Physical Geography 11th Edition

Petersen Solutions Manual

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Chapter 5
Atmospheric Pressure, Winds, and Circulation Patterns

Chapter Objectives

This chapter should enable your students to…

• 5.1 Explain why atmospheric pressure declines with altitude and generally varies
with latitude because of air temperature differences and vertical air movement.
• 5.2 Associate precipitation, clouds, and windy conditions with the rising air of
low pressure systems and clear, calm conditions with the subsiding air of high
pressure systems.
• 5.3 Describe why latitudinal changes in sun angle and duration of daylight hours
with the seasons cause temperature variations that influence atmospheric pressure
• 5.4 Provide examples of how differences in atmospheric pressure affect wind
velocity and direction.
• 5.5 Articulate why the Coriolis effect apparently causes winds and ocean currents
to bend to the right of the direction of motion in the Northern Hemisphere and to
the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
• 5.6 Outline the major latitudinal pressure systems and wind belts and their
influence on the circulation of global winds and ocean currents.
• 5.7 Discuss examples of how interchanges between the atmosphere and oceans
influence weather systems.

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Chapter Outline

I. Chapter Preview
II. Atmospheric Pressure
A. Air Pressure, Altitude, and Elevation
B. Horizontal Pressure Variations
III. Cells of High and Low Pressure
A. Convergent and Divergent Circulation
B. Mapping Pressure Distributions
IV. Wind
A. Pressure Gradients and Wind
B. The Coriolis Effect and Wind
1. Friction and Wind
2. Wind Terminology
C. Cyclones, Anticyclones, and Wind Directions
V. Global Pressure and Wind Systems
A. A Model of Global Pressure
B. Seasonal Pressure Differences
1. January
2. July
VI. Global Wind Systems
A. An Atmospheric Circulation Model
B. Winds in Latitudinal Zones
1. Trade Winds
2. The Intertropical Convergence Zone
3. Subtropical Highs
4. Westerlies
5. Polar Winds
6. Polar Front
C. Latitudinal Migration with the Seasons
D. Longitudinal Variations in Pressure and Wind

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VII. Upper Air Winds and Jet Streams
VIII. Regional and Local Wind Systems
A. Monsoon Winds
B. Local Winds
1. Land Breeze – Sea Breeze
2. Mountain Breeze – Valley Breeze
3. Chinooks and Other Warming Winds
4. Drainage Winds

IX. Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions

A. Ocean Currents
B. El Niño
1. El Niño and the Southern Oscillation
2. El Niño and Global Weather
C. North Atlantic Oscillation

Chapter Summary
• Changes in pressure control the wind.
• Atmospheric pressure is in part determined by hot and cold areas of the world.
• The structure of cyclones and anticyclone is vital to understanding the movements
of the winds and weather systems.
• Upper air winds (the jet streams) control the trajectory and nature of some of our
weather patterns.
• Oceanic phenomena like ENSO and NAO play a role in steering some of our
weather systems in many parts of the world.

Lecture Suggestions

• Explain what barometric pressure is, how barometers work, and then lead into
cyclones and anticyclones.
• Explain that ‘changes in pressure create the winds’ and discuss basic wind
terminology.
• Start with semi-permanent pressure systems and global wind belts, then scale
down to monsoonal and diurnal pressure systems and their associated winds.
• Spend some time talking about upper air winds, and atmosphere/ocean
interactions like ENSO and the NAO.

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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Key Terms

mercury barometer polar easterlies

barometric pressure westerlies
aneroid barometer trade winds
standard sea level pressure northeast trades
altitude southeast trades
elevation tropical easterlies
cyclone (low) Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
anticyclone (high) doldrums
convergent wind circulation “horse latitudes”
divergent wind circulation polar front
isobar jet stream
pressure gradient polar jet stream
wind subtropical jet stream
Coriolis effect Rossby wave
wind friction monsoon
geostrophic wind land breeze–sea breeze
windward mountain breeze–valley breeze
leeward chinook
prevailing wind foehn
trough Santa Ana wind
equatorial low (equatorial trough) drainage wind (katabatic wind)
subtropical highs surface ocean current
subpolar lows gyre
polar highs upwelling
Siberian High El Niño
Canadian High Southern Oscillation
Icelandic Low El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Aleutian Low La Niña
Pacific High North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
Bermuda High (Azores High)

Answers to Questions for Review

1. 29.92" or 1013.2mb or 14.7 lbs/in2 are all mean sea level pressure. Since pressure is
measuring the weight of the atmosphere, and Weight = Mass  Gravity, gravity
definitely plays an important part.

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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
2. Thermal factors affect pressure because warm air can rise and cold air tends to sink;
these will control pressure at times. Dynamic factors are those that force air to rise or
sink.

3. An anticyclone is an area of high pressure. In the Northern Hemisphere, the wind

comes out of an anticyclone in a clockwise fashion away from the center. The
circulation is counterclockwise and away from the center in the Southern
Hemisphere.

4. A cyclone is an area of low pressure. In the Northern Hemisphere, winds would flow
into the low counterclockwise. The circulation is clockwise and in towards the center
in the Southern Hemisphere.

5. Land heats and cools faster than water so there can often be temperature differences,
and subsequent pressure differences between them. During summer (nighttime), the
cooler, denser air over the land forms higher pressure sending the winds towards the
land (land breeze). During summer, the warm air rises over land and low pressure
draws in the winds from the sea (sea breeze).

6. Landmasses and adjacent ocean regions cause breaks between pressure systems.
These cells of high and low pressure develop because the belts are affected by the
differential heating of land and water. Landmasses also affect air movement.

7. Winds migrate north and south along with their respective pressure systems. Pressure
systems migrate with the direct rays of the Sun (energy from the sun).

8. The answer to Question 5 explains most of this answer as well. Both are caused by
differential temperatures between the land and water. Both experience the reversal of
the wind. Land/sea breezes and monsoons are different in their time and space scales.
For example, the land/sea breeze can often experience a daily reversal of the wind
whereas the monsoon is the seasonal reversal of the wind.

9. M.A. Frost may occur.

10. Monsoons are the reversal of seasonal winds. In the winter, the winds are from the
land causing dry conditions. In the summer, the winds are from the warm ocean
waters which cause wet conditions. They are caused by seasonal reversals of pressure
systems. Many nations in equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia experience monsoons,
such as India and Vietnam.

11. Ocean gyres are controlled by the subtropical high pressure systems. Therefore, they
rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern
Hemisphere.

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12. Ocean currents usually flow north or south along continental coast lines in the mid-
latitudes. North America is affected by the warm Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift on
the east Coast and by the cold California Current on the west Coast.

13. Ocean temperatures rise in the eastern equatorial Pacific (off the coast of Ecuador and
Peru) in an El Niño. These warm waters hold a tremendous amount of energy that
impacts the development of pressure systems across the globe. Low pressure will
form in the eastern equatorial Pacific region. These low-pressure areas can affect the
development of pressure systems in other parts of the globe as a result.

Answers to Consider and Respond Questions

1. a. There is less landmass in the Southern Hemisphere (the ocean hemisphere).
b. The southwest. This location exhibits the warmest temperatures, which result in the
lowest pressure.

2. Early Spanish sailing ships depended on the northeast trade winds to drive their
galleons from Europe to Central and South America and plotted a course that would
use the westerlies to the north to return to the Old World.

3. Upper air winds are found within all wind belts (especially the Westerlies). Pilots use
upper air wind maps to find the strongest tailwinds and weakest headwinds to make
their flights faster and more fuel efficient.

4. Winter. The temperature gradient, and thus the pressure gradient, between the
equatorial and polar regions are greatest in the winter.

5. The warming and drying wind would bring about harmful effects—farmers have to
irrigate more, foresters have an increased fire hazard, and ski resorts may have little
snow.

Answers to Practical Applications Questions

1. a. 5.2 Watts, 140.4 Watts, 650 Watts, 1123.2 Watts
b. City B. Since wind speed is cubed in the equation, the m/s winds more than makes
up for the 2 m/s winds

2. a. 968.2 mb
b. 375 ft.
c. 1005.4 mb

Answers to Figure Legend Questions

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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Figure 5.1 Since most atmospheric pressure values are between 28.00 and 31.00 inches
of mercury the barometer must stand tall enough to measure those values,
whereas an aneroid barometer does not.

Figure 5.3 As air rises, it typically cools. As air sinks, it typically warms.

Figure 5.4 The highest pressure on the map has a value between 1037 and 1039 mb.
The lowest pressure on the map has a value between 985 and 987 mb.

Figure 5.5 Yes; the winds are deflected to the right of its motion.

Figure 5.7 The rising air on the windward side may lead to enhanced precipitation.
Thus, vegetation would be plentiful and lush. The dry leeward wide would
have sparse vegetation.

Figure 5.8 Winds from a Southern hemisphere anticyclone rotate counterclockwise and
away from its center. In the southern hemisphere, winds around a low
pressure center move clockwise and towards the center.

Figure 5.9 The primary control is insolation, which varies strongly with latitude, from
equator to pole.

Figure 5.10 M.A. They vary depending on the latitude, whether one is near a west coast
or east coast, and whether one is located near an ocean.

Figure 5.12 The selection of crops and the time of year that they would be planted would
require knowledge of the alternating wet and dry seasons.

Figure 5.13 The Westerlies.

Figure 5.15 These are geostrophic winds.

Figure 5.16 M.A.

Figure 5.18 The Rossby waves draw cold air from higher latitudes to lower latitudes
when it dips southward and warm air from the lower latitudes to higher
latitudes when it bends northward. These invasions of air will change the
weather considerably.

Figure 5.19 The monsoon or seasonal wind shift develops because of temperature
contrasts between the land and water. Since Eurasia is so much larger than
North America, it has much greater temperature fluctuation. Consequently,
the monsoon circulation is much more developed in Eurasia.

Figure 5.20 During the daytime, the sea breeze brings air from the water to the land at
the surface as warm air rises over the land creating low pressure. At night,

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 cool air over the land creates high pressure and causes the wind to blow
from the land to the water (offshore, or land breeze).

Figure 5.20 The air coming down the leeward side of a mountain warms adiabatically. If
there is snow on the leeward side it will melt, or be "eaten".

Figure 5.21 The bare rocky slope would heat up more quickly during the day and the
green shady valley floor would stay cooler, longer. Therefore these
conditions would enhance the strength of the mountain and valley breezes.

Figure 5.24 The circulation of the subtropical high pressure systems controls the
circulation of the gyres.

Figure 5.25 Warm waters originating in the Gulf of Mexico are carried by the Gulf
Stream and the North Atlantic Drift to the British Isles.

Figure 5.26 El Niño brings wetter than normal weather in Ecuador and Peru. In the
western equatorial Pacific, Indonesia and northern Australia, drier than
normal conditions usually prevail.

Figure 5.27 El Niño tends to originate off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru.

Figure 5.28 M.A.

Figure 5.29 The Icelandic Low and the Azores High.

Answers to Global Geoscience Watch Activity

1. Iran
2. b
3. a

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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.