metrology q and a 1

Metr 10: Activity 6

Due: Sunday, October 21

, 2018 (at 11:59 P.M.)

Submit electronically via Canvas (.doc, .docx, or .pdf file format).

Email or see me in office hours if you have questions.

Please answer all questions in complete sentences.

Each question is worth 1 point (15 points total for this activity).

1. Why is the decrease of air pressure with increasing altitude less rapid when the air is warm

compared to when it is cold?

2. What is the value of standard sea-level pressure in millibars? In inches of mercury? In

hectopascals?

3. Would a sea-level pressure of 980 millibars be considered high or low pressure? Explain why.

4. How is sea-level pressure different from station pressure? Can the two ever be the same? Explain.

5. Why will Denver, Colorado

always

have a lower

station pressure

than San Jose, California?

6. On an upper-level weather map, is cold air aloft associated with low or high pressure? How about

warm air aloft?

7. How would a strong pressure gradient appear on a weather map, with respect to spacing of the

isobars?

8. What are the four forces that affect the horizontal movement of air?

9. What is the name of the force that initially causes air to move horizontally (and is responsible for

the formation of horizontal wind)?

10. What does the Coriolis force do to moving air in a) the Northern Hemisphere? b) the Southern

Hemisphere?

11. If clouds overhead are moving from south to north, would the upper-level center of low pressure

be to your east or west?

12. On an upper-level weather map, why do winds blow parallel to (height) contour lines?

13. On a surface weather map, why do surface winds cross the isobars, as opposed to blow parallel

to them?

14. Explain why, on a clear day, an aneroid barometer would indicate “stormy” weather when taken

to the top of a mountain.

15. Convert each of the following wind directions given in meteorological degrees to compass

directions:

a) 45°

b) 180°

c) 0°

d) 337.5°