Meteorology

You will learn about cold and warm fronts, how to predict wind speed and direction, different air masses and their associated weather.

This online training is designed for those studying for their Master (Code vessels less than 200 GT) or the Officer of the Watch (Yachts less than 500 GT) orals and is aligned with the MCA Orals Syllabus.

You can see the contents of what is contained in this unit in the contents list below.

  1. What is a Synoptic Chart?
  2. Features of a Synoptic Chart
    1. Subscriber Content
  3. Met Self Assessment Tool
  4. Features of a Synoptic Chart
  5. Fronts
  6. Warm Front
  7. Cold Front
  8. Occulded Fronts
  9. Troughs
  10. Predicting the Wind Direction
  11. Buy’s Ballots Law
  12. Predicting Wind Speed
  13. Formation of Winds
  14. What is Air?
  15. The Movement of Air
  16. Pressure Gradient Force
  17. Coriolis Effect
  18. Formation of Land Breezes
  19. Formation of Sea Breezes
  20. Air Masses
  21. Summer Air Masses in the UK
  22. Tropical Continental
  23. Polar Continental
  24. Tropical Maritime
  25. Polar Maritime
  26. Returning Polar Maritime
  27. Arctic Maritime
  28. Winter Air Masses
  29. Tropical Maritime
  30. Polar Maritime
  31. Arctic Maritime
  32. Polar Continental
  33. Climatic Zones
  34. General Circulation of the Atmosphere
  35. Main Climatic Zones over the Oceans
  36. Meteorological Observations
  37. Beaufort Scale
  38. Waves
  39. Apparent Wind
  40. True Wind
  41. Horizontal Visibility
  42. Types of Cloud
  43. Cirrus Clouds (Ci)
  44. Cirrostratus (Cs)
  45. Cirrocumulus (Cc)
  46. Altostratus (As)
  47. Altocumulus (Ac)
  48. Nimbostratus (Ns)
  49. Stratus (St)
  50. Stratocumulus (Sc)
  51. Cumulus (Cu)
  52. Cumulonimbus (Cb)
  53. Meteorological Imstruments
    1. Barographs
    2. Hygrometer
    3. Stevenson screen
    4. Anemometer
    5. Navtex
    6. Subscribe to get access

What is a Synoptic Chart?

The word ‘synoptic’ means a summary of the current situation. In weather terms, a synoptic or pressure chart is a map that summarises the atmospheric conditions over a wide area at a defined time.

The first thing you need to find on a pressure chart is where you are. You can do this by either using the latitude and longitude, or by finding where you are on the land. We will be using met office charts. On these synoptic charts the UK is located fairly centrally, with Iceland and Greenland to the top left and continental Europe to the right. North is not at the top of the page, but where the lines of longitude converge, in the top left corner. This means we can see as much as possible of the relevant area around the UK.

Metoffice synoptic chart showing high and low pressures, cold and warm fronts and pressure lines

The Met Office produces the synoptic charts you will use to predict the weather for your exams in black and white. This has a number of other features, when compared to the colour charts. These are:

  • Markings of latitude and longitude
  • Geostrophic wind scale
How to read a synoptic chart showing where to find the latitude, longitude and geostrophic wind scale

Features of a Synoptic Chart

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