This project will consider how convection influences the formation and movement of storms, including the development of lightning. The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign is a program that will study storms and thunderclouds in Colorado, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Both react to unique transfers of energy, heat, and moisture caused by convection. An MCS is a smaller cluster of thunderstorms that lasts for several hours. An MCC is a single system of clouds that can reach the size of the state of Ohio and produce heavy rainfall and flooding. As this warm air mass rises into the colder atmosphere, it condenses into clouds, turning water vapor into precipitation. In both an MCC and MCS, a large area of air and moisture is warmed during the middle of the day-when the sun angle is at its highest. (Any substance that flows is considered a fluid.) Convection results in a transfer of energy, heat, and moisture-the basic building blocks of weather. The fluid that most meteorologists study is air. Warmer, less- dense fluid rises, and colder, denser fluid sinks. Both are caused by convection, an important meteorological principle. Two important phenomena are mesoscale convective complexes (MCC) and mesoscale convective systems (MCS). Mesoscale Meteorology Mesoscale phenomena range in size from a few kilometers to roughly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). MIRAGE-Mexico uses observations from ground stations, aircraft, and satellites to track pollutants. The program studies the chemical and physical transformations of gases and aerosols in the pollution surrounding Mexico City. MIRAGE-Mexico is a collaboration between meteorologists in the United States and Mexico. Tracking air pollutants is an example of microscale meteorology. Microscale meteorology often involves the study of chemistry. They measure the transfer of heat, gas, and liquid between these surfaces. Microscale meteorologists often study the processes that occur between soil, vegetation, and surface water near ground level. These phenomena affect very small geographic areas, and the temperatures and terrains of those areas. Microscale Meteorology Microscale meteorology focuses on phenomena that range in size from a few centimeters to a few kilometers, and that have short life spans (less than a day). Meteorologists often focus on a specific scale in their work. The four meteorological scales are: microscale, mesoscale, synoptic scale, and global scale. Scales of Meteorology Weather occurs at different scales of space and time. This transfer of information demonstrates how weather and the study of it take place in multiple, interconnected ways. The analyses are passed on to national and regional weather centers, which feed this data into computers that model the future state of the atmosphere. This data is transmitted to centers throughout the world that produce computer analyses of global weather. Atmospheric conditions both at Earth's surface and above are measured from a variety of sources: weather stations, ships, buoys, aircraft, radar, weather balloons, and satellites. Forecasters use that research, along with atmospheric data, to scientifically assess the current state of the atmosphere and make predictions of its future state. They also research the relationship between the atmosphere and Earth’s climates, oceans, and biological life. Research meteorologists cover several subdisciplines of meteorology to include: climate modeling, remote sensing, air quality, atmospheric physics, and climate change. They often focus on atmospheric research or operational weather forecasting. Meteorologists use scientific principles to observe, explain, and forecast our weather. Meteorology focuses on the lower parts of the atmosphere, primarily the troposphere, where most weather takes place. Aeronomy is the study of the upper parts of the atmosphere, where unique chemical and physical processes occur. Climatology focuses on how atmospheric changes define and alter the world’s climates. Climatology and aeronomy are also subdisciplines of the atmospheric sciences. A subdiscipline is a specialized field of study within a broader subject or discipline. Meteorology is a sub discipline of the atmospheric sciences, a term that covers all studies of the atmosphere. Gravity keeps the atmosphere from expanding much farther. Earth’s atmosphere is roughly 100 to 125 kilometers (65-75 miles) thick. The atmosphere is the gaseous layer of the physical environment that surrounds a planet. Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere, atmospheric phenomena, and atmospheric effects on our weather.
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