Collect & evaluate meteorological dataStudy Module 1
Assessment details
Purpose
This subject covers the ability to site and set up basic ‘ground level’ meteorologicalequipment and collect and record reliable data. It also includes the ability to assess data quality, interpret significant data features and use the data to ensure the validity of air and noise monitoring measurements.
Instructions
◗Read the theory section to understand the topic.
◗Complete the Student Declaration below prior to starting.
◗Attempt to answer the questions and perform any associated tasks.
◗Email, phone, book appointment or otherwise ask your teacher for help if required.
◗When completed, submit task by email using rules found on last page.
Student declaration
I have read, agree to comply with and declare that;
◗I know how to get assistance from my assessor if needed…☐
◗I have read and understood the SAG for this subject/unit…☐
◗I know the due date for this assessment task…☐
◗I understand how to complete this assessment task…☐
◗I understand how this assessment task is weighted…☐
◗I declare that this work, when submitted, is my own…☐
Details
Student name / Type your name here /Assessor / Marker’s use only /
Class code / N&M
Assessment name / Study module 1
Due Date / Speak with your assessor
Total Marks Available / 66
Marks Gained / Marker’s use only /
Final Mark (%) / Marker’s use only /
Marker’s Initials / Marker’s use only /
Date Marked / Click here to enter a date. /
Weighting / This is one of seven formative assessments that make up 20% of the overall mark for this unit
Physical Meteorology
Introduction
We all have some skills and knowledge when it comes to understanding the weather. Usually though, this knowledge has limited depth and scope, such as only knowing the weather for the area where you live. Furthermore, although you might know the weather in your area, you would not be expected to know how it developed, such as knowing where it came from.
This first chapter takes a look at what you will probably know about weather, and may touch on some topics that you didn’t know.
Exercise 1.1
Complete the important terms list found in the Assessment section of these notes prior to commencing this chapter.
Meteorology & Climatology
Quite simply, meteorology is the study of weather, so, here is a question for you; what is the meant by the term weather? Furthermore, what is climate? These terms evoke similar responses from people, yet they are very different things! It turns out that one major difference is time.
Meteorology
Meteorology, or weather, deals with the day-to-day aspects of the atmosphere and other short term phenomena, whereas climate deals with the ‘average’ meteorological conditions for an area over long time frames. For example, if you asked the question…
“What is the weather of the Hunter Valley?”
…you would be told that it is 35C, humid, calm, and partly cloudy with a chance of afternoon shower. The reference is to the now.
Of course, there is much more to it than this simple statement, and even more questions arise from such statements; how do we measure the wind speed, temperature, humidity and rainfall for example. For the moment though, meteorology is the study of weather.
Climatology
When we look at meteorological measurements over longer time frames (with the time-frames of months, quarters (called ‘seasons’ to you and I), years and decades being the most common), and take the averages of those measurements, then we are looking at the climate of an area If we asked someone…
“What is the climate like in the Hunter Valley?”
…you would be told that the Hunter has a temperate climate with an average rainfall of 1000 mm (40 in) per annum, a mean summer temperature of 30°C, and mean winter temperature of 15°C. Furthermore, wind roses suggest the dominant wind is from the WNW at an average speed of >20 km/h for >40% of the time.
The concept of scales
Now that we have defined what meteorology and climatology are, the scale of the issue needs to be mentioned.
The term ‘scale’ refers to the ‘size’ (as a ratio) of something – in this case, the weather. The concept of scale is enormous throughout any Earth science. Generally, there are three scales in meteorology;
◗Global – encompassing the whole globe
◗Synoptic – a large geographically defined area (such as Australia/Asia)
◗Local – such as Newcastle
Obviously, there are many more scales that we could discuss, as seen in the figure below. An obvious omission of scale is the Hunter Valley. Why wasn’t this called ‘local’? It boils down to the context that we are talking about; it may be better to describe the Hunter valley as a ‘regional’ rather than a ‘local’ scale, especially if we are describing the climate and not the weather! Use the figure below to guide you through the concept of scales
Figure 1.1- Distance and time scales of common atmospheric and meteorological phenomena. Sturman and tapper
The main point to consider at this time is that we would discuss the weather on a small or local scale, and we would discuss the climate over a regional scale or larger. Why? Because the climate involves averages, and large areas will have similar ‘average’ values over time (especially longer times).
Meteorology and the Australian Society
When you think about it, we use meteorology all the time in our society - and we always have. Admittedly though, you probably don’t think of it as such. But where did the human study of meteorology begin, and how did we get to where we are today?
The history of meteorology
From the ancient times until recently, there were only periodic (yet significant) advances in the area of meteorology and weather, and it wasn’t until the 19th century that real advances started to take place with the science. As with all aspects of technology though, the 20th century saw the most significant degree of change, which has led to the modern day meteorology that we know today. Outlined below is a brief history of meteorology.
◗Meteorology was first discussed by the Greeks, namely Aristotle, who in 340 B.C. wrote a book entitled Meteorologica, which summarised all the meteorological theories to date, and is the source of the famous ‘4 elements’ theory.
◗17th-18th centuries - meteorology came into being with the advent of standardised meteorological instrumentation such as thermometers, barometers, anemometers and the like. Germany sets up first international in 1780’s.
◗By the 19th century weather observations were being made routinely and were transmitted through the telegraph.
◗The Second World War saw the use of the balloon based radiosonde, which started the upper atmosphere monitoring system.
◗After WWII, computers aided collection and interpretation of atmospheric data, and in 1950, the World meteorological Organisation was started.
◗1950's - computers ran first models of the atmosphere.
◗1960's - first meteorological satellites were launched.
◗Presently, meteorological agencies have access to unprecedented computers and remote sensing technology via satellites. Improvements in mathematics, computational systems, and communication between agencies have created a truly international system run by volunteers and professional meteorologists.
Meteorology and the Australian Society
We have all watched the news on TV and seen footage of the following events. Have any of these events affected you or your family?
◗storms / hail damage
◗floods
◗cyclones, tornadoes, hurricanes
◗surf
◗snow
◗drought
We are always hearing about some weather event that has either brought joy or misery into people’s lives – joy being events such as good surf or rain to farmers; misery being stifling heat with bushfires, or storms that cause significant damage to property. What about other countries weather?
Exercise 1.2
Link the weather description / name to the country or region of origin.
Weather phenomena / Country, Landmass or RegionMonsoon / Choose an item. /
Doldrums / Choose an item. /
Roaring forties / Choose an item. /
Southerly buster / Choose an item. /
Cyclones / Choose an item. /
Tornadoes / Choose an item. /
Trade winds / Choose an item. /
Typhoons / Choose an item. /
Hurricanes / Choose an item. /
We do need to be careful, though, when discussing weather events in the news, because not all ‘weather like’ events in the news are meteorological; some are climatic, which of course can dramatically affect the weather around us. El Nino is one such climatic event.
The social importance of meteorology
It really isn’t difficult to see why meteorology is socially important. If you are a surfer for example, then you will know what weather brings good surf, and bad. The same applies if you are a farmer, or even an office worker, but for different reasons.
Government based meteorological, hydrological and related information and services make important contributions for achieving an increased social awareness of the importance of meteorology.
Meteorological and hydrological information and forecasts are critically important for the improvement of the assessment and management of water resources, which in this country, at this time, is beyond critically important.
Weather and climate information and forecasts contribute to the development of well managed and less vulnerable agriculture, combating droughts (and subsequent drought proofing), desertification, better air quality, reduced health problems and better quality of everyday life, all of which are just a few examples of the benefits that make understanding the weather socially important. It should be reinforced at this time that our focus is on air quality meteorology.
Exercise 1.3
We all look at the weather for different reasons. Complete the table below by providing reasons why certain occupations observe the weather.
Occupation / Reason for observationFarmer / Click here to enter text. /
Surfer / Click here to enter text. /
Salesperson / Click here to enter text. /
Sewer worker / Click here to enter text. /
Environmental technician / Click here to enter text. /
Meteorologist / Click here to enter text. /
Politician / Click here to enter text. /
Pilot / Click here to enter text. /
Ecologist / Click here to enter text. /
Meteorology and you – the environmental technician
But why do you need to know about meteorology? Basically because the law says we do. With the age of environmental awareness comes the age of environmental legislation and regulation (i.e. laws). This means that we need to monitor air pollution, and to monitor air pollution properly, we need to know about where that pollution came from, and where that pollution is going (amongst many other things), and to do that, we need to know about meteorology.
As an environmental field technician, you will undertake a wide variety of field based meteorological (and air pollution) measurements and tests, with one of the most common tasks being the set up and operation of a field based weather station.
Meteorology and climatology in Australia
So who runs meteorology and climatology in Australia? It is the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM, or ‘the Bureau’) that provides government and the public alike with weather and climate information. Although legislated in 1906, the Bureau started operation in 1908, and has grown in conjunction with other national meteorological institutions overseas into a world leader in meteorological services.
The BoM is a member of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The WMO started operations in 1950, with the BoM being a foundation member. The WMO has allowed for otherwise seemingly impossible work to be done, the cornerstone of which was the Global Weather Experiment in 1979, which to this day stands as the largest single scientific experiment ever undertaken.
The BoM, and the WMO are only two of a plethora of international organisations that work with weather and weather related information (such as geographers and oceanographers) to provide the world with meteorological information and data.
The Australian Climate
It is impossible to ‘average’ Australia’s climate, as there are many different climate ‘zones’, and each has its own average climate. Over the years there have been numerous attempts to define different climate zones, globally, and in Australia. The BoM currently (2005) use the Koppen (Koeppen) system of classification, of which there are six climate zones;
◗Equatorial
◗Tropical
◗Subtropical
◗Desert
◗Grassland
◗Temperate
The north of Australia lies close to the equator, and it also lies in the equatorial monsoonal region (monsoon is rain that accompanies biannual wind changes in the South-East Asia region), so this area exhibits hot dry winters with hot wet summers.
Australia's southern coastline is what makes the southern Australian climate. The other southern hemisphere continents do not have long coastlines parallel to Antarctica. The southern African coastline is more rounded, and is further north. While the tip of South America comes to within 1000km of the Palmer Peninsula on Antarctica, the long spine of the Andes means that there is no contrasting hot interior.
To the south of the Australian coast, the Southern Ocean extends 3000km to the Antarctic continent. From there, outbreaks of very cold polar air move northwards, warming somewhat as they pass over the ocean which results in the ‘cold fronts’ you see on the TV weather segments.
Inland from the southern coast, a large proportion of the country is arid or semi-arid, with low rainfall and very hot summers. This is due to a process called mid latitude desertification, and air that travels from the hot interior to the coast meets the cold air from Antarctica, giving southern Australia highly variable weather.
Exercise 1.4
Go to and print of the map (unless your teacher provides it for you! On the same map, or separately, describe what you think might be the causes for the various climate zones.
Physical meteorology
What is precipitation? What effects does airborne pollution have on precipitation formation? How do these factors affect visibility? How do we measure visibility? This section is all about the various aspects of the weather that you would know (at least) something about.
Meteorology & our senses
Physically, we feel the weather. We use all of our senses to gauge what the day will bring, and what we should do about it. Our senses are (and were) the first meteorological instruments that we had, as we could see and hear a storm coming, and we could taste and smell the rain or dust, and we could feel wet or dry, or simply uncomfortable. Emotionally the weather makes us happy or sad; anything else is up to you.
Of all the senses, it is sight that has given us the science. We have been observing the weather for thousands of years, and over that time, we have found ways of taking visual information and using that information to provide us with clues as to what the weather will be like tomorrow, i.e. the weather forecast – the holy grail of meteorology! And the information we collect, we put onto a visual device called a map. If we look at maps over time, we start to see trends in the weather, which gives us confidence to say what definitely will, and definitely will not happen tomorrow (the probable scenario). We have a weather map!
The weather map
The weather map would probably be the most looked upon, and the most misunderstood map in the world. A weather map has a enormous amount of information on it, with most of this information being symbolic in nature, which of course, needs to be explained (in full, later in these notes).
Exercise 1.5
Look at the weather map below, and describe as many of the features on the map as possible. This is designed to test what you already know - you may be surprised how much you do know already!
Figure 1.2 Weather map of Australia.
Hopefully, by the end of this course, you will have the skills to not only read a weather map, but you will be able to predict from the information on the map what is going to happen over the next few days.
The physical components of the weather
Generally speaking, when we examine the components of weather that we can easily see, we enter the subject of ‘physical meteorology’. In the past, and even today, the ability to see where you are going is of great importance. So it should come as no surprise that one major application of meteorology is to ascertain exactly what causes a decrease in visibility.
Things like clouds, haze, fog, smoke, rain, hail, snow, sleet, smog and dust all affect how we used to (and still do) navigate from A to B. Surly you have heard that various airports around the world have been closed due to fog or blizzards? If you watch most news channels weather, they commonly show a panoramic view of the city so that we can see what the weather (or other specific condition) was like.
Dusts, Particulates and Pollution
What is your opinion of all the dust in the air? Do you think it is a nuisance, or do you think it is critical to the functioning of our weather? If you think it is important then you are correct. Without solid material, (termed particulate), precipitation would not form as the water (or ice) needs something to ‘stick’ onto (termed a nucleus).
With regards to pollution, you would have heard of the term smog, which traditionally referred to a mixture of smoke and fog, hence the name. In Australia though, we generally lack the fog, so we have either smoke pollution (from bushfires), or we have photochemical smog. Photochemical smog results from chemical reactions between various pollutants present in high concentrations that come from cars and other non-motorised sources.
Two terms to be aware of before we talk specifically about some of the substances in our atmosphere are aerosol and pollutant. Aerosol refers only to those liquid and solid particles (with the exception of water vapour and ice) that are suspended in the air such as pollen, dust, and smoke particles. The term pollutant, however, refers to any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) that contaminates the atmosphere and has the potential to produce adverse health effects on humans and other animals, damage plant life, or cause damage to physical structures. Some examples of pollutants include nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide.