MAST382 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Pacific Ocean, Vapor Pressure
18 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Movements of air masses are caused by changes in air mass density as water vapor is added/removed. Maximum amount of water that can remain in vapor phase in air is saturation vapor pressure, lower at lower temps. Air density reduced when water vapor added bc water molecules lighter than air molecules that it displaces. Warm moist air rises and cools, vapor condenses, latent heat of vaporization released, warms the air mass, reduces density of air mass, reduced density causes air mass to rise further. Orbital velocities at poles= 0, greatest at equator. The coriolis deflection is greatest at the poles and decreases at lower latitudes. There is no coriolis effect for objects that move directly east to west or west to east at the equator. Coriolis effect causes deflection of freely moving objects to right in n hemisphere and to left in sh.
