Activity #1.

Tracking Severe Weather with Doppler Radar

  1. East; South; West
  2. From the North or slightly Northwest
  3. Red +15m/sec and Violet -18m/sec (Negative indicates motion towards the radar.)
  4. 19.4 miles/hour
  5. Diameter = 40 km or 24 miles; Yes

Activity #2.

Wind Profiler: Doppler Radar in a Vertical Direction

  • Part A

    1. 65 knots
    2. 15 knots; SW
    3. From SW to almost Northerly; Speed increases slightly
    4. Cooling

  • Part B

    1. About 11 - 12 km (Higher wind speeds at other levels are probably anomalous and should be ignored.)
    2. From about 9 to 13.5 km (or about 4.5 km)
    3. Decreasing
    4. Surface winds increase as time progresses.

Activity #3.

Looking at Severe Weather: Lightning and Tornados

  1. July
  2. Summer; People are outside more in the summer and thunderstorms happen more often in the spring and summer.
  3. 813 people
  4. 7 miles
  5. See the safety information (use cordless phone).
  6. Two possible answers: No, lightning deaths occur most often in non-severe thunderstorms because people take shelter less promptly. Yes, both are spawned by thunderstorms.
  7. November. In November, tornados are more likely to occur in the southeastern U.S., where there is less tornado awareness than in the mid U.S. Also, forests, haze, hills, and night time occurrences make tornados more difficult to see. Be sure to make the point that data in this activity are anomalous. Students should wrestle with the problems of drawing conclusions from a limited amount of data, as deliberately presented in this activity.

Activity #4.

Wind Chill

    Temperatures for the Wind Chill Table blanks, left column to right column, are 5, -15, and -60.

    1. Wind speed, relative humidity, sunshine, type of clothing worn, state of health, amount of body fat, individual metabolism

      2. a. -18 Degrees F
        b. -46 Degrees F
        c. +8 Degrees F

    3. Very cold - cover exposed skin
    4. See safety information about hypothermia.
    5. See safety information about frostbite.

Activity #5.

Greenhouse Effect: Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?

  • Part A

    1. Northern Hemisphere winter
    2. Southern Hemisphere winter
    3. Less vegetation in the Southern Hemisphere, further from sources and sinks.
    4. To avoid local contamination and to find an air average over large areas.

  • Part B

    1. Increase
    2. Methane (CH4)
    3. No. Trace gas concentration is only one component of global warming. Need more information over a longer period of time, for example, "Is the global average temperature actually rising compared to natural variability?"

      The rate of change for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is 1.4 ppm/year.
      The rate of change for CH4 is 11.1 ppb/year.

Activity #6.

Volcanos: Ozone Depletion and Atmospheric Cooling

  1. SO2
  2. 19 km
  3. Stratosphere
  4. Increased; Increased aerosols formed from the sulfur dioxide (SO2) propelled into the stratosphere by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
  5. 971 backscatter units; 1790 backscatter units
  6. Stratosphere
  7. Moved higher into the stratosphere by 3 km, from 16 km to 19 km.
  8. Aerosol particles that travel around the Earth in the stratosphere are less likely to fall to the Earth and therefore, remain aloft for a longer period of time than particles in the troposphere.
  9. it takes more time for material to spread into the stratosphere of the Northern Hemisphere, where the backscatter was measured, than into the stratosphere above the tropics, where the volcanic eruption occurred.

Activity #7.

Using Statistics to Analyze Climate Data

  1. Mean:
      July Max 92 Degrees F - Min 63 Degrees F;
      January Max 45 Degrees F - Min 19 Degrees F.

  2. Median:
      July Max 93 Degrees F - Min 63 Degrees F;
      January Max 46 Degrees F - Min 19 Degrees F.

  3. Mode:
      July Max 96 Degrees F - Min 61 Degrees F and 65 Degrees F;
      January Max 39 Degrees F and 50 Degrees F - Min 19 Degrees F.

  4. Cloudy and cold; Because the temperature is so low compared to other temperatures.
  5. January 15 colder than normal; January 24, 28, and 31 warmer than normal.
  6. 13 Degrees F
  7. July 28 and 29
  8. January is much colder because it is winter in North America.
  9. A large amount of data over a long period of time. Global warming is a complex issue, temperature is not enough evidence.

Activity #8.

Carbon Monoxide Pollution, Wind Speed, Wind Direction

  1. 6 hours; 0 hours
  2. Max = 7 knots; Min = 0 knots
  3. Max = 10 knots; Min = 0 knots
  4. Denver range is 7 knots; Boulder range is 10 knots
  5. Denver is N, NE; Boulder is W
  6. Denver: As wind speed increases, carbon monoxide (CO) level decreases
    Boulder: Wind speed is low to moderate and CO level is low.
  7. 2:00 am; It is not the time of the usual rush hour maximum.
  8. See student graphs, which should roughly coincide with am and pm rush hours.
  9. CO pollution follows river valleys, therefore prevailing westerly winds disperse pollution in Boulder more than in Denver. Furthermore, in Denver, winds from the N and NE hold CO pollution against the foothills.

Activity #9.

Air Traffic, Weather, and Vectors

  1. Approximately 150 miles
  2. Yes; one
  3. Almost three times as fast
  4. 27,000 feet; 430 miles/hour; 1 hour 45 minutes
  5. 30 - 40 minutes; No, new planes will replace existing ones.
  6. LAX (Los Angeles International); Boeing 727
  7. Approximately 30 miles
  8. 1797.4 miles; 752.5 miles
  9. There is severe weather ahead, including lightning.
  10. Going around and flying at altitudes above the weather.
  11. Vectors, to predict where planes will be so there are not too few or too many planes in one area. Weather, to forecast weather for maximum safety and efficiency.
  12. See background information.

Activity #10.

Sunspots: Space Weather Monitoring

  • Part A

      Sample data for Table 10-1 (Accept a reasonable range of answers. Officially, at the equator, rotation is less than 27 days; two thirds of the way to the pole, rotation slows to about 30 days.)

5398
5397
Sunspot Number
S 11 Degrees
N 39 Degrees
Sunspot Latitude
E 33 Degrees
E 28 Degrees
Longitude March 11, 1989
E 18 Degrees
E 15 Degrees
Longitude March 12, 1989
15 Degrees
13 Degrees
Difference in Longitude
(Distance Traveled in One Day)
24
27.6
360 Degrees Divided by Difference in Longitude
(Number of Days for Sun's Rotation at each Sunspot)

Table 10-1. Answer Key

      1. Group #5398
      2. Approximately North 40 Degrees
      3. No; Uneven rotation; Faster near the equator
      4. Using sample data:
          Group #5397; East 2 Degrees; Group #5398; East 3 Degrees

  • Part B

      Sample data for Table 10-2 (Accept a reasonable range of answers.)

2
001
Bxo
B
20
10
5392
N 31 Degrees
W 31 Degrees
7
003
Bxo
B
70
9
5394
S 27 Degrees
E 04 Degrees
24
004
Fkc
B
2500
18
5395
N 40 Degrees
E 00 Degrees
6
006
Cso
B
70
7
5397
N 39 Degrees
E 15 Degrees
5
007
Dao
B
180
9
5398
S 10 Degrees
E 17 Degrees
2
009
Axx
B
40
1
5400
N 18 Degrees
E 43 Degrees
1
010
Axx
A
20
0
5401
S 14 Degrees
W 04 Degrees
1
013
Axx
A
80
2
5403
S 13 Degrees
E 80 Degrees
2
015
Bxx
B
20
1
1008
S 32 Degrees
E 13 Degrees

Table 10-2. Answer Key

      1. Group #5395
      2. Bipolar
      3. Approximately 2500 millionths (accept a reasonable range of answers)
      4. Group #5395
      5. Group #5395; North 39 Degrees; Fkc sunspot group (a long bipolar sunspot group with penumbra on both ends, large, asymmetric, compact); area of approximately 2200 millionths; extent at about 18 Degrees; bipolar; likely to be active