1.1. Students in Northern Ireland were studying the topic of weather and how to measure and collect weather data. Their school had a variety of instruments to measure elements of weather, including traditional instruments and digital equipment linked to the school’s computer network.

(i)

Fig. 1.1 is a diagram of a traditional weather station. What are the pieces of equipment labelled A and B?

A .......................................................
B .......................................................

[2]

(ii)

Describe three features of equipment A and explain why each feature is important.

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1.2. The students noticed that the weather was forecast to change over the next three days, so they decided to take some measurements to investigate these changes.

One pair of students decided to test the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: As atmospheric pressure changes rainfall amounts will vary.

Hypothesis 2: Atmospheric pressure affects the direction from which the wind blows.

The two students measured atmospheric pressure, rainfall and which direction the wind was blowing from. They took measurements every three hours using a combination of traditional and digital instruments.

(i)

Which one of the following instruments is used to measure atmospheric pressure? Tick (✓) your answer in the box below.

[1]

(ii)

A rain gauge is shown in Fig. 1.1. Explain how it is used to measure rainfall.

Fig. 1.1

 [4]

(iii)

Explain how a wind vane, which is also shown in Fig. 1.1, is used to show the direction from which the wind is blowing.

 [2]

1.3. (c)

The students’ results are shown in Table 1.1 (below). Use information from the table to complete the following tasks in Fig. 1.2 below.

Table 1.1

(i)

Complete the atmospheric pressure line graph at 16:00, 19:00 and 22:00 hours on Day 3.

[1]

(ii)

Draw the rainfall bar at 16:00 hours on Day 2.

[1]

(iii)

On which day and at what time was the following set of results recorded?

Day ...................................... Time ......................................

[1]

1.4. (d)

Using their results, the students made conclusions about their two hypotheses.

(i)

What is your conclusion to Hypothesis 1: As atmospheric pressure changes rainfall amounts will vary? Support your conclusion with data from Fig. 1.2 and Table 1.1.

 [4]

(iii)

The students decided that Hypothesis 2: Atmospheric pressure affects the direction from which the wind blows, was partly true. Support their conclusion with evidence from Fig. 1.2 and Table 1.1.

[3]

Table 1.1

1.5. (e)

Another pair of students investigated how the amount of cloud cover and cloud type had changed over the three days.

(i)

Fig. 1.3 (below) shows two examples of the amount of cloud cover they recorded. The students recorded the amounts in oktas (eighths). Choose from the values below and fill in the correct number of oktas for each example.

[2]

Choose from the following: 1 okta              3 oktas             7 oktas              8 oktas

(ii)

Fig. 1.4 shows three different types of cloud recorded by the students. Identify the cloud type in each photograph.

Fig. 1.4 

Type A .....................................................

Type B .....................................................

Type C .....................................................

[3]