ATM S 301 Resource Page

Climate Minor option

Weather Discussion Resources

November 25th

Meteograms from UW Rooftop, UW Urban Horticulture, SeaTac airport

Quillayute Sounding (west side of Olympic Peninsula)

Weather Station map plot

1000 mbar (near-surface) temperature – see cool down across Western US

1000 mbar pressure + temp – notice the association of temperature with pressure, especially in cyclones/anticyclones over the Pacific

500 hPa height field  – show side by side with surface pressure/temp above. Draw cross section explaining the Equator to pole gradient in 500 hPa height field, relate it to temperature via the hypsometric equation. Explain how surface pressure has distinct cutoff highs and lows but that this is less evident in the 500 hPa height field

Then show overlaid 500 hPa height and surface pressure Explain how troughs and ridges at 500 hPa are reflected in lows and highs near the surface, but that they are not completely correlated. Geostrophic winds will be different at different levels.

Return to Quillayute sounding and compare winds at surface and 500 hPa and explain using geostrophic flow plus friction tending to deflect winds slightly toward low pressure (low heights).

Upper air map to show map of winds from US soundings

Analysis 500 hPa heights and wind vectors – shows geostrophic flow, and particularly that flow at 500 hPa is mostly from west to east, in contrast with the surface

925 hPa winds and heights

 

Earlier Weather Discussions

SeaTac Meteogram

IR Imagery, Eastern Pacific, 36 hr loop

IR Satellite Image with NCEP fronts, highs and lows

GFS Forecast, precip/SLP/thickness

NCAR “Upper Air” (Rawinsondes)

Week 1: Observations

Week 1 Slides

Map Analysis, Plotting and Isoplething guide

Solution to Contouring Problem on Homework

Week 2: Atmospheric Structure, Composition and Chemistry

First, here’s some images of the Saharan Air Layer, showing how far this dust can be transported.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83966Here’s an article from the UK Met Office (their NWS) about a very bad outbreak of smog in the 50s.
Finally, here’s an image of haze over northern India and Bangladesh.
The Keeling Curve (how CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing)
Mount Pinatubo eruption page
How do volcanoes affect climate? [from Scientific American]

Week 3: Radiation and the Earth’s Radiation Budget

Week 3 Slides

Week 4-5: Hydrostatics and Thermodynamics

Hurricane Patricia resources

Hurricane Patricia: The fastest developing and strongest hurricane ever measured.

 

Week 6: Clouds and Thunderstorms

Cloud slides in Powerpoint (shown during lecture, November 5)

Fog, Mid-Level, and High-Level clouds images

Week 10: Weather Systems

Week 10 Slides

Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, Univ. of Washington