Formative Assessment 4: Hadley Circulation

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Instructions

  1. Use the diagram of temperature vs. air mass moisture content below to plot the trajectory of the initially warm, tropical air rising at the equator and cycling through the Hadley cell. Assume that the tropical air mass has a temperature of 35°C and relative humidity of 90% (calculate the water content), track the airmass to the top of the atmosphere and to roughly 30 degrees North latitude then have it descend to sea level. Plot each point of change on the graph.
    see long description below
    Grams of water vapor per kg of air as a function of temperature in degrees Celsius
    Click here for a text description
    Graph that shows how the amount of water in air changes with temperature. Temperature is on x-axis and water in air on –axis. Two different exponential curves. Red line at 100% relative humidity, green at 50%. The red is steeper than green and every point on the red line has roughly double the amount of water in the air for the same temperature on the green line. Both lines start at the same place and have a greater slope as temperature increase.
    CC BY-SA 3.0 Greg Benson. Accessed from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_humidity
  2. Now, what can you say regarding the occurrence of desert environments at about 30°N and S?

Worksheet

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Submitting your assignment

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Scoring and Rubric

Each answer will earn a maximum of 5 points, as described in the rubrics below.

Rubric for Question 1
Work Shown Possible Points
Points are accurately plotted 2
Data set is complete (all points shown on plot) 2
Plot is neat and legible 1
Rubric for Question 2
Work Shown Possible Points
Answer reflects careful consideration of the question 2
Answer is appropriate in length 1
Answer is legible 1
Answer given in complete sentences, correct spelling and grammar 1