In the atmosphere, the transition from warm, equatorial air to cold polar air is not gradual, but occurs rather abruptly in mid-latitudes where tropical and polar air masses meet at the polar front. Everyday weather is often associated with undulations of this frontal surface. Here we will study the observed structure of the polar front.
In the first class, we will examine the frontal slope of real atmospheric front using the Margules equation and compare to the front experiment in the lab.
In the second data class, we will learn on temperature advection and how it relates to the mean temperature gradient. We will then relate temperature variance to temperature gradients and use it to explore the future projected changes of temperature variance in state-of-the-art climate simulations.
Class notes: see atmosphere_notes for a summary of project 2 atmospheric data part.
Presentations: see slides_class1 and slides_class2.
For the second data class, you will need to download and unzip the folder “temperature_varinace.zip“. Follow the instructions in the code and the notes.