@@MelStrong Actually I am egyptian and my English is not very good. But your explanation is very clear and I enjoyed listening to your lectures one after another, although this is not my specialty. I am pharmacist 😂
I was just going to write almost the same thing. I'm sharing this video on my Facebook page, and I'm going to say, "This guy is an excellent teacher." I found the video on cloud types because I'm studying to get my commercial drone license. Your video helped me a lot.
I watched your Lecture on CLOUDS, only after watching it i got total clarity about clouds and so does Mixing Ratio and Dew point. Your steady pace teaching style suits my level of learning and more over i can retain the concept with a single go. - Thank you.
Thank you for your nice comment. Watch part 2 (which is lecture 3) and see if relative humidity makes sense - that's the topic that tends to confuse people the most and is least understood by the public!
Best series of videos on this topic. This is exactly how I like to learn. You take it from a very granular level and build it up so as to have all the information needed and not just have givens with no explanation. Thank you
Hi Mel, thank you so much for making this available on the Internet. I am a German environmental science student and this has helped me a lot to regain study-fun during another online semester! Also it gave me the best basics for an exam, where we were only provided with a reading list... Kitty made everthing even better, and very nice fotos!
Man thank you for the way you are teaching this information on one topic. Simply the best. I am a weather buff. I am a skywarn storm spotter for the NWS. I have autism and intellectual disability. My autism is was called autistic disorder because I have the classic autism with severe language delays. I script my language that hides my moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder and mild intellectual developmental disability. My intellectual disability is not from low IQ but my auditory processing, expressing and reciptive language disorder, math disability, reading disability, executive function, working memory, processing of visual and auditory, muscle control, sensory, communication, behavior, and adaptive functioning skills. The dsm5 allow me this additional diagnosis. So it is confusing for doctors to how diagnosis me. The way you are teaching is exactly how I learn best. Man you show me a social story by showing and telling us what a gram of water looks like. By saying sugar cube I can't understand the size unless we you show me a sugar cube. Use dice and then I'm I understand it now. When you said how a meter is about the size of a door from floor to door knob, I need to look at a door to understand this. For me I can visualize or imagine the door from flor to door knob in a 3d shape like the dice and the cubes you drew. But I need to see the door and door knob. This help me so much. There are many more videos about different meteorologist terms that others had done. Let's take the lapses rate for an example. I needed to watch 5 different videos by 5 different people who all explained it differently and terms and visual I didn't understand and still have a hard time understanding this. The biggest part is how to calculate the lapse rate to calculate the environmental temperature change with hight for driy adobitic lapse rate calculate and moist adiitc lapse rate. This is not something I can understand or. Know how to calculate. I want to practice the on sounding and forecast sounding. I still need help understand how lapses rate effects instability and latant heat and energy and motion all works together for me to better understanding severe weather forecasting. I may never understand that. Jon Hitchcock at NWS Buffalo the severe weather warnings coordinator meteorologist had help me understand latant heat but I lost the email. The way he explained it with visual supports with lake effect snow when explained the process how it adds at takes away energy and temperature to change the physical state of elilmets was very helpful. Similar to how you teach this video. Most you get from the internet is one topic with bits to understand. When videos explained baroclinic instability and how it forms weather system from the hydro hermo pressure transfer from one area to another to stablize thermo pressure. It took a few videos to learn this. Some of the videos are ph.d. people. One is with the NWS weather prediction center regional office Kansas City, MO. Dr. Arena if I spell it right had explained it but not in visual supports that was hard to understand. This video and with other videos on baroclinic instability help me understand this and add it to Dr. Arena video with OU that help me with understanding how it effects severe weather. Basically, your video explains mixing ratio in a way that I may not need other videos to understand this. I want to say thank you. Please make a big series on meteorologist forecaster of forecast models, convection, thermodynamics, hyrodolgy, physics, and skew t and hudogrsfs and how these terms are used and measured and interact with each other that makes sense to everyone so they Can understand and maybe make forecast. Many people with autism and disability love weather but have learning and social and emotional issues that college isn't possible and so isn't working but may want the same opportunity to have a hobby with forecasting. Like I do.
Glad I came across this series. I’ve flown sailplanes for some years, and look at the weather a lot. These explain clearly and logically the various building blocks of what’s happening in the atmosphere. It’s great to listen to lectures like this, and learn. I like the style.
Got myself a weather station, started learning weather stuff.......you Sir, are superb at explaining this. Brilliant in fact. Best wishes from Scotland.
Wow, your lectures are so clear and organized! Your teaching is very calm and well-paced. I am the sort of person who usually can't hold my attention for more than 15 minutes...but I have been watching your lectures for hours without taking effort
Thank you for taking the time to share this knowledge. You do a great job of explaining concepts. I’m sure your students are happy to have you as an instructor. I’m a 747 pilot but will sail my schooner across the Atlantic and am improving my knowledge for that sail. Thank you.
Thank you so much for making all these! I started to become interested in meteorology but there are concepts that are hard to grasp in books and in other lectures. You're videos are super helpful. Thank you, sir, thank you! 🙇🏻♀️
You are just excellent! Beyond any sorts of complement. I didn't find anything so much easier but detailed lectures on atmospheric science anywhere. Thanks a lot for your efforts. It's just excellent.
Thank you, professor, for the information. When I finish building a time machine on the other channel, I'm going back to take your class.. you are one of the best.
The use of small dice and a 1m cubed box to represent water vapor and air respectively, was a great idea. I didn't know where mixing ratio was going but you slid right into dew point and for the first time I think I actually grasped the concept. I have never heard of the North American Monsoon before. Every time I hear of a monsoon I have associated it with "Karate Kid 2" and Okinawa. You nearly broken my brain speaking of monsoon season in terms of New Mexico. I had to fact check it to make sure you weren't making it up. It's real! =) I see it that it was the subject of one of your papers...dissertation I think. Thanks for reshaping my old noggin.
Thanks - pretty much all weather books I have seen jump right into dew point without any work with mixing ratio. I think that makes it way too abstract. I like mixing ratio because you can visualize it. If you are publishing scientific papers, you would typically report humidity as parts per million (PPM). But nobody uses that in weather reports.
@@MelStrong Interestingly it was a clear day today except for a solitary cumulus cloud as I was walking my dog. I estimated the cloud deck to be about 3,000 feet. (I've played with METAR data which has helped me to estimate cloud bases in the past). It was 70 degrees F. Using the DALR rule of 5.4 deg/1000 feet, I estimated the dew point to be about 53 deg F. This was an estimate since I had my dog. I checked the actual dew point and it was 54. Wow!! I suddenly feel like I have this special power over my environment. =)
Your lectures are amazing. Thank you!!! I'm a pilot and these have been so helpful in understanding more about weather. Your work should be used by the FAA for training pilots.
Thank you very much. But I don't want to be responsible for planes falling out of the sky.... But seriously I should make a couple of lectures specifically for pilots as there is a lot more they should know than what I have in this lecture series.
Haha. I think you'll only be responsible for helping us prevent getting planes into conditions that could make them fall out of the sky. I know that there is a lot we should know as pilots, but I'm amazed at how well you describe some basic concepts that we learn about but don't deeply understand. I've been binge watching these and sharing them with other pilots already. So thanks again and I'll be on the lookout in case any pilot specific lectures do come out.
Well if you can think of particular topics that pilots are either most confused about or would find most useful, that would help me figure out what to cover.
@@MelStrong I'm a student pilot, and I find your lectures so much more comprehensive and consistent than any specialized manuals about meteorology for aviators I've read so far! For example, in the books there is a lot of confusion about how to count the water vapour in the atmosphere composition. Your explanation has finally cleared this up for me. The previous lecture about the cloud types is just brilliant, I know exactly how to tell altocumulus from stratocumulus now. I do have some questions about relative humidity, but they might be answered in the following lectures.
@@gregory.chalenko Thanks for the feedback - humidity is a very confusing topic. It is poorly communicated and hence poorly understood by most people. I can imagine the confusion that pilots must have about this.
Dew point/saturation/humidity are the hardest part of me trying to understand weather, now i got whole picture clear after watching your lecture. Thanks
basically bcz as temperature rise, air expand and create more space for more gas to "fit in". likewise in cold temperature, gas shrinking and got together, create less space for new gas to coming. wow
you said hot air can be either dry or humid. but cold air MUST dry, so cold AND humid climate that usually appear in one of 4 climatology type are myth? what do u think?
Well when I say dry air I mean that the dew point / mixing ratio are low. But since relative humidity is a widely used variable, it makes things more confusing. So you can have cold air, but high relative humidity - it's just really close to saturation. But that still means the air has very little moisture in it. For example, if the temperature is -40 and the relative humidity is 100%, you would have a cloud of ice crystals. But if you concentrated all the water together from a parcel of air, it would be a very very small amount. So the air is still very dry.
It's more like this: At higher temperatures, the water molecules have more kinetic energy, so they are less likely to stick together and condense. At colder temperatures, the water molecules are moving slower, and so are more likely to cling together to form a condensate. This is what is ultimately putting a limit onto how much water vapor can be in the air at a given temperature.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:02 *🌍 Composition of Earth's atmosphere* - Earth's atmosphere primarily consists of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and argon (1%), with trace amounts of other gases. 05:21 *💧 Introduction to humidity measurement methods* - Humidity describes the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. - Two common methods to measure humidity are mixing ratio and percentage of gases in the atmosphere that are water vapor. 05:46 *📊 Understanding mixing ratio* - Mixing ratio quantifies the amount of water vapor in grams per kilogram of air. - It provides a precise measure of humidity and is often expressed as a fraction. 08:49 *📏 Visualizing metric units and calculations* - Understanding metric units like grams, kilograms, milliliters, and liters aids in comprehending mixing ratios. - Visualizing the size of a gram of water and a kilogram of air helps in understanding mixing ratio calculations. 12:49 *💡 Application of mixing ratio in problem-solving* - Solving problems involving mixing ratios requires understanding the concept of ratios and applying it to given scenarios. - Calculating the total amount of water vapor in a given volume of air involves multiplying mixing ratio by the volume of air. 19:29 *☁ Understanding saturation and its implications* - Saturation occurs when air reaches its maximum capacity to hold water vapor. - Saturation limits the amount of water vapor that can exist in the air, affecting humidity levels. 21:14 *🌡 Temperature's Influence on Humidity* - Temperature fundamentally controls the amount of water vapor the air can hold. - Cold air is always dry air, even when saturated, while hot air can vary in humidity. - Visualization of global humidity patterns demonstrates high humidity around the equator and low humidity near the poles. 27:23 *💧 Understanding Mixing Ratios and Dew Point* - Mixing ratio determines the potential amount of water vapor in the air. - Cooling air reduces its capacity to hold moisture until saturation, leading to condensation. - The dew point marks the temperature at which air becomes saturated, causing condensation to form dew. 32:30 *🌬 Significance of Dew Point in Weather Monitoring* - Dew point provides insight into atmospheric moisture levels. - Weather reports often include dew point to indicate humidity. - Monitoring dew point aids in understanding weather phenomena like monsoons and precipitation patterns.
Very useful lecture for me. I'm preparing for my exam in introductory meteorology and climatology, and this is exactly what I need, thank you for making it.
@@MelStrong Yes I passed with a really good grade! Thank you very much :D It's very strange that there is so little educational material for meteorology on youtube, even though you'd think the weather is something that impacts the life of every person on Earth. Your lectures are really like finding a goldmine.
Some people apparently think he is fake or that I somehow superimposed a video of a cat onto the desk. He's just fat and lazy and hoping for some occasionally belly rub.
Hello Dr. Strong, thank you so much for your lectures. I love how you explain everything instead of just giving a bunch of definitions to learn! I have a question. Why is the atmosphere not always saturated? I have learned in a video from the Metoffice that if you have a closed water bottle after a short time evaporation and condensation rates are the same and the air above the water becomes saturated. I have also learned in Earth Science class that planet Earth is a closed system, so isn't it the same as the water bottle example with ocean and atmosphere?
Thank you for these lectures! Watching them and taking notes! One question I had re: this lecture was (perhaps covered later) why does air have a saturation point?
The saturation point exists because that is the temperature at which the kinetic energy of the water molecules is too low for all of them to remain in the vapor state. In a cooling parcel of air, once the saturation point is hit, further reductions in temperature lowers the overall average kinetic energy of the water vapor molecules, so more and more of them condense out. It is the higher kinetic average kinetic energy that allows them to remain in the vapor state to begin with.
I have a question. Your lecture is amazing. But when you said that 1kg of air in a 1m x 1m x 1m cube, shouldn’t it be 10 cm x 10cm x 10cm cube because 1cm cubes have 1 gram. You can fit 1000 1cm cubes in a 10 cm cube (10 in a line, then a 100 in a 10 by 10 grid, the a 1000 in 10 grids stacked? And 1kg 1000g?
Thank you for your videos. I just finished the one about clouds, I am a meteorologist in the Philippines and it had been very helpful. Just wanted to point out though that 1 cubic meter is equal to 1000 kg, not 1 kg. I hope you keep doing these kind of stuff. They're awesome! Will continue watching the rest of your lessons.
1 cubic meter of air is not exactly 1kg, but is close. At sea level it will be a little more - perhaps 1.2 kg or so. But I use exactly 1kg because it makes the math much easier. Maybe you are thinking of 1 cubic meter of water??
@@MelStrong Omg ah yes, I just realized my error. Ofc we have to consider the density of stuff. Yes, I was thinking of water. Thank you for your reply!
Mel, you describe the metric system of volume and weight. All good makes sense. So why do you revert to imperial measurements of temperature? Degrees Celsius is far easier to convey and makes much more sense from a scientific perspective. Lectures are very good thank you.
Because in this country, almost all weather maps and charts and reports and forecasts use F. And all my students only think in F. In science paper and calculations, we actually use Kelvin and not C. But nobody thinks in Kelvin either.
Given the cause , the temperature difference and the pressure difference between land and ocean, most of the Monsoons occur around equator because equator region has the highest mixing ratio? Thanks a million You have answered so many questions related to weather, reinforced concepts I learned in Mechanical Engineering; HVAC design , psychometric etc. I am enjoying every moment of your lecture.
Monsoons exist when there is a seasonal reversal in wind direction. For the most part that requires a location near the equator because there is a band of easterlies on both sides of the equator (the ITCZ actually). This band moves north and south with the seasons. So if you live near the edge of this band of easterlies, then there is a chance that you could be within the easterlies during part of the year, but then in the westerlies during the rest of the year. That wind reversal can lead to a wet season vs dry season if you are living with a large body of water to your east or west for example.
Tip: teach your students how to use units. At 14 min, the question was divide or multiply g/kg water vapor and kg of air to get g of water vapor. Divide the units and you get g/kg2 or kg2/g, which is not the unit g you are looking for. If you multiply g/kg x kg you get ... g, so it has to be a multiplication. This is a great way of checking all your physics equations and applying it means you have to memorize less equations. Note some units like a Force need to be written out. Use an equations you know, like F=m.a; m = kg, a = m/s2, so the unit N is kg.m/s2.
The dew point depends on how much water vapor is in the air. That in turn depends on the history of the air. If it came from somewhere cold and dry, then the dew point will be low. If the air came from over a warm ocean, then the dew point will be high. In many locations in the world, the dew point will change with wind direction, since the incoming air will be traveling in from a different location.
A remark from a metric guy: one liter of water weighs one kilogram in normal conditions. This actually follows from Mel's explanation: 1 liter = 1000 milliliters 1 kilogram = 1000 grams So, if 1 milliliter weighs 1 gram, then 1 liter weighs 1 kilogram. One liter can be visualized as a cube with each side equal to 10 centimeters, which is 1000 times bigger in volume than a cube with sides of 1 centimeter.
Does mixing ratio vary by altitude? I live in South Carolina at around 1000ft above sea level, while Albuquerque is over 5,000ft above sea level. Would maximum mixing ratios be different in these two places in the same way that boiling/freezing temps are slightly different?
The *maximum* mixing ratio only depends on temperature - pressure doesn't have much of an effect. However, since temperature cools with altitude, then it is usually the case that at higher altitudes you expect a lower maximum mixing ratio. As far as the *actual* mixing ratio is concerned, it is also usually the case that higher altitudes have drier air, therefore lower mixing ratios.
@@MelStrong Thanks so much for your quick response. I am really enjoying these lectures. It makes concepts that I've always struggled to wrap my head around much easier to understand!
I wonder... can you do it without the metrical system? I imagine it would be terribly difficult with US customary units 🤔 Is the metrical system taught in US schools?
Thank you for the lovely lectures! I've greatly enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to the subsequent ones. I have a quick clarifying question regarding mixing ratio. When we say that e.g. the mixing ratio is 3 g/kg. Does this mean that it is 3 grams of water for every kilogram of air or is it 3 grams of water in every kilogram of air with the water in? In other words, what do we put in the denominator, the mass of the air without the water or the air and the water together? Of course, for small mixing ratios it hardly matters, but I just wanted to know since when you defined it, it seems that you've meant 3 grams of water for every kilogram of dry air, but when you've solved some examples it seems that you've meant 3 grams of water for every kilogram of the mixture of air with the water in.
Mixing ratio is the mass of water divided by the mass of dry air. So to make a mixing ratio of 3g/kg, you would start with 1 kg of dry air, and then mix in 3g of water vapor for a total of 1.003kg. Specific Humidity is another way to describe humidity - I didn't talk about it here, but it is the ratio of the mass of water vapor to the mass of *all* air. The numerator is the water vapor alone, and the denominator is the dry air + water vapor combined. Sometimes water vapor is reported as Mixing Ratio, sometimes in Specific Humidity - they differ by a few percent.
Hello, I am from Chile and I was very happy to understand this concepts from this part of the world geography. Do you think it is possible that the lack of humidity of the Antartica travels thru the andes and impacts on the dryness of the Atacama desert, which is the driest desert of the world?
Hello - the dry air in the Atacama desert is mostly due to the fact that air masses in that area are moving in from the East, so they must travel across the Amazon and up the Andes. As the air moves up and up across the continent, it continuously produces more and more rain until the remaining air is very dry. By the time the air reaches the Atacama almost all of the moisture has "rained out." Additionally, the west coast of South America is near a subtropical high pressure system over the southern Pacific ocean; this means that there is a nearly continuous column of dry descending air coming down from the upper troposphere. So in short, the Atacama can get dry air from both directions!
It's not strictly true that nitrogen has no effect in the body. It dissolves in the blood and tissues, an excess of it has a sedative effect, and if it comes out of solution too fast, you get embolisms, and "the bends." An interesting question would be whether breathing air without nitrogen, such as in a space suit or space capsule, for long periods would have negative effects.
Question! When the temperature of the air drops to the point where the air cannot hold anymore water vapor, what determines if we get dews on the ground or we get clouds up in the sky?
If air up in the sky is cooled to the dew point, then we get a cloud. At the surface, it depends on which cools first. Normally the surface cools first, so most places will get dew. But if the air is cooler than the surface, then we get fog, which is just a cloud on the ground.
Question: why does temperature limit the amount of water vapor in air? Is there a similar limit to CO2? or O2? Water vapor is just a gas like CO2 or N2 etc. I assume the answer is in the chemical bond structure of water etc, but it deserves a little explanation. Thanks
There are limits to all gasses, which is called the saturation vapor pressure....when the partial pressure of a particular gas reaches its saturation vapor pressure, condensation starts to occur. As an everyday example, when you get a tank of propane, the propane inside the tank is in a liquid state. This is because there are way too many propane molecules to remain in the vapor state within the confines of the tank. Water is a polar molecule, which means it has a slightly positive side and a slightly negative side. Because of this, the water molecules want to cling together. The reason they don't is because of kinetic energy. The warmer it is, the more kinetic energy the molecules have, and the high their average velocities are. As the temperature cools, the kinetic energy of the molecules decreases. Eventually they are able to cling together and stay together. Non-polar gasses such as nitrogen can be in much higher concentrations before they start to condense out.
The maximum vapor pressure (saturation point) for any substance is quite independent of pressure. For example, suppose that you were at sea level and the maximum mixing ratio for the temperature on that day happened to be 10g/kg. If you could then somehow magically remove all of the nitrogen and oxygen from the atmosphere (hence greatly reducing the overall pressure), the maximum mixing ratio would not appreciably change and still remain close to10g/kg.
@Paul Simonson Now that’s just too funny… Once ALL contributing factors are taken into account from earth rotation to solar cycles, from precessional cycles to volcanic activity ALL indications are that the current trend in warming is due primarily to human activity… You can argue ALL you like but that’s just the facts of the matter…
Not accurate SIr. You should have mentioned how humid south Asia or Bangladesh is during summer , just in winter it is dry. South Asia is very very humid.
You are one of the best teachers I’ve ever listened to, you have a gift for it.
My students would generally disagree with you but thanks!
@@MelStrong we are all your student now and we appreciate it. Best material for my PPL study. Thank you.
@@MelStrong Actually I am egyptian and my English is not very good. But your explanation is very clear and I enjoyed listening to your lectures one after another, although this is not my specialty. I am pharmacist 😂
I was just going to write almost the same thing. I'm sharing this video on my Facebook page, and I'm going to say, "This guy is an excellent teacher." I found the video on cloud types because I'm studying to get my commercial drone license. Your video helped me a lot.
Years later and this is still the best introduction to climate and weather out there. This must remain on TH-cam until the end of times!
Couldn't agree more!!
I watched your Lecture on CLOUDS, only after watching it i got total clarity about clouds and so does Mixing Ratio and Dew point. Your steady pace teaching style suits my level of learning and more over i can retain the concept with a single go. - Thank you.
Thank you for your nice comment. Watch part 2 (which is lecture 3) and see if relative humidity makes sense - that's the topic that tends to confuse people the most and is least understood by the public!
@janakiram: I share your experience. Well put. His teaching style is perfectly balanced for understanding and retention in one go.
You explain so well!! I don't know nothing about weather and could really follow along. Thank you so much!!
This guy needs his own tv show. Such a brilliant teacher!
Best series of videos on this topic. This is exactly how I like to learn. You take it from a very granular level and build it up so as to have all the information needed and not just have givens with no explanation. Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Strong, for making me a little bit less stupid!
Much obliged!
LOL
I am so glad i found this Serie. Thank you so much. The best introduction I found so far.
Hi Mel, thank you so much for making this available on the Internet. I am a German environmental science student and this has helped me a lot to regain study-fun during another online semester! Also it gave me the best basics for an exam, where we were only provided with a reading list... Kitty made everthing even better, and very nice fotos!
Thanks for your message - hope these lectures help you in some way. Kitties always make things better...
Man thank you for the way you are teaching this information on one topic. Simply the best. I am a weather buff. I am a skywarn storm spotter for the NWS. I have autism and intellectual disability. My autism is was called autistic disorder because I have the classic autism with severe language delays. I script my language that hides my moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder and mild intellectual developmental disability. My intellectual disability is not from low IQ but my auditory processing, expressing and reciptive language disorder, math disability, reading disability, executive function, working memory, processing of visual and auditory, muscle control, sensory, communication, behavior, and adaptive functioning skills. The dsm5 allow me this additional diagnosis. So it is confusing for doctors to how diagnosis me.
The way you are teaching is exactly how I learn best. Man you show me a social story by showing and telling us what a gram of water looks like. By saying sugar cube I can't understand the size unless we you show me a sugar cube. Use dice and then I'm I understand it now. When you said how a meter is about the size of a door from floor to door knob, I need to look at a door to understand this. For me I can visualize or imagine the door from flor to door knob in a 3d shape like the dice and the cubes you drew. But I need to see the door and door knob.
This help me so much. There are many more videos about different meteorologist terms that others had done. Let's take the lapses rate for an example. I needed to watch 5 different videos by 5 different people who all explained it differently and terms and visual I didn't understand and still have a hard time understanding this. The biggest part is how to calculate the lapse rate to calculate the environmental temperature change with hight for driy adobitic lapse rate calculate and moist adiitc lapse rate. This is not something I can understand or. Know how to calculate. I want to practice the on sounding and forecast sounding. I still need help understand how lapses rate effects instability and latant heat and energy and motion all works together for me to better understanding severe weather forecasting. I may never understand that. Jon Hitchcock at NWS Buffalo the severe weather warnings coordinator meteorologist had help me understand latant heat but I lost the email. The way he explained it with visual supports with lake effect snow when explained the process how it adds at takes away energy and temperature to change the physical state of elilmets was very helpful. Similar to how you teach this video. Most you get from the internet is one topic with bits to understand. When videos explained baroclinic instability and how it forms weather system from the hydro hermo pressure transfer from one area to another to stablize thermo pressure. It took a few videos to learn this. Some of the videos are ph.d. people. One is with the NWS weather prediction center regional office Kansas City, MO. Dr. Arena if I spell it right had explained it but not in visual supports that was hard to understand. This video and with other videos on baroclinic instability help me understand this and add it to Dr. Arena video with OU that help me with understanding how it effects severe weather.
Basically, your video explains mixing ratio in a way that I may not need other videos to understand this. I want to say thank you. Please make a big series on meteorologist forecaster of forecast models, convection, thermodynamics, hyrodolgy, physics, and skew t and hudogrsfs and how these terms are used and measured and interact with each other that makes sense to everyone so they Can understand and maybe make forecast. Many people with autism and disability love weather but have learning and social and emotional issues that college isn't possible and so isn't working but may want the same opportunity to have a hobby with forecasting. Like I do.
Glad I came across this series. I’ve flown sailplanes for some years, and look at the weather a lot. These explain clearly and logically the various building blocks of what’s happening in the atmosphere. It’s great to listen to lectures like this, and learn. I like the style.
Got myself a weather station, started learning weather stuff.......you Sir, are superb at explaining this. Brilliant in fact. Best wishes from Scotland.
Wow, your lectures are so clear and organized! Your teaching is very calm and well-paced. I am the sort of person who usually can't hold my attention for more than 15 minutes...but I have been watching your lectures for hours without taking effort
I learned so much watching and listening to you. Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to share this knowledge. You do a great job of explaining concepts. I’m sure your students are happy to have you as an instructor. I’m a 747 pilot but will sail my schooner across the Atlantic and am improving my knowledge for that sail. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment. Good luck on your voyage!
I love this guy. His lectures are so enjoyable.
Thank you so much for making all these! I started to become interested in meteorology but there are concepts that are hard to grasp in books and in other lectures. You're videos are super helpful. Thank you, sir, thank you! 🙇🏻♀️
Thank you for posting this. It's very fascinating.
You are just excellent! Beyond any sorts of complement. I didn't find anything so much easier but detailed lectures on atmospheric science anywhere. Thanks a lot for your efforts. It's just excellent.
Thank you so much for this informative lecture! I'm such a weather geek and have watched it several times. Thanks again!
Thanks!
Random biochem student here to learn about weather, these are very helpful and your lectures are lovely to have in the background!
Thank you, professor, for the information. When I finish building a time machine on the other channel, I'm going back to take your class.. you are one of the best.
Absolutely amazing video. I learnt a lot here, and appreciate it very much. Thank you.
🙌thanks excellent ! after seen 5 videos I finally understand the point! nice cat!
Omg! I am loving this. So fascinating ❤
The use of small dice and a 1m cubed box to represent water vapor and air respectively, was a great idea. I didn't know where mixing ratio was going but you slid right into dew point and for the first time I think I actually grasped the concept. I have never heard of the North American Monsoon before. Every time I hear of a monsoon I have associated it with "Karate Kid 2" and Okinawa. You nearly broken my brain speaking of monsoon season in terms of New Mexico. I had to fact check it to make sure you weren't making it up. It's real! =) I see it that it was the subject of one of your papers...dissertation I think. Thanks for reshaping my old noggin.
Thanks - pretty much all weather books I have seen jump right into dew point without any work with mixing ratio. I think that makes it way too abstract. I like mixing ratio because you can visualize it. If you are publishing scientific papers, you would typically report humidity as parts per million (PPM). But nobody uses that in weather reports.
@@MelStrong Interestingly it was a clear day today except for a solitary cumulus cloud as I was walking my dog. I estimated the cloud deck to be about 3,000 feet. (I've played with METAR data which has helped me to estimate cloud bases in the past). It was 70 degrees F. Using the DALR rule of 5.4 deg/1000 feet, I estimated the dew point to be about 53 deg F. This was an estimate since I had my dog. I checked the actual dew point and it was 54. Wow!! I suddenly feel like I have this special power over my environment. =)
Your lectures are amazing. Thank you!!! I'm a pilot and these have been so helpful in understanding more about weather. Your work should be used by the FAA for training pilots.
Thank you very much. But I don't want to be responsible for planes falling out of the sky....
But seriously I should make a couple of lectures specifically for pilots as there is a lot more they should know than what I have in this lecture series.
Haha. I think you'll only be responsible for helping us prevent getting planes into conditions that could make them fall out of the sky. I know that there is a lot we should know as pilots, but I'm amazed at how well you describe some basic concepts that we learn about but don't deeply understand. I've been binge watching these and sharing them with other pilots already. So thanks again and I'll be on the lookout in case any pilot specific lectures do come out.
Well if you can think of particular topics that pilots are either most confused about or would find most useful, that would help me figure out what to cover.
@@MelStrong I'm a student pilot, and I find your lectures so much more comprehensive and consistent than any specialized manuals about meteorology for aviators I've read so far!
For example, in the books there is a lot of confusion about how to count the water vapour in the atmosphere composition. Your explanation has finally cleared this up for me.
The previous lecture about the cloud types is just brilliant, I know exactly how to tell altocumulus from stratocumulus now.
I do have some questions about relative humidity, but they might be answered in the following lectures.
@@gregory.chalenko Thanks for the feedback - humidity is a very confusing topic. It is poorly communicated and hence poorly understood by most people. I can imagine the confusion that pilots must have about this.
Dew point/saturation/humidity are the hardest part of me trying to understand weather, now i got whole picture clear after watching your lecture. Thanks
basically bcz as temperature rise, air expand and create more space for more gas to "fit in". likewise in cold temperature, gas shrinking and got together, create less space for new gas to coming. wow
you said hot air can be either dry or humid. but cold air MUST dry, so cold AND humid climate that usually appear in one of 4 climatology type are myth? what do u think?
Well when I say dry air I mean that the dew point / mixing ratio are low. But since relative humidity is a widely used variable, it makes things more confusing. So you can have cold air, but high relative humidity - it's just really close to saturation. But that still means the air has very little moisture in it. For example, if the temperature is -40 and the relative humidity is 100%, you would have a cloud of ice crystals. But if you concentrated all the water together from a parcel of air, it would be a very very small amount. So the air is still very dry.
It's more like this: At higher temperatures, the water molecules have more kinetic energy, so they are less likely to stick together and condense. At colder temperatures, the water molecules are moving slower, and so are more likely to cling together to form a condensate. This is what is ultimately putting a limit onto how much water vapor can be in the air at a given temperature.
Perhaps my favorite part of your videos is how you have the cats joining the
lecture.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:02 *🌍 Composition of Earth's atmosphere*
- Earth's atmosphere primarily consists of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and argon (1%), with trace amounts of other gases.
05:21 *💧 Introduction to humidity measurement methods*
- Humidity describes the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.
- Two common methods to measure humidity are mixing ratio and percentage of gases in the atmosphere that are water vapor.
05:46 *📊 Understanding mixing ratio*
- Mixing ratio quantifies the amount of water vapor in grams per kilogram of air.
- It provides a precise measure of humidity and is often expressed as a fraction.
08:49 *📏 Visualizing metric units and calculations*
- Understanding metric units like grams, kilograms, milliliters, and liters aids in comprehending mixing ratios.
- Visualizing the size of a gram of water and a kilogram of air helps in understanding mixing ratio calculations.
12:49 *💡 Application of mixing ratio in problem-solving*
- Solving problems involving mixing ratios requires understanding the concept of ratios and applying it to given scenarios.
- Calculating the total amount of water vapor in a given volume of air involves multiplying mixing ratio by the volume of air.
19:29 *☁ Understanding saturation and its implications*
- Saturation occurs when air reaches its maximum capacity to hold water vapor.
- Saturation limits the amount of water vapor that can exist in the air, affecting humidity levels.
21:14 *🌡 Temperature's Influence on Humidity*
- Temperature fundamentally controls the amount of water vapor the air can hold.
- Cold air is always dry air, even when saturated, while hot air can vary in humidity.
- Visualization of global humidity patterns demonstrates high humidity around the equator and low humidity near the poles.
27:23 *💧 Understanding Mixing Ratios and Dew Point*
- Mixing ratio determines the potential amount of water vapor in the air.
- Cooling air reduces its capacity to hold moisture until saturation, leading to condensation.
- The dew point marks the temperature at which air becomes saturated, causing condensation to form dew.
32:30 *🌬 Significance of Dew Point in Weather Monitoring*
- Dew point provides insight into atmospheric moisture levels.
- Weather reports often include dew point to indicate humidity.
- Monitoring dew point aids in understanding weather phenomena like monsoons and precipitation patterns.
You are an amazing teacher. if only I had you in college.
Marvellous series kudos to ur practical visualisation
Thank you very much for these excellent lectures!
Love it! And I impressed everyone I know with my new knowledge of dew point!
Great! But can you impress your friends even more by making dew magically appear in front of their eyes???
@@MelStrong haha
Very useful lecture for me. I'm preparing for my exam in introductory meteorology and climatology, and this is exactly what I need, thank you for making it.
So did you pass your exam? If not, I claim no responsibility....
@@MelStrong Yes I passed with a really good grade! Thank you very much :D
It's very strange that there is so little educational material for meteorology on youtube, even though you'd think the weather is something that impacts the life of every person on Earth. Your lectures are really like finding a goldmine.
You explained this so well
@1:14 had me dying, you delivered it like a killer xD
Very good explanation. I got scared by that cute furry thing, i tought she/he was a toy at first, until she yawned
Some people apparently think he is fake or that I somehow superimposed a video of a cat onto the desk. He's just fat and lazy and hoping for some occasionally belly rub.
Great.....Your teaching skill made it easy to understand ...Thank you soo much
Thanks...appreciate the feedback.
Great video, but how do you determine how many grams of water for the numerator
Hello Dr. Strong, thank you so much for your lectures. I love how you explain everything instead of just giving a bunch of definitions to learn! I have a question. Why is the atmosphere not always saturated? I have learned in a video from the Metoffice that if you have a closed water bottle after a short time evaporation and condensation rates are the same and the air above the water becomes saturated. I have also learned in Earth Science class that planet Earth is a closed system, so isn't it the same as the water bottle example with ocean and atmosphere?
That’s a very cool cat 👍 Boy he sure loves that spot doesn’t he 🙂
Thank you for these lectures! Watching them and taking notes!
One question I had re: this lecture was (perhaps covered later) why does air have a saturation point?
The saturation point exists because that is the temperature at which the kinetic energy of the water molecules is too low for all of them to remain in the vapor state. In a cooling parcel of air, once the saturation point is hit, further reductions in temperature lowers the overall average kinetic energy of the water vapor molecules, so more and more of them condense out. It is the higher kinetic average kinetic energy that allows them to remain in the vapor state to begin with.
I have a question.
Your lecture is amazing. But when you said that 1kg of air in a 1m x 1m x 1m cube, shouldn’t it be 10 cm x 10cm x 10cm cube because 1cm cubes have 1 gram. You can fit 1000 1cm cubes in a 10 cm cube (10 in a line, then a 100 in a 10 by 10 grid, the a 1000 in 10 grids stacked? And 1kg 1000g?
Thank you for your videos. I just finished the one about clouds, I am a meteorologist in the Philippines and it had been very helpful. Just wanted to point out though that 1 cubic meter is equal to 1000 kg, not 1 kg. I hope you keep doing these kind of stuff. They're awesome! Will continue watching the rest of your lessons.
1 cubic meter of air is not exactly 1kg, but is close. At sea level it will be a little more - perhaps 1.2 kg or so. But I use exactly 1kg because it makes the math much easier. Maybe you are thinking of 1 cubic meter of water??
@@MelStrong Omg ah yes, I just realized my error. Ofc we have to consider the density of stuff. Yes, I was thinking of water. Thank you for your reply!
It would be useful to note your references in the text. The Internet site used was amazing!
Where can I download that exact chart for mixing ratio?
This, is, amazing
Mel, you describe the metric system of volume and weight. All good makes sense. So why do you revert to imperial measurements of temperature? Degrees Celsius is far easier to convey and makes much more sense from a scientific perspective. Lectures are very good thank you.
Because in this country, almost all weather maps and charts and reports and forecasts use F. And all my students only think in F. In science paper and calculations, we actually use Kelvin and not C. But nobody thinks in Kelvin either.
Given the cause , the temperature difference and the pressure difference between land and ocean, most of the Monsoons occur around equator because equator region has the highest mixing ratio?
Thanks a million
You have answered so many questions related to weather, reinforced concepts I learned in Mechanical Engineering; HVAC design , psychometric etc.
I am enjoying every moment of your lecture.
Monsoons exist when there is a seasonal reversal in wind direction. For the most part that requires a location near the equator because there is a band of easterlies on both sides of the equator (the ITCZ actually). This band moves north and south with the seasons. So if you live near the edge of this band of easterlies, then there is a chance that you could be within the easterlies during part of the year, but then in the westerlies during the rest of the year. That wind reversal can lead to a wet season vs dry season if you are living with a large body of water to your east or west for example.
Hello again, Mr. Strong. Besides these lectures, do you have lectures on other science subjects too?
Excellent
really enjoy your lectures, just starting to go through them. Will you be doing any future lecture content?
Eventually
Tip: teach your students how to use units. At 14 min, the question was divide or multiply g/kg water vapor and kg of air to get g of water vapor. Divide the units and you get g/kg2 or kg2/g, which is not the unit g you are looking for. If you multiply g/kg x kg you get ... g, so it has to be a multiplication. This is a great way of checking all your physics equations and applying it means you have to memorize less equations. Note some units like a Force need to be written out. Use an equations you know, like F=m.a; m = kg, a = m/s2, so the unit N is kg.m/s2.
what does dew point depends on ? thanks for sharing such good content!
The dew point depends on how much water vapor is in the air. That in turn depends on the history of the air. If it came from somewhere cold and dry, then the dew point will be low. If the air came from over a warm ocean, then the dew point will be high. In many locations in the world, the dew point will change with wind direction, since the incoming air will be traveling in from a different location.
A remark from a metric guy: one liter of water weighs one kilogram in normal conditions. This actually follows from Mel's explanation:
1 liter = 1000 milliliters
1 kilogram = 1000 grams
So, if 1 milliliter weighs 1 gram, then 1 liter weighs 1 kilogram.
One liter can be visualized as a cube with each side equal to 10 centimeters, which is 1000 times bigger in volume than a cube with sides of 1 centimeter.
Does mixing ratio vary by altitude? I live in South Carolina at around 1000ft above sea level, while Albuquerque is over 5,000ft above sea level. Would maximum mixing ratios be different in these two places in the same way that boiling/freezing temps are slightly different?
The *maximum* mixing ratio only depends on temperature - pressure doesn't have much of an effect. However, since temperature cools with altitude, then it is usually the case that at higher altitudes you expect a lower maximum mixing ratio. As far as the *actual* mixing ratio is concerned, it is also usually the case that higher altitudes have drier air, therefore lower mixing ratios.
@@MelStrong Thanks so much for your quick response. I am really enjoying these lectures. It makes concepts that I've always struggled to wrap my head around much easier to understand!
I wonder... can you do it without the metrical system? I imagine it would be terribly difficult with US customary units 🤔
Is the metrical system taught in US schools?
Thank you for the lovely lectures! I've greatly enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to the subsequent ones.
I have a quick clarifying question regarding mixing ratio. When we say that e.g. the mixing ratio is 3 g/kg. Does this mean that it is 3 grams of water for every kilogram of air or is it 3 grams of water in every kilogram of air with the water in? In other words, what do we put in the denominator, the mass of the air without the water or the air and the water together? Of course, for small mixing ratios it hardly matters, but I just wanted to know since when you defined it, it seems that you've meant 3 grams of water for every kilogram of dry air, but when you've solved some examples it seems that you've meant 3 grams of water for every kilogram of the mixture of air with the water in.
Mixing ratio is the mass of water divided by the mass of dry air. So to make a mixing ratio of 3g/kg, you would start with 1 kg of dry air, and then mix in 3g of water vapor for a total of 1.003kg. Specific Humidity is another way to describe humidity - I didn't talk about it here, but it is the ratio of the mass of water vapor to the mass of *all* air. The numerator is the water vapor alone, and the denominator is the dry air + water vapor combined. Sometimes water vapor is reported as Mixing Ratio, sometimes in Specific Humidity - they differ by a few percent.
Hello, I am from Chile and I was very happy to understand this concepts from this part of the world geography. Do you think it is possible that the lack of humidity of the Antartica travels thru the andes and impacts on the dryness of the Atacama desert, which is the driest desert of the world?
Hello - the dry air in the Atacama desert is mostly due to the fact that air masses in that area are moving in from the East, so they must travel across the Amazon and up the Andes. As the air moves up and up across the continent, it continuously produces more and more rain until the remaining air is very dry. By the time the air reaches the Atacama almost all of the moisture has "rained out." Additionally, the west coast of South America is near a subtropical high pressure system over the southern Pacific ocean; this means that there is a nearly continuous column of dry descending air coming down from the upper troposphere. So in short, the Atacama can get dry air from both directions!
Professor thank you so much for all the knowledge. God B
less you always!
Why is the graph standard temp - metric saturation
It's not strictly true that nitrogen has no effect in the body. It dissolves in the blood and tissues, an excess of it has a sedative effect, and if it comes out of solution too fast, you get embolisms, and "the bends." An interesting question would be whether breathing air without nitrogen, such as in a space suit or space capsule, for long periods would have negative effects.
awesome
You are an excellent teacher. If I am trying to suggest an improvement it would be "when you look at the earth as a hole" remember it is metric.😁
If the earth was really a hole we would have bigger problems than the metric system...
Question!
When the temperature of the air drops to the point where the air cannot hold anymore water vapor, what determines if we get dews on the ground or we get clouds up in the sky?
If air up in the sky is cooled to the dew point, then we get a cloud. At the surface, it depends on which cools first. Normally the surface cools first, so most places will get dew. But if the air is cooler than the surface, then we get fog, which is just a cloud on the ground.
@@MelStrong awesome! Thank you🙏
Question: why does temperature limit the amount of water vapor in air? Is there a similar limit to CO2? or O2? Water vapor is just a gas like CO2 or N2 etc. I assume the answer is in the chemical bond structure of water etc, but it deserves a little explanation. Thanks
There are limits to all gasses, which is called the saturation vapor pressure....when the partial pressure of a particular gas reaches its saturation vapor pressure, condensation starts to occur. As an everyday example, when you get a tank of propane, the propane inside the tank is in a liquid state. This is because there are way too many propane molecules to remain in the vapor state within the confines of the tank.
Water is a polar molecule, which means it has a slightly positive side and a slightly negative side. Because of this, the water molecules want to cling together. The reason they don't is because of kinetic energy. The warmer it is, the more kinetic energy the molecules have, and the high their average velocities are. As the temperature cools, the kinetic energy of the molecules decreases. Eventually they are able to cling together and stay together. Non-polar gasses such as nitrogen can be in much higher concentrations before they start to condense out.
Is the total saturation not also dependant on air pressure as well as temperature...
The maximum vapor pressure (saturation point) for any substance is quite independent of pressure. For example, suppose that you were at sea level and the maximum mixing ratio for the temperature on that day happened to be 10g/kg. If you could then somehow magically remove all of the nitrogen and oxygen from the atmosphere (hence greatly reducing the overall pressure), the maximum mixing ratio would not appreciably change and still remain close to10g/kg.
Thank you
At the end of the video I noticed the kitten was there lmao
Nice ending :D
I had to watch it again to remember that....he was seeing himself on the monitor and it was confusing his little brain.
So climate change will result in higher a saturation level meaning more severe weather...
@Paul Simonson Now that’s just too funny…
Once ALL contributing factors are taken into account from earth rotation to solar cycles, from precessional cycles to volcanic activity ALL indications are that the current trend in warming is due primarily to human activity…
You can argue ALL you like but that’s just the facts of the matter…
@Paul Simonson Perhaps read a book or two on the history of climate change and how the link was made to human activity…
mel strong = maelstrom
39:45 nice save lol
Well oxygen is actually converted into water by our bodies when breathing..
I think 1 m^3 = 1000 kg
Not accurate SIr. You should have mentioned how humid south Asia or Bangladesh is during summer , just in winter it is dry. South Asia is very very humid.
We are reading map of absolute humidity on that particular day and not talking about climate whatsoever
All going great until the temperatures came up...
Damn imperial temperature units.
fucking legend