SCI1300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Atmospheric Circulation, Fluid Parcel, Cool Air

• School: Monash University
• Department: Science
• Course: SCI1300
• Professor: Christian Jakob

Document Summary

Sci1300 lecture 8 from science to society. The tropical atmosphere is warmer than the polar one. A (cid:449)ar(cid:373) air (cid:862)e(cid:454)pa(cid:374)ds(cid:863) a(cid:374)d (cid:272)ool air (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:374)tra(cid:272)ts(cid:863), the depth of the troposphere (cid:448)aries (cid:449)ith latitude, with a deeper troposphere near the equator and a shallower one near the poles. Hence pressure in the tropics will reduce more slowly than near the poles. This (cid:373)ea(cid:374)s that a(cid:271)o(cid:448)e the surfa(cid:272)e, pressure (cid:449)ill (cid:271)e higher (cid:374)ear 30 deg n/ a(cid:374)d air (cid:449)ill o(cid:449) to(cid:449)ards the poles (cid:894)fro(cid:373) high to lo(cid:449) pressure(cid:895) a(cid:374)d is the(cid:374) (cid:271)ei(cid:374)g de e(cid:272)ted (cid:271)(cid:455) the coriolis force. The pressure difference increases with height and so does the wind speed. The strongest winds will be found where the strongest temperature gradients are, near 30 and 60 deg of each hemisphere. Another way to understand the increase in wind speed in the jet streams is by conservation of angular momentum. As air moves north the radius of rotation is decreasing.