Center for Research in Water Resources
University of Texas at Austin
Atmospheric Moisture Flow Over North America
Prepared by
David R. Maidment
Jerome Patoux
Christine Cotton
The image below shows the atmospheric moisture for June 1991. The arrows
represent the magnitude of moisture flux and are pointed in the direction
of the wind. The moisture flux is the product of specific humidity and
the wind velocity. The specific humidity is the amount of water contained
in each air column.
The quicktime movie shows the atmospheric moisture from June 1991 to
July 1993. It is interesting to observe the motion of the circulating air
above the ocean and the continent: the winds (Easterlies) take up water
from the ocean (high humidity areas) at low latitudes. They blow toward
the continent and penetrate above Central America and the central part
of the United States.
To play the movie:
- Macintosh: Simple player or some other Quicktime compatible viewer
must be installed.
- DOS/Windows/Windows NT: Mplayer or some other Avi compatible viewer
must be installed.
- Unix with X-windows: a program called XAnim
will play a Quicktime movie.
- Note: The movie was created using Adobe Premiere in Quicktime format.
The movie was converted to an Avi format for DOS/Windows using the vfw
program.
Quicktime Movie: Atmospheric Moisture Flow over
North America (1.5M)
DOS/Windows/Windows NT: Atmospheric Moisture
Flow over North America (4.0M)
These materials may be used for study, research, and education, but
please credit the authors and the Center for Research in Water Resources,
The University of Texas at Austin. All commercial rights reserved. Copyright
1997 Center for Research in Water Resources.