Transcript LOW

Exciting
Earth
Science
Cherry Guentzel
Vista Ridge High School
[email protected]
Educator’s Main Page:
https://www2.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/education-careers/
Project Atmosphere Curriculum:
http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/proj_atm/modules.html
Project Atmosphere page:
https://www2.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/education-careers/education-program/k-12teachers/project-atmosphere/training-opportunities/project-atmosphere-summer-workshop/
Project Maury page:
https://www2.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/education-careers/education-program/k-12teachers/maury-project/training-opportunities/maury-project-workshop-details/
Highs and Lows
Objective:
• Describe the general air motion and weather conditions associated with a high pressure system, or High.
• Describe the general air motion and weather conditions associated with a low pressure system, or Low.
• Based upon the locations of the centers of Highs and Lows, as shown on a weather map, predict general
wind directions and weather conditions for different locations.
Highs Activity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Turn to Figure 1, a High. Lightly draw a circle about 3 cm or so in diameter around the large “H”
appearing on the map.
Place the map flat on your desk. If possible, stand up. Bring the thumb and fingertips of your nonwriting hand close together and place them in the circle you drew.
Rotate your hand slowly clockwise, as seen from above, and gradually spread out your thumb and
fingertips as your hand turns. Do not rotate the map. Practice this until you achieve as full a twist as
you can comfortably.
Place your thumb and fingertips back in your starting position on the circle. Mark and label the
positons of your thumb and fingertips as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Slowly rotate your hand clockwise while gradually spreading your thumb and fingertips. Go through
about a quarter of your twisting motion. Stop, mark, and label the positions of your thumb and
fingertips on the map. Follow the same procedure in quarter steps until you complete your full twist.
Connect the successive dots for each finger and your thumb using a smooth curved line. Place arrow
heads on the lines to show the directions your thumb and fingertips moved.
The spirals represent the general flow of surface air that occurs in a typical HIGH pressure system.
Highs
1. High pressure tends to be represented
by an “H” on a weather map.
2. Air sinks from above within Highs and
replaces the outward spiraling air.
3. Sinking air in Highs is warmed by
compression. Clouds, if present,
vaporize and clear skies tend to prevail.
4. The circulation in Highs (clockwise) has
a sense of rotation opposite to that of
the Earth’s rotation, so it is called an
anticyclone.
5. The horizontal circulation with Highs transport cooler air from higher to lower latitudes
in regions generally to the east of the pressure center. In the western flanks, warmer
air flows from lower to higher latitudes.
Lows Activity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Turn to Figure 2, a Low. Lightly draw a circle about 3 cm or so in diameter around the large “L”
appearing on the map.
Place the map flat on your desk. If possible, stand up. Place your non-writing hand flat on the
map with your palm covering the circle.
Practice rotating your hand slowly counterclockwise, as seen from above, while gradually pulling
in your thumb and fingertips as your hand turns until they touch the circle. Do not rotate the
map. Practice this until you achieve as full a twist as you can comfortably.
Place your hand back in the spread position on the map. Mark and label the positons of your
thumb and fingertips as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.
Slowly rotate your hand counterclockwise while gradually drawing in your thumb and fingertips.
Stopping after quarter turns, mark and label the positions of your thumb and fingertips. Continue
the twist until your thumb and fingertips are on the circle.
Connect the successive dots for each finger and your thumb using a smooth curved line. Place
arrow heads on the lines to show the directions your thumb and fingertips moved.
The spirals represent the general flow of surface air that occurs in a typical LOW pressure system.
Lows
1. Low pressure tends to be represented by an “L” on a weather map.
2. Air spiraling into Lows produces an upward motion.
3. The circulation of Lows has a sense of rotation that is the same as that of the
Earth’s rotation, so it is called a cyclone.
4.
Because the air is
rising in a Low, it
tends to expand and
cool, and clouds
form and
precipitation can
occur.
5. Lows are weather
systems characterized
by a variety of weather
including cloudy and
stormy conditions,
warm and cold sectors,
and air-mass
boundaries called
fronts.
Jet Stream
Objective:
• Determine the location of the polar-front jet stream based upon UPPER-atmosphere wind data.
Jet streams are relatively high speed west-to-east winds concentrated as narrow currents at altitudes of
6-9 miles (9-14 km) above sea level. These meandering “rivers of air” can be traced around the globe in
segments thousands of kilometers long, hundreds of kilometers wide and several kilometers thick.
Two high-altitude jet streams affect the weather in middle latitudes: subtropical jet streams and polarfront jet streams.
• The subtropical jet stream is located between tropical and middle latitudes.
• The polar-front jet stream is associated with the boundary between higher latitude cold and lower
latitude warm air.
Jet Stream Activity
1. Look at Figure 1. With a colored pencil,
shade a small oval around each station
where wind speeds are 60 knots or greater,
such as San Francisco.
2. Then shade the area between adjacent
shaded station where winds speeds are
also presumed to be 60 knots or more.
3. Finally, draw a heavy, smooth, curved
arrow through the core of the shaded
highest wind speeds. Add an arrow head
to show wind direction.
All resources are available at:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/resources/aquatic-science
Competition within the Frio Pond Community
(Lesson 5.2)
Objective:
• Students will take part in a simulation of pond life including adaptation, competition, and limiting factors that reduce
carrying capacity in an aquatic habitat.
Background:
You are a sunfish in a cool, clear pond known as the Frio Pond that is surrounded by trees, grasses and other
plants. In this activity, you will be searching the pond for things you need to survive (food, water, oxygen).
FOOD will be represented by RED poker chips. WATER is represented by BLUE poker chips and OXYGEN will be
WHITE poker chips.
The object of the activity is to gather as many poker chips as possible. Since sunfish need food, clean water
and oxygen to survive, these are called our limiting factors.
Limiting factors affect the carrying capacity of the community. The carrying capacity is the amount of sunfish
the pond can support.
Rules:
1. Students will stand arm’s distance apart from one another. One foot must remain
in place at all times. This represents the fact that fish have certain living
conditions that they require and generally must remain in habitats with those
living conditions.
2. Students are not allowed to SLIDE their foot across the ground and may not take a
chip from another ”fish” if they already have it in their “fin”.
3. Students may only gather one chip at a time. They must put that chip in their
baggie before they can gather another chip.
4. Students will have 30 seconds to gather their survival needs.
5. All fish start over with each trial.
Questions after initial game:
1. How many fish survived?
2. If a fish did not survive, what were they lacking?
3. What might happen to a real fish that lacked one of its requirements for survival?
Activity Adaptations:
1. Fish Adaptations
Not all fish have the same requirements. Some might be adapted to survive in water that is warmer or has less
oxygen or is clouded with silt. Designated 1 out of every 4 students as catfish (or all boys, etc.) . Explain that
catfish can survive in water that is warmer or has less oxygen or is clouded with silt. Therefore, catfish need to
collect only ONE blue water chip and ONE white oxygen chip. Catfish still need TWO food chips. Sunfish will
still need to collect TWO of each chip.
2. Overpopulated Aquatic Ecosystem
Have students stand in groups of 3-5 with all of their left feet touching. This will represent a water body that is
crowded or lacks adequate living conditions, and is therefore past its carrying capacity.
3. Eutrophication
Excess nutrients (nitrogen) from cattle manure runoff have caused an increase in plant growth in the water.
Algae will grow out of control, use up the nutrients, die and decay. The decay will use up much of the dissolved
oxygen in the water. So remove HALF of the WHITE oxygen poker chips.
4. Erosion and Sedimentation due to Construction
Careless construction in the watershed has caused rapid erosion. Take out HALF of the BLUE water chips.
5. Invasive Species
A new predator species has appeared that eats the same food as native sunfish. Take out HALF of the RED food
chips.
Writing Extension
Have students write a newspaper article
telling the story of continuing disasters at
Frio Pond. Students can have fun with
the story, but must include all the
pertinent information and causes and
results of the disasters.
Students should include how populations
of organisms within a community and
individuals within a population compete
for resources, and factors that affect the
numbers and types of organisms that the
ecosystem can support.
All resources are available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topn
av/materials/listbytype/Blue_Marble_Matches.htm
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