Discussion: Water Cycle and Air Masses

(PART 1)
Please write about what you learned from the textbook reading materials and supplemental videos, and/or any questions you had about the lecture notes.
What did you find the most interesting?
After writing your submission, please post at least 1 thoughtful responses to your classmates.
Disscusion to respont to (PART 2)
As I read through the slides and the chapter, I was reminded that water is on the move whether it is in the form of a body of water, condensation, evaporation, transpiration, precipitation, or just running off of a mountain. It rained overnight at my house, hard, to the point that the ground is flooded between our house and the neighbors. As I took a look at the plants in my backyard, I thought about the plants root absorbing water and traveling up the plant to the leaves, and then eventually evaporating off of the leaves. This entire process is called Evapotranspiration, when the combined process of transpiration and evaporation work together. Another thing that I found interesting is the difference between Relative Humidity and Dew Point. Relative Humidity is the amount of water vapor that is present and the amount of water vapor the air is capable of holding. Dew Point is the temperature at which saturation is reached. What this means is that when the air is cooled the maximum amount of water vapor it can hold decreases and then condensation will begin. The temperature that our body senses is called Sensible temperature. So basically, Relative Humidity is dependent on the temperature of the air and the Dew Point stays constant. Another observation I made in my backyard, was on a cool morning when the air temperature was cooler than the temperature of our pool, you could see the moisture rising and evaporation taking place. What I found most interesting in the chapter was the formation of clouds. They are the visible expression of condensation. About 50% of the earth’s surface is covered by clouds. They act as a blanket for the earth by keeping the nights warmer and making our days cooler by keeping out insolation. The strange fact that I read was that all participation comes from the clouds, but not all clouds produce precipitation. There are three forms of clouds, cirrus, stratus, and cumulus, but they can be classified into ten types. Based on the altitude, these ten types can be divided into four families. It was also interesting to learn the different classifications of clouds and what takes place at the height of the clouds, whether they are High, middle, and low clouds. I found this lesson to be very interesting overall. As I read/watched it was easy to relate the information to what I see happening out my door every day.

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