FRONTAL STRUCTURE AND FRONTOGENESIS- IMPORTANT CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS

1. Provide a definition for an atmospheric front.
2. What are typical along and across front spatial scales?
3. Why must pressure be continuous across a front?
4. What is the significance that the pressure gradient is not continuous across an idealized front?
5. Why must cyclonic shear exist across an idealized front?
6. For a real front oriented north-south, draw a diagram showing how temperature is continuous across the front, but dT/dx is not.
7. What are typical depths for polar fronts?
8. Physically interpret with the equations and diagrams, the three processes that lead to frontogenesis and frontolysis.
9. How can a deformation field lead to frontogenesis or frontolysis?
10. What contributes to the motion of a front?
11. In a qualitative manner, describe the ageostrophic direct circulation that forms along a frontal zone.