Physical Geography Assignment
Assignment #2 Physical Geography
Use your OWN words to answer these questions. DO NOT copy the answers out of the book or your notes directly. The assignment will be due by the date and time listed in blackboard. You may have to read ahead in the book to answer a couple of the questions. Write your answer in ESSAY form, not bullet points. An essay is never a one sentence answer.
UPLOAD your document through blackboard! For every day the assignment is late it will be lowered by one letter grade.
1. Explain the differences in warm fronts, cold fronts and occluded fronts.
A mass of warm air that takes over a mass of cold air is known as a warm front. Warm air is less dense and therefore a warm front pushing on cold air will slide upward …show more content…
Cyclones experience air that converges and rises, creating low pressure at the surface. Northern hemisphere cyclonic circulations are mirrored in the southern hemisphere. For instance, in the northern hemisphere winds move counterclockwise and in the southern hemisphere winds move clockwise following the geostrophic pattern resemblance to isobars. In the northern hemisphere the wind flow pattern joins cool air that is from the north with warm air that is from the south. Then two fronts are created. A cold front extends to the southwest from the center along the pressure trough and a warm front extends eastward from the center consecutively along a, typically weaker, pressure trough. Different sectors are then created. A cool sector is along northern and western sides of the center and a warm sector is along the southern and eastern sides. The majority of the cool sector is at the surface and the warm sector is more widespread aloft as the cold air pushes up the warm …show more content…
Rossby waves along the polar fronts bring about most mid-latitude cyclones but they can also be due to a low-pressure air parcel descending down the leeward side of a mountain changing shape and spinning faster. Eventually, occlusion occurs. The warm sector at the ground is forced aloft creating an occluded front. There is typically a short period of intense precipitation and wind as the warm becomes forced aloft, allowing the low-pressure center to then be completely surround by cool air establishing a more stable condition. The pressure gradient and energy weaken and eventually dissipates.
5. Describe why the Central United States would NOT be a good source region for an air mass.
The development of an air mass involves an extensive region with a fairly uniform surface and is related to air that is stationary or anticyclonic. Suggestions of ideal source regions include ocean surfaces or wide-ranging flat land with an unchanging type of covering. The central United States is not a good source region for the development of an air mass. The central United States is at a mid-latitude and experiences the prevailing westerlies where the wind would prevent an air mass formation and temperatures along with moisture levels vary
Use your OWN words to answer these questions. DO NOT copy the answers out of the book or your notes directly. The assignment will be due by the date and time listed in blackboard. You may have to read ahead in the book to answer a couple of the questions. Write your answer in ESSAY form, not bullet points. An essay is never a one sentence answer.
UPLOAD your document through blackboard! For every day the assignment is late it will be lowered by one letter grade.
1. Explain the differences in warm fronts, cold fronts and occluded fronts.
A mass of warm air that takes over a mass of cold air is known as a warm front. Warm air is less dense and therefore a warm front pushing on cold air will slide upward …show more content…
Cyclones experience air that converges and rises, creating low pressure at the surface. Northern hemisphere cyclonic circulations are mirrored in the southern hemisphere. For instance, in the northern hemisphere winds move counterclockwise and in the southern hemisphere winds move clockwise following the geostrophic pattern resemblance to isobars. In the northern hemisphere the wind flow pattern joins cool air that is from the north with warm air that is from the south. Then two fronts are created. A cold front extends to the southwest from the center along the pressure trough and a warm front extends eastward from the center consecutively along a, typically weaker, pressure trough. Different sectors are then created. A cool sector is along northern and western sides of the center and a warm sector is along the southern and eastern sides. The majority of the cool sector is at the surface and the warm sector is more widespread aloft as the cold air pushes up the warm …show more content…
Rossby waves along the polar fronts bring about most mid-latitude cyclones but they can also be due to a low-pressure air parcel descending down the leeward side of a mountain changing shape and spinning faster. Eventually, occlusion occurs. The warm sector at the ground is forced aloft creating an occluded front. There is typically a short period of intense precipitation and wind as the warm becomes forced aloft, allowing the low-pressure center to then be completely surround by cool air establishing a more stable condition. The pressure gradient and energy weaken and eventually dissipates.
5. Describe why the Central United States would NOT be a good source region for an air mass.
The development of an air mass involves an extensive region with a fairly uniform surface and is related to air that is stationary or anticyclonic. Suggestions of ideal source regions include ocean surfaces or wide-ranging flat land with an unchanging type of covering. The central United States is not a good source region for the development of an air mass. The central United States is at a mid-latitude and experiences the prevailing westerlies where the wind would prevent an air mass formation and temperatures along with moisture levels vary