SATELLITE DATA SOURCE

GFS

 NCEP

 US National Weather Service

10 J/kg                                                                                                                                                                  5000 J/kg

Convection is one of the major processes creating our weather. Convection is one cause of rising air in our atmosphere, usually warm air rises above cold air. Convection is the principle motor of cloud formation and circulation on all scales - including the atmosphere's general circulation as warm moist air is going upwards and colder, drier and denser air will be sinking downwards.

Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) is measure of the amount of energy available for convection. CAPE is directly related to the maximum potential vertical speed within an updraft.

Therefore higher values indicate greater potential for severe weather.

In general, convection is the vertical transport and mixing of heat and other properties of a fluid through mass motion. It is generally taken to imply vertical motion, being produced by differences in bouyancy, arising from variations in density.

Evidence of convection happening in our atmosphere is seen with the formation and growth of cumulus cloud.

Advection would be the horizontal transport or transfer of a quality such as heat and cold from one point to another. Advective transfers occur by large-scale movement of humidity (atmospheric moisture).

Mon 12/34/56 4:00

CAPE CONVECTIVE AVAILABLE POTENTIAL ENERGY

  10 J/kg                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    5000 J/kg

NOMENCLATURE EARTH NULSCHOOL

Wind: Wind speed at specified height

Temp: temperature at specified height

RH: relative humidity at specified height

WPD:  Instantaneous Wind Power Density [measure of power available in the wind]

TPW: Total Precipitable Water [total amount of water in a column of air stretching from ground to space]

TCW: Total Cloud Water [total amount of water in clouds in a column of air from ground to space]

3HPA:  3-hour Precipitation Accumulation [amount of precipitation over the next three hours]

CAPE: Convective Available Potential Energy from Surface [indicates the buoyancy of air, a measure of atmospheric instability and predictor of severe weather]

MSLP: Mean Sea Level Pressure [air pressure reduced to sea level]

MI: Misery Index [perceived air temperature as combination of heat index and wind chill]

SST: Sea Surface Temperature [temperature of the ocean surface]

SSTA: Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly [difference in ocean temperature from daily average during years 1981-2011]

HTSGW:  Significant Wave Height [roughly equal to mean wave height as estimated by a "trained observer"]

Cosc: Carbon Monoxide Surface Concentration [the fraction of carbon monoxide present in air at the earth's surface]

CO2sc: Carbon Dioxide Surface Concentration [the fraction of carbon dioxide present in air at the earth's surface]

SO2sm:  Sulfur Dioxide Surface Mass [amount of sulfur dioxide in the air near the earth's surface]

DUex  Dust Extinction [the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of light at 550 nm due to dust]

SO4ex; Sulfate Extinction [the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of light at 550 nm due to sulfate]

PM1: Particulate Matter < 1 µm [mass of atmospheric particles with a diameter less than 1 micron]

PM2.5 Particulate Matter < 2.5 µm [mass of atmospheric particles with a diameter less than 2.5 microns]

PM10: Particulate Matter < 10 µm [mass of atmospheric particles with a diameter less than 10 microns]