Atmospheric Circulation
Question of the day: What is atmospheric circulation
Answer: Atmospheric circulation is the general circulation of air particles on a glabal scale that varies in low-high air pressure depending on the location and temperature of the air.
Our outdoor class experiment!
I had some trouble trying to find activities for the students to interact and experience first had with the topic. So I decided to conduct my own experiment to help them understand how the cells move in a fun and exciting way. I plan to take the students outside and break them up into three separate groups. In which two groups will be larger than the third. The smallest group would represent the Ferrel cell and the other two large groups will represent the Hadley and Polar cells. I will instruct the 1st group (Polar) to move/ walk clockwise (Northern Hem). The Ferrel group will move/walk counterclockwise. And the Hadley cell will move clockwise (just like the Polar cell). Resulting in a visual representation of how the cells rotate (within the Northern Hem.).
Learning objectives
Students will be able to understand the concept of how the air circulates globally
Students will be able to differentiate longitude from latitude
Students will be able to determine the boundaries in which each cell moves
Students will be able to demonstrate and explain how each cell operates
Atmospheric Circulation follow along worksheet
This worksheet is going to get passed out to the students during the second half of the lesson because it is vocabulary heavy. And I want to ensure that each student can refer back to this worksheet whenever they feel confused about how the cells and the Coriolis Effect works
Latitude and Longitude worksheet
Atmospheric Circulation can be a complex topic and it's helpful to understand the movement of the air particles and how they stay within their latitudinal boundaries. Knowing how latitude and longitude works can be the tool to help piece everything together. So I will assign this worksheet as homework.
Worksheet key
Phoenix
Raleigh
Fargo
Portland
Houston
Niagara Falls
Miami
