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Global 300 hPa Geopotential Height during Hurricane Frances (WMS)

The Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure based on the weight of the air above, so the pressure reduces with rising altitude. This rate of pressure reduction with altitude is based on the temperature of the air, with the pressure of colder air reducing faster with altitude than warmer air. Therefore, a surface of constant pressure has a lower altitude at the poles than the equator. This animation shows the altitude above sea level (the geopotential height) of the 300 hectopascal (hPa) pressure surface for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. This pressure is about one-third of the normal pressure at sea level. The largest downward slope of this surface occurs in the mid-latitudes and is shown in yellow in the animation. At this region, air is trying to flow from the equator towards the poles to reduce the slope, but the rotation of the Earth forces the flow to divert to the east, forming the strong west-to-east jet stream flows in these regions. Frances and Songda can be seen as sharp yellow dots of reduced height in their respective locations.

Global 300 hPa geopotential height from the 0.25 degree resolution fvGCM atmospheric model for the period 9/1/2005 through 9/5/2005.
   Global 300 hPa geopotential height from the 0.25 degree resolution fvGCM atmospheric model for the period 9/1/2005 through 9/5/2005.
Duration: 20.0 seconds
Available formats:
  320x160     JPEG         7 KB
  160x80       PNG           20 KB
  80x40         PNG           6 KB
  640x320 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   5 MB
  1000x721   Frames
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Legend for the 300 hPa geopotential height.
   Legend for the 300 hPa geopotential height.

Available formats:
  320 x 90           PNG   1 KB

Animation Number:3207
Animator:Horace Mitchell (SVS) (Lead)
Completed:2005-07-28
Scientist:William Putman (NASA/GSFC)
Data set:fvGCM
Data Collected:2005-09-01T03:00 -- 2005-09-05T24:00
Series:WMS
 fvGCM
Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
DLESE >> Natural hazards
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Atmosphere >> Altitude >> Geopotential Height
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Typhoons
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Meteorological Hazards
GCMD >> Location >> Global
SVS >> Hurricane Frances
View Animation in Google Earth Google Earth KML file is available here.
DEPC Metadata is available here.
 
 
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NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio


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