Global Winds
Michael J. GarayJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of
TechnologyPasadena, California, USA
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
How to teach this?
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
National Science Education Standards
• Earth Science– Energy in the Earth system
• Heating of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere by the sun drives convection within the atmosphere and ocean, producing winds and ocean currents (9-12)
• Global winds are part of a pattern of air circulation across the Earth and include the trade winds, westerlies and the polar easterlies
http://www.universetoday.com/74036/what-are-the-steps-of-the-scientific-method/
The “Scientific Method”
Three Approaches
• Factual– These are “facts” that students should
know
• Historical– Science (i.e., learning about the world)
is done by people (and not always “scientists”)
• Synthesis– Science provides a unifying idea (theory)
that explains many different things
Global Wind Systems
Historical
Aristotle
Isaac Newton
Christopher Columbus
Edmond Halley
George Hadley
William Ferrel
World Map Showing the “Four Winds”
http://usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibition/8/3/sub-/where-the-winds-blow
“T-O” Map Showing the “Eight Winds”
http://www.taringa.net/posts/offtopic/6355668/El-mar_-terror-y-fascinacion.html
World Map Showing the “Twelve Winds” of Aristotle
http://usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibition/8/3/sub-/where-the-winds-blow
http://www.chroniclesofamerica.com/maps_of_america.htm
Edmond Halley’s Map of the Major Global Wind Systems (1686)
http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/research/projects/DeptII_Daston_Collective
http://www.universetoday.com/74036/what-are-the-steps-of-the-scientific-method/
The “Scientific Method”
George Hadley
http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter10/single_cell.html
The Ferrel Cell
The Ferrel Cell
http://greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com/IGCSE+and+GCSE+Weather,+Climate+and+Ecosystems
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
Synthesis
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Gov-Inc/Hypothesis-Testing.html
http://www.universetoday.com/74036/what-are-the-steps-of-the-scientific-method/
The “Scientific Method”
http://xkcd.com/242/
Thinking Like aScientist
“Earthrise” from Apollo 8 December 24, 1968
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise
Apollo 17 View of the Earth“Blue Marble”
December 7, 1972
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble
“Blue Marble” from MODIS(Available as an iPhone background)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
MODIS Land, Ocean, Ice, Cloud
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
MODIS Land Only
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
The Hadley Circulation
MISR Directional Hemispheric Reflectance (DHR)
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/misr/level3/product.html
One Month of Precipitation from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=1017
MODIS Land, Ocean, Ice, Cloud
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
MODIS Cloud Only
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/printall.php
http://geography.sierra.cc.ca.us/Booth/California/2_atmosphere/Hadley_cells.jpg
Jupiter Composite from the Cassini Spacecraft
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-92989/Bands-of-pastel-colored-clouds-encircle-the-giant-planet-Jupiter
Seeing the Wind
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing
Ocean Surface Winds from the QuikSCAT Instrument on the SeaWinds Satellite
http://www.scp.byu.edu/gallery.html
QuikSCAT Mean Ocean Winds Annual Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Ocean Surface Winds Annual Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 0 - 1 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 1 - 2 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 2 - 3.5 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 3.5 - 5 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 5 - 7 km Climatology
NCEP Reanalysis Mean Winds Annual 7 - 10 km Climatology
NCEP-2/MISR Zonal Mean Wind PlotsDecember 2001 – August 2007
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
Nine view angles at Earth surface:70.5º forward to 70.5º backward
Nine 14-bit pushbroom cameras
275 m - 1.1 km sampling
Four spectral bands at each angle:446, 558, 672, 866 nm
400-km swath: 9-day coverageat equator, 2-day at poles
7 minutes to observe each sceneat all nine angles
http://misr.jpl.nasa.gov/
MISR Low Cloud Wind Vectors for January 2011
MISR Low Cloud Wind Vectors for July 2011
Where Does the Wind Blow?
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Low High
Height ≤ 1 km AGL
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Low High
Height ≤ 2 km AGL
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Low High
Height ≤ 3 km AGL
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Low High
Height ≤ 4 km AGL
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph)
Low High
Height ≤ 5 km AGL
22
3
2
3
22
4
2 22
3 55 4
219158
5842
1315
73
986
22
10°N
20°N
30°N
15°N
25°N
35°N
10°W 0°E 10°E 20°E 30°E5°W 5°E 15°E 25°E 35°E
Bodélé Depression
Ténéré DesertWestern
Sahara Desert
Algeria
Mauritania
Mali
Niger Chad
Libya
Sudan
Nigeria
Qattara Depression
Selima Sand Sheet
Egypt
Mediterranean Sea
Sahara Desert
Frequency of Wind Speeds Greater than 20 m/s (45 mph) over Africa (DJF)
The Bodélé Depression
Credit: Giles (2005), Nature, “The Dustiest Place on Earth”
Credits: Giles (2005), Nature, [Lower left, upper right]Bristow et al. (2009), Geomorphology [Upper left, lower right]
Africa
South America
United StatesAug 29 Aug 26 Aug 25 Aug 24 Aug 23 Aug 22 Aug 21 Aug 20 Aug 19
Dust from the Sahara Desert Reaches Houston, Texas
Observations from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)Instrument on NASA’s Terra Satellite
Some Resources• MISR
– misr.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/worldmap.html• JPL (Solar System)
– photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/Help/ImageGallery.html
• NASA (Animations)– svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
• Google Image Search
Current MISR Wind Product New MISR Wind Product
New and Improved!