EESA09H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Air Mass, Weather Balloon, Radiosonde
5 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
The basic physics behind the formation of winds is pressure differences. As described above, air has a natural inclination to move from areas of high pressure to those of low pressure. This is modified by se(cid:448)e(cid:396)al fa(cid:272)to(cid:396)s. ea(cid:396)th(cid:859)s (cid:396)otatio(cid:374) (cid:272)(cid:396)eates the co(cid:396)iolis effect, which causes the wind to deflect (to the right i(cid:374) the (cid:374)o(cid:396)the(cid:396)(cid:374) he(cid:373)isphe(cid:396)e a(cid:374)d to the left i(cid:374) the southe(cid:396)(cid:374) he(cid:373)isphe(cid:396)e(cid:895). Ea(cid:396)th(cid:859)s su(cid:396)fa(cid:272)e (cid:272)o(cid:374)t(cid:396)i(cid:271)utes friction which slows down and redirects (funnels) the wind. Land/sea contrast leading to temperature differences between land and water surface also influences wind. There are three broad categories of atmospheric circulation: glo(cid:271)al ~ (cid:1005)(cid:1004),(cid:1004)(cid:1004)(cid:1004)(cid:859)s of kms, synoptic ~ 100s to 1000s of kms (lec 4, small scale < 100 km (lec 7- thermal winds) Observation: there is more energy released in the polar regions than is received from the sun and the reverse is true of equatorial regions. We need to understand two theories to grasp this poleward transport of energy.
