Tornados
Tornados are rotating columns of air that extend from a thunderstorm to the ground. They can vary in size from just a few meters all the way up to a kilometer wide where it touches the ground. In the southern hemisphere the winds rotate clockwise, and in the northern hemisphere, the winds rotate counter-clockwise. They form from a thunderstorm when cool air prevails over a layer of warm air and forces the warm air to rise rapidly. Tornadoes develop inside a low-pressure area that has high winds. The center vortex of the tornado is a very low-pressure area. As more air comes in, the pressure lowers, which cools the air down. The air cooling helps condense the water vapor that is in the air, and form the tornado into the funnel shaped column that you see tornados to be. When the tornado hits the ground it picks up debri and dirt which makes it the color that it gets. If a tornado were to pick up red dirt then the tornado would turn red. Tornados wipe out anything in there path because of their ability to have windspeeds of more than 300 miles per hour. Most of the damage that is inflicted by a tornado is because of its very high wind speeds. Tornados are often located next to an updraft, which is air that is coming down from a thunderstorm. A slight hint that might tell somebody that a tornado is coming would be like a sudden burst of heavy rain or hail because that is where updrafts are. The peak of the tornado season in the southern states ranges between March to May and in the northern states most of the tornados happen in the summer months. They are most likely to happen in the afternoon’s and the evenings between noon and midnight. When tornados develop over the water they are called water spouts. Tornados are classified into three categories weak, strong and violent. Out of all the tornados that occur year round only two percent are classified as violent. While 3 out of ten are classified to be strong and 7 out of ten which is what most tornados are called to be weak.
The Doppler radar is used to predict tornadoes these days. The Doppler radar measures how fast an object is moving towards or away form a center point. The Doppler radar is programmed to measure wind speed in storms. The Doppler radar can also analyze a super cell to see if there is any circulation going on. But in April 1995 NASA developed a new satellite with a Optical Transient Detector which is referred to as OTD. Using new optics and electronics OTD can see quick lightning flashes even during the day. The biggest advantage of OTD is that it takes only one minute to do a full scan of a tornado and the current Doppler radar takes five minutes to do all of this. Warnings are then posted either on the radio stations or the television. They are either issued as tornado warnings or tornado watches. The differences between the two is that a tornado watch means that there is a tornado that has touched down somewhere in the area and to watch out for it. And a tornado warning means that there is a good possibility that a tornado could form anywhere so you need to watch out for it.
I got my information from the website
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01027/tornado.html
Earths Major Systems
The geosphere is the solid earth that includes continental and the ocean crust as well as the multiple layers of the earth's interior. Ninety four percent of the earth is composed of the elements oxygen, iron, silica, and magnesium, and the interior of the earth is layered both chemically and mechanically. The geosphere is not static, but its surface is in a constant state of motion that gives rise to movement of the continents. This explains the theory of the continental drifts. The atmosphere is the gaseous envelope that surrounds the earth and constitutes the transition between its surface and the vacuum of space. The atmosphere consists of a mixture of gases composed primarily of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. It extends 500 km above the surface of the earth and the lower level which is the troposphere and constitutes the climate system that maintains the conditions suitable for life on the planet's surface. The next atmospheric level, the stratosphere which contains the ozone layer, aids in filtering out the bad U.V. rays that come from the sun. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have been depleting the ozone layer with all of the fossil fuel that we have been burning. We have now started to worry about all the damage that we have put on the ozone layer. By us doing this there has been rising concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chloroflurocarbons in the atmosphere because these gases trap heat energy emitted from the earth surface and increase global temperatures. In addition, chloroflurocarbons are effective at depleting the Earth's ozone shield that protects the earth surface from the harmful effects of U.V. rays. And this is one very good example of how all the air pollution can hurt and deplete our atmosphere.
The hydrosphere is the make-up of all the water on the earth. The earth is made up of 71% water and only 29% is land, The earth is the only planet in our solar system that is able to have water on it. Because it has just the right mass and the right chemical composition, the right atmosphere, and is the right distance from the sun. When the coral reef gets destroyed little by little it is actually killing off many animals. Many need these coral reefs to stay alive and to exist here. So the hydrosphere does bring many advantages to our planet, and the biggest one is water.The biosphere is the life zone of the Earth and includes all living organisms, including man, and all organic matter that has not yet decomposed. The biosphere is structured into a hierarchy known as the food chain whereby all life is dependent upon the first tier. Energy and mass is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next with an efficiency of about 10%. All organisms are intrinsically linked to their physical environment and the relationship between an organism and its environment is the study of ecology. The biosphere is divided into ecosystems that represent the interactions between a group of organisms.
The atmospehere
The Biosphere
I got my information from:
http://ess.geology.ufl.edu/ess/Introduction/Biosphere.html
The hydrosphere is the make-up of all the water on the earth. The earth is made up of 71% water and only 29% is land, The earth is the only planet in our solar system that is able to have water on it. Because it has just the right mass and the right chemical composition, the right atmosphere, and is the right distance from the sun. When the coral reef gets destroyed little by little it is actually killing off many animals. Many need these coral reefs to stay alive and to exist here. So the hydrosphere does bring many advantages to our planet, and the biggest one is water.The biosphere is the life zone of the Earth and includes all living organisms, including man, and all organic matter that has not yet decomposed. The biosphere is structured into a hierarchy known as the food chain whereby all life is dependent upon the first tier. Energy and mass is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next with an efficiency of about 10%. All organisms are intrinsically linked to their physical environment and the relationship between an organism and its environment is the study of ecology. The biosphere is divided into ecosystems that represent the interactions between a group of organisms.
The atmospehere
The Biosphere
I got my information from:
http://ess.geology.ufl.edu/ess/Introduction/Biosphere.html
The Watershed Impact
Question #2
Our rivers and lakes that we live around are actually very temper-mental in the understanding of all the little organisms that live in it. We have many of drain-offs through out our city’s that lead directly to rivers and lakes. And by this leading straight to these it has possibilities of bad toxins and fecal matter going into lakes, rivers and streams, which would kill off thousands of organisms. Then we also have erosion that doesn’t help keep our rivers clean. When it rains it washes lots of sediment into the river which makes the turbidity of the river go down. Tree roots help tremendously in keeping the river clean. When it rains all of the sediment gets washed through the tree roots but the roots catch a lot of the sediment that is why it’s a good thing when you see many trees around lakes and rivers. That is one way how the water can be affected by erosion. Rivers that run through towns and cities have a greater chance of becoming a dirty river. This is because of all the drain-offs that lead into the river and also because of the many people that throw their trash into the rivers. That is a perfect example of how housing development can have an impact on the watershed and the turbidity of the rivers and lakes surrounding them.
Websites:
www.energyinst.org.uk/education/glossary/
www.co.greene.pa.us
Our rivers and lakes that we live around are actually very temper-mental in the understanding of all the little organisms that live in it. We have many of drain-offs through out our city’s that lead directly to rivers and lakes. And by this leading straight to these it has possibilities of bad toxins and fecal matter going into lakes, rivers and streams, which would kill off thousands of organisms. Then we also have erosion that doesn’t help keep our rivers clean. When it rains it washes lots of sediment into the river which makes the turbidity of the river go down. Tree roots help tremendously in keeping the river clean. When it rains all of the sediment gets washed through the tree roots but the roots catch a lot of the sediment that is why it’s a good thing when you see many trees around lakes and rivers. That is one way how the water can be affected by erosion. Rivers that run through towns and cities have a greater chance of becoming a dirty river. This is because of all the drain-offs that lead into the river and also because of the many people that throw their trash into the rivers. That is a perfect example of how housing development can have an impact on the watershed and the turbidity of the rivers and lakes surrounding them.
Websites:
www.energyinst.org.uk/education/glossary/
www.co.greene.pa.us
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