WW2010
University of Illinois

WW2010
 
  welcome
 
> online guides
 
  archives
 
  educational cd-rom
 
  current weather
 
  about ww2010
 
  index

Online Guides
 
  introduction
 
> meteorology
 
  remote sensing
 
  reading maps
 
  projects, activities

Meteorology
 
  introduction
 
  air masses, fronts
 
  clouds, precipitation
 
  el nino
 
  forces, winds
 
  hurricanes
 
  hydrologic cycle
 
  light, optics
 
> midlatitude cyclones
 
  severe storms
 
  weather forecasting

Midlatitude Cyclones
 
  introduction
 
  definition
 
  associated winds
 
  air masses
 
  on satellite images
 
> upper air features

Upper Air Features
 
> geopotential height
 
  troughs
 
  ridges
 
  wave amplification
 
  rising motion
 
  steering level
 
  jet stream
 
  jet streaks
 
  vertical motions
 
  mid-level moisture
 
  wind vectors

User Interface
 
  graphics
> text

NOTE: We've guessed that you're not using a client that supports colored tables and have tried to compensate. Low graphics mode looks much better on clients that do... we recommend switching to Netscape 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
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Geopotential Height
height of a given pressure

Geopotential height approximates the actual height of a pressure surface above mean sea-level. Therefore, a geopotential height observation represents the height of the pressure surface on which the observation was taken. A line drawn on a weather map connecting points of equal height (in meters) is called a height contour. That means, at every point along a given contour, the values of geopotential height are the same. An image depicting the geopotential height field is given below.


Height contours are represented by the solid lines. The small numbers along the contours are labels which identify the value of a particular height contour (for example 5640 meters, 5580 meters, etc.). This example depicts the 500 mb geopotential height field and temperatures (color filled regions). The height field is given in meters with an interval of 60 meters. Geopotential height is valuable for locating troughs and ridges which are the upper level counterparts of surface cyclones and anticyclones.



Midlatitude Cyclones
Terms for using data resources. CD-ROM available.
Credits and Acknowledgments for WW2010.
Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

troughs