Misplaced Pages

#483516

116-822: In the east of the Sudetes, the Moravian Gate and Ostrava Basin separates from the Carpathian Mountains . The Sudetes' highest mountain is Mount Sněžka /Śnieżka 1,603 m (5,259 ft), which is also the highest mountain of the Czech Republic , Bohemia , Silesia , and Lower Silesian Voivodeship , in the Giant Mountains , lying on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. Mount Praděd (1,491 m/4,893 ft) in

232-512: A SW-NE oriented Bohemo-Silesian Belt of volcanic rocks. Mantle xenoliths have been recovered from the lavas of a volcano at Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge in the Czech western Sudetes. These pyroxenite xenoliths arrived to surface from approximate depths of 35, 70 and 73 km and indicate a complex history for the mantle beneath the Sudetes. There are thermal springs in the Sudetes with measured temperatures of 29 to 44 °C. Drilling has revealed

348-499: A channel around 11 micron wavelength and primarily give information about cloud tops. Due to the typical structure of the atmosphere, cloud-top temperatures are approximately inversely related to cloud-top heights, meaning colder clouds almost always occur at higher altitudes. Further, cloud tops with a lot of small-scale variation are likely to be more vigorous than smooth-topped clouds. Various mathematical schemes, or algorithms, use these and other properties to estimate precipitation from

464-705: A dramatic effect on agriculture. All plants need at least some water to survive, therefore rain (being the most effective means of watering) is important to agriculture. While a regular rain pattern is usually vital to healthy plants, too much or too little rainfall can be harmful, even devastating to crops. Drought can kill crops and increase erosion, while overly wet weather can cause harmful fungus growth. Plants need varying amounts of rainfall to survive. For example, certain cacti require small amounts of water, while tropical plants may need up to hundreds of inches of rain per year to survive. In areas with wet and dry seasons, soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases during

580-425: A layer of above-freezing air exists with sub-freezing air both above and below. This causes the partial or complete melting of any snowflakes falling through the warm layer. As they fall back into the sub-freezing layer closer to the surface, they re-freeze into ice pellets. However, if the sub-freezing layer beneath the warm layer is too small, the precipitation will not have time to re-freeze, and freezing rain will be

696-411: A physical barrier such as a mountain ( orographic lift ). Conductive cooling occurs when the air comes into contact with a colder surface, usually by being blown from one surface to another, for example from a liquid water surface to colder land. Radiational cooling occurs due to the emission of infrared radiation , either by the air or by the surface underneath. Evaporative cooling occurs when moisture

812-453: A portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100% relative humidity ), so that the water condenses and "precipitates" or falls. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation; their water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate, so fog and mist do not fall. (Such a non-precipitating combination is a colloid .) Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated with water vapor: cooling

928-567: A single year. A significant portion of the annual precipitation in any particular place (no weather station in Africa or South America were considered) falls on only a few days, typically about 50% during the 12 days with the most precipitation. The Köppen classification depends on average monthly values of temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used form of the Köppen classification has five primary types labeled A through E. Specifically,

1044-409: A slow-falling drizzle , which has been observed as Rain puddles at its equator and polar regions. Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle , and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year, 398,000 km (95,000 cu mi) of it over the oceans. Given

1160-752: A subject of research. Although the ice is clear, scattering of light by the crystal facets and hollows/imperfections mean that the crystals often appear white in color due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the small ice particles. The shape of the snowflake is determined broadly by the temperature and humidity at which it is formed. Rarely, at a temperature of around −2 °C (28 °F), snowflakes can form in threefold symmetry—triangular snowflakes. The most common snow particles are visibly irregular, although near-perfect snowflakes may be more common in pictures because they are more visually appealing. No two snowflakes are alike, as they grow at different rates and in different patterns depending on

1276-407: A variety of datasets possessing different formats, time/space grids, periods of record and regions of coverage, input datasets, and analysis procedures, as well as many different forms of dataset version designators. In many cases, one of the modern multi-satellite data sets is the best choice for general use. The likelihood or probability of an event with a specified intensity and duration is called

SECTION 10

#1732764994484

1392-420: Is IC. Occult deposition occurs when mist or air that is highly saturated with water vapour interacts with the leaves of trees or shrubs it passes over. Stratiform or dynamic precipitation occurs as a consequence of slow ascent of air in synoptic systems (on the order of cm/s), such as over surface cold fronts , and over and ahead of warm fronts . Similar ascent is seen around tropical cyclones outside of

1508-410: Is RA, while the coding for rain showers is SHRA. Ice pellets or sleet are a form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets are usually (but not always) smaller than hailstones. They often bounce when they hit the ground, and generally do not freeze into a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain . The METAR code for ice pellets is PL . Ice pellets form when

1624-787: Is a lowland and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic and Poland . It is located in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic and in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland. The Ostrava Basin is a mesoregion of the Northern Outer Subcarpathia within the Outer Subcarpathia in the Western Carpathians . The territory is heavily disturbed by Tertiary radial tectonics . The relief has

1740-482: Is a grassland biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes, with rainfall between 750 and 1,270 mm (30 and 50 in) a year. They are widespread on Africa, and are also found in India, the northern parts of South America, Malaysia, and Australia. The humid subtropical climate zone is where winter rainfall (and sometimes snowfall) is associated with large storms that

1856-480: Is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass. It can also form due to the lifting of advection fog during breezy conditions. There are four main mechanisms for cooling the air to its dew point: adiabatic cooling, conductive cooling, radiational cooling , and evaporative cooling. Adiabatic cooling occurs when air rises and expands. The air can rise due to convection , large-scale atmospheric motions, or

1972-449: Is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves, and vegetation grows significantly. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wetter regime. The previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. Developing countries have noted that their populations show seasonal weight fluctuations due to food shortages seen before

2088-582: Is accompanied by plentiful precipitation year-round. The Mediterranean climate regime resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, parts of western North America, parts of western and southern Australia, in southwestern South Africa and in parts of central Chile. The climate is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. A steppe is a dry grassland. Subarctic climates are cold with continuous permafrost and little precipitation. Precipitation, especially rain, has

2204-620: Is added to the air through evaporation, which forces the air temperature to cool to its wet-bulb temperature , or until it reaches saturation. The main ways water vapor is added to the air are: wind convergence into areas of upward motion, precipitation or virga falling from above, daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies or wet land, transpiration from plants, cool or dry air moving over warmer water, and lifting air over mountains. Coalescence occurs when water droplets fuse to create larger water droplets, or when water droplets freeze onto an ice crystal, which

2320-437: Is associated with their warm front is often extensive, forced by weak upward vertical motion of air over the frontal boundary which condenses as it cools and produces precipitation within an elongated band, which is wide and stratiform , meaning falling out of nimbostratus clouds. When moist air tries to dislodge an arctic air mass, overrunning snow can result within the poleward side of the elongated precipitation band . In

2436-487: Is equally distributed through the year. Some areas with pronounced rainy seasons will see a break in rainfall mid-season when the Intertropical Convergence Zone or monsoon trough move poleward of their location during the middle of the warm season. When the wet season occurs during the warm season, or summer, rain falls mainly during the late afternoon and early evening hours. The wet season

SECTION 20

#1732764994484

2552-416: Is filled by 2.5 cm (0.98 in) of rain, with overflow flowing into the outer cylinder. Plastic gauges have markings on the inner cylinder down to 1 ⁄ 4  mm (0.0098 in) resolution, while metal gauges require use of a stick designed with the appropriate 1 ⁄ 4  mm (0.0098 in) markings. After the inner cylinder is filled, the amount inside is discarded, then filled with

2668-401: Is intermittent and often associated with baroclinic boundaries such as cold fronts , squall lines , and warm fronts. Convective precipitation mostly consist of mesoscale convective systems and they produce torrential rainfalls with thunderstorms, wind damages, and other forms of severe weather events. Orographic precipitation occurs on the windward (upwind) side of mountains and is caused by

2784-759: Is known as the Bergeron process . The fall rate of very small droplets is negligible, hence clouds do not fall out of the sky; precipitation will only occur when these coalesce into larger drops. droplets with different size will have different terminal velocity that cause droplets collision and producing larger droplets, Turbulence will enhance the collision process. As these larger water droplets descend, coalescence continues, so that drops become heavy enough to overcome air resistance and fall as rain. Raindrops have sizes ranging from 5.1 to 20 millimetres (0.20 to 0.79 in) mean diameter, above which they tend to break up. Smaller drops are called cloud droplets, and their shape

2900-540: Is made, various networks exist across the United States and elsewhere where rainfall measurements can be submitted through the Internet, such as CoCoRAHS or GLOBE . If a network is not available in the area where one lives, the nearest local weather office will likely be interested in the measurement. A concept used in precipitation measurement is the hydrometeor. Any particulates of liquid or solid water in

3016-474: Is normally considered to be equivalent to Ptolemy's Gabreta forest). The modern Sudetes are probably Ptolemy's Askiburgion mountains. Ptolemy wrote "Σούδητα" in Greek , which is a neuter plural. Latin mons , however, is a masculine, hence Sudeti. The Latin version, and the modern geographical identification, is likely to be a scholastic innovation, as it is not attested in classical Latin literature. The meaning of

3132-431: Is possible within a cyclone's comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation. On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. Most precipitation occurs within the tropics and is caused by convection . The movement of

3248-596: Is reflected in the ophiolites , MORB-basalts , blueschists and eclogites that occur in-between terranes. Various terranes of the Sudetes are likely extensions of the Armorican terrane while other terranes may be the fringes of the ancient Baltica continent. One possibility for the amalgamation of terranes in the Sudetes is that the Góry Sowie-Kłodzko terrane collided with the Orlica-Śnieżnik terrane causing

3364-519: Is spherical. As a raindrop increases in size, its shape becomes more oblate , with its largest cross-section facing the oncoming airflow. Contrary to the cartoon pictures of raindrops, their shape does not resemble a teardrop. Intensity and duration of rainfall are usually inversely related, i.e., high intensity storms are likely to be of short duration and low intensity storms can have a long duration. Rain drops associated with melting hail tend to be larger than other rain drops. The METAR code for rain

3480-489: Is the temperature to which a parcel of air must be cooled in order to become saturated, and (unless super-saturation occurs) condenses to water. Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. The cloud condensation nuclei concentration will determine the cloud microphysics. An elevated portion of a frontal zone forces broad areas of lift, which form cloud decks such as altostratus or cirrostratus . Stratus

3596-457: Is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region falls. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics. Savanna climates and areas with monsoon regimes have wet summers and dry winters. Tropical rainforests technically do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall

Sudetes - Misplaced Pages Continue

3712-475: Is together name for the ranges of Giant Mountains , Hrubý Jeseník and Králický Sněžník Mountains . The highest mountains, those located along the Czech-Polish border have annual precipitations around 1500 mm. The Table Mountains that reach 919 m have precipitations ranging from 750 mm at lower locations to 920 mm in the upper parts with July being the rainiest month. Snow cover at

3828-400: Is typically active when freezing rain occurs. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain and serves as the focus for forcing moist air to rise. Provided there is necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely nimbostratus and cumulonimbus if significant precipitation is involved. Eventually,

3944-712: The Geographia by the Greco-Roman writer Ptolemy (Book 2, Chapter 10) c.  AD 150 for a range of mountains in Germania in the general region of the modern Czech Republic. There is no consensus about which mountains he meant, and he could for example have intended the Ore Mountains , joining the modern Sudetes to their west, or even (according to Schütte) the Bohemian Forest (although this

4060-481: The Carpathians , were unlikely to attract much foreign tourism. Sandstone was quarried in Sudetes during the 19th and 20th centuries. Likewise volcanic rock has also been quarried to such degree untouched volcanoes are scarce. Sandstone labyrinths have been a notable tourist attraction since the 19th century with considerable investments being done in projecting trails some of which involve rock engineering. In

4176-868: The First Czechoslovak Republic with large ethnic German populations. In 1918, the short-lived rump state of German-Austria proclaimed a Province of the Sudetenland in northern Moravia and Austrian Silesia around the city of Opava ( Troppau ). The term was used in a wider sense when on 1 October 1933 Konrad Henlein founded the Sudeten German Party and in Nazi German parlance Sudetendeutsche ( Sudeten Germans ) referred to all autochthonous ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia . They were heavily clustered in

4292-678: The Great Basin and Mojave Deserts . Similarly, in Asia, the Himalaya mountains create an obstacle to monsoons which leads to extremely high precipitation on the southern side and lower precipitation levels on the northern side. Extratropical cyclones can bring cold and dangerous conditions with heavy rain and snow with winds exceeding 119 km/h (74 mph), (sometimes referred to as windstorms in Europe). The band of precipitation that

4408-765: The Hrubý Jeseník mountains is the highest mountain of Moravia . Lusatia's highest point (1,072 m/3,517 ft) lies on Mount Smrk/Smrek in the Jizera Mountains , and the Sudetes' highest mountain in Germany, which is also the country's highest mountain east of the river Elbe , is Mount Lausche /Luž (793 m/2,600 ft) in the Zittau Mountains , the highest part of the Lusatian Mountains . The most notable rivers rising in

4524-549: The Late Middle Ages and subsequent industrial pollution reduced the stands. Many arctic-alpine and alpine vascular plants have a disjunct distribution being notably absent from the central Sudetes despite suitable habitats. Possibly this is the result a warm period during the Holocene (last 10,000 years) which wiped out cold-adapted vascular plants in the medium-sized mountains of the central Sudetes where there

4640-642: The Sudetenland with most of the Czechoslovak border fortifications in the 1938 Munich Agreement , leaving the remainder of Czechoslovakia shorn of its natural borders and buffer zone, finally occupied by Germany in March 1939. After being annexed by Nazi Germany, much of the region was redesignated as the Reichsgau Sudetenland . After World War II , most of the previous population of

4756-400: The crust . Viewed in a map today these plutons make up about 15% the Sudetes. Granites are of S-type . The granites and grantic-gneisses of Izera in the west Sudetes are disassociated from orogeny and thought to have formed during rifting along a passive continental margin . The Karkonosze Granite, also in the west Sudetes, have been dated to have formed c . 318 million years ago at

Sudetes - Misplaced Pages Continue

4872-459: The electromagnetic spectrum that theory and practice show are related to the occurrence and intensity of precipitation. The sensors are almost exclusively passive, recording what they see, similar to a camera, in contrast to active sensors ( radar , lidar ) that send out a signal and detect its impact on the area being observed. Satellite sensors now in practical use for precipitation fall into two categories. Thermal infrared (IR) sensors record

4988-446: The eyewall , and in comma-head precipitation patterns around mid-latitude cyclones . A wide variety of weather can be found along an occluded front, with thunderstorms possible, but usually their passage is associated with a drying of the air mass. Occluded fronts usually form around mature low-pressure areas. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies other than Earth. When it gets cold, Mars has precipitation that most likely takes

5104-469: The industrial age demand for firewood was sustained by metallurgic industries in the settlements and cities around the mountains. In the 19th century the Central Sudetes had an economic boom with sandstone quarrying and a flourishing tourism industry centered on the natural scenery. Despite this there was at least since the 1880s a trend of depopulation of villages and hamlets which continued into

5220-468: The monsoon trough , or Intertropical Convergence Zone , brings rainy seasons to savannah regions. Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle , and is responsible for depositing fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year: 398,000 cubic kilometres (95,000 cu mi) over oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres (26,000 cu mi) over land. Given

5336-425: The return period or frequency. The intensity of a storm can be predicted for any return period and storm duration, from charts based on historical data for the location. The term 1 in 10 year storm describes a rainfall event which is rare and is only likely to occur once every 10 years, so it has a 10 percent likelihood any given year. The rainfall will be greater and the flooding will be worse than

5452-411: The 14th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries agriculture had reached the inner part of Table Mountains in the Central Sudetes . Destruction and degradation of the Sudetes forest peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries with demand of firewood coming from glasshouses that operated through the area in the early modern period . Some limited form of forest management begun in the 18th century while in

5568-440: The 20th century. Since World War II various areas that were cleared of forest have been re-naturalized. Industrial activity across Europe has caused considerable damage to the forests as acid rain and heavy metals has arrived with westerly and southwesterly winds. Silver firs have proven particularly vulnerable to industrial soil contamination . After World War I , the name Sudetenland came into use to describe areas of

5684-669: The Czech Republic) and Kończyce High Plain (in Poland). The area is poor in hills. The highest peak is Kouty at 337 metres (1,106 ft) above sea level, located in the territory of Sedliště . The territory has an area of 616 square kilometres (238 sq mi), of which 486 km (188 sq mi) in the Czech Republic and 130 km (50 sq mi) in Poland, and an average elevation of 244 metres (801 ft) above sea level. Numerous springs are typical for

5800-734: The Early Carboniferous the Saxothuringian terrane collided with the Góry Sowie-Kłodzko-Orlica-Śnieżnik terrane closing the Rheic Ocean . Once the main phase of deformation of the orogeny was over basins that had formed in-between metamorphic rock massifs were filled by sedimentary rock in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. During and after sedimentation large granitic plutons intruded

5916-738: The Earth's surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres (39 in), but over land it is only 715 millimetres (28.1 in). Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Global warming is already causing changes to weather, increasing precipitation in some geographies, and reducing it in others, resulting in additional extreme weather . Precipitation may occur on other celestial bodies. Saturn's largest satellite , Titan , hosts methane precipitation as

SECTION 50

#1732764994484

6032-610: The Earth's surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres (39 in). Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform , and orographic rainfall. Convective processes involve strong vertical motions that can cause the overturning of the atmosphere in that location within an hour and cause heavy precipitation, while stratiform processes involve weaker upward motions and less intense precipitation. Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with

6148-535: The IR data. The second category of sensor channels is in the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The frequencies in use range from about 10 gigahertz to a few hundred GHz. Channels up to about 37 GHz primarily provide information on the liquid hydrometeors (rain and drizzle) in the lower parts of clouds, with larger amounts of liquid emitting higher amounts of microwave radiant energy . Channels above 37 GHz display emission signals, but are dominated by

6264-523: The Late Cenozoic uplift has uplifted the Sudetes as a whole some grabens precede this uplift. Weathering during the Cenozoic led to the formation of an etchplain in parts of Sudetes. While this etchplain has been eroded various landforms and weathering mantles have been suggested to attest its former existence. At present the mountain range shows a remarkable diversity of landforms . Some of

6380-556: The Late Mesozoic retreat of the seas from the area which left the Sudetes subject to denudation for at least 65 million years. This meant that during the Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic 8 to 4 km of rock was eroded from the top of what is now the Sudetes. Concurrently with the Cenozoic denudation the climate cooled due to the northward drift of Europe. The collision between Africa and Europe has resulted in

6496-807: The Northern Hemisphere, poleward is towards the North Pole, or north. Within the Southern Hemisphere, poleward is towards the South Pole, or south. Southwest of extratropical cyclones, curved cyclonic flow bringing cold air across the relatively warm water bodies can lead to narrow lake-effect snow bands. Those bands bring strong localized snowfall which can be understood as follows: Large water bodies such as lakes efficiently store heat that results in significant temperature differences (larger than 13 °C or 23 °F) between

6612-516: The Ostrava Basin. There is a confluence of several important rivers here: Oder , Olza , Ostravice , Opava and Lučina . The territory contains mineral waters with a unique chemical composition within the Czech Republic ( Klimkovice and Lázně Darkov spas). Coal deposits were discovered in the late 18th century, as a result, the area was heavily industrialized in the 19th century, and henceforth urbanized. The most populated settlements in

6728-560: The Sudetes are Elbe , Oder , Spree , Morava , Bóbr , Lusatian Neisse , Eastern Neisse , Jizera and Kwisa . The highest parts of the Sudetes are protected by national parks; Karkonosze and Stołowe (Table) in Poland and Krkonoše in the Czech Republic. In the west, the Sudetes border with the Elbe Sandstone Mountains . The westernmost point of the Sudetes lies in the Dresden Heath ( Dresdner Heide ),

6844-632: The Sudetes there are many spa towns with sanatoria . In many places the developed tourist base – hotels, guest houses, ski infrastructure. The nearest international airports are Dresden Airport in Dresden and Wrocław Airport in Wrocław . Towns in this area with more than 10,000 inhabitants include: Ostrava Basin The Ostrava Basin ( Czech : Ostravská pánev , Polish : Kotlina Ostrawska , German : Ostrauer Becken )

6960-584: The Sudetes was forcibly expelled on the basis of the Potsdam Agreement and the Beneš decrees , and the region was resettled by new Polish and Czechoslovak citizens. A considerable proportion of the Czechoslovak populace thereafter strongly objected to the use of the term Sudety . In the Czech Republic the designation Krkonošsko-jesenická subprovincie is used in academic context and usually only

7076-490: The Table Mountains typically last 70 to 95 days depending on altitude. Settlement, logging and clearance has left forest pockets in the foothills with dense and continuous forest being found in the upper parts of the mountains. Due to logging in the last centuries little remains of the broad-leaf trees like beech , sycamore , ash and littleleaf linden that were once common in the Sudetes. Instead Norway spruce

SECTION 60

#1732764994484

7192-651: The Tłumaczów-Sienna Fault and the Marginal Sudetic Fault. There are remnants of lava flows and volcanic plugs in the Sudetes. The volcanic rocks making up these outcrops are of mafic chemistry and include basanite and represent episodes of volcanism in the Oligocene and Miocene periods. Volcanism affected not only the Sudetes but also parts of the Sudetic foreland being part of

7308-1000: The action of solid hydrometeors (snow, graupel, etc.) to scatter microwave radiant energy. Satellites such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission employ microwave sensors to form precipitation estimates. Additional sensor channels and products have been demonstrated to provide additional useful information including visible channels, additional IR channels, water vapor channels and atmospheric sounding retrievals. However, most precipitation data sets in current use do not employ these data sources. The IR estimates have rather low skill at short time and space scales, but are available very frequently (15 minutes or more often) from satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit. IR works best in cases of deep, vigorous convection—such as

7424-414: The air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers . Moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed by the low temperature into clouds and rain. This process

7540-497: The atmosphere are known as hydrometeors. Formations due to condensation, such as clouds, haze , fog, and mist, are composed of hydrometeors. All precipitation types are made up of hydrometeors by definition, including virga , which is precipitation which evaporates before reaching the ground. Particles blown from the Earth's surface by wind, such as blowing snow and blowing sea spray, are also hydrometeors , as are hail and snow . Although surface precipitation gauges are considered

7656-413: The atmosphere due to their mass, and may collide and stick together in clusters, or aggregates. These aggregates are snowflakes, and are usually the type of ice particle that falls to the ground. Guinness World Records list the world's largest snowflakes as those of January 1887 at Fort Keogh , Montana; allegedly one measured 38 cm (15 in) wide. The exact details of the sticking mechanism remain

7772-484: The average time between observations exceeds three hours. This several-hour interval is insufficient to adequately document precipitation because of the transient nature of most precipitation systems as well as the inability of a single satellite to appropriately capture the typical daily cycle of precipitation at a given location. Since the late 1990s, several algorithms have been developed to combine precipitation data from multiple satellites' sensors, seeking to emphasize

7888-607: The beginning of the Variscan orogeny. The Karkonosze Granite is intruded by somewhat younger lamprophyre dykes . A NW-SE to WNW-ESE oriented strike-slip fault —the Intra-Sudetic fault— runs through the length of the Sudetes. The Intra-Sudetic fault is parallel with the Upper Elbe fault and Middle Oder fault . Other main faults at the sudetes are also NW-SE oriented, dextral and of strike slip type. These include

8004-531: The best analyses of gauge data take two months or more after the observation time to undergo the necessary transmission, assembly, processing and quality control. Thus, precipitation estimates that include gauge data tend to be produced further after the observation time than the no-gauge estimates. As a result, while estimates that include gauge data may provide a more accurate depiction of the "true" precipitation, they are generally not suited for real- or near-real-time applications. The work described has resulted in

8120-420: The best instantaneous satellite estimate. In either case, the less-emphasized goal is also considered desirable. One key aspect of multi-satellite studies is the ability to include even a small amount of surface gauge data, which can be very useful for controlling the biases that are endemic to satellite estimates. The difficulties in using gauge data are that 1) their availability is limited, as noted above, and 2)

8236-532: The changing temperature and humidity within the atmosphere through which they fall on their way to the ground. The METAR code for snow is SN, while snow showers are coded SHSN. Diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °C (−40 °F) due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface-based air. They are made of simple ice crystals, hexagonal in shape. The METAR identifier for diamond dust within international hourly weather reports

8352-573: The character of a plain or flat uplands with rounded ridges. Extensive flat floodplains, lined with steep ale relatively low terraces, are typical. An important element of the relief are anthropogenic shapes caused by industrial and mining activities, especially spoil tips . The basin is further subdivided into eights microregions, seven in the Czech Republic and one in Poland: Antošovice Plain, Ostrava Floodplain, Karviná Plateau, Havířov Plateau, Nová Bělá Plain, Poruba Plateau, Orlová Plateau (in

8468-653: The closure of a small oceanic basin. This event led to obduction of the Central Sudetic ophiolite in the Devonian period. In the Early Carboniferous the joint Góry Sowie-Kłodzko-Orlica-Śnieżnik terrane collided with the Brunovistulian terrane. This last terrane was part of the Old Red Continent and could correspond either to Baltica or the eastern tip of the narrow Avalonia terrane. Also by

8584-447: The cloud droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops and descend toward the Earth where they will freeze on contact with exposed objects. Where relatively warm water bodies are present, for example due to water evaporation from lakes, lake-effect snowfall becomes a concern downwind of the warm lakes within the cold cyclonic flow around the backside of extratropical cyclones . Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy. Thundersnow

8700-462: The coding of GS, which is short for the French word grésil. Stones just larger than golf ball-sized are one of the most frequently reported hail sizes. Hailstones can grow to 15 centimetres (6 in) and weigh more than 500 grams (1 lb). In large hailstones, latent heat released by further freezing may melt the outer shell of the hailstone. The hailstone then may undergo 'wet growth', where

8816-424: The deeper the clouds get, and the greater the precipitation rate becomes. In mountainous areas, heavy snowfall accumulates when air is forced to ascend the mountains and squeeze out precipitation along their windward slopes, which in cold conditions, falls in the form of snow. Because of the ruggedness of terrain, forecasting the location of heavy snowfall remains a significant challenge. The wet, or rainy, season

8932-678: The deformation and uplift of the Sudetes. As such the uplift is related to the contemporary rise of the Alps and Carpathians . The acceleration of uplift of the Sudetes occurred during the Middle Miocene because of the Bohemian Massif's growth. Uplift was accomplished by the creation or reactivation of numerous faults leading to a reshaping of the relief by renewed erosion . Various "hanging valleys" attest to this uplift. Block tectonics has uplifted or sunken crustal blocks. While

9048-531: The descending and generally warming, leeward side where a rain shadow is observed. In Hawaii , Mount Waiʻaleʻale , on the island of Kauai, is notable for its extreme rainfall, as it has the second-highest average annual rainfall on Earth, with 12,000 millimetres (460 in). Storm systems affect the state with heavy rains between October and March. Local climates vary considerably on each island due to their topography, divisible into windward ( Koʻolau ) and leeward ( Kona ) regions based upon location relative to

9164-415: The discrete Czech names for the individual mountain ranges (e.g. Giant Mountains) appear, as under Subdivisions above. Part of the economy of the Sudetes is dedicated to tourism. Coal mining towns like Wałbrzych have re-oriented their economies towards tourism since the decline of mining in the 1980s. As of 2000 scholar Krzysztof R. Mazurski judged that the Sudetes, much like Poland's Baltic coast and

9280-594: The entire mountainous periphery of Czechoslovakia—not only in the former Moravian Provinz Sudetenland but also along the northwestern Bohemian borderlands with German Lower Silesia , Saxony and Bavaria , in an area formerly called German Bohemia . In total, the German minority population of interwar Czechoslovakia numbered around 20% of the total national population. Sparking the Sudeten Crisis , Adolf Hitler got his future enemies Britain and France to concede

9396-548: The equator in Colombia are amongst the wettest places on Earth. North and south of this are regions of descending air that form subtropical ridges where precipitation is low; the land surface underneath these ridges is usually arid, and these regions make up most of the Earth's deserts. An exception to this rule is in Hawaii, where upslope flow due to the trade winds lead to one of the wettest locations on Earth. Otherwise,

9512-705: The existence of waters at 87 °C at depths of 2000 m. These modern waters are believed to be associated to the Late Cenozoic volcanism in Central Europe. The Sudetes forms the NE border of the Bohemian Massif . In detail the Sudetes is made up of a series of massifs that are rectangular and rhomboid in plan view. These mountains corresponds to horsts and domes separated by basins, including grabens . The mountains took their present form after

9628-458: The first harvest, which occurs late in the wet season. Tropical cyclones, a source of very heavy rainfall, consist of large air masses several hundred miles across with low pressure at the centre and with winds blowing inward towards the centre in either a clockwise direction (southern hemisphere) or counterclockwise (northern hemisphere). Although cyclones can take an enormous toll in lives and personal property, they may be important factors in

9744-737: The flow of the Westerlies into the Rocky Mountains lead to the wettest, and at elevation snowiest, locations within North America. In Asia during the wet season, the flow of moist air into the Himalayas leads to some of the greatest rainfall amounts measured on Earth in northeast India. The standard way of measuring rainfall or snowfall is the standard rain gauge, which can be found in 10 cm (3.9 in) plastic and 20 cm (7.9 in) metal varieties. The inner cylinder

9860-579: The form of ice needles, rather than rain or snow. Convective rain , or showery precipitation, occurs from convective clouds, e.g. cumulonimbus or cumulus congestus . It falls as showers with rapidly changing intensity. Convective precipitation falls over a certain area for a relatively short time, as convective clouds have limited horizontal extent. Most precipitation in the tropics appears to be convective; however, it has been suggested that stratiform precipitation also occurs. Graupel and hail indicate convection. In mid-latitudes, convective precipitation

9976-400: The funnel needs to be removed before the event begins. For those looking to measure rainfall the most inexpensively, a can that is cylindrical with straight sides will act as a rain gauge if left out in the open, but its accuracy will depend on what ruler is used to measure the rain with. Any of the above rain gauges can be made at home, with enough know-how . When a precipitation measurement

10092-425: The gauge. Once the snowfall/ice is finished accumulating, or as 30 cm (12 in) is approached, one can either bring it inside to melt, or use lukewarm water to fill the inner cylinder with in order to melt the frozen precipitation in the outer cylinder, keeping track of the warm fluid added, which is subsequently subtracted from the overall total once all the ice/snow is melted. Other types of gauges include

10208-463: The hailstones to the upper part of the cloud. The updraft dissipates and the hailstones fall down, back into the updraft, and are lifted again. Hail has a diameter of 5 millimetres (0.20 in) or more. Within METAR code, GR is used to indicate larger hail, of a diameter of at least 6.4 millimetres (0.25 in). GR is derived from the French word grêle. Smaller-sized hail, as well as snow pellets, use

10324-487: The higher mountains. Windward sides face the east to northeast trade winds and receive much more rainfall; leeward sides are drier and sunnier, with less rain and less cloud cover. In South America, the Andes mountain range blocks Pacific moisture that arrives in that continent, resulting in a desertlike climate just downwind across western Argentina. The Sierra Nevada range creates the same effect in North America forming

10440-479: The ice crystals the crystals are able to grow to hundreds of micrometers in size at the expense of the water droplets. This process is known as the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen process . The corresponding depletion of water vapor causes the droplets to evaporate, meaning that the ice crystals grow at the droplets' expense. These large crystals are an efficient source of precipitation, since they fall through

10556-676: The landforms present are escarpments , inselbergs , bornhardts , granitic domes , tors , flared slopes and weathering pits . Various escarpments have originated from faults and may reach heights of up to 500 m. To the northeast the Sudetes is separated from the Sudetic foreland by a sharp mountain front made up of an escarpment linked to the Sudetic Marginal Fault. Near Kaczawa this escarpment reaches 80 to 120 m in height. The relative influence of Pliocene - Quaternary tectonic movements and erosion in shaping

10672-454: The liquid outer shell collects other smaller hailstones. The hailstone gains an ice layer and grows increasingly larger with each ascent. Once a hailstone becomes too heavy to be supported by the storm's updraft, it falls from the cloud. Snow crystals form when tiny supercooled cloud droplets (about 10 μm in diameter) freeze. Once a droplet has frozen, it grows in the supersaturated environment. Because water droplets are more numerous than

10788-749: The mountain landscape may vary along the northern front of the Sudetes. During the Quaternary glaciations the Giant Mountains was the most glaciated part of the Sudetes. Evidence of this are its glacial cirques and the glacial valleys that develop next to it. The precise timing of the glaciations in the Sudetes is poorly constrained. Parts of the Sudetes remained free from glacier ice developing permafrost soils and periglacial landforms such as rock glaciers , nivation hollows, patterned ground , blockfields , solifluction landforms, blockstreams , tors and cryoplanation terraces. The occurrence or not of these periglacial landforms depends on altitude,

10904-430: The mountains occurring on high plateaus or in valley bottoms. Fens occur at slopes. The higher mountains of the Sudetes lie above the timber line which is made up of Norway spruce. Spruces in wind-exposed areas display features such as flag tree disposition of branches, tilted stems and elongated stem cross sections. Forest-free areas above the timber line have increased historically by deforestation yet lowering of

11020-399: The name is not known. In one hypothetical derivation, it means Mountains of Wild Boars , relying on Indo-European *su-, "pig". A better etymology perhaps is from Latin sudis , plural sudes , "spines", which can be used of spiny fish or spiny terrain. The Sudetes are usually divided into: High Sudetes ( Polish : Wysokie Sudety , Czech : Vysoké Sudety , German : Hochsudeten )

11136-494: The northeasternmost accessible part of Variscan orogen as in the North European Plain the orogen is buried beneath sediments. Plate tectonic movements during the Variscan orogeny assembled together four major and two to three lesser tectonostratigraphic terranes . The assemblage of the terranes ought to have involved the closure of at least two ocean basins containing oceanic crust and marine sediments. This

11252-424: The popular wedge gauge (the cheapest rain gauge and most fragile), the tipping bucket rain gauge , and the weighing rain gauge . The wedge and tipping bucket gauges have problems with snow. Attempts to compensate for snow/ice by warming the tipping bucket meet with limited success, since snow may sublimate if the gauge is kept much above freezing. Weighing gauges with antifreeze should do fine with snow, but again,

11368-490: The precipitation regimes of places they impact, as they may bring much-needed precipitation to otherwise dry regions. Areas in their path can receive a year's worth of rainfall from a tropical cyclone passage. On the large scale, the highest precipitation amounts outside topography fall in the tropics, closely tied to the Intertropical Convergence Zone , itself the ascending branch of the Hadley cell . Mountainous locales near

11484-581: The primary types are A, tropical; B, dry; C, mild mid-latitude; D, cold mid-latitude; and E, polar. The five primary classifications can be further divided into secondary classifications such as rain forest , monsoon , tropical savanna , humid subtropical , humid continental , oceanic climate , Mediterranean climate , steppe , subarctic climate , tundra , polar ice cap , and desert . Rain forests are characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1,750 and 2,000 mm (69 and 79 in). A tropical savanna

11600-406: The remaining rainfall in the outer cylinder until all the fluid in the outer cylinder is gone, adding to the overall total until the outer cylinder is empty. These gauges are used in the winter by removing the funnel and inner cylinder and allowing snow and freezing rain to collect inside the outer cylinder. Some add anti-freeze to their gauge so they do not have to melt the snow or ice that falls into

11716-413: The result at the surface. A temperature profile showing a warm layer above the ground is most likely to be found in advance of a warm front during the cold season, but can occasionally be found behind a passing cold front . Like other precipitation, hail forms in storm clouds when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with condensation nuclei , such as dust or dirt. The storm's updraft blows

11832-438: The rising air motion of a large-scale flow of moist air across the mountain ridge, resulting in adiabatic cooling and condensation. In mountainous parts of the world subjected to relatively consistent winds (for example, the trade winds ), a more moist climate usually prevails on the windward side of a mountain than on the leeward or downwind side. Moisture is removed by orographic lift, leaving drier air (see katabatic wind ) on

11948-455: The standard for measuring precipitation, there are many areas in which their use is not feasible. This includes the vast expanses of ocean and remote land areas. In other cases, social, technical or administrative issues prevent the dissemination of gauge observations. As a result, the modern global record of precipitation largely depends on satellite observations. Satellite sensors work by remotely sensing precipitation—recording various parts of

12064-662: The steepness and direction of slopes and the underlying rock type . Other than debris flows there is little contemporary mass wasting in the mountains. Avalanches are common in the Sudetes. The area around the Sudetes had by the 12th century been relatively densely settled with agriculture and settlements expanding further in the High Middle Ages from the 13th century onward. The majority of settlers were Germans from neighbouring Silesia, founding typical Waldhufendörfer . As this trend went on thinning of forest and deforestation had turned clearly unsustainable by

12180-565: The strengths and minimize the weaknesses of the individual input data sets. The goal is to provide "best" estimates of precipitation on a uniform time/space grid, usually for as much of the globe as possible. In some cases the long-term homogeneity of the dataset is emphasized, which is the Climate Data Record standard. Alternatively, the High Resolution Precipitation Product aims to produce

12296-424: The surface, or ice. Mixtures of different types of precipitation, including types in different categories, can fall simultaneously. Liquid forms of precipitation include rain and drizzle. Rain or drizzle that freezes on contact within a subfreezing air mass is called "freezing rain" or "freezing drizzle". Frozen forms of precipitation include snow, ice needles , ice pellets , hail , and graupel . The dew point

12412-441: The territory are Ostrava , Havířov , Karviná , Orlová and Bohumín . Frýdek-Místek is also partially located here. Precipitation In meteorology , precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle , rain , sleet , snow , ice pellets , graupel and hail . Precipitation occurs when

12528-483: The timber line by human activity is minimal. Areas above the timber line appear discontinuously as "islands" in the Sudetes. In the Giant Mountains the timber line lies at c . 1230 m a.s.l. while to the southeast in the Hrubý Jeseník mountains it lie at c . 1310 m a.s.l. Part of the Hrubý Jeseník mountains have been above the timber line for no less than 5000 years. Mountains rise considerably above

12644-459: The timber line, at most 400 m, a characteristic that sets the Sudetes apart from other Mittelgebirge of Central Europe . Geological research has been hampered by the multinational geography of the Sudetes with and the limitation of studies to state boundaries. The igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Sudetes originated during the Variscan orogeny and its aftermath. The Sudetes are

12760-437: The tropics—and becomes progressively less useful in areas where stratiform (layered) precipitation dominates, especially in mid- and high-latitude regions. The more-direct physical connection between hydrometeors and microwave channels gives the microwave estimates greater skill on short time and space scales than is true for IR. However, microwave sensors fly only on low Earth orbit satellites, and there are few enough of them that

12876-405: The water surface and the air above. Because of this temperature difference, warmth and moisture are transported upward, condensing into vertically oriented clouds (see satellite picture) which produce snow showers. The temperature decrease with height and cloud depth are directly affected by both the water temperature and the large-scale environment. The stronger the temperature decrease with height,

12992-447: The westerlies steer from west to east. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms and from occasional tropical cyclones. Humid subtropical climates lie on the east side continents, roughly between latitudes 20° and 40° degrees from the equator. An oceanic (or maritime) climate is typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, bordering cool oceans, as well as southeastern Australia, and

13108-598: The westernmost part of the West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands , in Dresden. The Sudeten Germans (the German-speaking inhabitants of Czechoslovakia ) as well as the Sudetenland (the border regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia they inhabited) are named after the Sudetes. The name Sudetes is derived from Sudeti montes , a Latinization of the name Soudeta ore used in

13224-438: The worst storm expected in any single year. The term 1 in 100 year storm describes a rainfall event which is extremely rare and which will occur with a likelihood of only once in a century, so has a 1 percent likelihood in any given year. The rainfall will be extreme and flooding to be worse than a 1 in 10 year event. As with all probability events, it is possible though unlikely to have two "1 in 100 Year Storms" in

13340-437: Was no higher ground that could serve as refugia . Besides altitude the distribution of some alpine plants is influenced by soil. This is the case of Aster alpinus that grows preferentially on calcareous ground. Other alpine plants such as Cardamine amara , Epilobium anagallidifolium , Luzula sudetica and Solidago virgaurea occur beyond their altitudinal zonation in very humid areas. Peatlands are common in

13456-452: Was planted in their place in the early 19th century, in some places amounting to monocultures . To provide more space for spruce plantations various peatlands were drained in the 19th and 20th century. Some spruce plantations have suffered severe damage as the seeds used came from lowland specimens that were not adapted to mountain conditions. Silver fir grow naturally in the Sudetes being more widespread in past times, before clearance since

#483516