WP 2.2/2.3: Reading “Disaster in California!” and Simulating a Large Storm
Objectives:
KWBAT gather evidence from the text to identify relationships between energy transfer, air parcels, and the amount of rainfall.
KWBAT gather evidence from text and analyze data from the sim to identify relationships between energy transfer, air parcels, and the amount of rainfall.
Part 1: Warm Up
Question 1
1.
Bottom label -
In the troposphere, the temperature is __________ closer to the earth.
Question 2
2.
Top label -
The higher up you go in the troposphere, the __________ it becomes.
Question 3
3.
Which air parcel will be able to rise higher?
Question 4
4.
Explain how you know which air parcel will rise higher!
Sentence starter:
I know air parcel _ will rise higher because...
Part 2: Reading" Disasters in California"
The article you will read today is about a particularly dangerous series of rainstorms that happened over 100 years ago! Learning about these storms in California will give us some insight into what can cause severe storms that produce a lot of rain.
Open the article: “Disaster in California!”
1
Question 5
5.
What caused The Great Flood of 1862 in California?
1
1
Question 7
7.
Find a quote that answers this question:
Why were the storms in California so strong?
0
Question 8
8.
Find a quote that answers this question:
What did higher temperatures cause?
1
0
1
Question 12
12.
The flood happened because of a series of huge rainstorms that occurred. Below is a set of weather events that is not in the correct order.
Put the events in the order of what happened from 1-6
Energy transferred from Earth’s surface to the air parcel, warming the air.
A lot of rain fell.
The warm air parcel rose into the troposphere and lost energy, forming clouds as it rose.
The sun heated the surface of Earth.
Severe flooding happened.
The air parcel stopped when it reached the same temperature as the surrounding air high in the troposphere.
Part 3: Simulating a Large Storm
Simulating Rainstorms in California
Goal: Make three weather events: cloud with severe rain, cloud with moderate rain, and cloud with very severe rain.
Launch the Weather Patterns Simulation and go to Regional Weather 1.
Question 13
13.
For the second weather event, return to Build.
Leave the surface water level at 5.
Decide how to change the amount of sunlight to make a cloud with moderate rain (level 2 rain)
Run the Simulation.
Go to Analyze and check if you have the desired Rainfall Level. If you do, record information in the data table. If you do not, go back to Build and change the conditions.
Repeat steps 2–5 for a cloud with very severe rain (level 4 rain).
Answer the questions below.
Question 14
14.
What direction does energy transfer as the air parcel rises?
Question 15
15.
What causes the parcel to stop rising?
Question 16
16.
In which test did the air parcel rise the highest?
Question 17
17.
Look back at your data and identify a connection between how high the air parcel rose into the troposphere and how much each cloud produced.
What pattern is there in the relationship between parcel height and rainfall level? Why?
Hint: The higher the air parcel goes the _______ rainfall level.
Sentence Starter:
The pattern in the relationship between parcel height and rainfall level is...
Part 4: Exit Ticket
Question 18
18.
An air parcel with a temperature of 25°C is surrounded by cooler air with a temperature of -5°C.
What will be the air parcel’s final temperature when it stops rising?
Question 19
19.
Which air parcel will lose more energy? All three air parcels have a surrounding air temperature of 5°C.
Question 20
20.
OPTIONAL: What slide was the symbol on?
One point extra credit if correct!
Question 6
6.
How was data collected about the The Great Flood of 1862?
Question 9
9.
Why did these air parcels rise so high into the troposphere?
Select all that apply.
Question 10
10.
"As they traveled up through the colder parts of the troposphere, energy transferred from the parcels to the surrounding air, lowering the temperature of the air in the parcels."
Why did energy transfer from the parcels to the surrounding air and not from the surrounding air to the parcel?
Hint: how can water vapor condense?
Question 11
11.
Fill in the blanks:
The parcels cooled until they had __________ temperature as the surrounding air, causing the water vapor inside to condense into liquid water. The higher they rose, the more energy the parcels lost and the more water vapor __________ .
