GEOL 150Lg Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cold Front, Water Vapor, Geostrophic Wind
Document Summary
Geostrophic wind is the balance between coriolis and pressure gradient forces. As earth warms, dips in jet stream will be more severe and it will move northward. Most of the pressure/water/mass is near the surface(tropo) Four atmospheric layers o troposphere lowest temp decreases. 90% of atmosphere"s mass o stratosphere above troposphere, separated by tropopause temp increases contains ozone layer: mesosphere above stratosphere, separated by stratopause temp decreases o thermosphere above mesosphere, separated by mesopause temp increases. Air that has water in it has a lower density than air that is dry. Warm air holds more water than cold air. Temp afects amount of water vapor in atmosphere (more if hot) Air becomes saturated with water, so its density drops and the air rises. Elevaion and nearness to water afect the surface temp, which changes pressure gradient. Changes in temp and pressure afect where jet stream lies. Coriolis is stronger at higher laitudes than lower.
