circulation

What governs the temperature and humidity of an air mass?

Large high pressure system

Identify various sources of weather information that are available to the public.

News channels, The Weather Channel, internet, radio, newspaper, NOAA Weather Radio

What is the advantage of describing the climate of a locality of both average weather plus extremes in weather?

People know the average climate and patterns of extremes

Meteorology

The scientific study of the atmosphere, atmospheric processes, and the life cycle of weather systems

Weather

The state of the atmosphere at some place and time described in terms of such variables as temperature, humidity, cloudiness, precipitation, and wind speed and direction

Climatology

The study of climate, its controls and spatial and temporal variability

Air mass

A huge volume of air covering thousands of square kilometers that has relatively uniform temperature and water vapor concentration horizontally

Front

A narrow zone of transition between air masses of contrasting air density

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)

A satellite that revolves around Earth at the same rate and direction as the planet so it remains positioned over the same spot

Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES)

A satellite whose orbital plane passes near the North and South poles

What advantages does an infrared satellite image offer a visible satellite image for monitoring the state of the atmosphere?

An infrared satellite can provide information at any time.

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR)

Broadcasts continuous weather information directly from the NWS office 24 hours a day

How does weather radar detect the location and movement of areas of precipitation?

Continually emits pulses of microwave energy that are reflected by atmospheric targets

Why are clouds and precipitation often associated with fronts?

Contrasting air masses meet and give rise to clouds and precipitation

Infrared satellite image

Image processed from radiometers onboard a satellite that sense thermal radiation emitted by Earth and cloud surfaces of the Earth-atmosphere system

Visible satellite image

Image processed from radiometers onboard a satellite that sense visible solar radiation reflected or back-scattered from surfaces in the Earth-atmosphere system