Global Winds
Michael J. Garay
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California, USA
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
How to teach this?
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
National Science Education
Standards
• Earth Science
– Energy in the Earth system
• Heating of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere by
the sun drives convection within the atmosphere
and ocean, producing winds and ocean currents
(9-12)
• Global winds are part of a pattern of air circulation
across the Earth and include the trade winds,
westerlies and the polar easterlies
The “Scientific Method”
http://www.universetoday.com/74036/what-are-the-steps-of-the-scientific-method/
Three Approaches
• Factual
– These are “facts” that students should know
• Historical
– Science (i.e., learning about the world) is
done by people (and not always “scientists”)
• Synthesis
– Science provides a unifying idea (theory) that
explains many different things
Global Wind Systems
Historical
Aristotle
George Hadley
Christopher Columbus
Edmond Halley
Isaac Newton
William Ferrel
World Map Showing the “Four Winds”
http://usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibition/8/3/sub-/where-the-winds-blow
“T-O” Map Showing the “Eight Winds”
http://www.taringa.net/posts/offtopic/6355668/El-mar_-terror-y-fascinacion.html
World Map Showing the “Twelve Winds” of Aristotle
http://usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibition/8/3/sub-/where-the-winds-blow
http://www.chroniclesofamerica.com/maps_of_america.htm
Edmond Halley’s Map of the
Major Global Wind Systems (1686)
http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/research/projects/DeptII_Daston_Collective
The “Scientific Method”
http://www.universetoday.com/74036/what-are-the-steps-of-the-scientific-method/
George Hadley
http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter10/single_cell.html
The Ferrel Cell
The Ferrel Cell
http://greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com/IGCSE+and+GCSE+Weather,+Climate+and+Ecosystems
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
Synthesis
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Gov-Inc/Hypothesis-Testing.html
The “Scientific Method”
http://www.universetoday.com/74036/what-are-the-steps-of-the-scientific-method/
Thinking Like a
Scientist
http://xkcd.com/242/
“Earthrise” from Apollo 8
December 24, 1968
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise
Apollo 17 View of the Earth
“Blue Marble”
December 7, 1972
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble
“Blue Marble” from MODIS
(Available as an iPhone background)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
MODIS Land, Ocean, Ice, Cloud
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
MODIS Land Only
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
The Hadley Circulation
MISR Directional Hemispheric Reflectance (DHR)
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/misr/level3/product.html
One Month of Precipitation from the
Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=1017
MODIS Land, Ocean, Ice, Cloud
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
MODIS Cloud Only
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
Jupiter Composite from the Cassini Spacecraft
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-92989/Bands-of-pastel-colored-clouds-encircle-the-giant-planet-Jupiter
Seeing the Wind
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing
Ocean Surface Winds from the QuikSCAT
Instrument on the SeaWinds Satellite
http://www.scp.byu.edu/gallery.html
QuikSCAT Mean Ocean Winds Annual Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Ocean Surface Winds Annual Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 0 - 1 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 1 - 2 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 2 - 3.5 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 3.5 - 5 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 5 - 7 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 7 - 10 km Climatology
NCEP-2/MISR Zonal Mean Wind Plots
December 2001 – August 2007
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer
(MISR)
Nine view angles at Earth surface:
70.5º forward to 70.5º backward
Nine 14-bit pushbroom cameras
275 m - 1.1 km sampling
Four spectral bands at each angle:
446, 558, 672, 866 nm
400-km swath: 9-day coverage
at equator, 2-day at poles
7 minutes to observe each scene
at all nine angles
http://misr.jpl.nasa.gov/
MISR Low Cloud Wind Vectors for January 2011
MISR Low Cloud Wind Vectors for July 2011
Where Does the Wind Blow?
Frequency of Wind Speeds
Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Height ≤ 1 km AGL
Low
High
Frequency of Wind Speeds
Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Height ≤ 2 km AGL
Low
High
Frequency of Wind Speeds
Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Height ≤ 3 km AGL
Low
High
Frequency of Wind Speeds
Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Height ≤ 4 km AGL
Low
High
Frequency of Wind Speeds
Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Height ≤ 5 km AGL
Low
High
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s
(45 mph) over Africa (DJF)
Mediterranean
Sea
35°N
30°N
Algeria
2
2
Libya
25°N
Mauritania
20°N
2
2
15°N
Qattara
Depression
Western
Sahara Desert
Sahara
Desert
Mali
Niger
3
Ténéré
Desert
Chad
3
2
2
2
Egypt
Selima
Sand
Sheet
4
2 5 13 9
3 5 19 8 15 8
2 2 5 4 15 4 7 6
2
8 23
Sudan
Bodélé
Depression
Nigeria
10°N
10°W 5°W
0°E
5°E
10°E
15°E
20°E
25°E 30°E
35°E
The Bodélé Depression
Credit: Giles (2005), Nature, “The Dustiest Place on Earth”
Credits: Giles (2005), Nature, [Lower left, upper right]
Bristow et al. (2009), Geomorphology [Upper left, lower right]
Dust from the Sahara Desert Reaches Houston, Texas
United States
Aug 29 Aug 26
Aug 25
Aug 24
Aug 23
Aug 22
Aug 21
Aug 20
Aug 19
Africa
South America
Observations from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
Instrument on NASA’s Terra Satellite
Some Resources
• MISR
– misr.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/worldmap.html
• JPL (Solar System)
– photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/Help/ImageGallery.html
• NASA (Animations)
– svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
• Google Image Search
New and
Improved!
Current MISR Wind Product
New MISR Wind Product