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Spectrum Chart - 241 : Weather 1
1. Structure of Atmosphere - Earth's
atmosphere can be divided into five main layers. Excluding the
exosphere, Earth has four primary layers, which are the troposphere,
stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere. From highest to lowest,
the five main layers are:
- Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km
- Thermosphere: 80 to 700 km
- Mesosphere: 50 to 80 km
- Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km
- Troposphere: 0 to 12 km
2. Lightening - Lightning is a powerful
electrical discharge made during a thunderstorm. The electric current
is very hot and causes the air around it to expand very quickly,
which in turn makes thunder. Sometimes it happens between clouds.
Sometimes (in the rain) it goes from cloud to ground. If it goes from
cloud to ground, it can strike a person. Around 2000 people are
struck by lightning each year.
3. Thunder – Thunder is a very loud
sound that is made sometimes during a very big rain storm. Thunder is
so loud, it can be heard from a very far distance. It can sound like
a boom, a crash, or a rumble. Thunder is made when lightning strikes.
The energy from the lightning heats up the air so much that it makes
a kind of explosion. When lightning is very near, thunder will be
heard soon after the lightning flash and the sound will be very loud.
4. Glacier – A glacier is a large body
of ice and snow. It forms because the snow in an area does not all
melt in summer. Each winter, more snow is added. The weight of all
the snow creates pressure. This pressure turns the lower parts of the
snow into ice. After this happens for many years, the glacier will
start growing large. It becomes so heavy that gravity causes the ice
to move. Glaciers are the largest sources of fresh water on Earth.
5. Water Cycle – The water cycle
describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the
surface of the Earth.
- First, water on the surface of the Earth evaporates.
- Then, water collects as water vapor in the sky. This makes clouds.
- Next, the water in the clouds gets cold. This makes it become liquid again. This process is called condensation.
- Then, the water falls from the sky as rain, snow, sleet or hail which is called precipitation.
- The water sinks into the surface and also collects into lakes, oceans or aquifers. It evaporates again and continues the cycle.
6. Earth - Earth,
our home planet, is the only planet in our solar system known to
harbour life. Earth is the third planet from the sun and the fifth
largest in the solar system.
Earth's
atmosphere is made up of 78 percent nitrogen (N2),
21 percent oxygen (O2)
and 1 percent other ingredients, the perfect balance to breathe and
live. The name Earth is an English / German word, which simply means
the ground.
7. Hail – Hail is a form of solid
precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each
of which is called a hailstone. Sleet falls generally in cold weather
while hail growth is greatly inhibited during cold surface
temperatures. There are methods available to detect hail-producing
thunderstorms using weather satellites and weather radar imagery.
Severe weather warnings are issued for hail when the stones reach a
damaging size, as it can cause serious damage to human-made
structures and most commonly, farmers' crops.
8. Storm – Storm means violent weather,
usually heavy rain and wind. Hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes are,
often, called storms too but they have special names because they are
very, very strong. Storms generally lead to negative impacts on lives
and property such as storm surge, heavy rain or snow, lightning,
wildfires and vertical wind shear.
9. Frost – Frost is the coating or
deposit of ice that may form in humid air in cold conditions, usually
overnight. In temperate climates it most commonly appears as fragile
white crystals or frozen dew drops near the ground. Frost is known to
damage crops or reduce future crop yields. Many plants can be damaged
or killed by freezing temperatures or frost.
10. Fog – Fog is mist when it is very
thick. It may appear on land or sea. It usually lowers visibility.
Fog is made up of tiny water droplets or in very cold conditions, ice
crystals. When seen on a high speed camera, it looks like hundreds of
small water droplets moving through the air. These water droplets
make up the fog. The thickness of fog varies depending on the
atmosphere, temperature, weather and location.
11. Snowfall – Snow is precipitation in
the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds.
The process of precipitating snow is called snowfall. Snowfall tends
to form within regions of upward movement of air around a type of
low-pressure system known as an extra tropical cyclone. Snow can fall
pole ward of these systems associated warm fronts and within their
comma head precipitation patterns. Snowfall amount and its related
liquid equivalent precipitation amount are measured using a variety
of different rain gauges.
12. Rainfall – Rain is liquid water in
the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapour
and then precipitated—that is, become heavy enough to fall under
gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is
responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. The
major cause of rain production is moisture moving along
three-dimensional zones of temperature and moisture contrasts known
as weather fronts.
13. Clouds – A cloud is water vapour in
the atmosphere that has condensed into very small water droplets or
ice crystals that appear in visible shapes or formations above the
ground. Clouds form when the atmosphere can no longer hold all the
invisible air vapour. Clouds are classified according to how they look
and how high the base of the cloud is in the sky. There are five
basic families of clouds based on how they look, Cirrus clouds,
Stratus clouds, Stratocumulus clouds , Cumulus clouds &
Cumulonimbus clouds.
14. Rainbow - Rainbows are phenomena caused
by light reflection, refraction and dispersion in water droplets.
This creates a multi-coloured arc in the sky that is seen from earth
as a rainbow. Although it appears as if a rainbow is a particular
distance from the person seeing it, it is actually an optical
illusion appearing because of the angle to the water droplets in
relation to the light. A rainbow is not something that can be touched
or approached. It will disappear at the wrong angle.
15. Wind – Wind is the flow of gases. On
Earth, wind is mostly the movement of air. Wind can move land,
especially in deserts. Cold wind can sometimes have a bad effect on
livestock. Wind can also be caused by the rising of hot air or the
falling of cool air. The wind is usually invisible, but rain, dust or
snow can show how it is blowing. A weathervane can also show you
where the wind is coming from. The Beaufort scale is a way to tell
how strong the wind is. It is used at sea, when no land can be seen.
16. Hurricane - A hurricane is a circular
air movement over the warm ocean waters in the warm part of Earth
near the equator. Most hurricanes create strong winds and heavy
rains. While some hurricanes stay out in the sea, others pass over
land. This can be dangerous because they can cause a lot of damage.
When hurricanes reach land, they may break things. Sometimes they
kill people and destroy cities.
17. Water Spout – A waterspout is an
intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water. They are
connected to a towering cumuliform cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. In
the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water.
Waterspouts form mostly in the tropics and subtropical areas. It is
weaker than most of its land counterparts.
18. Tornado - A hurricane is a circular air
movement over the warm ocean waters in the warm part of Earth near
the equator. Most hurricanes create strong winds and heavy rains.
While some hurricanes stay out in the sea, others pass over land.
This can be dangerous because they can cause a lot of damage. When
hurricanes reach land, they may break things. Sometimes they kill
people and destroy cities.
19. Dry Weather - A region has dry weather
when it is characterised by a severe lack of available water, to the
extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant
and animal life. Environments subject to dry climates tend to lack
vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most "arid"
climates surround the equator, these places include most of Africa
and parts of South America, Central America and Australia.
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