Geography 155 Exam 2 Review What environmental conditions promote occurrence of different precipitation types rain snow sleet freezing rain and hail What did you learn about the characteristics and formation of tropical cyclones the video we watched Mid latitude cyclones How do you actually calculate the impacts of adiabatic processes As you did in discussion sections 1 Location forms over land 2 Powered by dynamic and frontal uplift 3 Air type warm and cold 4 Fronts warm and cold Tropical cyclones 1 Location forms over water 2 Powered by latent heat and convectional uplift 3 Air type all warm air 4 Fronts no fronts To get a hurricane Energy comes from evaporating over warm water Starts at the center of the clear eye Waves get larger more water surface exposed more evaporation Starts spiraling upward as the air rises What are air masses and source areas Air mass A large mass of air with uniform temperature and humidity characteristics Large greater than 1000 km Uniform Horizontally Source region Place where an air mass takes on its characteristics Name air mass after source region Need to be large uniform NOT variable Rules out middle latitudes temperatures here are unpredictable What are cP cT mP and mT air masses like and where do they come from Continental c Maritime m High latitude POLAR Low latitude TROPICAL cP Cold dry stable coming from land Transports arctic air mass southward mP Less cold more humid sometimes unstable easier to get precipitation over cold water ocean currents or high latitude ocean waters cT Hot dry unstable over land mT Hot very humid very unstable easiest to get precipitation over warm waters of Tropics and Gulf of Mexico Transports warm moist air north into the US How does lake effect snow occur When a mass of sufficiently cold air moves over a body of warmer water Creates an unstable temperature profile in the atmosphere As a result clouds build over the lake and develop into snow showers What are fronts and what are the differences between warm cold occluded and stationary fronts Cold Front Warm front boundary between two air masses of different temperatures Fronts Slide up gently over back of cold air mass Clouds form Typically flat layered clouds STRATUS Might be rain or snow falling More vertical motion CUMULUS clouds Steeper boundary Wind pushed up faster THEREFORE more precipitation Faster moving cold front catches up to the slower moving warm from As a result the coldest air alters the sloping warm front surface Stationary Front Warm air rises because less dense nothing dramatic Occluded Front How is each type of front shown on a map Flashcards What does each type of front look line in cross section Flashcards What is a midlatitude cyclone An area of low pressure around which the winds flow counterclockwise in the NH and clockwise in the SH Sharp contrasting air properties Forms along the boundary of cold and warm air masses spinning into each other How is a midlatitude cyclone related to cold warm and occluded fronts Looking at a map of a midlatitude cyclone how can one deduce the conditions air mass type cloudy vs clear in different parts of the map Under what circumstances is cyclone formation helped by circulation aloft Pressure gradient aloft and Coriolis effect causes the polar jet stream to give dynamic uplift to the midlatitude cyclone How and why is a midlatitude cyclone steered by circulation aloft Steered by the jet stream Jet stream powers drags storm across the world What are the characteristics and locations of the climate types we talked about including Tropical wet 0 degrees along equator Temperature warm all year Precipitation wet all year zone of rising air migrating back and forth near equator VEGETATION Tropical rainforests Canopy layer blocks sunlight Tropical wet and dry 0 degrees Temperature warm all year Precipitation winter dry season summer wet season Longer latitude shorter dry season longer wet season VEGETATION Savannahs Lack of regular rainfall prevents trees from surviving Shrubs with a few scattered trees Subtropical desert 25 30 degrees latitude Temperature warm hot all year Precipitation dry all year DEGREES Temperature may have cold winters Precipitation dry rain shadow desert conditions down sides of mountain ranges 30 40 degrees latitude Western sides of continents Temperature moderate all year Maritime Precipitation wet winter dry summer VEGTATION Evergreens such as Pine Cypress mixed with deciduous trees such as Oaks Must be able to survive long dry summers 20 40 degrees latitude EXAMPLE Florida Temperature more variation Usually stay above 70 Humid summers and mild winters Precipitation wet all year Midlatitude desert Mediterranean Humid subtropical Marine west coast Humid continental VEGETATION Mainly evergreen trees bushes shrubs Broadleaf evergreens such as palm trees Midway between tropics and arctic Antarctic circle Temperature moderate Maritime 2 extremes Coldest month rarely lower than 30 and Warmest month rarely higher than 72 Precipitation no dry season varies from region to region VEGETATION Thick Forest Life Evergreen Spruce Cedar Pine Redwood Regular rainfall supports trees 30 60 degrees latitude Usually ABOVE 40 degree line Temperature Wide range of EXTREME temperatures Cold winter can drop to 0 degrees Warm summer can reach 100 degrees Precipitation Not always humid but 20 50 inches of rainfall Rain falls regularly VEGETATION A wide variety Evergreen forests North deciduous forests South Grasslands excellent for farming Subarctic 50 70 degrees latitude Subarctic only found in NH Temperature 40 degrees winter because of oceans but 85 degree summers Widest rand of temperatures of any climate Precipitation Little evaporation because of cold temperatures so little precipitation VEGETATION Evergreen trees such as pine and spruce can withstand the cold Forests of Subarctic are called TAIGA Polar DEGREES Temperature cold all year Precipitation not very wet Found on high mountain areas such as Mount Kilimanjaro and Plateau of Tibet Temperature Base of mountain 80 degrees hot As you climb mountain cold Precipitation Depends on elevation Higher More rain VEGETATION Base of mountain vegetation same as climate type No vegetation at very high elevations Highland How do we interpret what is shown on a climograph in terms of knowing what climate type is represented and which hemisphere it must be in Climate types are classified by the Koppen system Everything in southern hemisphere is reversed in the