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    Webquest Wind and Weather

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    An air mass is a large body of air that has similar temperatures and moisture levels. Polar air masses are cold and dry while tropical air masses are warm and moist. High pressure occurs when air descends, causing pressure to increase. Low pressure occurs when air rises, causing pressure to decrease. Air moves from high to low pressure. The Coriolis effect causes winds in the Northern Hemisphere to deflect to the right. Good weather occurs near high pressure centers because descending air does not allow clouds to form, while low pressure centers bring bad weather as ascending air forms clouds.

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    Webquest Wind and Weather

    Uploaded by

    api-297581533
    800 views2 pages
    An air mass is a large body of air that has similar temperatures and moisture levels. Polar air masses are cold and dry while tropical air masses are warm and moist. High pressure occurs when air descends, causing pressure to increase. Low pressure occurs when air rises, causing pressure to decrease. Air moves from high to low pressure. The Coriolis effect causes winds in the Northern Hemisphere to deflect to the right. Good weather occurs near high pressure centers because descending air does not allow clouds to form, while low pressure centers bring bad weather as ascending air forms clouds.

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    An air mass is a large body of air that has similar temperatures and moisture levels. Polar air masses are cold and dry while tropical air masses are warm and moist. High pressure occurs when air descends, causing pressure to increase. Low pressure occurs when air rises, causing pressure to decrease. Air moves from high to low pressure. The Coriolis effect causes winds in the Northern Hemisphere to deflect to the right. Good weather occurs near high pressure centers because descending air does not allow clouds to form, while low pressure centers bring bad weather as ascending air forms clouds.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    800 views2 pages

    Webquest Wind and Weather

    Uploaded by

    api-297581533
    An air mass is a large body of air that has similar temperatures and moisture levels. Polar air masses are cold and dry while tropical air masses are warm and moist. High pressure occurs when air descends, causing pressure to increase. Low pressure occurs when air rises, causing pressure to decrease. Air moves from high to low pressure. The Coriolis effect causes winds in the Northern Hemisphere to deflect to the right. Good weather occurs near high pressure centers because descending air does not allow clouds to form, while low pressure centers bring bad weather as ascending air forms clouds.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    NAME ___________________________

    Earth Science Wind/Pressure/Weather WebQuest


    Part 1. Air Masses
    1. Go to the website: http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_is_an_air_mass.htm to find out what an air mass is.

    a. What is an airmass? An airmass is _________________________________________________________


    _____________________________________________________________________________________________.
    b. What is the difference between a polar air mass, and a tropical air mass? ________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    2. Go to the website: http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_high_pressure.htm to find out what causes a


    high pressure air mass.

    a. What causes an air mass to have a high pressure? ______________________________________________


    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    3. The website http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_low_pressure.htm will help you answer the following


    question:
    a. What causes an air mass to have a low pressure? _______________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    4. Look at this picture: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/images/thermal2.GIF. Does air move from


    high pressure to low, or low to high? _______________________________________________________________.

    Part 2. Coriolis Effect


    5. The Coriolis Effect affects Earths winds. Read the information at this website to find out about the Coriolis
    Effect: http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/fw/crls.rxml . The video at the bottom will give you a visual
    of the Coriolis Effect.

    a. In the video, why does the ball not roll straight across the merry-go-round? __________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    b. How is the Earth similar to the merry-go-round? (look at the figure) _______________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    c. What happens to objects in the Northern Hemisphere as a result of the Coriolis Effect? ________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    d. Wind is an object that is affected by the Coriolis Effect. What happens to winds in the Northern
    Hemisphere as a results of the Coriolis Effect? ________________________________________________________.

    6. Use the animation at the following website to help you find out how the Coriolis Effect affects wind:
    http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1905/es1905page01.cfm .

    a. Which way does the Coriolis Effect deflect wind in the Northern Hemisphere? _______________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    Part 3. Pressure Centers and Weather


    7. Go to the website listed here: http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/wx/surface.rxml . Then, find the picture that says
    Sea Level Pressure with IR satellite. Click on this figure to bring up a new window. Click on the button that says
    Aminate. Choose 96 frames. Answer the following questions:

    Adapted from www.zunal.com/myaccount/uploads/wind+weather_webquest(1).doc


    a. This map shows you isobars and cloud cover. What is an isobar? _________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    b. Look at the map and find Chicago. Between which two isobars is Chicago? ________________________.

    c. Press Play on the window, and watch where the clouds travel. Do the clouds tend to be near High
    pressure centers (H) or Low pressure centers? ________________________________________________________.

    8. This last website will help explain why High pressure centers usually mean good weather, and Low pressure
    centers usually mean bad weather: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/whighlow/whighlow.htm . Go here and read
    to discover why this is true, and then answer the following questions:

    a. Air descends (comes down) at High pressure areas. Why does descending air not allow for clouds to form?
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    b. Air ascends (goes up) at Low pressure areas. Why does ascending air allow for clouds to form? _________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________.

    Part 4. Synthesis
    Your last task is to synthesize all of the information that you have just learned. Yu will have two ways to demonstrate
    your knowledge: a labeled diagram (that you create, not copy from a website), or a written summary of what you
    have learned. In your diagram or summary, you need to show me that you know the following things: 1) what is an
    air mass? 2) What happens at a low pressure center, and what happens at a high pressure center? 3) How does the
    Coriolis Effect affect wind? and, 4) why is good weather associated with high pressure centers, and bad weather with
    low pressure centers?

    Rubric for Part 4:


    Category Excellent Work Average Work Developing Work Your Score
    Student fully Student somewhat Student does not
    1. What is an air
    demonstrates what an demonstrates what an demonstrate what an
    mass? (3 points)
    air mass is (3 points) air mass is (2 points) air mass is (0 points)
    Student fully Student somewhat Student does not
    2. Low pressure and
    demonstrates what demonstrates what demonstrate what low
    high pressure centers
    low and high pressure low and high pressure and high pressure
    (5 points)
    centers are (5 points) centers are (3 points) centers are (0 points)
    Student fully Student somewhat Student does not
    3. Coriolis Effect (4 demonstrates what the demonstrates what the demonstrate what the
    points) Coriolis Effect is (4 Coriolis Effect is (3 Coriolis Effect is (0
    points) points) points)
    Student fully Student somewhat Student does not
    4. Effect on weather demonstrates what the demonstrates what the demonstrate what the
    (5 points) effect on weather is (5 effect on weather is (3 effect on weather is (0
    points) points) points)
    The summary/diagram The summary/diagram The summary/diagram
    5. Neatness and is very neat and is somewhat neat and is not neat nor
    Grammar (3 points) grammatically correct grammatically correct grammatically correct
    (3 points) (2 points) (0 points)

    Adapted from www.zunal.com/myaccount/uploads/wind+weather_webquest(1).doc

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