Chapter 1: Properties of the Atmosphere What are the major chemical components of the atmosphere? Atmospheric Layers and their major characteristics: Troposphere, Stratosphere Mesosphere, Thermosphere Ideal gas law Atmospheric state variables vs. other variables Temperature profile of the atmosphere. Pressure vs. altitude Hydrostatic equilibrium How is temperature defined? What is the tropopause? p = ρrt p = ρr d T v T v = T( 1+ 0.61q v ) dp dz = ρg How does the altitude of the tropopause affect the height of clouds in the troposphere? How is atmospheric pressure defined? What does it mean when we say air is saturated? What is the relative humidity? What is the dewpoint temperature? What is latent heat? What is the convention for reporting wind direction?
Chapter 2: Meteorological Measurements What are synoptic measurements? Surface measurements What is a rawinsonde? How frequently does it provide information? What atmospheric variables does a rawinsonde measure? What are the two types of orbits in which weather satellites monitor the Earth? What are the three primary channels used to create weather satellite images? What atmospheric variables does a radar monitor? How does a radar determine rainfall rates?
Chapter 3: Weather Maps What is contouring? How does contouring simplify the reading of weather maps? What are lines of constant pressure, temperature, and dewpoint temperature called? What is vertical pressure level Standard vertical pressure levels What constant pressure maps might you examine to locate the jetstream? How about fronts? How does the upper air station model differ from the surface station model? What is vorticity?
Chapter 4: Forecasting and Simulating Severe Weather What is numerical weather prediction? What does a computer model consist of? Describe how a computer model is initialized and run. For how many days ahead are short-range forecast models typically used? How about medium- and long-range models? What are the three main factors that cause NWP model forecasts to degrade as the forecast range lengthens? What is meant by ensemble forecasting? What types of phenomena do mesoscale models simulate?
Chapter 5: Climate, Climate Change and Global Warming What is the primary driver of Earth s climate? Why the solar heating of Earth s surface varies seasonally. Describe air flow in a Hadley Cell. Why oceans have a larger heat capacity than land? What are the long-term drivers of climate change? What are aerosols? How do they affect the atmosphere s energy budget? How has the Northern Hemisphere s temperature varied during the past century? How has global precipitation changed since 1900? Is greenhouse warming expected to be greater over the continents or the oceans? Why? Weather vs. Climate
Chapter 6: Atmospheric Stability What is the significance of stability with respect to severe thunderstorms? What is an adiabatic process? What is the approximate value of the dry and moist adiabatic lapse rates in the lower atmosphere? How is the density of an air parcel related to its temperature and to atmospheric stability? As the environmental lapse rate becomes larger, does the atmosphere become more stable or less stable? Why? What is meant by conditional instability? What is the difference between the lifting condensation level and the level of free convection? How does heating of the ground by sunlight affect the stability of the lower atmosphere? What are four ways that air parcels can be lifted?
Chapter 7: Forces and Force Balances Which four forces control the movement of air? What causes the pressure gradient force? In which direction does it act? What causes friction in moving air? In which direction does the force of friction act? What is the Coriolis force? In what direction does it act in the Northern Hemisphere? What is geostrophic balance? What is hydrostatic balance? What is the jetstream? Between what altitudes is the jetstream typically found? What is Stefan-Boltzman Law? What is energy cascade? Euler Equation dv dt = V t + u V x + v V y + w V z = PG + G + C + F
Chapter 8: The Development of High and Low Pressure Systems What is a trough? What is a ridge How does a change in the curvature of airflow affect the speed of the flow as air flows from a ridge to a trough? What is a jetstreak? Where will a low-pressure center form at the surface relative to an upper air trough and ridge? How does surface friction modify the pressure at the center of low-and high-pressure systems? If an air column is heated/cooled through latent heat release, how will the surface pressure change?
Chapter 23: El Nino, La Nina & the Southern Oscillation Why ENSO events are of relevance to the United States Understand what El Niño is and how it is believed to develop, Compare and contrast El Niño and normal conditions in the southern Pacific. What is the importance of El Niño from a severe weather perspective? What is the prevailing direction of the wind in the tropics during normal conditions? What about during El Niño? How do sea surface temperature and sea level elevation normally vary from east to west across the tropical Pacific Ocean? What is upwelling? What happens to upwelling during an El Niño? How does the Southern Oscillation Index change during the transition from El Niño to La Niña?