GEOL – Meteorology and Space Science

GEOL – Meteorology and Space Science

Air Pressure and Wind

1. Describe air pressure, how it is measured, and how it changes with altitude.
2. What is standard atmospheric air pressure in psi, mbar, and inches of mercury? (Give the numbers with their units.)
3. Explain how the pressure gradient force and isobars are related.
4. Describe the Coriolis Effect; what causes it?
5. Discuss what the air does in a cyclonic pressure center. What kind of weather does one expect in a cyclone. Why?
6. Discuss what the air does in a anticyclonic pressure center. What kind of weather does one expect in an anticyclone. Why?
7. List the idealized global patterns of pressure and wind (related to the Hadley Cells).
8. Discuss the general atmospheric circulation in the mid-latitudes.
9. List the names and causes of the major local winds.
10. Describe El Niño/La Niña and the global distribution of precipitation. (Be brief; just summarize.)