Chapter 12 - Meteorology

The Causes of Weather Meteorology is the study of atmospheric conditions Weather is the current state of the atmosphere Short-term variations Climate are long term variations Normally averaged over 30 years

A Question of Balance The sun heats the surface of the Earth It heats some parts more directly then others The tropics are warmer and the poles are colder Because of the angle that the sun’s rays hit it

Balancing the Budget Even though the tropics receive more direct sunlight, they still have maintain a fairly constant temp This is because the heat is distributed around the world The continual motion of air (wind) allows the heat to be redistributed