GEO 212 – Week 2 Lab: Atmospheric Pressure and Atmospheric Structure

You will need to have viewed the Week 2 video lecture in order to do this lab.

Figure 1

Figure 1 is a surface map of the US that includes isobars which means “lines of equal air
pressure.” Average sea level air pressure is 1013 millibars (or 29.92 inches of mercury). What
this means is that on average the pressure exerted by Earth’s atmosphere would send a column of
mercury 29.92 inches up a glass tube that was in a vacuum. Therefore, if 1013 millibars (mb) is
average sea level pressure, then pressures higher than 1013 mb would be described as high
pressure and sea level pressures below 1013 mb would be considered low pressure.

1. By US convention there is a standard interval between isobars. Figure 1 illustrates this and
shows an interval of ________millibars between each isobar.
 2
 3
 4
 5

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2. Based on your answer to #1, which of the following isobar numbers would never be attached
to an isobar?
 1012
 1014
 1016
 1020

Figure 2

Figure 2 Illustrates how air circulates around high pressure systems (clockwise and outward)
and low pressure systems (counterclockwise and inward). Therefore, in the case described in
figure 2 air also flows from high pressure toward low pressure.

3. Based on figure 2 what is the wind direction in eastern Kansas?

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Figure 3

Figure 3 adds an important third dimension to wind flow associated with high pressure and low
pressure systems. High pressure systems have air descending in their center and low pressure
systems have air ascending in their center.
Therefore:
High pressure systems have circulation that is: clockwise, outward and downward.
Low pressure systems have circulation that is: counterclockwise, inward and upward.

4. Based on the information shown in figures 2 and 3 look at figure 1 and determine the wind
direction in central Colorado on the figure 1 map. South
 North
 South
 East
 West

5. Based purely on the figure 3 map, what is the wind direction in South Dakota? East
 North
 South
 East
 West

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Figure 4

Figure 4 is back to the “real world” and is a surface analysis taken at 1800Z, May 19, 2020.

6. What is the highest pressure over the land surface shown in figure 4? 1035
 1013
 1017
 1020
 1035

7. What is the lowest pressure shown anywhere on the map in figure 4?

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8. Note the low pressure system off the central east coast in figure 4 (actually it is the remnants
of Tropical Storm Arthur). Now observe the wind direction shown in station models in the
central east coast. Do their wind directions follow the circulation pattern around low pressure
systems shown in figures 2 and 3?
 Yes
 No

9. What is the actual air pressure at Tucson, Arizona (the southern-most station shown in
Arizona)?
 087
 987
 1008.7
 908.7

10. From figure 4, the highest pressures are generally in:

Figure 5 - Temperature with altitude

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Figure 5 was shown in the Week 2 lecture and illustrates how the air temperature decreases with
altitude through the troposphere, increases in the stratosphere, decreases in the mesosphere and
increases again in the thermosphere.
We know about these temperatures through sending balloon-launched radiosondes into the
atmosphere at 00Z and 1200Z from about 70 stations in the US. This is also done around the
world and gives us a 3-dimensional look at the atmosphere.

Figure 6 – Vertical Atmosphere Chart (Stuve Diagram). Temperature is plotted along the
bottom axis and is degrees Celsius.

100

Figure 6 is a vertical temperature profile of the troposphere and lower stratosphere with the solid
straight line a representation of the US Standard Atmosphere. The US Standard Atmosphere
represents the average conditions (temperature profile) in the vertical. As you can see, the
temperature steadily decreases through the troposphere but then abruptly stops decreasing which
indicates the end of the troposphere and the beginning of the stratosphere. This boundary is
called the tropopause.

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11. From figure 6, at what altitude is the tropopause?
 8 kilometers (km)
 9 km
 10 km
 11 km

12. From figure 6, what is the temperature at the tropopause?

13. From figure 6 if you round Earth’s average sea level air pressure to 1000 mb, what
percentage of Earth’s atmosphere lies below 500 mb (5.5 km above sea level)?
 10%
 30%
 50%
 90%

14. From figure 6 if you round Earth’s average sea level air pressure to 1000 mb, what
percentage of Earth’s atmosphere lies below 900 mb (0.9 km above sea level)?
 10%
 30%
 50%
 90%

15. When the temperature increases with increasing altitude it is called an inversion. When the
temperature stays the same with increasing altitude it is called isothermal. In figure 6 looking at
the US Standard Pressure graph (the straight line), what is the temperature change from 12 to 16
km in altitude?
 Isothermal
 Inversion

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Figure 7 – Vertical Profile for Tucson, Arizona, May 19, 2020

Figure 7 is an actual diagram of the vertical atmosphere over Tucson, Arizona on May 19.
Questions 16-20 are regarding Figure 7:

16. What was the time these observations were taken (Zulu /UTC)?
 Midnight
 Noon

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17. At what elevation in millibars is the tropopause?
 700 mb
 210 mb
 410 mb
 900 mb

18. Figure 7 shows wind direction and velocity along the right column and it uses the same
technique you learned with wind direction and velocity on station models. What is the wind
direction at 600 mb?
 North
 South
 East
 West

19. What is the wind velocity at 600 mb?

20. Starting from near the surface to above the 200 mb level, the wind velocity ______
 Increases
 Stays mostly the same
 Decreases

End of Lab 2