The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations
Differences in air pressure are a major cause of atmospheric circulation. Because heat excites the movement of atoms, warm temperatures cause, air molecules to expand. Because those molecules now occupy a larger space, the pressure that their weight exerts is decreased. Air from surrounding high-pre...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20020090258 2023-05-15T17:39:56+02:00 The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations Otterman, Joseph Atlas, Robert Bloom, Stephen Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available 2000 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20020090258 unknown Document ID: 20020090258 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20020090258 No Copyright CASI Environment Pollution 2000 NCCS Highlights: Enabling NASA Earth and Space Sciences; 26-31 2000 ftnasantrs 2015-03-15T02:16:42Z Differences in air pressure are a major cause of atmospheric circulation. Because heat excites the movement of atoms, warm temperatures cause, air molecules to expand. Because those molecules now occupy a larger space, the pressure that their weight exerts is decreased. Air from surrounding high-pressure areas is pushed toward the low-pressure areas, creating circulation. This process causes a major pattern of global atmosphere movement known as meridional circulation. In this form of convection, or vertical air movement, heated equatorial air rises and travels through the upper atmosphere toward higher latitudes. Air just above the equator heads toward the North Pole, and air just below the equator moves southward. This air movement fills the gap created where increased air pressure pushes down cold air. The ,cold air moves along the surface back toward the equator, replacing the air masses that rise there. Another influence on atmospheric. circulation is the Coriolis force. Because of the Earth's rotation, large-scale wind currents move in the direction of this axial spin around low-pressure areas. Wind rotates counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. just as the Earth's rotation affects airflow, so too does its surface. In the phenomenon of orographic lifting, elevated topographic features such as mountain ranges lift air as it moves up their surface. Other/Unknown Material North Pole NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) North Pole |
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Open Polar |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
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ftnasantrs |
language |
unknown |
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Environment Pollution |
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Environment Pollution Otterman, Joseph Atlas, Robert Bloom, Stephen The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations |
topic_facet |
Environment Pollution |
description |
Differences in air pressure are a major cause of atmospheric circulation. Because heat excites the movement of atoms, warm temperatures cause, air molecules to expand. Because those molecules now occupy a larger space, the pressure that their weight exerts is decreased. Air from surrounding high-pressure areas is pushed toward the low-pressure areas, creating circulation. This process causes a major pattern of global atmosphere movement known as meridional circulation. In this form of convection, or vertical air movement, heated equatorial air rises and travels through the upper atmosphere toward higher latitudes. Air just above the equator heads toward the North Pole, and air just below the equator moves southward. This air movement fills the gap created where increased air pressure pushes down cold air. The ,cold air moves along the surface back toward the equator, replacing the air masses that rise there. Another influence on atmospheric. circulation is the Coriolis force. Because of the Earth's rotation, large-scale wind currents move in the direction of this axial spin around low-pressure areas. Wind rotates counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. just as the Earth's rotation affects airflow, so too does its surface. In the phenomenon of orographic lifting, elevated topographic features such as mountain ranges lift air as it moves up their surface. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Otterman, Joseph Atlas, Robert Bloom, Stephen |
author_facet |
Otterman, Joseph Atlas, Robert Bloom, Stephen |
author_sort |
Otterman, Joseph |
title |
The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations |
title_short |
The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations |
title_full |
The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations |
title_fullStr |
The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Breath of Planet Earth: Atmospheric Circulation. Assimilation of Surface Wind Observations |
title_sort |
breath of planet earth: atmospheric circulation. assimilation of surface wind observations |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20020090258 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
North Pole |
geographic_facet |
North Pole |
genre |
North Pole |
genre_facet |
North Pole |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20020090258 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20020090258 |
op_rights |
No Copyright |
_version_ |
1766140701358161920 |