Atmosphere Background and Notes

General

Novice

Intermediate

Advanced

Expert

Vocabulary

General

Minimum Hardware Needs


Suggested Software/Multimedia

Relevance of Methodology

Research shows that interactive media which combines computer text and graphics, video, still images, and audio in classroom presentations are exciting, motivating, and flexible. Further studies show that interactive learning increases retention, significantly decreases learning time, and virtually guarantees mastery learning. An IBM study showed a 30%-50% increase in learning gain scores and a 300% increase in students reaching mastery level. Just as interactive media increases mastery, image processing increases the rate that data can be perceived and interpreted by the human brain. Language is processed at one hundred bits per second while images are processed at two hundred million bits per second. In effect a picture is worth one million words. By visualizing information students gain the power to see data in new and unique ways opening the door to original scientific discovery. As students manipulate images they explore data in a vareity of interactive processes making image processing an ideal vehicle for exploration and open ended discovery.

Novice

Management Ideas
Depending on classroom setup and your teaching style, small group explorations work well with these activities. Furthermore, a computer hooked up to large monitor or LCD panel for teacher-lead group discussions or overhead transparencies of maps work well. The overarching goals of these lessons are for students to become cognizant of their dynamic environment and to begin to formulate and complete investigations.

Basic Concepts & Glossaries

Intermediate

Classroom Management


Student Teams

Divide the class into four teams. Each team will write a paragraph explaining the process from their perspective, summarize their observations, and justify their analysis and conclusions for the class report.

Individual Students

Each student keeps a project folder where he/she

Procedures

Curricular Focus

Ground Truth Materials

Preparation for Teaching


Advanced

Classroom Managment for-Atmosphere
Time per Activity
Each activity is designed to take at least two 45 minute class periods. This is only an estimate and times will vary. Suggested working groups would be 2-5 students.
Meteorologists are scientists who study the weather. When meteorologists talk about the weather, they use a specialized vocabulary. They also apply the laws of physics to a study of the atmosphere in an attempt to forecast the weather. Here are some excellent resources related to storms:

Expert

Goals

This set of activities addresses the following National Mathematical Standards:

The mathematics curriculum should:

This set of activities also addresses the following National Science Standards:

The science curriculum should develop:

Students should develop an understanding of

Vocabulary

Air pressure
pressure exerted by the weight of a column of air above a given point.
Air mass
large body of air, usually 1600 km or more across, that is characterized by homogeneous physical properties at any given altitude.
Absolute humidity
weight of water vapor per volume of air (usually expressed in grams of water vapor per cubic meter of air)
Anticyclone
area of high atmospheric pressure characterized by diverging and rotating winds and subsiding air aloft.
Barometer
An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure.
Blizzard
Snow with winds in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of 1/4 mile or less, for an extended period of time (eg. greater than 3 hours).
Climate
description of aggregate weather conditions; the sum of all statistical weather information that helps describe a place or region.
Cloud
form of condensation best described as dense concentrations of suspended water droplets or tiny ice crystals.
Cold front
discontinuity at the forward edge of an advancing cold air mass that is displacing warmer air in its path.
Cyclogenesis
the process that creates or develops a new cyclone; also the process that produces an intensification of a preexisting cyclone.
Cyclone
an area of low atmospheric pressure characterized by rotating and converging winds and ascending air.
Cyclonic flow
winds blow in and counterclockwise about a cyclone (low) in the northern hemisphere and in and clockwise about a cyclone in the southern hemisphere.
Dew point
temperature to which air has to be cooled in order to reach saturation. Front
boundary (discontinuity) separating air masses of different densities, one warmer and often higher in moisture content than the other.
Blizzard
violent extremely cold wind laden with dry snow picked up from the ground.
Gas Law
the pressure exerted by a gas is proportional to its density and absolute temperature.
Geostrophic wind
a wind, usually above a height of 600 meters that blows parallel to the isobars.
Humidity
general term referring to water vapor in the air but not to liquid droplets of fog, cloud, or rain.
Hurricane
a tropical cyclonic storm having winds in excess of 119 kilometers per hour; also known as typhoons (western Pacific) and cyclones (Indian Ocean).
Isobar
a line drawn on a map connecting points of equal barometric pressure, usually corrected to sea level.
Isohyet
a line connecting places having equal rainfall.
Isotherm
a line connecting points of equal air temperature.
Jet stream
swift geostrophic air streams in the upper troposphere (0-10 km above surface) that meander in relatively narrow belts.
Latent heat
energy absorbed or released during a change of state.
Millibar
standard unit of pressure measurement used by the National Weather Service. One millibar (mb) equals 100 Newtons per square meter.
Monsoon
seasonal reversal of wind direction associated with large continents, especially Asia. In winter the wind blows from land to sea; in summer it blows from sea to land.
Newton
a unit of force used in physics. One Newton is the force that is necessary to accelerate 1 kg of mass 1 meter per second per second (1N=.225 lb)
Normal lapse rate
average drop in temperature with increasing height in the troposphere; about 6.5 degrees Celsius per kilometer.
Polar air masses
a cold air mass that forms in a high latitude source region.
Polar front
stormy frontal zone separating air masses of polar origin from air masses of tropical origin.
Polar front theory
theory developed by J. Bjerknes and other Scandinavian meteorologist in which the polar front, separating polar and tropical air masses, gives rise to cyclonic disturbances that intensify and move along the front and pass through a succession of stages.
Precipitation
Liquid or solid water molecules that fall from the atmosphere and reach the ground.
Pressure gradient
amount of pressure change occurring over a given distance.
Relative humidity
ratio of the air's water vapor content to its water vapor capacity.
Ridge
an elongated region of high atmospheric pressure. Saturation
the maximum possible quantity of water vapor the air can hold at any given temperature and pressure.
Sleet
A type of frozen precipitation, consisting of small transparent pellets.
Snow
Frozen precipitation composed of ice particles in complex hexagonal patterns.
Snow flurries
Light snow showers, usually of an intermittent nature.
Source region
area where an air mass acquires its characteristic properties of temperature and moisture.
Specific humidity
weight of water vapor per weight of a chosen mass of air including the water vapor (usually expressed as grams of water vapor per kilogram of air).
Stationary front
situation in which the surface position of a front does not move; the flow on either side of such a boundary is nearly parallel to the position of the front.
Storm surge
abnormal rise of the sea along a shore as a result of strong winds.
Subpolar low
low pressure located at about the latitudes of the Arctic and Antarctic circles. In the northern hemisphere the low takes the form of individual oceanic cells; in the southern hemisphere there is a deep and continuous through of low pressure.
Temperature
measure of the degree of hotness or coldness of a substance. The kinetic energy of the objects in a material.
Tornado
violently rotating column of air attended by a funnel-shaped or tubular cloud extending downward from a cumulonimbus cloud.
Transpiration
the release of water vapor to the atmosphere by plants.
Troposphere
lowermost layer of the atmosphere marked by considerable turbulence and generally a decrease in temperature with increasing height.
Trough
an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure.
Visibility
The horizontal distance an observer can see and identify a prominent object.
Warm front
gently sloping frontal surface in which there is active movement of warm air over cold air.
Weather analysis
stage prior to developing a weather forecast. This stage involves collecting, compiling, and transmitting observational data.
Winter storm
A heavy snow event. In the Sierra Nevada below 7000 feet, a snow accumulation of greater than 6 inches/12 hrs or greater than 12 inches/24 hrs; and above 7000 feet, greater than 8 inches/12 hrs or greater than 18 inches/24 hrs.
Zone of Intertropical Convergence (ITC)
zone of general convergence between the northern and southern hemisphere trade winds.
from glossary in, Fredrick K. Lutgens & Edward J. Tarbuck,
The Atmosphere an Introduction to Meteorology,
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632, 1982