GG101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Jet Stream, Polar Front, Subtropics
Document Summary
Intro: measurement of air pressure, driving forces, high and low pressure areas, general circulation of the atmosphere. Released 15-20m tons of ash, dust and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. Atmospheric circulation is generally categorized at three levels: primary: consisting of general worldwide circulation, secondary: migratory high-pressure and low-pressure systems, tertiary: local winds, temporal weather patterns. Zonal flows: winds moving east or west along parallels of latitude. Air pressure is the product of the temperature and density of a mass of air: torricelli"s experiment (textbook page 145, normal air pressure expressed as 101. 32kpa (kilopascale, earth"s range is 105-98kpa. Aneroid barometer: uses no liquid; uses needle on a dial- as air pressure increases it presses on the chamber, and vice versa, i. e. aircraft altimeter- measures altitude as air pressure decreases above sea level. Earth"s rotational speeds vary by latitude, 0mph at poles to 1041mph at equator.
