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tudent Activities
Written Report
Students are expected to turn in a written report that includes the following sections:
- Title page - names of group members and dates of study
- Introduction - summary of what you know about cold fronts (include citations) and
a statement about the objective of your report
- Materials and methods
- Data
- Information collected from the satellite images including the position of a
cold front
- Predicted velocity of the front
- Table of surface data
- Graphs demonstrating ground data trends
- Discussion
- Citations
Observation of the Front
- Obtain the day’s satellite image.
- Using the image, indicate the position of the cold front and complete the chart on
page 271. Also, note the types of clouds you see and their positions relative to the
cold front (are they on the leading edge? trailing edge? middle?).
- Step #2 should be repeated for 2 or 3 images in order to get a good idea of the
movement associated with this front.
- Based on the images you have analyzed thus far, calculate the average velocity of
the cold front. There are a number of ways to do this. Decide on a method, then
show all your steps so your teacher knows how you have chosen to proceed.
- Using your velocity calculations, predict when this cold front will pass through
your area. Show your work.
- For the next few days (in some cases, hours) until the cold front passes through,
do two things:
a. Record the following information in the table on page 270:
- cloud type - sketches or photos may be included
- date
- dew point (relative humidity if hygrometer is available)
- precipitation
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