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• Estuardo Molina

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TENTH EDITION

AN INTRODUCTION TO WEATHER, CLIMATE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Meteorology Today

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chr ''aluable i nfol'1na1ion on pricing, previous edi1io ns, changes 10 cutren1 editions. and alternate fonnat'l. plea.'le \1 i..'li1 \\'\\'\v.cengage.conVhighel'ed 10 searc.h by ISBN#, autllor, Lide, or ke)'\\'01xl for 1na1erial s in your areas of i ntere.'lt.

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Questions for Review 5 15 Questions for 'Thought 516 Problem~ and £xercises 516

FOCUS ON AN OBSERVATION

The Fata Morgana

559

Malos, Sundogs, and Sun Pil~ars 559 Rainbows 562 Coronas, Glorie,~. and 1-/eiligenschein 565

CHAPTER 18

FOCUS ON AN OBSERVATION

Can It Be a Rainbow If It Is Not Raining?

Air Pollution s1s

Summary 568 'Key Terms 568 Questions for Review 568 Questions for 111ought 568 Problems and £xerci~es 569

A Brief History of Air Pollution 520 Types and Sources of Air Pollutants 52 l FOCUS ON AN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE

Indoor Al r Pollution

565

522

Principal Air Pollutants 523 Ozone in the Troposphere 526 Ozone in the Stratosphere 527 Air Pollution: Trend~ and Patterns 530

APPENDIX A Units, Conversions, Abbreviations, and Equations

FOCUS ON AN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE

APPENDIX B

The Ozone Hole

Weather Symbols and t he Station Model A· S

53 1

Factors That Affect Air Pollution 535 'lhe Role of the Wind 535 ·1he Role of Stability and I nversions 535

A· l

APPENDIX C Beaufort Wind Scale (Over land)

A·7

FOCUS ON A SPECIAL TOPIC

Smokestack Plu mes

537

APPENDIX D

·1he Role of1o pography 538 Severe Air Pollution Potential 539

Humidity and Dew-Point Tables

FOCUS ON AN OBSERVATION

Five Days In Donora-An Air Pollution Episode

Air Pollution and the Urban Environment Acid Deposition 542

540

54 l

Summary 546 Key 11.>rms 546 Questions for Review 546 Questions for Thought 547 l'roblems and Exercises 547

APPENDIX E lnstan tWeather Forecast Chart

A· l 2

APPENDIX F

FOCUS ON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

Hear Waves and Air Pollution: A Deadly Team

A· 8

543

Changing GMT and UTC to local Ti me

A· l3

APPENDIX G Global Average Annual Precipitation

A· 14

APPENDIX H Standard Atmosphere

A· 16

CHAPTER 19

Light, Color, and Atmospheric Optics

APPENDIX I Hurricane Tracking Chart s48

White and Colors 550 White Cloud~ and Scattered Light 550 Blue Skies and Hazy Days 55 l Red Suns and Blue Moons 553 1\ vinkling, Twilight, and the Green flash 554 'The Mirage: Seeing Is Not Bel~ving 557

A· l 7

APPENDIX J Adiabatic Chart

A· 18

Glt>~ary G- l Additional Reading Material Index 1-1

R- l

xiv

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new or revised color illustrations and more than 75 new photos have been added to hdp vi~ualize the excitement of the atmo.~phere. Moreover, all satellite and radar images are rendered in full color to complement the new art and photograph.~. 1be tenth edition has been extensively updated and revi~ed to reflect the changing nature of the field. Chapter I, "Earth and Us Atmo.~phere," still serves as a broad overview ofth eat mosphere. 'lb help with this endeavor, many new photographs have been added. Chapter 2, "Energy: Warming the Earth and the Atmosphere;· contain~ up-Iodate information on greenhouse gases 'md their influence on global warming. Chapter3, "Seasonal and Daily Temperatures," has been reorg,mized for clarity 'md slrengt hened with new and revi~d illu.~tration~. New ;Ir! t.~s al~ been added to Chapter4, "Atmo.~pheric Humidity," to strengthen main points.

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lf wc wci!V• n column ofair I square Inch In cro,;..ection, extending from thcnvcrngc height ofthe occan,urfncc (>Ct1 lcwl) hllhc "top" ofthe :ttnl"l'hcrc, it would wd!Vt nearly 14.7 pounds (;cc rig. 1.8). 'I hu., normnl at rtlO>phcrlc prc...,.urc ncnr .en lcvd I> dose tu 14 .7 pound> per square Inch (14 .7 lb/in'). If more molecule.> arc pachxl into the oolwnn, It lx'Conirs mme den.c, the airwc1gh> more, and the surface prei.;ure !,'ll prr >quart inch is, ofcoune.1ust Ml'"Y toapress or prt'»UIC Prc.tntly. tht most common und found on >11rfxe weather maps "' the m10ibor' (mb) ahhough the hutof"'SCal (hP.l) "grnduaDy repbcing tht m1Dibatastht preferred unit of prcs.>-ure on >urfacech:uu. Another und of pro.;urc a> 111d1cs of lllm'tl')' (I Jg). wluch is commonly u;ed 1n the firld of aviation

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Billions of air molecules push constantly on the human body. Thisforttiseurtedequolly mall cLrtct10ns. Weare not crushed by ii because billioruofmolttules 1nstdr the body puoh outward just as bard. Even though wr do not l\Ctu.tly feel the constant bombanlment of air, \\Cain clet«t quick chaoses in it for u ample, ifwe climb rapidly in tltvatton. our cats mar "pop." 1hi> experience happens becaust a1rcolbsannsout>ide the eardrum lessm. The popping comes about as rurcoD15Jons bel\\'een tht inside and outside of tht car equahu. lhe drop in tht numbtt a collisions informsusthpact (freely daning. twist ing, spinning. and colliding wdh rwrythmg around them), but-as we have seen-the>c same moltcules ha1'r Wl'lgl\L Jn fact air is surprisingly heavy. 1hc ""•ght of .ti the air around the earth is a staggering 5600 ttillt0n tons, or about 5.136 X IO"kg. 1hcw-~phere from the surface up to about l l km contains all of the weather we are familiar with on earth. Also, this region is kept well stirred by rising and descending air currents. Here, it is common for air molecules to circulate through a depth ofmore than 10 km in just a few days. This region of circulating air extending upward from the earth's surface to where the air stops becoming colder with height is called the troposphere -from the Greek tropein, meaning to turn or change. Notice in Fig 1.10 that just above II km the air temperature normally stops decreasing with height. Here, the lap.w rate i4) zero. '111is region. \vhere.• on average, the air temperature remains con~tant with height, is referred to as an isothermal (equal temperature) zone.• The bottom of this zone marks the top of the trO!'°'~phere and the beginning of another layer, the stratosphere. 'Jlte boundary separating the trol'°'~phere from the stratosphere i~ called the tropopause. ' llte height of the tropopau.se varies. Jt is normally found at higher elevations over equatorial regions. and it decreases in elevation as \\•e travel poleward. Generally, the tropopau.se is higher in summer and lower in \\inter at all latitudes. In some region~. the tropopause "breaks" and i~ difficult to locate and, here, scientists have observed trop-spheric air mixing with strat-~pheric air and vice versa. These breaks al~o m.trk the p-~ition ofjet streams- high \\finds that meander in a narrO\\' channel. like an old river. often at speeds exceeding 100 knots. (For reference, a knot is a nautical mile per hour, where one knot equals 1.15 miles per hour lmi/hr] or 1.9 kilometers per hour [km!hrJ .) From Fig. 1.10 notice that, in thestrat-sphere, theair temperature begins to increase \\1th height, producing a temperature inversion. The inversion region, a long with the lower isothermal layer, tends to keep the vertical currents ofthe tropasphere from spreading into the stratosphere. 1 he inversion also tends to reduce the amount of vertical motion in the strato_sphere itself; hence, it i~ a stratified layer. Even though the air temperature is increasing with height, the air at an altitude of 30 km is extremely cold, averaging less than -• .0."l'nV o f:1"'-i..rtn1•"'!.... ..,.,..,,, _..,..,.,.. 1 t:.w.....r....,.....i.... e portions of North America. Advancing slowly from Canada, a single glacier might extend as far south as Kansas and !Uinois, with ice several thotc~ands of meters thick covering the region now occupied by Chicago. Over an interval of2 million years or so, \\'e would see the ice advance and retreat many times. Of course, for this phenomenon to happen, the average temperature of North America \\'Ould have to decrease and then rise in a cyclic manner. Suppose we could photograph the earth once every thousand years for many hundrecl~ of millions of years. In timela(>Se film sequence, these photo.~ "'ould show that not only is the climate altering, but the whole earth itself is changing as well: Mountain~ would rise up only to be torn down by ero.sion; isolated puffs of smoke and steam would appear as volcanoes spew hot ga~sand fine dust into the atmo.~phere;and the entire surface of the earth would undergo a gradual transforma!ion as some ocean basins widen and others shrink.~ In summary, theearth and its atmo.sphere are dynamicsystems that are constantly changing, While major transformations of the earth~surface are completed only afterlongspansof time, the state of the atmosphere can change in a matter of minutes. Hence, a watchful eye turned skyward will be able to ob-~rve many ofthe,~ changes. Up to this point, we have looked at the concepts of weather and climate without discus.~ing the word meteorology. What does this term actually mean, and where did it originate? •1be nlovcroent of the ocean floor and continents Is explained In I.he widelyacdninled theoryofp/ctft' tt'cto11ics.

Doppler radar images are used extensively throughout thisbook. From thevery briefintroduction presented in the previous section, it may be difficult to dedpherv1hat the colors on the radar image in Fig .1.14 actually mean. So to betterund•lrc•in p.... ti..: i;1°*"'"''".. niJb. "*'"' 11...i poo-1)' ........ ....,, w "'I••-"" ..,.,.,h ~dl .,.. ,.,.,,,• .O."l'ni> 1t:.w..i.r. ...,.....i.... ..,.,..,,, _..,..,.,.., daily upper· clouds appear white because sunlight is reflected back to space (tit ballohown in • Fig. LIS. Throughout the 1990s.and into huge stonns owr thl> Noc1h Pao6c Octen

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