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Trade Wind Cumulus Cloud
Trade wind cumulus (or trade cumulus) clouds are formed by cooling and moisture absorption of the dry trade winds over the relatively cold sea surface in the eastern parts of the oceans. These are clouds, typically Cumulus humilis or Cumulus mediocris, which are considered as fair weather clouds. Characteristic for trade wind clouds is the uniform height of the upper cloud limit, which typically lies between 1000 and 1500 meters and thus indicates the altitude of the trade wind inversion. Due to orographic lift at mountains, the clouds can also rise higher, but the trade wind inversion also limits a further rise here, so that even in this case a light drizzle can occur at best. At night, the trade wind clouds usually dissipate again, especially over land. Details of the development The trade wind inversion is strongest in the eastern areas of the tropical oceans. Here, the sinking air masses of the Hadley or Walker circulation and the sea breeze ensure that the subsiden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of April 2025, it is the most populous island in Spain and the entire Macaronesia region. Tenerife is also home to 42.7% of the total population of the archipelago. More than seven million tourists (7,384,707 in 2024) visit Tenerife each year, making it by far the most visited island in the archipelago. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain and the world, hosting one of the world's largest carnivals, the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The capital of the island, , is also the seat of the island council (). That city and are the co-capitals of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The two cities are both home to governmental institutions, such as the offices of the preside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Breeze
A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large body of water. Sea breezes and land breezes are both important factors in coastal regions' prevailing winds. Sea breeze and land breeze develop due to differences in air pressure created by the differing heat capacity, heat capacities of water and dry land. As such, sea breezes and land breezes are more localised than prevailing winds. Since land heats up much faster than water under solar radiation, a sea breeze is a common occurrence along coasts after sunrise. On the other hand, dry land also cools faster than water without solar radiation, so the wind instead flows from the land towards the sea when the sea breeze dissipates after sunset. The land breeze at nighttime is usually shallower than the sea breeze in daytime. Unlike the day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Warming
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global temperatures is driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices release greenhouse gases. These gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary gas driving global warming, has increased in concentration by about 50% since the pre-industrial era to levels not seen for millions of years. Climate change has an increasingly large impact on the environment. Deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. Amplified warming in the Arctic has c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climate Model
Numerical climate models (or climate system models) are mathematical models that can simulate the interactions of important drivers of climate. These drivers are the atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. Scientists use climate models to study the dynamics of the climate system and to make projections of future climate and of climate change. Climate models can also be qualitative (i.e. not numerical) models and contain narratives, largely descriptive, of possible futures. Climate models take account of incoming energy from the Sun as well as outgoing energy from Earth. An imbalance results in a change in temperature. The incoming energy from the Sun is in the form of short wave electromagnetic radiation, chiefly visible and short-wave (near) infrared. The outgoing energy is in the form of long wave (far) infrared electromagnetic energy. These processes are part of the greenhouse effect. Climate models vary in complexity. For example, a simple radiant heat transfer model ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Radiation
Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrared (typically perceived by humans as warmth) and ultraviolet (which can have physiological effects such as sunburn) lights. However, according to the American Meteorological Society, there are "conflicting conventions as to whether all three ..are referred to as light, or whether that term should only be applied to the visible portion of the spectrum." Upon reaching the Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through the Earth's atmosphere as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. When direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and radiant heat (atmospheric). When blocked by clouds or reflected off other objects, sunlight is diffused. Sources estimate a global average o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intertropical Convergence Zone
The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ , or ICZ), known by sailors as the doldrums or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge. It encircles Earth near the thermal equator though its specific position varies seasonally. When it lies near the geographic equator, it is called the near-equatorial trough. Where the ITCZ is drawn into and merges with a monsoon, monsoonal circulation, it is sometimes referred to as a ''monsoon trough'' (a usage that is more common in Australia and parts of Asia). Meteorology The ITCZ was originally identified from the 1920s to the 1940s as the ''Intertropical Front'' (''ITF''), but after the recognition in the 1940s and the 1950s of the significance of convergence zone, wind field convergence in tropics, tropical weather production, the term ''Intertropical Convergence Zone'' (''ITCZ'') was then applied. The ITCZ appears as a band of clouds, usually thunderstorms, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convection
Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the convection is unspecified, convection due to the effects of thermal expansion and buoyancy can be assumed. Convection may also take place in soft solids or mixtures where particles can flow. Convective flow may be Transient state, transient (such as when a Multiphasic liquid, multiphase mixture of oil and water separates) or steady state (see convection cell). The convection may be due to Gravity, gravitational, Electromagnetism, electromagnetic or Fictitious force, fictitious body forces. Convection (heat transfer), Heat transfer by natural convection plays a role in the structure of Earth's atmosphere, its oceans, and its Earth's mantle, mantle. Discrete convective cells in the atmosphere can be identified by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planetary Boundary Layer
In meteorology, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), also known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) or peplosphere, is the lowest part of the atmosphere and its behaviour is directly influenced by its contact with a planetary surface. On Earth it usually responds to changes in surface radiative forcing in an hour or less. In this layer physical quantities such as flow velocity, temperature, and moisture display rapid fluctuations (turbulence) and vertical mixing is strong. Above the PBL is the "free atmosphere", where the wind is approximately geostrophic wind, geostrophic (parallel to the isobars), while within the PBL the wind is affected by surface Drag (physics), drag and turns across the Contour line#Barometric pressure, isobars (see Ekman layer for more detail). Cause of surface wind gradient Typically, due to aerodynamic drag (force), drag, there is a wind gradient in the wind flow ~100 meters above the Earth's surface—the surface layer of the planetary boundary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stratocumulus Cloud
A stratocumulus cloud, occasionally called a cumulostratus, belongs to a genus-type of clouds characterized by large dark, rounded masses, usually in groups, lines, or waves, the individual elements being larger than those in altocumulus, and the whole being at a lower height, usually below . Weak convective currents create shallow cloud layers (see also: sea of clouds) because of drier, stable air above preventing continued vertical development. Historically, in English, this type of cloud has been referred to as a twain cloud for being a combination of two types of clouds. Description Stratocumulus clouds are rounded clumps or patches of white to dark gray clouds that normally form in groups. The individual cloud elements, which cover more than 5 degrees of arc each, can connect with each other and are sometimes arranged in a regular pattern. Occurrence Vast areas of subtropical and polar ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inversion (meteorology)
In meteorology, an inversion (or temperature inversion) is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, atmospheric temperature, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship is reversed in an inversion. An inversion traps air pollution, such as smog, near the ground. An inversion can also suppress atmospheric convection, convection by acting as a "cap". If this cap is broken for any of several reasons, convection of any humidity can then erupt into violent thunderstorms. Temperature inversion can cause freezing rain in polar climate, cold climates. Normal atmospheric conditions Usually, within the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) the air near the surface of the Earth is warmer than the air above it, largely because the atmosphere is heated from below as solar radiation warms the Earth's surface, which in turn then warms the layer of the atmosphere directly above it, e.g., by thermals (Convection (heat tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walker Circulation
The Walker circulation, also known as the Walker cell, is a conceptual model of the air flow in the tropics in the lower atmosphere (troposphere). According to this model, parcels of air follow a closed circulation in the zonal and vertical directions. This circulation, which is roughly consistent with observations, is caused by differences in heat distribution between ocean and land. In addition to motions in the zonal and vertical direction the tropical atmosphere also has considerable motion in the meridional direction as part of, for example, the Hadley Circulation. The Walker circulation is associated with the pressure gradient force that results from a high pressure system over the eastern Pacific Ocean, and a low pressure system over Indonesia. The Walker circulations of the tropical Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic basins result in westerly surface winds in northern summer in the first basin and easterly winds in the second and third basins. As a result, the temperatu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
