WES C

In this activity we had to investigate moisture and its affects. Moisture avection is the movement of water vapor in the atmosphere and it is a critical factor in precipitation. I learned about dewpoints, which measure the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. Moisture avection, which is driven by atmospheric convection currents, transports the water vapor in the air, and when a large amount condenses in the air, clouds form. When enough moisture collects in this way, it falls to the ground as precipitation. This is important to my topic because hurricanes have thunderstorms which help build the storms, and the more moisture, the bigger the storm.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moisture
http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/moisture.html

Weather Chart

For this task, we had to keep track of the weather for three weeks. We had to mark down the temp, the percipitation, the barometer, and other things like wind speed and direction. Before this experiment, I din't think the weather would change that much in only three weeks. During this three week period, the weather didn't have much of a significant change. I've learned that the weather doesn't change that much over a short period of time. This connects to my topic, because this kind of explains why we have hurricane periods and why it seems like hurricanes only happen during one period of time. As we did this research, its clear that it could be true, because the weather is the same during that time and it doesn't change very fast, so the hurricanes can keep happening.

Sources:
http://www.noaa.gov/
http://www.weather.com/

WES D

In this activity, we were trying to figure out wind bealts over the Atlantic Ocean basins. Before we began this experiment, I thought that the winds blow the same way during the seasons (South for winter, and North for summer). So, for this activity, we had to take two note cards and make the patterens just like the winds have. We twist and turn one card, while writing on the other, to make a perfect replica. I learned that the winds change a lot, and that I was wrong with what I thought before. The winds move and change due to which hemisphere there on. This connects to my topic because it shows how we end up with hurricanes happening only during some times. Winds are needed for hurricanes to form, and it depends on the temperature of the water, and the winds are what help the water change temperatures.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_direction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect

April Fools

Nature is playing April fools, because it can't make up its mind as to whether it want to get warm or stay cool for a bit longer. It is now officially spring, but the weather makes us think its still winter. The weather changes daily, and nobody knows what it will be the next day. the jet stream causes more problems for us, because it makes more weather problems and it doesn't allow the air to flow corectly. In Michigan, the lakes play a big part in our weather issues. if the lakes are frozen during the winter, then there is a less chance of percipitation, but if it is a warm winter, then ther is an increase in the chance of percipitation. all these factors play a part of our weather.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_stream
http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/winter/lake.html

Activity 1

This activity had to do with the heating and cooling temeratures of water, snow, and soil after ten minutes. Before we began this activity, I thought that the temeratures of the objects would increase, and the snow would have the highest temperature increase. I thought the water would increase a little, and the dirt would just remain the same. After heating the objects, we relized that the soil heated up the most, and the water heated up the least. Then when we started to cool the objects, the snow cooled the most and the soil and water cooled the least. So when referring this information to hurricanes, it becomes apparent that while a hurricane is taking place, the temperatures of these three objects will have little to no significant change.

sources:
http://www.homexperts.us/webapp/GetPage?pid=134
http://search.usgs.gov/results.html

Activity 4

Before this activity, I thought that the temerature of the ground would not change at all because it was protected by the paint "clouds" and the sun could not reach the ground. In this activity, I learned that the sun has a hard time heating up the Earth when it is cloudy. The sun cannot get through the cloud cover and therefore it cannot heat the ground. It takes a lot of time before there was any change in temperature. The ground did in fact increase in temerature after around the fifteen minute mark, but the increase was only one half degree, so it isn't really significant.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effects
http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/education/factsheets/what.html