GEO 211 Final: Chapter 9
16 Jan 2019
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Atmosphere"s planetary circulation: planetary-scale air circulation sets the stage for smaller-scale weather systems. Questions 1 4 deal with the idealized circulation patterns of figure 9. 2 that shows in step-wise fashion how surface winds and pressure patterns would develop on an idealized smooth solid. It shows in panel a that on the sunlit side of such a non-rotating earth, surface winds in the northern hemisphere would always blow from the north. This occurs because cold, dense air at polar locations displaces warm, less dense air at lower pressure encircling the earth in the tropics. However, there are identifiable wind belts and pressure systems that more or less resemble the idealized pattern. The most active of these belts parallels the equator and is called the itcz or: equatorial trough, polar front. A meridional flow pattern occurs when long waves in the westerlies exhibit large north-south swings. In addition to enso, there exist ______ oscillations.
