Weather
Overview of Weather
1. Pertinent
Spaulding
& Namowitz, Heath Earth Science, ch. 26 – 30
2. Pertinent E2C Workshops and Resources
THE
Feb.
2000—scientist: Martin Visbeck
AIR-SEA
INTERACTIONS: THE
Feb.
2001—scientist: Martin Visbeck
AIR-SEA
INTERACTIONS: "WHY IS EUROPE
WARMER THAN
Feb. 2002—scientist: Martin
Visbeck
WINDS,
CURRENTS, AND CORES, PART 1: OLD TECHNOLOGY TO NEW: ASSEMBLING A 100-YEAR
RECORD OF OCEAN WINDS FROM SHIPS AND SATELLITES
Mar.
2000—scientist: Donna Witter
CIRCULATION
AND WINDS: EXPLORING THE OCEANS WITH SATELLITES
Mar. 2001—scientist: Donna Witter
3. Key General Concepts
Structure of the atmosphere
Major weather variables:
temperature, pressure, wind direction and speed, precipitation, sky cover,
relative humidity and dew point
Weather observation and
forecasting technologies
Air masses, fronts, pressure
systems
Solar radiation and atmospheric
energy
Global and regional weather and climate
patterns
Severe Weather
4. Questions about the Key Concepts (These are to be
answered and submitted.)
1.
Make a simple
diagram to represent the structure of the atmosphere.
2. What is the
"greenhouse effect"? How is it involved in Earth’s heat balance?
3. Describe the global wind
and climate belts.
4. Make a chart describing
the characteristics of the four main types of air masses, and their source regions.
5. Make a chart describing
typical weather associated with the four main types of weather fronts, and
their map symbols.
6. What type of weather is
typically associated with a cyclone? anticyclone?
7. Construct a station
model representing the following conditions:
air temperature: 20 o C
dew-point temperature: 18 o C sky
cover: overcast
present weather: drizzle
wind direction: southwest wind
speed: 5 knots air pressure: 29.94
in.
8. Find the current GOES satellite
image and describe conditions shown in the image.
9. Find the current Doppler
radar image and describe conditions shown.
10. Go to the home page of
the National Weather Service office serving your area. What are some of the main features presented
on their web site?
5. Educational Technology
During
the educational technology portion of class, we will explore some of the online
resources available for your classes. Among these are:
www.nws.noaa.gov From this National Weather Service home
page, you can locate the NWS Forecast Office serving your area. You should also
find and bookmark the web pages of some of the NWS National Centers,
particularly the
www.noaa.gov The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration is the parent agency of the NWS and its sister agencies. There
is much on this site that would be of value for your students and you in
developing interesting investigations about weather, climate, and related
topics.
www.usatoday.com USA Today provides some of the best
commercial weather information. Go to the Weather pages and see what’s
available for use by students, such as “Weather Briefs” and archived hurricane
data.
One
of the most useful Internet-based weather resources is the American
Meteorological Society’s DataStreme Atmosphere
www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/dstreme
This program provides weather
education training each semester for selected participants, one of the AMS Education
Initiatives graduate level courses. However, the web site provides for anyone
excellent links to current weather maps, satellite and radar images, meteograms, and many other useful resources.
Environment
The Weather Channel provides 24/7
visual images of local, regional, and global weather. They have also created
many special programs about significant events. TWC has developed a variety of
educationally-oriented projects. You should go to their web site, www.weather.com, to find what resources are available.
6. DLESE review
Open
www.dlese.org. Follow the appropriate
prompts to locate at least two web sites dealing with imaging. Send the URLs as
part of your course submission materials. If possible, provide feedback to
DLESE using the Community Review System.
1. List the five most important things you
think that students should understand about weather and climate.
2.
Identify representative state science education standards pertinent to
this session’s theme.
3. Describe one
activity in which students might utilize information or data available through
the resources you used for this session.
Optional Opportunities
1.
NOAA Weather Radio provides the most up-to-the-minute method of
obtaining weather information. All schools and, if possible, all classes should
have NOAA Weather Radios, preferably with an alarm system. (Nothing is more fun
than watching students jump up when the normal 11 a.m. Wednesday system test
alarm goes off suddenly—hehehe!)
2. There’s always interesting weather
taking place somewhere, so you could have students keep a “current events”
display posted on a classroom bulletin board or hallway. Include such phenomena
as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and drought, and severe storms. You could also
include satellite images.
3. If "Today’s Weather" (AMS DataStreme teacher-training
booklet) is available, read the
Narrative and complete the four activities.
4. Have students prepare emergency plans
to deal with serious weather situations likely to occur in your area, as part
of your school’s preparation planning.