Challenge Yourself
We hope you’re enjoying the course so far. Now we’ve got your attention, for those looking for something a bit more challenging we have gathered some extra material which you …
Course: Come Rain or Shine: Understanding the Weather
Welcome to Week 2
This week we continue to look at the weather patterns based in the Mid-Latitudes, still focusing on the UK. In the video, Sylvia outlines this week’s topics and introduces you …
How does this compare to Mars?
Many scientists have studied Mars and its atmosphere is well understood. Although it’s only around half the size of the Earth, with no oceans and a thin atmosphere composed almost …
The impact of volcanoes
Huge explosive volcanic eruptions in the Tropics, energetic enough to push sulphur gases up into the stratosphere where they condense into aerosols, can have a cooling effect on climate by …
Summing up Week 2
This marks the end of the second week of the course, we hope that you have enjoyed it and found it interesting so far. Hopefully, by the end of this …
Mid-week summary
In the next Step you’ll be able to consolidate what you’ve learnt so far by reading a weather map. Let’s first summarise what has been covered. Weather systems act to …
Jet stream
The polar front jet stream is a belt of westerlies in the upper troposphere, with wind speeds up to 200mph. It sits at a around 10km, the height at which …
A passing depression
If a depression were passing over you, when would you expect there to be cloud, what sort of cloud would you see, and when would it rain? Please note diagrams …
The unstable Polar front
We now know that a Polar front is the boundary which separates warm tropical air from the colder air near the pole. All depressions form on this Polar front, because …
Weather forecast game
Before you start the course, we’d like you to have a go at trying to predict the weather in Reading, in our game hosted on the Royal Meteorological Society website. …
Tropical Cyclones and their Development
Of all the weather systems on Earth, tropical cyclones produce some of the most intense and damaging weather. Known as Hurricanes in the Atlantic, Typhoons in the Pacific and Cyclones …
Monsoons
The word ‘monsoon’ tends to be used very loosely to describe any particularly prolonged spell of wet weather. In fact the word has a very specific meteorological meaning. It is …
El Niño and La Niña
Every few years a very noticeable change comes about in the temperature of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The eastern side, which is usually the coolest part, warms up considerably, particularly …
Rainfall in the Tropics
Earlier this week we looked at the radiation budget of the Earth, that is the difference between the incoming energy from the Sun and the outgoing infra-red energy lost to …
Thank you and goodbye
Congratulations on completing the course! Hopefully, by the end of this week you should feel that you are happier: explaining some of the processes which transfer energy through the Earth …
These articles are from the online course:
Come Rain or Shine: Understanding the Weather
Everything you need to know about blended learning
We take a closer look at blended learning, exploring what it is, the different models, …
What is imposter syndrome, and how can you deal with it?
Most people have experienced feeling like an imposter at some point in their lives, so …
Gratitude and happiness: the importance of being grateful
Discover how the simple practise of gratitude can bring a host of different benefits to …
What does sustainability mean?
Sustainability is a hot topic right now. But what does it really mean, and which …
