ERTH 1030 Lecture Notes - Lapse Rate, Dew Point, Freezing Rain
5 Feb 2014
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Document Summary
Chapter 4: humidity and the water circulation patterns. Water moves among the ocean, atmosphere, and land. Recharge of groundwater (refill)- rain, snow. World patterns of air temperature. Three main things effect air temperature patterns around the globe; latitude, maritime- continental contrast, and elevation. Isotherm: a line on a map drawn through all points with equal temperatures. Temperature gradient: the rate of temperature change along a selected line or direction. The temperature record and global warming. Several methods can be used to find out climate from olden times: Glacier cores (ice core in general) Amount of water vapour (humidity) in the air. Maximum humidity if a mass of air increases sharply with rising temperature. Air at room temperature (20degrees) holds 3x the water vapour as freezing air (0 degrees) Low humidity and heat! desert. High humidity and heat ! very vegetative (tropics) 100% humidity= rain, fog, mist.
