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Weather
hideWeather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the troposphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.
Weather occurs due to density (temperature and moisture) differences between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude from the tropics. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. On Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (100 °F to −40 °F) annually. Over thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, changes in Earth's orbit affect the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the Earth and influence long-term climate
Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes due to differences in compressional heating. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The atmosphere is a chaotic system, so small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout human history, and there is evidence that human activity such as agriculture and industry has inadvertently modified weather patterns.
Studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth. A famous landmark in the Solar System, Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. However, weather is not limited to planetary bodies. A star's corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind.
For more information about Weather, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with weather
Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- After waiting years for the sun to illuminate Saturn's north pole again, cameras aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft have captured the most detailed images yet of the intriguing hexagon shape ...
Computer-simulated Thunderstorms with Ice Clouds Reveal Insights for Next-generation Computer Models
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Computer simulations of thunderstorms using data from a field campaign in Australia confirm that the "ice-phase" cloud processes in climate models contribute most to the wide discrepancy between ...
Warming climate chills Sonoran Desert's spring flowers
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Global warming is giving a boost to Sonoran Desert plants that have an edge during cold weather, according to new research.
Low-cost temperature sensors, tennis balls to monitor mountain snowpack
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Fictional secret agent Angus MacGyver knew that tough situations demand ingenuity. Jessica Lundquist takes a similar approach to studying snowfall. The University of Washington assistant professor ...
A social network that ballooned
Dec 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- On Tuesday, Dec. 1, members of the MIT Media Lab’s Human Dynamics Laboratory received an e-mail with a $40,000 proposition. The U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects ...
WISE Launch Delayed 24 Hours
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Liftoff of a Delta II rocket and its NASA payload, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), has been delayed 24 hours. At the soonest, launch now will be Saturday, Dec. 12, during a ...
Germany unveils world's largest weather supercomputer
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Germany Thursday unveiled the world's most powerful weather supercomputer that scientists hope will provide critical data on global warming for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Space technology optimises windmill efficiency
Dec 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A French start-up company from ESA's Business Incubation Centre in the Netherlands has developed a small instrument to measure wind speed and direction from the ground up to heights of 200 ...
Venezuela turns to cloud-seeding to battle drought
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 29, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Hugo Chavez says he is starting to "bombard" clouds now that Cuba has provided Venezuela with cloud-seeding help in an effort to produce rain and alleviate the effects of a severe drought.
NRL Sensor Observes First Light
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 02, 2009 |
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The Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) developed by NRL's Spacecraft Engineering Department and Space Science Division, launched October 18, 2009 on the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite ...
