frankstrait 2017-12-21 21:34:44

I learned a lot about precipitation patterns for various locations around the tropics.

MasterThor 2017-11-16 07:27:34

Excellent Module. Take note of the rainfall plots.

Mauna 2017-04-23 20:08:13

Excellent courses, IT help build my profession working at a National Meteorological Service.

Mauna 2017-04-23 20:08:08

Excellent courses, IT help build my profession working at a National Meteorological Service.

jngondo 2016-11-13 11:48:32

good lesson for aeronautical forecasters as it gives a deep knowledge on water vapor and precipitation. Its also very educative and interesting too.

Gindon 2016-08-21 01:14:29

NOne

genac 2016-01-21 09:38:02

"The target audience includes undergraduate students who have completed introductory meteorology and who know basic thermodynamic and dynamic meteorology. But the potential audience will encompass early graduate students and forecasters with a broad range of education and experience."

vaseemashraf 2014-04-03 02:05:39

I think the module is complicated for the beginners and its skill level is much higher. The module is akin to a scientific paper delineating the characteristics of tropical meteorology in a perplexing manner.

At the end of this chapter, you should understand and be able to describe:

• Why water vapor is important to weather and climate in the tropics
• The range and distribution of water vapor content in the tropics
• The distribution of evaporation and evapotranspiration rates in the tropics
• The formation of tropical clouds by convection
• The general pattern of cloud distribution in the tropics
• The typical profiles of potential temperature and equivalent potential temperature in the tropical atmosphere
• How the Saharan Air Layer and other dry intrusions changes the vertical distribution of moisture thermodynamic energy
• The concept of moist and dry static (thermodynamic) energy and its vertical distribution in the tropics
• How the vertical distribution of moist static energy varies with different modes of convection
• The differences between convective and stratiform rain in tropical mesoscale convective systems
• The effects of continental and maritime aerosols on tropical precipitation
• The geographic distribution of annual tropical precipitation and its variability
• The factors that influence the geographic distribution of tropical precipitation
• The seasonal distribution of precipitation in the tropics and unique regional patterns
• The differences between the diurnal cycle of tropical precipitation over land and over ocean, including the influential factors
• Unique characteristics of the diurnal cycle during the equatorial transition seasons (spring and autumn)
• The factors that influence the amount and location of  rainfall on yearly and multi-year time scales

You should also be able to identify and describe:

• The factors that influence evaporation and evapotranspiration rates
• The dominant cloud types in the tropics
• The typical zonal and meridional distribution of cloud depth over the tropical oceans

tropical meteorology, Distribution of Moisture and Precipitation, tropical moisture, tropical precipitation, global rainfall, interannual variability of precipitation, seasonal precipitation, tropical desert, evaporation, evapotranspiration, condensation nuclei, maritime aerosol, continental aerosol, convective precipitation, stratiform precipitation, cumulus convection, cumulonimbus, surface specific humidity, clausius-clapeyron, precipitation processes in cumulonimbus, variability of tropical precipitation, El Nino, MJO, ENSO, Hadley Cell, ITCZ, upwelling, evaporation minimum, monthly precipitation, orographic precipitation, warm rain, cold rain, collision-coalescence

February 15 2016: HTML and media assets in this lesson have been updated for current browsers and mobile devices. All links external to COMET's MetEd site have been checked and updated.