Metr 201	NAME ________________________________________
Spring 2005

Homework 1: Answer Key

100 pts

A. Temperature Tendency Equation

In algebraic form, the Temperature Tendency Equation can be written:

Term A	=	Term B	+	Term C
DT/Dt	=	DT/Dt	+	(-V DT/Ds)

(Equation 1)

where T= temperature, t= time, V= mean wind speed along the portion of a streamline, s, along which the advection is to be evaluated and the subscript t means with respect to the air parcel.

Question 1: What are the units of each of the terms in equation (1)? (15 pts)

Term A ___[Temp] [time]^-1

Term B _______[Temp] [time]^-1

Term C ____[dist] [time]^-1 [Temp] [dist]^-1=_______[Temp] [time]^-1

Question 2: Write up a simple concept map of what you need to know in order to answer the question "how much will the temperature change at San Francisco over the 1 hour period?" (Hint, you will need to list the things in equations 2a and 3 that you need to find) (25 points)

Do that on the back of this sheet.

_{Of course, you need to obtain the surface streamlines and isotherms for the present time (see example of this procedure for a real case). Once you do that, you need to sketch a streamline that intersects your forecast station. This is the line or curve along which the distance s will be marked off. Incidentally, on synoptic charts a reasonable distance overwhich to evaluate the temperature gradient to estimate the advection is 100 miles (or 100 km). Remember to keep all the units consistent.}

_{But, this is done for you in Figure 1.}

_{Fig. 1. Chart showing the portion of a streamline segment that is used to calculate the contribution of the temperature advection to the temperature change at the observer's location. Assume the observer is at San Francisco. The wind is shown as a vector, with the air parcel at A shown moving towardst he observer. The distance is 100 km between location A and San Francisco and the wind speed is 100 km/h.}

_{Next, highlight the portion of the streamline that intersects the station back 100 miles (100 km) (a simple way to mark of this distance will be discussed in class). In figure 1, the streamline extends from the observer at San Francisco to point A.}

_{The temperature gradient is evaluated (finite differenced) this way:}

_{where T2 is the temperature furthest downwind on the segment (in this case, at the forecast station) and T1 is the temperature furthest upwind on the segment. The temperatures are estimated by simply reading directly off of the isotherms. For the example shown in Fig. 1, T2 would be the temperature at San Francisco (observer) (15) and T1 would be the temperature at A (30).}

_{Next, the result of the last step is multiplied by the average wind speed on the segment (you can get this by reading the wind barbs plotted on the chart and getting an average value for the region of the segment of streamline that you are considering). For the example in Fig. 1, note that the average wind would be 100 km/ hr. Make sure the units are consistent. If the distance is in miles, then the wind speed needs to be in miles per hour. If the distance is in km or m, then the wind speed should be in km/h or m/s.}

Question 3. Using Fig 1, compute the temperature change due to advection and the resulting forecast temperature at the end of the hour period considered, assuming a (ridiculous) wind speed of 100 km/h. (40 points) (See answer sheet)

Question 4. Using Fig 1, write a simple "rule" for visualizing the nature of the temperature advection on, say, a surface weather map. (Example: if air moves across the isotherms from lowered value isotherms to higher value therms, I expect there to be (cold/warm) (choose one based upon the example here) temperature advection. (20 points)

Cold advection occurs in areas in which air is moving from regions with colder temperatures (isotherms with lower values) to regions with warmer temperatures (isotherms with higher values) and vice versa.

Question 5. On the map distributed in class, determine the nature of the temperature advection in the areas indicated.