LESSON 2

Background Material

Reading: Chapter 3 of the book. Definitions to know:

1. Atmospheric pressure
2. Hydrostatic balance
3. Station pressure
4. Sea level pressure
5. Indicated altitude
6. True Altitude
7. Absolute Altitude
8. METAR

Go to the practice section and try the two applets. We will be using these types of applets throughout the course, so I need to know if you have trouble loading them. For the first, you are asked to identify features on a 500 mb map. Directions are given in red text above the image. Just point and click to your answer. For the second, there is a slider labeled: Fade between images. Try the slider and observe the changing weather maps.

ASOS stands for Automated Surface Observing System. ASOS is the United States' primary network for observing surface weather. It includes observations of cloud height, visibility precipitation, pressure, temperature, dew point, wind direction and speed sensor, and rainfall accumulation. Here's a review of ASOS instruments as well as a brief review of how satellites and radar work. You should be able to read through the material pretty quickly. Make mental notes of the material. We will revisit some of this material later in the course.

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