Meteorolo​gy ​Reference​ ​Notes

Low Level clouds:

Low Level: ​Low-level clouds are found at altitudes lower than 6,500 feet. There is no prefix for
a low-level cloud. They are usually composed of water droplets (sometimes supercooled), but
can be composed of ice crystals during the winter.

Some types of low level clouds are:

(Fair Weather) Cumulus: puffy, light clouds with plenty of space between each other; usually
signifies good weather, usually brings little to no precipitation, but can turn into storm clouds like
cumulonimbus clouds; name means "heaped" in Latin; low altitude cloud.

Stratus: horizontally-layered grey kinds of clouds; may bring small amounts of precipitation;
name means "layered" in Latin; low altitude clouds.

Stratocumulus: dark, rounded masses of clouds that are usually in groups/layers, occasionally
there will be a break in clouds; generally little to no precipitation; low altitude cloud

Middle-level Clouds:

Middle level clouds: Middle-level clouds are found at altitudes between 6,500 and 20,000 feet.
They are given the prefix ​alto-​, which means "high". They are composed of water droplets
(sometimes supercooled) and/or ice crystals.

Some types of Middle level clouds are:

Altostratus: layer clouds thinner than stratus, but thicker than cirrostratus, sun and moon are
somewhat visible; light precipitation, but little of it reaches ground; middle altitude cloud
Altocumulus: globular clouds in layers/patches, may signify a thunderstorm to happen later in
the day; middle altitude cloud

High-level Clouds
High level clouds: High-level clouds are found at altitudes above 20,000 feet. They are given
the prefix ​cirro-​, which means "curl". They are composed mostly of ice crystals.
Cirrus: thin, feathery wisps of clouds; also known as "mares' tails," and while the precipitation it
releases evaporates before it reaches the ground, it may signify the arrival of precipitation; high
altitude cloud.
Cirrostratus: thin, sheet-like, high-level clouds, quite transparent (sun/moon easily seen), halos
very common around sun and moon; high altitude cloud.
Cirrocumulus: ​light, puffy, short-lived clouds; high altitude cloud

Multi-level Clouds

Multi level clouds:​Multi-level clouds exhibit large vertical extent, covering multiple altitudes
(high, medium, low) at a time.
Cumulonimbus: huge, anvil-shaped vertical cloud, can produce thunderstorms, tornadoes, and
other dangerous storms, may form along squall lines, often brings a lot of heavy precipitation;
bottom of cloud is at low altitudes and extends upwards to high altitudes
Nimbostratus: dark layer clouds; produce light to moderate precipitation over a wide area; low
to middle altitude cloud

The Layers of the Atmosphere

The layers of the atmosphere from bottom to top are as follows:

Troposphere

Stratosphere

Mesosphere

Thermosphere

Exosphere

The troposphere is where most weather patterns occur

Origins of the Atmosphere

The origin of Earth’s atmosphere is subject to debate. It is fairly certain that the Earth, when it
was formed four-and-a-half billion years ago, had a thin atmosphere consisting of gases in the
solar nebula. Earth's first atmosphere most likely consisted primarily of hydrogen, along with
other gases including helium, ammonia and methane.
Over millions of years, volcanoes emitted water vapor, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen,
transforming the atmosphere to allow the first simple life forms to appear. This expulsion of
gases from Earth’s interior is a process known as outgassing. The outgassed water vapor
created clouds, producing rain.
Over time, the rain accumulated in basins as rivers, lakes, and oceans. These basins, in turn,
acted as sinks for accumulated carbon dioxide, which later became locked into deposits of
limestone and other sedimentary rocks. Nitrogen's inertness allowed it to accumulate in the
atmosphere. Any significant amounts of oxygen probably did not exist in Earth’s early
atmosphere.
Only when tiny bacteria and other simple life forms living in Earth’s oceans developed
photosynthesis, which allowed them to split water molecules apart by using the energy of
sunlight, could any significant amount of oxygen begin to accumulate in the atmosphere. It was
these processes that are believed to have produced the modern atmosphere consisting of about
78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen.

.​Organization of the Atmosphere

The atmospheric layers are in order from sea level to space:
Troposphere
The troposphere is where the majority of weather on Earth takes place. It is a region of rising
and falling pockets of air moving mostly vertically. Its height varies with seasons, latitudes, and
weather, with the equator having the highest troposphere (12-16 km) and the poles the lowest
(8km).
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is located above the troposphere, at a height of about 12 kilometers to 50
kilometers, separated by a thin layer called the tropopause. The stratosphere is ​stratified in
temperature, with the warmer layers higher and the cooler layers lower, with temperature
increasing with height. This contrasts with the troposphere, in which temperature decreases with
increasing height. Airplanes fly into the lower levels of the stratosphere above the clouds, as the
stratosphere is less turbulent and more stable than the troposphere. Most clouds cannot form in
the stratosphere because its temperature inversion inhibits convection. As a result, airflow in the
stratosphere is mostly horizontal. The pressure in the stratosphere is only one thousandth of
that at sea level.
The stratosphere also contains the ozone layer, which absorbs the majority of the dangerous
ultraviolet (UV) radiation emitted by the sun. This is also the cause of the stratosphere
temperature inversion, because the ozone layer is warming from absorbing the UV radiation.
Mesosphere
Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere, located between 50 kilometers and 80 kilometers.
The mesosphere consists of extremely rarified air. It is perhaps the least studied layer of the
atmosphere. In the mesosphere, temperature drops with increasing altitude, like in the
troposphere. Also, meteors disintegrate in this layer due to collisions with gas molecules.
Thermosphere
The thermosphere is located between 80 kilometers and 700 kilometers, above the
mesosphere. It is the outermost layer, excluding the exosphere, which extends further beyond
the thermosphere. Though the thermosphere has a very high temperature, with temperatures up
to 2500 degrees Celsius, due to the extremely fast movement of the gas molecules, it has a
very low thermal energy because the molecules are spaced so far apart, and so a section of
space in the thermosphere would contain very few molecules. (Remember that temperature is
the average kinetic energy of each molecule, while thermal energy is total kinetic energy.
Neither is it to be confused with heat, which refers to the transfer of thermal energy from a hotter
object to a cooler one.)
It is important to know how temperature changes within each layer
Temperature change in each layer like shown in the picture.

Atmospheric Circulation
 The two cell model

A non-spinning planet with no axial tilt would only experience the influence of unequal heating
by the Sun, with the most direct sunlight reaching the tropics and the least amount reaching the
polar regions. Under these circumstances, a simple convection system would suffice with
extreme heating in the low latitudes causing warm air to rise.
When this rising air mass reaches the top of the tropopause, it stops its upward movement and
begins to move towards the poles as an upper-level wind. Cooling air at the Polar Regions
encourages the air to sink downward and fall towards the surface. At the surface, this cold air
then begins to flow towards the equator.
These convection cells transfer heat by moving air from the equator towards the poles, and then
cycling air near from the surface to the equator, forming the basis of the two cell model, as
depicted on the right.

Air Pressure

Atmospheric pressure is the weight of the overlying column of air. As altitude increases, the
amount of overlying air in the atmosphere, and therefore the pressure, decreases.
Around 80% of the mass of Earth’s atmosphere is located within the closest 18 kilometers to its
surface, in the troposphere. This is because the air itself is also affected by air pressure; the
higher air pressures at lower altitudes closer to sea level cause the air to be more compressed
than at high elevations.
Atmospheric pressure is normally measured in units called millibars (mb). One millibar is equal
to 1 gram per centimeter squared (1g/cm​2​). At sea level, the average air pressure is around
1,013mb. At the top of Mt. Everest however, the air pressure can get as low as 300mb.
Although the concentration remains the same, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is
decreased at higher elevations because of the lower air pressure, as the pressure of gases
such as oxygen is related to density. That means there is only about 1/3 as much oxygen on Mt.
Everest as there is at sea level, thus, many people who attempt to climb Mt. Everest experience
shortness of breath as they climb to higher elevations.
Descending air forms high-pressure centers, or divergence. Polar highs result from the descent
of cold air and its movement towards onto the surface. Subtropical highs form as warm air in the
20-30° latitude range in both hemispheres rises and then begins to cool as it falls towards the
surface. This air is very dry making surface conditions in these regions very arid. Most of the
world’s deserts in both hemispheres are found in this latitude range. High-pressure cells move
in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ascending air forms low-pressure systems or areas of convergence. Tropical lows form as warm
air ascends into the atmosphere. Subpolar lows form as warm air in the 50-60° latitude ranges
of both hemispheres rises producing abundant precipitation. Low-pressure cells move in a
counterclockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere.
Air tends to move from areas of high to low pressure. Air is denser in high-pressure cells
(anticyclones), which tend to be hot and dry: this is because air tends to heat up when
compressed (adiabatic warming), evaporating clouds and leading to drier weather. The
evaporation of clouds also decreases surface albedo (reflectivity). Low-pressure cells tend to
bring precipitation because they draw air upwards, and the reduced pressure and temperature
at higher altitudes cause water vapor to condense into clouds. Low-pressure areas (or cyclones)
are often formed by the evaporation of warm, moist air over oceans.

Coriolis Effect and the Three Cell Model

Coriolis deflection

If the Earth did not rotate on its axis, there would be a single circulation cell in each hemisphere.
The rotation of the earth on its axis from west to east creates the Coriolis Effect, which causes
the different air masses created by the unequal heating of the planet’s surface to shift direction
like the picture on the right (click on it to get a better view). Notice the deflection created by the
Coriolis Effect and how it changes in each hemisphere and in different regions of each
hemisphere.
The Coriolis Effect causes wind patterns in the Northern Hemisphere to differ from wind patterns
in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis Effect deflects the
movement of air to the right. In the Southern Hemisphere, this movement is deflected to the left.
This creates the three main wind belts found at the surface of each hemisphere including the
easterly trade winds, prevailing westerlies and the polar easterlies.

Three Cell Model

The Coriolis Effect turns the high and low pressure cells of each hemisphere into a series of
three different convection cells known as the Hadley Cell, the Ferrel Cell, and the Polar Cell. All
three cells are found in both hemispheres.

The three cell model shows the Earth's global winds and the global circulation of air in the form
of convection cells, which are separated by pressure belts.
● The polar high is found at the poles, which are also the center of the polar cells, and
therefore the Polar Easterlies.
● The Polar Cell which is the cold high-pressure cell around the poles. The winds in
this cell blow like as expected with the Coriolis Effect, creating the Polar Easterlies.
● In between the Polar Cell and the next cell (Ferrel) there is a subpolar low.
● The Ferrel Cell is the mid latitude cell and is a warm cell, and also contains the
Prevailing Westerlies.
● In between the Ferrel Cell and next cell (Hadley) there is a subtropical high.
 ● The Hadley Cell is also a warm cell and the winds again blow as expected with the
Coriolis Effect, creating the Northeast Trade Winds in the Northern Hemisphere and
the Southeast Trade Winds in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Real World

The real world screws up the concept of the Coriolis Effect. Take this picture for example:

As shown, some of the winds seem to be blowing in the "wrong" direction according to the
Coriolis effect. This happens as winds blow from high pressure to low pressure. There is a
subtropical high at 30 degrees and a sub polar low at 60 degrees, therefore the wind blows from
30 degrees to 60 degrees. That wind is still subject to the Coriolis Effect, therefore it still curves,
it is just affected differently.

Local Wind Patterns/Global Winds

Planetary Winds
Global scale winds are winds that are created in the different Global circulation Cells.
1. Polar Easterlies​: blow from the poles to 60˚ latitude.
2. Prevailing Westerlies​: blow from 60˚ to 30˚ latitude.
3. Trade Winds​: blow from 30˚ latitude to the equator.

Mountain/Valley Winds

During the day, mountains warm, causing the air over them to be warmer than the air over the
valley at the same elevation. Warming the air causes it to rise, creating a valley wind. During the
evening, the air cools due to a loss of surface energy to space. The cool dense air moves down
slope as a mountain wind.

Chinook Winds

A chinook wind is a warm dry wind on the leeward side of a mountain. As air descends the
leeward side of a mountain (also known as the "Rain Shadow"), it is compressed and
adiabatically heated. Warming the air causes the saturation point to increase, causing a
decrease in its relative humidity. The new warm and dry wind move down slope rapidly, and
during the spring causes substantial melting of mountain snow. A Chinook is a foehn wind that
is specific to the Rocky Mountains.

Santa Ana Winds

Santa Ana winds are warm and dry winds. Over plateau regions in the desert region of the
United States, high pressure pushes the air off the plateaus, forcing the air into narrow mountain
valleys. As the air is forced through the valley it compresses and warms. As the air warms the
saturation point rises and its relative humidity drops. These winds are often responsible for the
dry conditions and fanning wildfires in Southern California

Atmospheric Circulation
 The two cell model

A non-spinning planet with no axial tilt would only experience the influence of unequal heating
by the Sun, with the most direct sunlight reaching the tropics and the least amount reaching the
polar regions. Under these circumstances, a simple convection system would suffice with
extreme heating in the low latitudes causing warm air to rise.
When this rising air mass reaches the top of the tropopause, it stops its upward movement and
begins to move towards the poles as an upper-level wind. Cooling air at the Polar Regions
encourages the air to sink downward and fall towards the surface. At the surface, this cold air
then begins to flow towards the equator.
These convection cells transfer heat by moving air from the equator towards the poles, and then
cycling air near from the surface to the equator, forming the basis of the two cell model, as
depicted on the right.

Air Pressure

Atmospheric pressure is the weight of the overlying column of air. As altitude increases, the
amount of overlying air in the atmosphere, and therefore the pressure, decreases.
Around 80% of the mass of Earth’s atmosphere is located within the closest 18 kilometers to its
surface, in the troposphere. This is because the air itself is also affected by air pressure; the
higher air pressures at lower altitudes closer to sea level cause the air to be more compressed
than at high elevations.
Atmospheric pressure is normally measured in units called millibars (mb). One millibar is equal
to 1 gram per centimeter squared (1g/cm​2​). At sea level, the average air pressure is around
1,013mb. At the top of Mt. Everest however, the air pressure can get as low as 300mb.
Although the concentration remains the same, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is
decreased at higher elevations because of the lower air pressure, as the pressure of gases
such as oxygen is related to density. That means there is only about 1/3 as much oxygen on Mt.
Everest as there is at sea level, thus, many people who attempt to climb Mt. Everest experience
shortness of breath as they climb to higher elevations.
Descending air forms high-pressure centers, or divergence. Polar highs result from the descent
of cold air and its movement towards onto the surface. Subtropical highs form as warm air in the
20-30° latitude range in both hemispheres rises and then begins to cool as it falls towards the
surface. This air is very dry making surface conditions in these regions very arid. Most of the
world’s deserts in both hemispheres are found in this latitude range. High-pressure cells move
in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ascending air forms low-pressure systems or areas of convergence. Tropical lows form as warm
air ascends into the atmosphere. Subpolar lows form as warm air in the 50-60° latitude ranges
of both hemispheres rises producing abundant precipitation. Low-pressure cells move in a
counterclockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere.
Air tends to move from areas of high to low pressure. Air is denser in high-pressure cells
(anticyclones), which tend to be hot and dry: this is because air tends to heat up when
compressed (adiabatic warming), evaporating clouds and leading to drier weather. The
evaporation of clouds also decreases surface albedo (reflectivity). Low-pressure cells tend to
bring precipitation because they draw air upwards, and the reduced pressure and temperature
at higher altitudes cause water vapor to condense into clouds. Low-pressure areas (or cyclones)
are often formed by the evaporation of warm, moist air over oceans.

Coriolis Effect and the Three Cell Model

Coriolis deflection

If the Earth did not rotate on its axis, there would be a single circulation cell in each hemisphere.
The rotation of the earth on its axis from west to east creates the Coriolis Effect, which causes
the different air masses created by the unequal heating of the planet’s surface to shift direction
like the picture on the right (click on it to get a better view). Notice the deflection created by the
Coriolis Effect and how it changes in each hemisphere and in different regions of each
hemisphere.
The Coriolis Effect causes wind patterns in the Northern Hemisphere to differ from wind patterns
in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis Effect deflects the
movement of air to the right. In the Southern Hemisphere, this movement is deflected to the left.
This creates the three main wind belts found at the surface of each hemisphere including the
easterly trade winds, prevailing westerlies and the polar easterlies.

Three Cell Model

The Coriolis Effect turns the high and low pressure cells of each hemisphere into a series of
three different convection cells known as the Hadley Cell, the Ferrel Cell, and the Polar Cell. All
three cells are found in both hemispheres.
The three cell model shows the Earth's global winds and the global circulation of air in the form
of convection cells, which are separated by pressure belts.
● The polar high is found at the poles, which are also the center of the polar cells, and
therefore the Polar Easterlies.
● The Polar Cell which is the cold high-pressure cell around the poles. The winds in
this cell blow like as expected with the Coriolis Effect, creating the Polar Easterlies.
● In between the Polar Cell and the next cell (Ferrel) there is a subpolar low.
● The Ferrel Cell is the mid latitude cell and is a warm cell, and also contains the
Prevailing Westerlies.
● In between the Ferrel Cell and next cell (Hadley) there is a subtropical high.
● The Hadley Cell is also a warm cell and the winds again blow as expected with the
Coriolis Effect, creating the Northeast Trade Winds in the Northern Hemisphere and
the Southeast Trade Winds in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Real World

The real world screws up the concept of the Coriolis Effect. Take this picture for example:
As shown, some of the winds seem to be blowing in the "wrong" direction according to the
Coriolis effect. This happens as winds blow from high pressure to low pressure. There is a
subtropical high at 30 degrees and a sub polar low at 60 degrees, therefore the wind blows from
30 degrees to 60 degrees. That wind is still subject to the Coriolis Effect, therefore it still curves,
it is just affected differently.

Local Wind Patterns/Global Winds

Planetary Winds
 Planetary winds

Global scale winds are winds that are created in the different Global circulation Cells.
1. Polar Easterlies​: blow from the poles to 60˚ latitude.
2. Prevailing Westerlies​: blow from 60˚ to 30˚ latitude.
3. Trade Winds​: blow from 30˚ latitude to the equator.

Mountain/Valley Winds

During the day, mountains warm, causing the air over them to be warmer than the air over the
valley at the same elevation. Warming the air causes it to rise, creating a valley wind. During the
evening, the air cools due to a loss of surface energy to space. The cool dense air moves down
slope as a mountain wind.

Chinook Winds

A chinook wind is a warm dry wind on the leeward side of a mountain. As air descends the
leeward side of a mountain (also known as the "Rain Shadow"), it is compressed and
adiabatically heated. Warming the air causes the saturation point to increase, causing a
decrease in its relative humidity. The new warm and dry wind move down slope rapidly, and
during the spring causes substantial melting of mountain snow. A Chinook is a foehn wind that
is specific to the Rocky Mountains.

Santa Ana Winds

Santa Ana winds are warm and dry winds. Over plateau regions in the desert region of the
United States, high pressure pushes the air off the plateaus, forcing the air into narrow mountain
valleys. As the air is forced through the valley it compresses and warms. As the air warms the
saturation point rises and its relative humidity drops. These winds are often responsible for the
dry conditions and fanning wildfires in Southern California

Earth Energy Budget

The Earth’s energy budget is determined by the amount of incoming energy and the amount of
outgoing energy. Nearly all of Earth’s incoming energy (99.98%) is from solar radiation. The
other 2% mostly comes from geothermal energy created by the radioactive decay of uranium
and thorium in the Earth’s core. A very small amount, about .002%, of Earth’s incoming energy
comes from the action of tides caused by the interaction of Earth with the Sun and Moon. Waste
heat energy from fossil fuel consumption accounts for another .007% of Earth’s Energy Budget.
The Earth has an average albedo of approximately 30%, which means about 30% of incoming
solar radiation is reflected back into space before it reaches Earth's surface. The atmosphere
then absorbs 19% and the Earth’s surface absorbs 51%. Around 70% of solar energy that is
absorbed by the Earth is then re-radiated as infrared energy. The Earth’s energy budget is in
equilibrium as the amount of incoming energy is balanced by the same amount of outgoing
energy.

Convection

Convection is the transfer of heat from the Earth’s surface into the atmosphere. When a layer of
air receives enough heat, it expands and is pushed upward by buoyancy. Then the air becomes
more dense and moves laterally until it begins to sink and then rise again as it warms.
Atmospheric convection currents are partly responsible for breezes, winds, cyclones and
thunderstorms.
But locally, the Radiation Budget not balanced as tropical regions retain more insolation, while
higher latitudes retain less. This accounts for differences in the temperature and pressure of air
masses that originate in both regions affecting weather throughout the entire planet.