Meteorology: Weather, People, and the Environment - Research Paper Example

 Meteorology: Weather, People, and the Environment Introduction Humans live not only on the earth’s physical environment, but also on the ground beneath it, as well as the air and water above it. For man to live and survive on earth, early man became involved with the practicality of living than with theories because his survival depended on his ability to use and exploit the things around him. However, as man evolved and communities developed, man realized that he can do more. With the birth of science, man began studying the earth, calling it as Earth Science. When one studies the scientific discipline of the atmospheric phenomena, particularly the troposphere and the lower stratosphere, it is known as meteorology. It is a systematic study of the short-term variations in temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind, cloud coverage, and precipitation, along with their causes. Thus, meteorology is also defined as a science from which weather forecasts are prepared. The earth’s atmosphere is the focus of meteorologists, who spend a lot of time conducting research, experiments and observations to be able to accurately monitor the changes of atmospheric pressure which has a lot to do with weather and climate change. Although weather and climate are a part of the study of the atmosphere, it should be noted that they are different. Nurture plays a big role on how man is able to protect the environment, and also himself, against Mother Nature’s ‘sudden change of plans.’ Meteorology provides man the necessary tools to understand the effects of sudden extreme weather change, and to enable him to formulate steps to prevent and/or repair any unfortunate weather events. Meteorology as a Science Types of Meteorology Meteorology is a branch of physics that deals with the atmosphere and its phenomena. Meteorology has only two branches - synoptic or dynamic. Atmospheric phenomena that are directly associated with weather is the concentration of Synoptic meteorology. The term is derived from the synoptic method, in which simultaneous observations of atmospheric conditions for a specific time are plotted on a map for a broad area whereby a general view of the weather in that area is attained (Dutch et al, p. 215). Synoptic meteorologists use data from facilities like ground-based radars and remote sensing systems to make short-range forecasts of local weather. Such forecast project atmospheric conditions from time periods of a few hours to 12 hours in advance. Dynamic meteorology primarily deals with the motions of the atmosphere and the physical processes involved in air flow. The use of computer models of general global circulation and of small-scale motion systems, like tornadoes and hurricanes, are extensively used during research in this field. These models are mathematical models that have a great contribution to the understanding of physics and structure of the lower atmosphere (McDonald p.445). Basic Principles and Concepts A coherent theory of precipitation is found in the writings of Aristotle. Moisture on earth is changed to airy vapor by heat from above. Since heat naturally rises, the heat in the vapor carries it up as well. Once heat disappears and leaves the vapor, the latter turns to water. Clouds are produced when water is formed from air. When the remaining heat in the clouds is further opposed by the cold temperature inherent in the water, then, it is driven away. The cold presses the particles of the clouds closer together restoring in them the true nature of water’s element. Water naturally moves downward, and so it falls from the clouds as raindrops. If these raindrops are frozen, it turns to snow (Mc Donald, p.132). In Aristotle’s system, if air can change to water in the sky, it is also able to change into water underground. Vilhelm Bjerken, a Norwegian physicist developed an explanation for changes in weather from his belief that movement of enormous masses of air greatly influence weather conditions suggesting that when a warm air mass and a cold air mass meet, a zone of rapidly changing weather develops, and called these weather zones as fronts (McWhirter p.358). Today, Bjerken’s belief is formally known as the polar front theory of cyclones. This theory greatly improved the accuracy of weather forecasting. For the British mathematician, Lewis Fry Richardson, he believes that since the behavior of the atmosphere follows the laws of physics, mathematics could be used to predict the weather. Following his belief and applying the laws of physics, he then formulated calculations in the 1920s to the changeable conditions of the atmosphere (McDonald p.449). Using the calculations he developed, scientists would be able to forecast changes in the condition of the atmosphere. However, during Richardson’s time, the calculations proved to be so time consuming that weather conditions had already passed before a forecast could be prepared. Twenty years after, another mathematician Jon Von Neumann, together with his colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Study, invented an electronic device that could perform the calculations faster that the speed that the weather develops. Today, numerical weather forecasting is achieved with the help of advanced computer analysis. A German Physicist named Otto Van Guericke produced artificial clouds by releasing air from one flask into another one from which the air had been evacuated. A fog then formed in the evacuated flask; and so he concluded that air cannot be turned into water, though moister can enter the air and later be condensed into water. Guericke’s experiments, however, did not answer the question as to how water enters the atmosphere as vapor. In Les Meteores, a meteorology essay published in 1637, Descartes he envisioned water as composed of minute particles that were elongate, smooth, and separated by a highly ratified subtle manner (Dutch et al p.168). In the 18th century, a popular view of the clouds is that it is made of countless tiny bubbles that float in air; and this view is explained by Guericke that just like in his experiments, the fine particles in his artificial clouds were bubbles. If clouds are essentially compared to multi-compartmented balloons, their motions could be explained by the movements of winds blowing on them, just like when we look up into the sky and notice that the clouds are moving pass by our heads. Descartes suggested that the winds might blow upward as well as laterally, causing the clouds to rise or at least preventing them from descending. By 1749, Benjamin Franklin explained updrafts of air as due to local heating of the atmosphere by the sun. Later on, after sixteen years, Johann Heinrich Lambert, a Swiss-German mathematical physicist, described the conditions necessary for the initiation of convection currents in the atmosphere. He explained that the rising warm air flows into bordering areas of cooler air, increasing their downward pressure and causing their lower layers to flow into ascending currents, thus producing circulation (Cawthorne and Spence, p.25). The many basic principles and concepts that were developed by early scientists and inventors had help in establishing the weathers systems that are known today which formed an important part in the process of weather observation and forecasting. It helped not only in predicting weather, coming storms and typhoons but also it helps in providing solutions and preventive measure to decrease, if not avoid, extreme weather; also, it prepares and educates people on extreme weather and the disasters that come with it. Weather and Climate The term weather refers to the state of the atmosphere with respect to temperature, pressure, humidity, wind, cloudiness, and precipitation at any instant or over a period of time. It is the way things are outside. It could be hot and dry, cold or damp, calm and sunny, or windy and rainy. Weather is made up of many elements, some of which can be seen or felt. These elements can be measured. Climate is the average weather. It is the integral totality if weather at a place over a long period of time. A city or town can be wet or dry in the summer, cool and dry in the winter, mild and rainy in the spring, and warm and sunny in the autumn; while another place may be the opposite, but on the average, a summer in that city will be hot and wet. The climate of any place or area is known by keeping records – day by day, year by year – of the elements of the daily weather of the place. The Atmosphere The earth’s atmosphere is composed of four main layers which are: troposphere, stratosphere, ionosphere, and the exosphere. The troposphere is where most of the active weather occurs. It is also the lowest part of the atmosphere. It is in this layer that we find 99 percent of the clouds, the strongest winds, the storms, and nearly all the precipitation. Temperatures at the bottom of the troposphere range from extremes of nearly 140 degrees Fahrenheit in desert areas, to about 90 degrees below zero in the Arctic and Antarctic (Alley p.56). The stratosphere is a layer that extends from the tropopause to about 50 miles. The tropopause is just above the troposphere. It is a uniform and unchanging layer which makes it the perfect layer for flying. With its very few clouds and smooth air always makes it good flying weather to fly on. The layer above the stratosphere, with a base of fifty miles and its top at about six hundred fifty miles, is the ionosphere. On this layer, many of the gas molecules are ionized. An ionized gas molecule has a particle called an electron removed from it and has a positive electric charge. The ionosphere is the electrical mirror that reflects the radio waves back to the earth. Broadcasters bounce radio waves off this layer for long-distance transmissions. The highest layer in the atmosphere is the exosphere; and it starts approximately about six hundred fifty miles above the earth and goes far out into space (Cawthorne and Spence p.56). Weather Systems The atmosphere has a lot of different movements which are called weather systems. These weather systems help meteorologist read weather conditions and interpret them. A fact not known to many is that the atmosphere moves, and the movement is called convection. The atmosphere’s bottom layer is heated by the warm ground or oceans. The heating causes convection in the atmosphere. It is the sun that heats the ground and the ocean. In general, the sun’s heat reaches the equator from directly overhead, while at the poles the sunlight is slanted. This means that the equator is heated more than the poles. Air at the equator is warmed quickly and rises; then, the colder air from the north and south blows over the equator, replacing the warm air that is rising. When the warm air is high above the ground, it starts moving toward the poles. As it moves poleward, it cools and sinks to the ground taking the place of the cool air that has moved toward the equator. An Air Mass is defined as a large portion of the atmosphere which is homogenous as to temperature and humidity in its horizontal layers over an extensive area of the earth’s surface. If a body of air lies or travels over a particular region of uniform surface and great extent, such as a large land area or a broad ocean, it will acquire properties of temperature and humidity peculiar to that area. Thus, a mass of air over a northern continent will be cold and dry in distinct contrast to air over a tropical ocean which will be warm and moist. As an air mass moves from its source region, it begins to modify in response to the surface it traverse at a rate which is relatively slow. An exception to this is when cold air in winter moves out over a warmer ocean surface. In this case, the developing air mass absorbs heat and moisture rather rapidly, developing into a different type in less than a day (Dutch et al p.417). When two dissimilar air masses are brought together by the general atmospheric circulation they do not immediately mix, but a definite boundary or front occurs between them. Along and near this front colder air, which is denser, generally underlies warmer air in the form of a wedge so that the front is usually inclined at a small angle to the earth’s surface. A cold front is the boundary between the forward edge of an advancing cold air mass which is displacing warmer air in its path by under-running the latter. A warm cold front is the boundary at the forward edge of an advancing current of a relatively warm air which is displacing a retreating mass of cold air; in this case, the warm air overruns the cold mass (Murphy p.42). Both of these fronts are often characterized by definite air mass interactions, such as variable winds, clouds, rain, rather abrupt temperature changes, and other weather phenomena. The form and intensity of these interactions depend on the differences in characteristics of the air masses involved, their extent and the amount of their converging motion forcing them together. The major cloudiness and precipitation associated with fronts are produced by the cooling and saturation of the warm air mass as it is forced upward over the colder air mass. Extra-tropical cyclones are the general storms of temperate latitudes. The great majority of storms develop as small waves along slow moving or nearly stationary fronts between two differing air masses. This initial wave disturbance causes a thrust of warm air toward the cold air at one place (warm front) followed by a thrust of cold air toward the warm air (cold front) at another place (Kingston and Lambert p.30). If certain conditions of air mass contrast, wind discontinuity, wavelength, and upper flow pattern are met, this way begins to develop into a full-scale extra-tropical cyclone. High pressure is called anticyclones and low pressure is called cyclones. Anticyclones are high pressure systems which are generally characterized by clear skies and gently winds. They usually mark the centers of air masses, and may be cold polar air highs or warm tropical air highs. They are in contrast to the extra-tropical cyclones which mark the meeting ground of two or more dissimilar air masses. Cold anticyclones in middle latitudes are generally transported eastward under the westerly upper level flow. Highs in the northern hemisphere spin clockwise; and the winds around a high are north on the east side of the high, west on the north side, and east on the south side. Highs, like lows, move in a general west to east direction. So, when a low is passing over, it will generally e followed by a high and good weather. The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is called humidity. When it is relative humidity, it means that the air is holding eighty percent of the water vapor it could hold; and if it holds one hundred percent of the vapor that it could possibly hold, it is now called saturated air. Warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air. So if air is cooled in some way, the relative humidity goes up. When air reaches one hundred percent relative humidity, clouds are usually formed (Murphy p. 46). Weather systems came from the basic principles as early as Aristotle’s time and with the birth of scientific and intellectual discovery and the age of enlightenment, these concepts and theories have been scientifically studied and later on enhanced and accepted as such. The weather concepts of antiquity have helped in the development of meteorology particularly the study of the atmosphere’s phenomena. Effects of Climate Change Some Evidence for long-range interactions in the occurrence of droughts and other climatic regimes comes from studies of the ocean currents. It is known that the oceans are a major controlling factor that influences climate. El Nino is a minor branch of the Pacific Equatorial Countercurrent that flows south along the coast of Columbia and Ecuador where it meets the north-ward flowing Peru Current. Peru Current is cold and it keeps rainfall along the coastal area of Peru very low but maintains a very rich marine life, which in turn support major bird populations and a fishing industry. In certain years El Nino becomes much stronger, forcing the Peru Current to the south. Storms rake the coast, causing flood and erosion. The sudden change in sea temperatures causes dramatic decrease in plankton production and, consequently, in fish and bird populations (Bellington and Whitney, p.23). Catastrophic El Nino events occurred in 1925, 1933, 1939, 1944, 1958, and 1983. It is thought that the global changes associated with this last event included severe droughts in Australia and Central America and floods in the southwestern United States and Ecuador. Acid rain is another effect in the climate change when there are too much waste gases that mixed with water vapor in the atmosphere. The areas which might be greatly affected maybe far downwind of the source of pollution. Research has revealed that in areas susceptible to the effects of acid rain short-lived events can have particularly damaging effect. These so-called acid shocks maybe due to inputs of highly acid water from a single storm or to the first snowmelt outflows in which the major part of the pollutant input accumulated over the winter is concentrated. In recent years, people have learned that the relationship between climate and the society goes both ways. Humans can and have altered local climates, and may be doing so on a global scale as well. The building of cities, for example, raises average temperatures and alters winds patterns over the local area. Deforestation and over grazing by livestock alter vegetation in a way that disrupts the delicate balance between evaporation and precipitation. The result has been the desertification of many semi-arid lands. On a global scale, human-made pollutants in the atmosphere appear to help trap heat around the planet, causing a generalized heating known as the greenhouse effect. People and the Environment Since the early 1980s the acid rain problem has assumed scientific, economic, and political prominence in North America and Europe. This major environmental problem serves to illustrate the interdependence of the various hydrologic sciences with other scientific disciplines and human activities. The burning of fossil fuels by automobiles and electric power plants emit waste gasses like oxides of sulfur and nitrogen enters the atmosphere. When these gasses combine with water vapor in the atmosphere, it forms sulfuric and nitric acids. When rain or some other form of precipitation falls to earth, this becomes highly acidic, that is why it is called acid rain. The resulting acidification of surface and subsurface waters has been shown to have detrimental effects on ecology. It causes the death of many lakes in the areas of Scandinavia, Canadian Shield in Quebec, and the Adirondack Mountains in New York. Evidences gathered have also shown that the acidification also affects the growth of trees, with consequent economic ramifications where forestry is a major activity. Another subject that is still poorly understood is the occurrence of droughts in areas of highly variable rainfall. Just like what happened in Africa in the 1970s and the 1980s when the Sahel region suffered periods of severe drought which resulted widespread famine and death. It could be noted that Sahel has experienced many droughts before, but the increase in population and animal grazing have exacerbated the consequences of recent droughts. The combination of drought and population increase results in the desertification. It remains an unanswered scientific question as to whether or not the deterioration of the Sahel and other marginal lands is part of a long-term natural change or as a result of human activities. For the aviation industry, climate change is one of the concerns because of security and safety. Storms and a very cloudy sky make flying difficult especially for commercial planes. Thanks to weather control storm, like typhoons and hurricanes, can be tamed. Just like in August 1969 when hurricane Debbie was seeded with silver iodide which greatly reduced its wind speed. Too much rain and too little rain affects the agricultural production all over the world. The amount of rainfall is important because rain is a source of water or agriculture. Too much drowns the crops and erodes soil especially during heavy downpour. Too little starves the crops of water which affects is growth and production; and it gets worse if rain did not come at all for long periods of time because too much heat and no water dries up the plants to the point of death. Farmers need to know climate change because it guides them on the most ideal season of planting and taking necessary steps to protect their crops. Global Warming Most scientists concerned about global warming agree that carbon dioxide is the most significant greenhouse gas. It occurs naturally, composing of about 0.04 percent of the atmosphere, and is used by plants during photosynthesis to produce oxygen (Pringle, p.28). Under normal circumstance, the gas is kept balanced by natural “sinks” that drain it from the atmosphere; like the ocean for instance, the ocean absorbs slightly more carbon dioxide than it gives off. However, this careful balance is always disrupted by the burning of fossil fuels – oil, coal, and natural gas – as well as the cutting and burning of forests. Methane is another natural gas that occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It escapes from the earth’s interior through volcanoes and other openings in the crust, and it is also produced by biological processes. Although it is unclear how much methane is produced from natural processes and how much from human activity, it is known that for fossil fuel extraction, sewage treatment, landfills, and other sources are significant contributors (Pringle, p.25). Nitrous oxide, a combination of oxygen and nitrogen, remains in the atmosphere about 150 years longer than most other greenhouse gases. The increase in the amount of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere was primarily due to the Industrial Revolution when men burned a lot of fossil fuels and wood, and extensively used nitrogen-based fertilizers for agricultural activities. Another type of gas is the halocarbons, which is the scarcest of the greenhouse gasses; but they cause more concern because a molecule of a hydrocarbon has 3,000 to 13,000 times more effect on greenhouse warming than does a molecule of carbon dioxide (Pringle, p.32). Common examples of halocarbons are CFCs which is widely used as coolants in air conditioning systems, and as propellants in spray cans. Both have been responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer. Today, CFCs are being banned by international agreement. Weather Forecasting People have tried to predict the weather for thousands of years. More than 4000 years ago, people made forecasts based on the position of the stars. Some ancient peoples believe such weather conditions such as rain, thunder and wind were controlled by various gods. The earliest weather instrument, the rain gauge, was probably invented before the 300s B.C. The weather vane was developed around 50 B.C. but weather forecasting did not become reliable until the invention of a number of other scientific instruments. In 1593 A.D., the Italian scientist Galileo developed a type of thermometer. When Lambert said continued that air is weightless because of the change in air pressure and circulation, this misconception of the 16th century was corrected after 1643 with the invention of the mercury barometer. It was Galileo’s pupil, Evangelista Torricelli of Italy, who invented a simple barometer. It was soon discovered that the height of the barometer varied with the weather, usually standing at its highest during clear weather and falling to the lowest on rainy days. Toward the end of the 18th century it was beginning to be understood that the variations in the barometer’s readings must be related to the general motion and circulation of the atmosphere. That these variations could not be due solely to changes in humidity was the conclusion of the Swiss scientist, Horace Benedict de Saussure, in his essay on hygrometry which was published and released in 1783 which concluded that the experiment he made with the changes in water vapor and pressure in air enclosed in a glass globe showed that the changes in temperature must be immediately responsible for variations of the barometer and that these in turn must be related to the movement of air from one place to another (Murphy p. 24). Upon using these instruments to observe the changes in weather, scientists soon realized the differences in air pressure accounted for certain changes in the weather. The English astronomer Edmund Halley made the first weather map in 1686. The map chartered the flow of the trade winds. In 1783, Horace Benedict de Saussure of Switzerland first described the principle of the hair hygrometer, which uses hair to measure humidity. Weather maps of the early 1800s showed that weather systems moved with the prevailing winds. But at the time, this knowledge could not be used to warn people of approaching storms. Reports of weather observations were sent by mail, and the storms arrive before the mail. In 1884, American inventor Samuel F. Morse perfected the telegraph (McWhirter p.120). The telegraph enabled meteorologists to quickly send weather observations from one city to another. In 1849, Joseph Henry, the secretary of Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., received the first weather report sent by the telegraph in the US. By 1856, France became the first nation to establish a weather service that relied on telegraphed reports, followed by Great Britain in 1860 and in 1871, Canada established its own weather service. The first national weather forecasting agency in the U.S. was formed in 1870 as part of the army signal service. It is of no doubt that weather forecasting is of considerable immediate importance. A necessary condition to making accurate predictions of future weather conditions is an adequate characterization of the pattern of winds, temperatures, moisture, and pressure that currently prevail in the troposphere across the globe. Weather Analysis Meteorologists use many different kinds of weather instruments to help them read and predict weather; one of which is the weather map. Weather maps are of many kinds, but they all have one important thing in common – they show how some weather element was spread over a part of the earth’s surface. Some maps show how much rain fell over a state of New Jersey, like for example in April; such map is called a climate map. For telling the next day’s weather, a synoptic map is used. This type of map takes a general view of the weather at a given moment. Weather stations are every location does observations and send these observations to the central offices by radio, teletype or telephone. Once the observation has been collected, the work of drawing the synoptic map begins (Kahl p.119). A blank map form has a little circle printed at the location each of the observing stations. Around each circle the meteorologist plots numbers and symbols to show what the weather was at the station at the time of the report (Kahl p.122). When all the station reports have been plotted, the meteorologist analyzes the map by drawing the pattern of highs and lows and fronts that are causing the weather. The isobars are first to be drawn. These are lines that connect the stations with equal barometric pressures. The isobars from rough circles around the centers of the highs and lows; except when mountains, hills, and the likes, interfere, the wind blows along the isobars. In the Northern Hemisphere, it blows clockwise around highs and counterclockwise around lows. Next to be drawn are the fronts. The meteorologist looks at each station for signs that a front has passed it since the last time the station reported. Changes in temperature, pressure, and wind direction at stations are carefully watched for (McDonald p.497). Meteorological observation includes observing weather elements, temperature observations, cloud observations, rainfall and snow observations, humidity observations, pressure observations, wind observations, and other weather observations; such as upper-air observations and maps. The principal tools used in weather analysis include many different numerical models which includes employing mathematical representations of the physical conservation laws of motion, heat, mass, and moisture in the form of non-linear, partial differential equations, used by synoptic meteorologists to enable them to approximate relations for solution on a three-dimensional grid mesh and to integrate forward in time. Summary Meteorology is a study of earth sciences particularly of atmospheric science. Meteorology has two types – synoptic and dynamic. Synoptic meteorology deals with atmospheric phenomena that have directly something to do with the weather; while dynamic meteorology deals with the movements in the atmosphere. Meteorologists use weather systems and various weather instruments to gather synoptic and dynamic data from the atmosphere and interpret them to be able to tell and predict the weather. Weather systems include air mass, fronts, cyclones and anticyclones, humidity, and many more. Study of the weather involves weather analysis, meteorological observations and weather forecasting. Meteorological observations include temperature observations, cloud observations, wind observations, rainfall and snow observations, humidity observations, and others meteorological observations which involve the use of high-tech weather observation instruments. Man’s activities contributed a lot to the condition of the environment today. Weather disasters and calamities, especially global warming, have been concluded to be effects of man’s abusive use of resources and his negligence in taking care of the environment. Storms, droughts and other extreme weather happen without any reason at all. It is mostly influenced by the movements of high pressure and low pressure areas, air masses and fronts. Storms fully develop into super typhoons, floods, and hurricanes and are known by many different names in different countries. Weather stations and weather controls towers are located in each state to help monitor, tell and predict the weather. Weather readings are important in the many aspects of man’s industry – aviation, agriculture, water management, and many others – because they help management in important decision-making. Weather is a natural phenomenon which has been studied for hundreds of years. With today’s technological advances and the studies of the past and the present, man is in a greater shape to make appropriate steps and decisions that would help prevent, counteract or resolve weather related problems at present and in the future. Bibliography Alley, Richard. The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001. Bellington, Art, and Whitney, George. Storms. New York: Pocket Books, 2000. McDonald, W.F. “Meteorology.” Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 18. International Reference Work. U.S.A.: Americana Corporation, 1969. Kahl, Jonathan D. Weather Watch: Forecasting the Weather. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1996. Murphy, James. Fundamentals of Meteorology. New York: Harper Press, 1977. Pringle, Laurence. Vanishing Ozone: Protecting Earth from Ultraviolet Radiation. New York: Morrow, 1995. Dutch, Steven I., Monroe, Jane S., and Moran, Joseph M. Earth Sciences. Singapore: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1998. McDonald, W.F. “Weather.” Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 28. International Reference Work. U.S.A.: Americana Corporation, 1969. Kingston, Jeremy and Lambert, David. Catastrophe and Crisis. United Kingdom: Aldus Books Limited, 1979. McWhirter, Alasdair. Illustrated Dictionary of Essential Knowledge. Belgium: Pegasus Books Limited, 1983. Cawthorne, Nigel and Spence, Keith. Earth and the Environment. London: Winter Brothers Publishing House Inc., 1980. Read More