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Thermal Wind
The thermal wind is the vector difference between the geostrophic wind at upper altitudes minus that at lower altitudes in the atmosphere. It is the hypothetical vertical wind shear that would exist if the winds obey geostrophic balance in the horizontal, while pressure obeys hydrostatic balance in the vertical. The combination of these two force balances is called ''thermal wind balance'', a term generalizable also to more complicated horizontal flow balances such as gradient wind balance''.'' Since the geostrophic wind at a given pressure level flows along geopotential height contours on a map, and the geopotential thickness of a pressure layer is proportional to virtual temperature, it follows that the thermal wind flows along thickness or temperature contours. For instance, the thermal wind associated with pole-to-equator temperature gradients is the primary physical explanation for the jet stream in the upper half of the troposphere, which is the atmospheric layer extendin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jet Stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. On Earth, the main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds (flowing west to east). Jet streams may start, stop, split into two or more parts, combine into one stream, or flow in various directions including opposite to the direction of the remainder of the jet. Overview The strongest jet streams are the polar jets around the polar vortices, at above sea level, and the higher altitude and somewhat weaker subtropical jets at . The Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere each have a polar jet and a subtropical jet. The northern hemisphere polar jet flows over the middle to northern latitudes of North America, Europe, and Asia and their intervening oceans, while the southern hemisphere polar jet mostly circles Antarctica, both all year round. Jet streams are the product of two factors: the atmospheric heating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravitational Force
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong interaction, 1036 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 1029 times weaker than the weak interaction. As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of subatomic particles. However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at the macroscopic scale, and it determines the motion of planets, stars, galaxies, and even light. On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects, and the Moon's gravity is responsible for sublunar tides in the oceans (the corresponding antipodal tide is caused by the inertia of the Earth and Moon orbiting one another). Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through the process of gravitropism and influencing the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmospheric Sounding
Atmospheric sounding or atmospheric profiling is a measurement of vertical distribution of physical properties of the atmospheric column such as pressure, temperature, wind speed and wind direction (thus deriving wind shear), liquid water content, ozone concentration, pollution, and other properties. Such measurements are performed in a variety of ways including remote sensing and in situ observations. The most common in situ sounding is a radiosonde, which usually is a weather balloon, but can also be a rocketsonde. Remote sensing soundings generally use passive infrared and microwave radiometers: * airborne instruments * surface stations * Earth-observing satellite instruments such as AIRS and AMSU * observation of atmospheres on different planets, such as the Mars climate sounder on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Direct methods Sensors that measure atmospheric constituents directly, such as thermometers, barometers, and humidity sensors, can be sent aloft on balloons, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite sense of rotation or revolution is (in Commonwealth English) anticlockwise (ACW) or (in North American English) counterclockwise (CCW). Terminology Before clocks were commonplace, the terms " sunwise" and "deasil", "deiseil" and even "deocil" from the Scottish Gaelic language and from the same root as the Latin "dexter" ("right") were used for clockwise. " Widdershins" or "withershins" (from Middle Low German "weddersinnes", "opposite course") was used for counterclockwise. The terms clockwise and counterclockwise can only be applied to a rotational motion once a side of the rotational plane is specified, from which the rotation is observed. For example, the daily rotation of the Earth is clockwise when viewed from above the South Pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phenomenon
A phenomenon (plural, : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in this part of his philosophy, in which phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms. Far predating this, the Ancient Greek Philosophy, ancient Greek Pyrrhonism, Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus also used ''phenomenon'' and ''noumenon'' as interrelated technical terms. Common usage In popular usage, a ''phenomenon'' often refers to an extraordinary event. The term is most commonly used to refer to occurrences that at first defy explanation or baffle the observer. According to the ''Dictionary of Visual Discourse'':In ordinary language 'phenomenon/phenomena' refer to any occurrence worthy of note and investigation, typically an untoward or unusual event, person or fact that is of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterclockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite sense of rotation or revolution is (in Commonwealth English) anticlockwise (ACW) or (in North American English) counterclockwise (CCW). Terminology Before clocks were commonplace, the terms "sunwise" and "deasil", "deiseil" and even "deocil" from the Scottish Gaelic language and from the same root as the Latin "dexter" ("right") were used for clockwise. " Widdershins" or "withershins" (from Middle Low German "weddersinnes", "opposite course") was used for counterclockwise. The terms clockwise and counterclockwise can only be applied to a rotational motion once a side of the rotational plane is specified, from which the rotation is observed. For example, the daily rotation of the Earth is clockwise when viewed from above the South P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Advection
In the field of physics, engineering, and earth sciences, advection is the transport of a substance or quantity by bulk motion of a fluid. The properties of that substance are carried with it. Generally the majority of the advected substance is also a fluid. The properties that are carried with the advected substance are conserved properties such as energy. An example of advection is the transport of pollutants or silt in a river by bulk water flow downstream. Another commonly advected quantity is energy or enthalpy. Here the fluid may be any material that contains thermal energy, such as water or air. In general, any substance or conserved, extensive quantity can be advected by a fluid that can hold or contain the quantity or substance. During advection, a fluid transports some conserved quantity or material via bulk motion. The fluid's motion is described mathematically as a vector field, and the transported material is described by a scalar field showing its distribution ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backing And Veering
The back is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck and the shoulders. Back may also refer to: People * Adam Back (born 1970), British cryptographer * Charles Back, South African winemaker * Chris Back (born 1950), Australian politician * Ernst Emil Alexander Back (1881–1959), German physicist * Frédéric Back (born 1924), Canadian animator * George Back (1796–1878), British naval officer and explorer * Les Back (born 1962), English sociology professor and author * Natasja Crone Back (born 1971), Danish journalist * Neil Back (born 1969), English rugby player * Ralph-Johan Back, Finnish computer scientist * Rico Back (born 1954), Swiss-domiciled German businessman * Sven-Erik Bäck (1919–1984), Swedish composer * William Back (1856–1911), Australian cricketer Places * Back (crater), lunar crater * Back, Lewis, a village on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland * Back Bay (other), several places * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coriolis Parameter
The Coriolis frequency ''ƒ'', also called the Coriolis parameter or Coriolis coefficient, is equal to twice the rotation rate ''Ω'' of the Earth multiplied by the sine of the latitude \varphi. :f = 2 \Omega \sin \varphi.\, The rotation rate of the Earth (''Ω'' = 7.2921 × 10−5 rad/s) can be calculated as 2''π'' / ''T'' radians per second, where ''T'' is the rotation period of the Earth which is one ''sidereal'' day (23 h 56 min 4.1 s). In the midlatitudes, the typical value for f is about 10−4 rad/s. Inertial oscillations on the surface of the earth have this frequency. These oscillations are the result of the Coriolis effect. Explanation Consider a body (for example a fixed volume of atmosphere) moving along at a given latitude \varphi at velocity v in the earth's rotating reference frame. In the local reference frame of the body, the vertical direction is parallel to the radial vector p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geopotential
Geopotential is the potential of the Earth's gravity field. For convenience it is often defined as the ''negative'' of the potential energy per unit mass, so that the gravity vector is obtained as the gradient of this potential, without the negation. In addition to the actual potential (the geopotential), a hypothetical normal potential and their difference, the disturbing potential, can also be defined. Concept For geophysical applications, gravity is distinguished from gravitation. Gravity is defined as the resultant force of gravitation and the centrifugal force caused by the Earth's rotation. Likewise, the respective scalar potentials can be added to form an effective potential called the geopotential, W. Global mean sea surface is close to one of the isosurfaces of the geopotential. This ''equipotential surface'', or surface of constant geopotential, is called the ''geoid''. How the gravitational force and the centrifugal force add up to a force orthogonal to the geoid is ill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Constant
The molar gas constant (also known as the gas constant, universal gas constant, or ideal gas constant) is denoted by the symbol or . It is the molar equivalent to the Boltzmann constant, expressed in units of energy per temperature increment per amount of substance, i.e. the pressure–volume product, rather than energy per temperature increment per ''particle''. The constant is also a combination of the constants from Boyle's law, Charles's law, Avogadro's law, and Gay-Lussac's law. It is a physical constant that is featured in many fundamental equations in the physical sciences, such as the ideal gas law, the Arrhenius equation, and the Nernst equation. The gas constant is the constant of proportionality that relates the energy scale in physics to the temperature scale and the scale used for amount of substance. Thus, the value of the gas constant ultimately derives from historical decisions and accidents in the setting of units of energy, temperature and amount of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypsometric Equation
The hypsometric equation, also known as the thickness equation, relates an atmospheric pressure ratio to the equivalent thickness of an atmospheric layer considering the layer mean of virtual temperature, gravity, and occasionally wind. It is derived from the hydrostatic equation and the ideal gas law. Formulation The hypsometric equation is expressed as: h = z_2 - z_1 = \frac \, \ln \left(\frac\right), where: *h = thickness of the layer /nowiki>, *z = geometric height /nowiki>, *R = specific gas constant for dry air, *\overline = mean virtual temperature in Kelvin /nowiki>, *g = gravitational acceleration /s2/nowiki>, *p = pressure Pa">Pascal_(unit).html" ;"title="/nowiki>Pascal (unit)">Pa/nowiki>. In meteorology, p_1 and p_2 are wikt:isobaric, isobaric surfaces. In radiosonde observation, the hypsometric equation can be used to compute the height of a pressure level given the height of a reference pressure level and the mean virtual temperature in between. Then, the newly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
