Course: EOSC 114 The Catestrophic Earth: Natural Disasters
Section: Online Education (OE). Also known as Distance Education (DE).
Module: Storms
Course Content Creator: Roland Stull, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences

Overview: There are 5 lectures on Storms. 
The "roadmap" table below outlines what we cover each day.
storms overview roadmap
Learning Goals (LG) are listed at the end of this web page.

Storms Day 1

Dear EOSC 114 students:
   You will see that this Storms module has a different presentation style than the other modules in this course. After Day 5 of Storms, we will ask you if you like this new style, and whether we should update the other modules to have a similar style. 
Cheers, - Prof. Roland Stull

 Hazards

Lightning

  1. Welcome, and introduction to storms by Prof. Roland Stull.  (1:30. Lecture Video snippet d1s01.)

  2. YouTube video on "How Lightning Works" by Pecos Hank.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXhif3E3l2s (Watch all, except skip the section between video timing marks 6:50 and 8:05.  That leaves 9:45 of video.)


    Not testable.  Additional interesting YouTube videos on lightning.
  3. Lightning types, intensity & frequency.  (2:13. Lecture video snippet d1s02.)

  4. Videos (testable) of what happens when lightning strikes a car, the ground, or a tree near you.

    1. YouTube video about what happens to you if you are in a metal car that is struck by lightning?   BBC Top Gear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZxgYNnkBd0 (Watch only the portion between times 2:40 and 5:00.)

    2. YouTube video on ways that lightning can hurt you via a tree or the ground.  Univ. of Manchester.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QS9Halhqgg   (start at 0:45, and end at 3:45.)

    3. Wood schrapnel -- another hazard when lightning strikes a tree near you.   A gif video from C. Chan.  (0:15). 

  5. Where are the greatest risks of lightning?  (1:58. Lecture video snippet d1s03.)

  6. Lightning detection methods:

    1. Ground based networks (3:04. Lecture video snippet d1s04)

    2. Satellite Geostationary Lightning Mapper (YouTube video from NASA & NOAA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXlLzFqcGMU  0:44, but play at 2x speed)

  7. Lightning safety.  How far away is the lightning?  What is the 30/30 rule for staying safe?  (3:22. Lecture video snippet d1s05.)
  1. Roland Stull's mis-adventures with weather.  Vignette 1: Hiking on a ridge-top trail as a thunderstorm approaches.  (1:37. Lecture video snipped d1s06.)

  2. (Not testable.)  Which leisure and work activity, and which gender, is associated with the most lightning deaths?  (See info below.)

    Not testable.
    Beautiful videography of lightning storms, set to music, by Dustin Farrell.  Not testable:


 Fundamentals

Thunderstorm Basics

  1. What do thunderstorms look like?  What are their key features?  What are thunderstorm cells and how do they evolve? (4:21.  Lecture video snippet d1s07.)

  2. YouTube video of a single cell (the brightest cloud in this time-lapse video) evolving from the cumulus stage (no anvil) to the mature stage (with an anvil spreading out at the top, and rain coming out of the bottom). As this thunderstorm evolves further, an additional cell starts to form in the foreground of the video (cumulus stage) while the older cell is in the mature stage.  Namely, the thunderstorm has become a multi-cell storm.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6jh4Zp0u08  (0:56)

    Not testable.  An additional YouTube video explaining the life cycle thunderstorm cells.

  1. This photo shows an example of a multicell thunderstorm over the Saudi Arabian desert, as viewed from the international space station (ISS).  You can see seperate updraft stems, even though the anvil clouds have merged into a single large cloud.

 Energy

Sun — the energy source that drives our weather

  1. Solar heating creates different layers in the atmosphere.  (2:37. Lecture video snippet d1s08.)

  2. The energy balance at the earth's surface, and how it varies with time of day.  (4:12. Lecture video snippet d1s09.)

  3. Favorable thunderstorm regions around the world.  (1:32.  Lecture video snippet d1s10.)

  4. The Learning Goals below are a good study aid for the topics we covered today.  Review them now to reinforce your understanding. 
      Also, if you didn't get a chance to view the wonderful "Transient" videos (see the links just before the Fundamentals section), I highly recommend viewing them.  They are inspiring.

See you next time.  Cheers, Prof. Roland Stull. 




Learning Goals for Storms Day 1

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1a) describe different types of lightning, and explain the sequence of events in a lighting strike

1b) explain lightning risk: dangerous times and places; how it affects people; and what you can do to stay safe.

1c) identify and describe typical components of a thunderstorm cloud, and describe the nature and evolution of cells in different types of thunderstorms

1d) identify atmospheric layers and explain how they relate to storms

1e) explain how solar energy can get into the atmosphere to power storms



https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/eosc114/
Copyright © 2020-2022 by Roland Stull
Last updated 18 Jan 2022
University of British Columbia