Name:________________________________
Synoptic Meteorology II
Quiz#2
3D Structure & Jets
Each question is worth five points for a quiz total of 20 points.
(1) The cloud tops associated with the ________ would appear brightest on a GOES IR
image. The layer between the CCB and WCB represents the ________ frontal zone.
(a) CCB, cold
(b) CCB, warm
(c) WCB, cold
(d) WCB, warm, LP#2, slides#104, 105
(2) Trajectory ________ shown in the picture above represents warm air moving
northward and the ________ trajectories represent those for an intensifying mid-latitude
cyclone.
(a) A, dashed
(b) A, solid
(c) B, dashed
(d) B, solid, LP#2, slides#111, 112
{over for Problems 3 and 4}
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+Z
(3) A polar jet stream blowing out of the page is indicated by the oval-dot symbol in the
figure above. Fill in the words “cyclonic shear” and “anticyclonic shear” on either side of
the jet location [“JL”], fill in the words “cold” or “warm” in the four quadrants (above
and below the jet altitude [“JA”], the cyclonic and anticyclonic shear side of the jet), and
draw the tropopause (with a thick line) indicating the proper altitude on either side of the
jet location [“JL”]. Assume the figure is for a location in the Northern Hemisphere.
With a polar jet blowing out of the page in the northern hemisphere, cold air must be to the right of the jet
axis & below the jet altitude, warm air to the left of the jet axis & below the jet altitude. The jet maximum
occurs at the level where the horizontal temperature gradient reverses. Hence, warm air to the right of the
jet axis & above the jet altitude, cold air to the left of the jet axis & above the jet altitude. The anticyclonic
shear side is to the left of the jet core and the cyclonic shear side is to the right of the jet core. The
tropopause is at a higher altitude above the warm air in the troposphere (to the left of the jet core) and the
tropopause is at a lower altitude above the cold air in the troposphere (to the right of the jet core) {LP#3,
slides#12-14}
(4) A straight 300 hPa jet stream located in the Northern Hemisphere is shown in the
diagram above (isotachs; dashed, geopotential solid). Determine if the horizontal
divergence at location “A” is positive, negative, or zero using the expression
.
Zero. The straight jet has the same vorticity (all shear-driven) along the same
geopotential, so advection is moving the same absolute vorticity along streamlines and
the partial term on the left-hand-side must then be zero.
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