Climatology

[mad_jock]

Just about to wade into 4 chapters of the stuff.

Can anyone who has already sat Met give an indication on how much of this stuff is actually examinable (yes i know all of it but how many feedback questions on it are there?)

Any other hints and tips would be great.

Thanks

MJ

[thecoltster]

Aug '01 JAR met exam, not a lot of climatology at all that I can remeber? other than

an example of a fohn wind is?
Chinook

A wind that blows through the France into the Med?
Mistral

The ITCZ is an area of?/moves in accordance with?


I honestly knew next to nothing about climatology and revised all the areas that definately come up like thunderstorms, anything safety related etc, I practically snubbed climatology and still passed some how blagging 86%. Best of luck, my only bit of advice (passed on from what others who sat before me said-which incidently worked!) would be to know the rest of the met syllabus pretty well, learn loads of feedback and if anything learn the very basics of climatology. Do remember though I have only sat it once so I'm sure others will have more input that may even contradict what I have said as I am not certain that the exams always have little or basic climatology!

Good Luck

[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: thecoltster ]

[JB007]

thecolsters right...
Not much Climatology really
Keyareas:
Know your winds!!i.e The Harmattan brings bad vis with dust storms etc etc..
TRS, geographical area's and times of year.
Monsoons
Pressure Zones
ITCZ Weather

Good Luck,
The exams not half as frightning as it all sounds!

[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: JB007 ]

[FMC=MC2]

Lots of basic alt setting questions ( most 2 marks ) Brush up on the basics, know your winds and jet streams.

Good luck

[EGDR]

Here are a few notes I made after the Aug exam :eek:

Meteorology
------------

Which would present a hazard on a cross-country flight
- Alto cirrus
- Nimbostratus
- Cumulonimbus
- ?

What is a trend forecast ?

What would be an indication of possible instability ?
- Ac lenticular
- Red cirrus
- Ac castellanus
- Towering cumulus

Which is an example of a foehn wind ?
- Bora
- Har
- Mistral
- Chinook

An airfield is on the coast, in an area of high pressure (slack gradient) in the northern hemisphere. On a sunny afternoon what would you expect the low level wind to be ?
- sea to land
- land to sea
- ?
- parallel to the coast with the land to the right


Td –1.5
T –0.5

How would you see them in a METAR ?
- 00/M01
- M00/M01
- M01/M02
- M01/M01

Wind is measured on an anemometer , where is this located ?
- 2m away from the Met station
- 1m above the runway
- on the roof of the Met Station
- 8 to 10 m above the surface on a pole

You want the wind for FL170 which chart would be the closest ?
- 800 hPa
- 500 hPa
- 700 hPa
- 300 hPa

You have QNH (993) set at an airfield. You reset the altimeter to 1013 and it reads 1200’ what is the airfield elevation ?
- 1200’
- 1740’
- 2640’
- 660’

On a surface pressure chart what is the pressure ?
- QNE
- QFE
- QFF
- QNH

[EGDR]

The following is straight from big red jumbo site, you may find it interesting . :p

Meteorology

1. What do ICAO consider to be a hazard to all aircraft?


2. What is the width of a tornado?

9km’s
<100m
100-150m
2km-6km

3. Know the meaning of the significant wx symbols
- i.e. moderate turbulence = , severe turbulence=

4. Know what happens in the different types of occlusions
– i.e. in a warm occlusion which air moves what, cold air pushes warmer air or war air moves colder air etc.

5. Given a metar, asked to determine the correct interpretation of the weather conditions
- very subtle differences in the answers were given, such as units for vis (vertical and horizontal) BE CAREFUL!

6. What is a TREND?

- (Landing forecast of the aerodrome conditions)


7. Where is the ITCZ positioned on a route between Dakar and Rio de Janeiro in January?

0°N - 7°N
3°N - 12°N
3°S - 7°S
-

8. What cloud can you see from a distance that would indicate the presence of a TRS

-Dense Ci
-Scattered Cu
-
-

9. When is a cold occlusion most likely to occur?

-Autumn/Winter
-Summer
-Winter
-Winter/Spring

10. What is the Chinook?

-Warm dry wind in on the lee side of the Rockies
-
-
-

11. With a surface inversion what is likely to occur (with respect to windshear)?

-Change in direction
-Change in direction and speed
-Change in speed
-

12. What is the relationship between met vis and RVR in fog?

-Met vis > RVR
-Met vis < RVR
-No relation between the two
-Met vis = RVR

13. In which latitude do the majority of depressions travel?

35°- 55°
55° - 75°
-
-

14. Picture of an occlusion, What is X

-Warm front
-Cold Front
-Warm Front occlusion
-Cold front occlusion

15. Part of a jetstream going N/S in the northern hemisphere, is?

-The polar air on the east side and below the jet
-The polar air on the east side and above the jet
-N/S temp gradient increasing
-N/S temp gradient decreasing

16. Referring to the following diagrams, which is the correct route?

A-B
A-C
D-C
D-E

17. Given 4 Metar’s for Zurich, which report would indicate that radiation fog could occur? (is most likely to occur)

-1840Z 230/10 bkn 012, ovc 030, 12/10 Q?
-1840Z 180/03 bkn 120 7/5 Q1032
-(these are the relevant parts of two possible metars – the others were obviously wrong)
-

18. Given the following tephigrams when is St most likely?

Td - dewpoint
T -temp

19. The temperature and dewpoint are within 1 degree of each other, what is most likely?

-Fog and low St
-Clear and cold
-Ts
-Good visibility

20. Minimum safe altitude in area is 12,000ft. QNH at a local airfiled is 1030hPa. Average temp of atmosphere is ISA+10. What will altimeter read at this safe altitude?

-11250
-11520
-12210
-1730

21. Moist stable air is forced to rise over a mountain what would you get?

-Thunderstorms
-Turbulence
-Inversion
-Stratiform clouds

22. Where does Tropical Continental air in summer in Europe originate from?

-South of France
-Italy
-Balkans and the Near East
-Azores

23. Why don’t you get cyclones in the South Atlantic and South East Pacific?

-No Cyclostrophic force
-Cold seas

24. What are the conditions necessary for the formation of steaming fog (arctic smoke)?

-Cold air onto a warm sea
-Warm air onto a cold sea
-

25. When is the surface temp the least?

-Clear skies, calm winds
-Cloudy skies, strong winds
-Clear skies, strong winds
-Cloudy skies, calm winds

26. Approaching warm front (no direction defined), what do you get ?

[5150]

Have to agree with thecoltster on this one.

Very few questions asked in August sitting, for a supposedly BIG section of met.

Know the classic subject areas back to front and save bothering yr @rse to learn all the names based on the probability of them not coming up - do that and you might scrape 90% like I did........it's your choice though. I don't condone skipping subject areas, I prefer to call it 'Tactical Revision', allowing you to focus on possible weak areas.

Rgds

[mad_jock]

Thanks folks

That info is just what i want to hear.

Northen Hemisphere Climatology has now been successfully been inserted under the dodgy leg of my study table.So it can help me study law as well :)

MJ

[cyclops]

I wouldn't dump the Climatology if I was you. The UK CAA have expressed some concern about how little climatology is in the JAA question bank and have stated that they will inject into the JAA examination questions from the CAA bank. When this will come about is anyones guess but the concern was expressed earlier this year. People who sat the old 509 met exam will tell you that climatology comprised 15-20% of the marks and was covered fairly comprehensively.

[essex_boy]

MJ
If you have access to a dvd i have two
very good climatology cds let me know

EB

[rocketboots]

ah!,and there was i led to believe that through implementation of JAR that everything is different compared to the old national exams,where in fact its just the same old bull.CAA not a profit making organisation?....my arse