Tropical Cyclone and Sensible Heat Essay

Submitted By richardforsan
Words: 783
Pages: 4

Problem 1
Part A - skin feeling cool on hot summer after getting out of pool Depending on from which and to which phase water is shifting into, heat is always either absorbed or lost in the process. This is known as latent heat. Your skin feels cool in this situation because of the latent heat that is lost as the water evaporates into a gas. This is also an example of sensible heat flux, since it is a feeling the central nervous system can actually sense.
Part B - 3 features of general circulation that cause precipitation Three features of the general circulation that cause rising motion and precipitation are convection, convergence, and orographic lifting. Convection occurs when the planet's surface becomes heated more than its surroundings, which creates evaporation and eventually condensation. Convergence takes place when multiple low-pressure systems literally converge in the same piece of land and are forced upward. Orographic lifting is when wind pushes air masses up the side of an elevated piece of land, which causes adiabatic cooling and eventually condensation.
Part C - why deserts occur on the leeward side of mountain ranges Deserts occur on the leeward side of mountain ranges because of what is known as a rain shadow. This phenomenon occurs when warm wind coming off the ocean hits a mountain range, forcing the air mass to move upward. As it gets higher in elevation, it cools and releases precipitation. This results in drier air that continues down to the other side of the mountain.
Part D - sea surface temperatures' larger response to annual than to diurnal radiation Heat capacity is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a system. Water and oceans have a heart capacity roughly 4x as large as that of land. As a result, oceans will have warmer surface temperatures than land have in the winter and cooler surface temperatures in the summer. Diurnal radiation simply would not be enough to have a noticeable impact on the ocean's surface temperature.
Part E - pressurized airplanes using A/C to cool outside air The ideal gas law shows that there is a direct relationship between pressure and temperature. When a pressurized airplane pressurizes the air that it takes in from outside, it will also increase its temperature. This is why its ventilation system needs to cool that air with non-pressurized air from outside.
Problem 2 - matching surface flux w/regions

Plot 1 - [B] Equatorial Amazon Latent heat flux is higher than sensible heat flux, which means that it is a wet climate. The sensible heat flux is stable through most of the year, suggesting that the location is a part of the world where there is not much change in temperature such as the equator.
Plot 2 - [H] Southeastern Pacific Ocean Latent heat is higher than sensible heat, which means that it is a wet climate. The rise in sensible heat in the November-December-January months suggests that we are in the southern hemisphere.
Plot 3 - [G] Sahara This is a desert climate because there is virtually no latent heat flux at all, and both heat fluxes barely fluctuate at