synoptic test

  1. Anafront
    • Rear-sloping warm air lift up along vertical suface of cold front boundary.
    • Lighter precip. fills in behind and above the front.
  2. Katafront
    • Forward-slping warm air lift parallel and ahead of cold front that is moving more rapid tan frontal zone.
    • Precip. out ahead of cold front.
  3. Ageostophic Wind
    vector difference between observed wind and geostophic wind.
  4. Ageostrophic Wind Term A
    • Isallobaric wind due to local pressure changes.
    • Flows from center of pressure rise to pressure fall.
  5. Ageostrophic Wind Term B
    • Horizontal advective ageostrophic wind
    • Inertial advetice(like wind advecting itself)
    • Function of gradient wind balance and diffluence/confluence.
    • Strongest where there are changes in the wind speed and or direction downstream
    • "points" upstream (downstream) in cyclonically(anticyclonically)curved flow.
    • "points" to the left (right) of the flow (in the NH) if the speeds increase (decrease) downstream.
    • Tends to be most significant in the mid-upper troposphere where the wind is strongest and the wind speed changes are the most dramatic.
  6. Ageostrophic Wind Term C
    • Verical advective ageostrophic wind
    • Inertial convective(diabatic)
    • Strongest in regions of strong vertical wind shear and diabatic heating
    • Rising parcels will accelerate in regions of strong shear
  7. Ageostrophic Wind Term D
    • Stongest in regions of strong vertical wind shear and diabatic heating
    • Rising parcels will accelerate in regions of strong shear.
  8. Ageostrophic Wind Term D
    Ageostrophic Wind due to friction withing the PBL
  9. Jet stream
    • An 'intense', narrow, quasi horizontal current of wind that is associated with strong vertical wind shear, found at or near the tropopause
    • at least 60kt UL and 30kt LL
    • narrow: flow current width is 1/2 to 1 order of magnitude less than its length
  10. Jet Streak
    • Isotach maximum embedded within jet steams
    • Propogates through the jet steam.
  11. Tropopause
    • Upper boundary between troposphere and stratosphere.
    • Upper boundary between positive lapse rate in troposphere and negative lapse rate in stratosphere.
  12. Chemical Tropopause:
    • Upper boundary between relatively low ozone concetration in troposhere and relatively high ozone concentration in stratoshpere.
    • also relatively high water vapor in trop. and relativly low water vapor in strat.
  13. Dynamic Tropopause
    potential vorticity, since PV is related to absolute vorticity and static stability.
  14. Isentropic Potential Vorticity
    • Absolute voricity a fluid column would have if it were brought to some reference depth, enclosed between two isentropic(potential temperature) surfaces.
    • A conservative quanitiy.
    • Product of isentropic absolute vorticity and static stability.
  15. PV Anomalies
    • Min in tropopause height
    • Max in tropopause pressure
    • Min in geopotental
    • Max in isentropic values
    • Cyclonic circulation
Author
deserthootman
ID
47252
Card Set
synoptic test
Description
shiza
Updated