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Guide to science
of the atmosphere
By Jack Williams, USATODAY.com
You can't understand the weather, much less
forecast it, without understanding the basic science of the atmosphere.
Atmospheric science includes applications of
physics, chemistry, and - of course - mathematics. As researchers learn
more and more about the atmosphere, they are discovering that biology
plays a role, especially if you want to understand the Earth's climate
and how it changes.
No Web site can begin to tell you everything you
need to know to understand weather phenomena such as winds, what goes on
in thunderstorms, tornadoes or hurricanes, how dust from the Sahara
Desert sometimes crosses the Atlantic Ocean, why the wind blows, or what
makes the sky blue and gives the rainbow its colors.
This page is organized by general topic, similar
to the chapters in another widely used weather resource,
The USA TODAY Weather Book.
Learn how the sun drives our
weather
All of the energy needed to drive the weather
comes from the sun. Differences in the amount of light, and warmth, from
the sun reaching the Earth causes the seasons.
The what and why of wind
The wind is nothing but air in motion. What makes
it move? Differences in the air's pressure from place to place. Air
begins moving from areas of high air pressure toward areas of lower air
pressure. The Earth's rotation causes the path of the winds across the
Earth to curve.
First, let's look at air pressure.
To see how air pressure differences cause the wind and what happens
after that, go to our
Understanding winds, jet streams page.
Once the wind begins blowing, it can create wind shear, which is the
major cause of the turbulence you sometimes feel while flying.
Storms and fronts
When water changes forms: from clouds, fog to
rain, snow
Floods and droughts
Snow, cold and ice
Lightning, thunderstorms and tornadoes
Lightning
Thunderstorms
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
The sky
Predicting weather
The global climate, weather in our future
Extreme weather
Further explorations
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