The AVID Way
Climatic Interactions
8th Grade Science
Cyclone & Hurricane Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
1) What is a Cyclone?
Cyclones
1)
2) How do Cyclones develop?
2)
Name
Date
Class
Period
Cyclones are huge revolving storms.
Cyclones are caused by the Cororiolis effect of winds blowing around a low
pressure area. Cyclones develop over the oceans near the equator where
water has a temperature of at least 26 degrees C = 80 degrees F.
Hurricanes
1) Where do hurricanes tend to
form?
1) Hurricanes tend to form in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea,
and Gulf of Mexico.
2) When is hurricane season?
2) From June 1st through November 30th
3) What is the purpose of a
hurricane?
3) To move heat away from the tropics
4) How do hurricanes form?
5) What are the stages of a
hurricane?
6) How long can hurricanes live?
7) Identify the types of damage
caused by hurricanes.
Summary:
4) Hurricanes begin forming from a cluster of thunderstorms over
tropical waters.
5) 1st-Tropical progression, 2nd-Tropical storm, 3rd-Hurricane
6) As much as 2 to 3 weeks.
7) Hurricane damage happens they reach land causing damage such
as strong winds, flooding, storm surge, and tornadoes.
Cyclones and Hurricanes are both storms that form over the ocean
with ocean temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius. They both cause
damage.
Air Mass Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
1.
What are air masses?
2.
Two properties of air
masses.
3.
Explain the
difference between
maritime and
continental.
4.
Explain Arctic and
Polar
5.
Explain equatorial and
tropical.
6.
Describe the following
in your own terms:
•
Continental
Arctic (cA)
•
Continental
Polar (cP)
•
Maritime Polar
(mP)
•
Maritime
Tropical (mT)
•
Continental
Tropical (cT)
Summary:
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
Large pockets of moving air that forms separate from the surrounding
atmosphere.
2.
Moisture content and temperature.
3.
Maritime = over water; Continental = over land.
4.
Air masses that form in the arctic or polar regions of the world. They tend to
by cold, dry air. Arctic is the colder of the two.
5.
Air masses that form in the tropics or at the equator. These tend to be warm,
moist air. Equatorial is the warmer of the two.
•
cA – very cold, dry air; occurs mostly in the winter.
•
cP – cold, dry air; bring clear, pleasant weather in the summer.
•
mP – cool, moist air; brings cloudy, damp weather (RIGHT NOW).
•
mT – warm, very moist; brings hot, humid weather during the summer
(HOUSTON!)
•
cT – hot, dry air; brings extreme heat, droughts (DALLAS).
There are many types of air masses that form and affect weather locally, nationally and globally. Depending
where the air masses begins will determine if it contains cold or hot air, and how moisture content.
Jet Stream Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
Which layer of
the Earth’s
atmosphere
does weather
occur?
1.
Earth’s weather occurs in the troposphere, which
contains 80% of the atomsphere’s total mass.
2.
What is a jet
stream, and
why does it
form?
2.
3.
When do they
usually form,
and why?
A wind current which moves around the Earth
capturing and changing anything in its path. A stream
forms in the upper troposphere between two air
masses of very different temperatures. The greater
the temperature difference, the greater the
stream’s speed.
3.
Jet streams usually form in the winter when there is
a greater temperature difference between warm air
masses over the oceans and colder air masses over
the continents.
Summary:
Jet streams are “rivers” of wind that blow at very high speeds in the upper portion of the troposphere. Created
by air masses of differing temperatures, they are also the reason weather moves around the globe.
Questions / Phrases / Clues
1.
How do convection
currents in the
atmosphere affect
weather?
2.
3.
What two types of
convection currents
cause the
atmosphere to be in
constant motion?
What do these
convection currents
do the Earth’s
surface?
Convection Currents Cornell Notes
1.
Name
Date
Class
Period
Convection currents help to make the Earth a tolerable place to
live by removing excess heat from the surfacee.
2.
Moist convection
Water Vapor rising
and
Dry convection
Warm AIR rising
(Air condenses to form a cloud)
3. Moist Convection is air flowing upward causing a cloud to form
and Dry Convection is Air flowing upward but no clouds
form.
Summary: Convection currents keep the weather going. They form clouds and when the clouds
become so dense, it rains during a storm. Without convection currents the Earth would be an
intolerable place to live.
Air Pressure Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
1.
Define atmospheric
pressure.
2.
Which way does air move
and why does it move that
way?
3.
What causes high pressure
areas?
4.
Which direction does the
wind flow around a high
pressure zone?
5.
What is a weather symbol
for High Pressure areas on
a weather map & what is
its color?
6.
Explain how we get a low
pressure system.
7.
What is a weather symbol
for Low Pressure areas on
a weather map & what is
its color?
8. Explain in your own words how
high & low pressures form
a front?
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
The amount of force pressing down on everything at the surface of an area by
all the air above that area.
2.
North and South to try to equalize the pressure difference created by the
temperature difference.
3.
Air masses that are being cooled.
4. The wind flows clockwise around a high pressure zone.
5. A capital H in blue.
6.
When the air warms, it expands, becomes lighter, and rises.
7. A capital L in red.
8. Combining to make one—like two parents make one baby. The high pressure area
move towards a low pressure area.
Summary: The Air pressure affects the weather. When there’s a high pressure area there will be
dry conditions, light winds and fair skies.
Winds Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
How are winds
caused?
1.
Wind is caused by air flowing from high pressure to low
pressure.
2.
Explain how winds
are directed
because of the
Coriolis effect.
2.
This causes the global winds to flow mostly around the high
and low pressure areas.
3.
What are
prevailing winds?
3.
Winds that blow mostly from a single general direction over
a particular point on Earth’s surface.
4.
Is weather
influenced by
winds?
4.
Yes, winds influence the local weather.
Summary: The weather we get is influenced by winds.
Ocean Currents Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
How do convection
currents in the ocean
affect weather?
1.
Convection currents in the ocean last much longer as opposed to wind currents,
because water retains the Sun’s heat longer, and the ocean currents determine
wind speeds and directions.
2.
What are ocean
currents driven by?
2.
Ocean currents are driven by the Sun’s energy and rotation of the Earth.
3.
Which direction does
wind and water flow in
the Northern
Hemisphere and
Southern Hemisphere?
3.
In the Northern Hemisphere water flows clockwise (to the right).
In the Southern Hemisphere water flows counter-clockwise (to the left).
4.
What are the two
types of ocean
currents?
4.
Surface currents and deep water currents.
5.
Explain surface
currents.
5.
Surface currents are driven by wind, and their directions are determined by the
Coriolis Effect and the temperature of the area where the currents are located.
Summary:
Ocean currents can be created by both the Sun’s energy/wind and the Coriolis Effect. These currents flow in
certain directions depending on their location from the Equator. Ocean currents have a large influence on
weather patterns due to water’s ability to retain the Sun’s heat for extended time.
Gulf Stream/Deep Water Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
Explain the Gulf
Stream
1.
The Gulf Stream is a current that originates at the tip of Florida
in the warm, shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It travels up
the eastern coast of the US and Newfoundland where it crosses
the Atlantic ocean and delivers warmer waters of the coast of
northern and western Europe.
2.
Explain Deep
Water Currents
2.
Deep Water Currents are created when higher density water (due
to higher salinity) sinks and lower density water moves up to
replace it.
3.
What is conveyor
belt cycling?
3.
When water circulates from the surface to the deep ocean and
back to the surface again.
Summary: The gulf stream is a current that caries warm water up along the US’ east coast over to Europe,
creating more mild weather. Deep Water Currents are created by a change in water density, causing
water to sink or float (because of salinity) which creates conveyor belt cycling.
Gyre Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
Gyre stands for –
1.
A swirling vortex
2.
What is a gyre?
2.
Large mounds of water with flowing water around them that are
often 1,000s of km across.
3.
What is the name
of the largest
gyre?
3.
North Pacific Gyre, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
4.
Identify the
directional flow of
the following major
gyres:
4.
NP – clockwise
SP – Counter-clockwise
IO – counter-clockwise
SA – counter-clockwise
NA - clockwise
•
North Pacific
•
South Pacific
•
Indian Ocean
•
South
Atlantic
•
North
Atlantic
Summary:
Ocean currents create loops or a swirling vortex of water throughout the oceans. The
directional flow is clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the
southern hemisphere.
Questions / Phrases / Clues
El Nino Cornell Notes
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
Explain upwelling and
how it provides a
food source and
supports the ocean
food web.
1.
Upwelling is where the colder subsurface water wells up to
replace the sheared off top layer, bringing up tons of
nutrients from the deep ocean. This upwelling supports
oceanic food web and makes the coastal waters of Peru one
of the world’s most prolific fisheries.
2.
Describe what El
Nino is & correlation
to southern
oscillation.
2.
Every few years the trade winds blow less or stop and the
usual air-pressure pattern reverses itself in a phenomenon
called the southern oscillation. An El Nino pattern requires 5
consecutive months of unusually high sea surface temperatures
and its effect changes weather globally.
3.
Explain what
happened in the 1997
El Nino.
3.
4.
Why does Australia,
Indonesia, & Africa
experience times of
extreme drought?
A marlin was caught in the chilly seas of Washington state;
bonito & albacore tuna normally found only far offshore were
being pulled into California; & in the Gulf of Alaska other tuna
were netted.
4.
5.
What does El Nino
The rains that would normally soak the western Pacific toward
the Americas are removed by El Ninos. The cooling of the
southwestern Indian Ocean strengthens a high-pressure area
that keeps rainfall from reaching the south.
5.
The jet streams above Earth’s surface shift dramatically and
it stays farther north over Canada causing cold air to move
into the upper United States.
cause in N. America?
Summary: Warming of Water in Pacific Ocean
Warm water disrupts food chain of fish, &
sea mammals
Rain & Flooding along Pacific Ocean
Fewer than normal hurricanes in the
Atlantic Ocean
Tornadoes & Thunderstorms in S. U.S.
Questions / Phrases / Clues
La Nina Cornell Notes
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
What happens
during a La Nina?
1.
An abnormal cooling in the eastern Pacific produces
conditions more or less the opposite of those created
by El Nino. In a La Nina the easterly winds from the
Americas are stronger than usual. This pushes more
than the normal amount of warm sea-surface water
westward, causing larger than normal volumes of deep,
chilly water to rise to the surface & producing a cold
layer that extnds a long way along the equator.
2.
What happens in
Australia , India,
& Africa during a
La Nina?
2.
Because there is so much warm water flowing toward
Asia, the Pacific’s heat remains in the west, causing
monsoon rains in India, extra precipitation in Australia,
& wetter conditions as far west as Africa.
3.
What can you say
about the 1998 La
Nina?
3.
It was the deadliest hurricane season in the past 2
centuries.
Summary:
Cooling of the water in the Pacific
Ocean
Snow & rain on the west coast
Unusually cold weather in Alaska.
Unusually warm weather in the rest of
the U.S.
Higher than normal number of
hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean
Drought in the southwest
El Nino & La Nina
Fronts Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
1. What is a Front?
2. Explain a cold front & draw &
color the weather symbol
point on a weather map?
3. Which way does the cold front
weather symbol point on a
weather map?
4. Explain a warm front & draw &
color the weather symbol
point on a weather map?
5. Which way does the warm front
weather symbol point on a
weather map?
6. Explain a stationary front &
draw & color the weather
symbol for a stationary
front.
7. What type of weather is found
at a stationary front?
Summary:
Name
Date
Class
Period
1.
Boundaries between two air masses with different temperatures and
pressures. Fronts bring changes in weather.
2.
A cold front is when cold air moving toward warm air. Cold fronts cause
rain & thunderstorms & are usually associated with low pressures.
3. The triangles point in the direction the front is moving.
4. A warm front is when warm air is moving toward cold air. As the front
approaches & passes it can cause steady rain or snow. After this happens,
the sky becomes clear & temperature starts to rise.
5. The half circles face the direction the front is traveling.
6. A boundary between a cold front & warm front where neither of the air
masses are moving.
7. A wide variety of weather can be found at stationary front but for the most
part you will have clouds & long periods of precipitation.
The different types of fronts cause different
types of weather.
Jet Stream Cornell Notes
Questions / Phrases / Clues
1.
Which layer of the
Earth’s atmosphere
does weather occur?
2.
What is a jet
stream & why does
it form?
3.
When do they
usually form & why?
Summary:
1.
Name
Date
Class
Period
In the troposphere, where all of Earth’s weather occurs.
2. A wind current, which moves around the Earth capturing and
changing anything in its path. It forms high in the upper
troposphere between two air masses of very different
temperatures.
3. During winter because there is a greater contrast in temperature
between cold air masses over continents and warm air masses
over the ocean.
The troposphere is where all the Earth’s Weather occurs. A Jet
stream is a wind current that happens at a boundary of two
different temperatures.