User:Mieleveronica/sandbox

Reflective Essay
Critiquing Articles:

Evaluating the articles has helped me reduce bias and improve the tone of my writing. While critiquing articles the Wikipedia module helped me understand how to look for mistakes. While evaluating articles, I learned that there is a talk page allowing you to view the article status, opinions of others, and areas of improvement. After choosing my article, Polar Vortex, I was shocked to discover how much of the information was outdated or incorrect. When evaluating this article, I applied what I learnt in the "Evaluate Wikipedia" module to make sure the information was relevant and unbiased. Due to the below average quality of the article, we chose to re-write the majority in order to present a high-quality article for the reader. This process helped me fortify my writing abilities by demonstrating how to properly write and cite scientific facts.

Summarizing Contributions:

Me and my classmate (Westbrookholly) decided to create new sections and re-write existing areas of the Polar Vortex article. The earlier version did not provide all the information necessary in order to fully comprehend the subject. The sources cited in the article were outdated making the content misleading and un-accurate for readers. The improved article contains appropriate sources, and presents the information in a logical way making it easy for the reader to understand. My partner and I edited all of the sections and replaced incorrect statements with new ones. We also added a section on the anthropogenic effects on the polar vortex and the polar vortex effects on climate. The Wikipedia module about the editing process helped me follow a simple method that would ensure quality content. I learned how to insert citations, correct grammatical mistakes, and enhance statements. The newly added content and edits enhanced the previously existing article.

Peer Review:

The peer review process entailed critiquing two of our classmates chosen article contributions. The criteria for the reviews included presentation of information, non-bias perspective, reliable sources, overall quality and organization of the article. While evaluating articles, my main focus was ensuring the writing was high-quality and unbiased as well as contained enough sources. I provided my peers with general feedback on how I felt they could improve their writing. My peers did not evaluate my article but I tried to incorporate the suggestions I gave into my own work. I made sure to back my claims with citations and provide an unbiased opinion throughout my editing.

Feedback:

We have not yet received any feedback from the original author or other wikipedia members. We would greatly appreciate any feedback that could be offered and will continue to check back. Having another opinion would make me feel more confident that the writing produced by my partner and I was accurate and reliable. If any feedback is provided we will make the necessary changes to make the article a higher quality.

Wikipedia Generally:

I have developed stronger writing abilities throughout this Wikipedia assignment. It provided me with a different way of developing my skills. I learned the importance of writing non-biased articles, what constitutes a good quality source, how to properly paraphrase, and the importance of reliable information. This assignment expanded my knowledge of Wikipedia and made me understand that, contrary to popular belief, it is a reliable source and provides accurate information. I will take what I have learned from this assignment and apply it to any future writing I need to do. Moreover, I really enjoyed this experience as it was unlike any other project I have completed. I have never written anything that was made available for the public to critique. Additionally, I feel like I have received a great deal of exposure and gained more confidence in my writing abilities from this project. In the future, I hope to be able to edit and improve many other articles. This assignment is important because it allows those with a high understanding of Earth Systems to use their knowledge and communicate it at no cost to the general public.

Introduction
A polar vortex is an upper-level low-pressure area lying near one of the Earth's poles. There are two polar vortices in the Earth's atmosphere, overlying the North and South Poles. Each polar vortex is a persistent, large-scale, low-pressure zone less than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in diameter, that rotates counter-clockwise at the North Pole (called a cyclone) and clockwise at the South Pole, i.e., both polar vortices rotate eastward around the poles. As with other cyclones, their rotation is driven by the Coriolis effect. The bases of the two polar vortices are located in the middle and upper troposphere and extend into the stratosphere. Beneath that lies a large mass of cold, dense Arctic air. The interface between the cold dry air mass of the pole and the warm moist air mass farther south defines the location of the polar front.

The term polar vortex is an abbreviation for circumpolar vortex, referring to a planetary scale westerly flow encircling the pole in middle or high latitudes. These events are not extreme or unusual but a basic feature of the Earth's climatology. Despite some drastic weather events being related to transient displacements, they are only a manifestation of a major change in the global atmospheric circulation. There are some cases where a polar vortex is used to refer to smaller and shorter-lived vortices occurring in polar regions. There are also polar vortices in the atmospheres of other planetary bodies, including Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Saturn’s moon Titan.

It is important to note that there are two existing planetary-scale circumpolar vortices, one in the stratosphere and one in the troposphere, both of which have separate structures, seasonality, dynamics, and weather impacts. The tropospheric vortex has a larger magnitude and exists year round compared to its stratospheric counterpart that forms in the fall and ends in the spring of ear year. Although both vortices have a role in extreme weather events at the surface, the events are not the consequence of either the existence of the vortices. Cold-air outbreaks are more related to minor movements of the edge of the tropospheric polar vortex that might be related to the stratospheric vortex. However, there is no known connection between the two phenomena.

Stratospheric Polar Vortex
The stratospheric vortex can be traced to the late 1940s. The strong circumpolar westerlies defining the stratospheric polar vortex maximize at around 60° latitude and ∼100 hPa into the mesosphere. This vortex can be defined by the coherent region of low geo-potential height. In more recent studies, the vortex has been defined by the region of high potential vorticity (PV). PV gradients are more intense at the edge compared to other latitudes and provide the restoring mechanism for the propagation of Rossby waves. Rossby waves are fundamental, low-frequency disturbances in the extratropical troposphere and stratosphere.

The stratospheric polar vortex appears each winter due to large-scale temperature gradients between the midlatitudes and the pole. It forms in the fall when there is no solar heating in polar regions, becomes very strong in the winter, and finally breaks down when sunlight returns to the polar regions in the spring and high-latitude winds become weak easterlies. When solar heating is balanced by infrared cooling, there is a stronger vortex and cooler poles. Rossby waves in the troposphere propagate into the stratosphere, perturbing the vortex away from radiative equilibrium, weakening it and distorting its shape away from circular symmetry about the pole. When there are more severe contrast in the Northern Hemisphere, a stronger upward-propagating wave is generated causing a weaker and more distorted vortex than it's southern counterpart. When there is temporal variability in the NH vortex, such as rises in polar temperatures, a breakdown of the stratospheric vortex occurs in midwinter.

Tropospheric Polar Vortex
The edge of the tropospheric vortex has geo-potential contours lying within the core of the westerlies. The values of the contours vary but the tropospheric edge usually lies between 40° and 50°N. Vortices weaken and strengthen from year to year. If the Arctic vortex is strong and well defined there is a single vortex and the Arctic air is well contained. When it is weaker, it can break down into two or more vortices. If it is very weak, the flow of Arctic air becomes more disorganized causing masses of cold Arctic air to be pushed near the equator bringing with it a rapid and sharp temperature drop. When the polar vortex is strong, a single vortex with a well constrained jet stream is present near the polar front. If the northern vortex weakens, it will separate into two or more vortices, the strongest of which are near Baffin Island and the other over northeast Siberia. On timescales longer than a month, the tropospheric vortex usually has one or two centres. On daily timescales the vortex can have up to several centres.

The tropospheric vortex and strong westerly airflow are manifestations of the thermal wind relation and the pole-to-equator temperature gradient. Unlike the stratospheric vortex, the tropospheric vortex plays a role in variability and maintenance of the large-scale tropospheric jet stream. Baroclinic instability is the process by which most extratropical tropospheric weather systems extract energy from the basic pole-to-equator temperature gradient. These are largely confined to the troposphere. Only Rossby waves containing large spatial scales are able to propagate upward into the stratosphere as a result of the westerly flow over boundaries like mountains and continental land-sea contrasts. The tropospheric variability has horizontal scales ranging from one to a few thousand kilometres which can be seen by comparing the edges of the tropospheric and stratospheric contours.

Extreme Weather Events Caused by a Polar Vortex
On certain occasions, both vortices are able to interact and become influenced by the same large scale wave events and they can both play a role in extreme weather events at the surface of the earth. It is important to note that the tropospheric vortex is more important in terms of controlling surface weather. The stratospheric vortex can play a role in some surface weather when it occurs through a variety of mechanisms of stratosphere-troposphere interaction.

A more prominent connection is established between the tropospheric polar vortex and extreme surface weather events in the midlatitudes compared to the stratospheric vortex. One of the most prominent connections is that distortions at the edge of the polar vortex are very closely related to particular locations close to the vortex's edge. The distortions relate to large-amplitude planetary-scale waves propagating along the jet stream.

Extreme weather events are not a consequence of either the existence or gross properties of either polar vortex whether tropospheric or stratospheric since both vortices are normal climatological features of Earth's atmospheric circulation. The events tend to only be associated with transient and localized displacements of tropospheric vortex edges. It is very important to differentiate between the two vortices as many surface weather events involve only the tropospheric vortex. The stratospheric vortex might be responsible for some weather events but it is usually more subtle and indirect, requiring more complicated scientific evidence.

2002 sudden stratospheric warming
Topographic and land-sea contrasts in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) create stronger waves than in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) and cause the northern stratospheric vortex to be more weak and distorted causing temporal variability in the NH vortex. These are known as sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). They entail a rise in polar temperatures and a breakdown of the polar vortex during midwinter. On average, there is an SSW every two years in the NH. However, in the SH, an SSW has been observed only once in September of 2002.

2014 extreme weather event in Eastern US.
An example of an extreme weather event caused by a distorted polar vortex is the cold-air event occurring over the eastern United States in early January 2014. This is what brought the polar vortex into the general public's vocabulary. The event was a result of the large-amplitude ridge-trough system which brought extremely cold air south. This event cannot be directly attributed to changes in the stratospheric vortex or to hemisphere changes in the tropospheric vortex by it might be appropriate to describe it in terms of waves on the edge o the tropospheric vortex.

Ozone Depletion
Stratospheric polar vortices play an important role in stratospheric ozone depletion. Low temperatures of vortices and reduced polar mixing across the vortex edge are crucial for the formation of the Antarctic ozone hole and the winter-spring depletion over the Arctic. The chemistry of the Antarctic polar vortex has created severe ozone depletion. Nitric acid in the polar stratospheric clouds reacts with chlorofluorocarbons forming chlorine which then catalyzes the photochemical destruction of ozone. During a polar winter, chlorine concentrations build up to cause consequent ozone destruction when the sunlight returns in spring. Ozone depletion in the North Pole is much less severe than at the South Pole. Accordingly, the seasonal reduction of ozone levels over the Arctic creates an "ozone dent" rather than an "ozone hole" which is caused by more sever depletion over the Antarctic. Moreover, chemical ozone destruction in the 2011 Arctic polar vortex reached a level clearly identifiable as an Arctic "ozone hole" for the first time. (Edited-wikipedias paragraph on ozone depletion)

Peer Review of BN1998/sandbox
This user has chosen to contribute to the article Freshwater acidification. She has made an excellent choice in her article selection considering there is barely any information surrounding this topic. For the 'Overview' portion of your contribution, I feel that it is very well-spoken and adds a good amount of background and history to the subject that was previously lacking. Moreover, the current heading 'Causes' lacks scientific evidence therefore the sub-headings you are providing will add insight and knowledge on the exact reason for freshwater acidification. I especially found the Buffering & NOx and SOx sections to be very informative. My only suggestion would be to add another citation in the CO2 section because you only have 1 at the moment. After reading this article draft, I will work harder to ensure the information I am adding is scientifically accurate. Keep up the great work.


 * Also posted on the talk page of the users sandbox

Peer Review of Polidoroal/sandbox
This article does a great job of relating groundwater recharge to climate change and urbanization. In my opinion, I found your work to be very insightful and educational. Great job linking groundwater availability with the global warming and increase in temperature. Furthermore, the insertion of the graph is a great way to visually demonstrate the natural groundwater process and was a great addition to the article considering there was only one image beforehand. Similarly, discussing the impacts of urban areas on groundwater recharge was compelling and very relatable to the subject. An improvement I would suggest for your article is to add more citations to back your contributions and provide further information. Overall, your article contribution is very well done. The relevancy of your work to current worldwide issues makes the article more appealing to readers. Excellent work.


 * Also posted on the talk page of the users sandbox

Finalizing Article Topic
Note: I am editing my article with Westbrookholly.

Topic: Polar vortex.

Copy-Edit Article Exercise
Article Edited: Arctic sea ice decline

Edits: I made a few minor grammatical changes throughout the article to make the wording more clear and improve the overall quality.

Adding Citations Exercise
Citation added to: Arctic sea ice decline in heading "Implications"

Section added: Added sub-heading "Human Impact" with the following sentences: ''The decline of arctic sea ice will provide humans with access to previously remote coastal zones, further driving the need for mineral and petroleum exploration. As a result, this will lead to an undesirable effect on terrestrial ecosystems and increase the risk of marine species survival.''

Article Cited: Ecological Consequences of Sea-Ice Decline

Potential Article: Polar vortex
This article is vital to the Science, Physics community and needs some improvement. The quality of writing is not poor however there are some instances where the format does not correspond with wikipedia's standards. Some of the content needs to be updated because there is a lack of credibility or reliable sources. Some of the ways I can improve this article include adding updated information, improving the articles quality and relevance. Furthermore, I can expand on the history and identification areas to better suit the article. The subheading about Outside Earth needs clarification so this is another area where I could help improve the article. Lastly there is no information on hot polar vortex, which would be a good way for me to make a contribution. This article would be a great choice to edit because it has a lot of viewers, is listed as a level-4 vital article, and it is apart of WikiProject Meteorology, WikiProject Non-tropical storms, and WikiProject Physics /  Fluid Dynamics.

Potential Article: Arctic sea ice decline
This article is listed as a start-class level article, mid-level importance and is a part of WikiProject Arctic, making it a good article to improve. There is a lot of scientific evidence in this article, however it is poorly depicted and requires a lot of revision. I can add to this article by providing qualitative information to support the evidence. In the talk page people are making revisions and recommendations on aspects that need improvement. One of the main areas of concerns in the lack of future implications of melting sea-ice so this would be a good place to start the editing.

Potential Article: Climate change feedback
This article needs improved references; some are outdated, not peer-reviewed, or have nothing do with the subject. The general tone and organization of this article is poor so this would be a good place to improve the content. I can contribute to this article by adding more relevant information to the many subheadings of the Positive carbon cycle feedbacks. A lot of critical information is either missing or incorrect. The distinction between positive and negative cycles is weak and this would be a good place to start editing this article. Since this is ranked of mid-importance and apart of WikiProject Environment / Climate change, among other WikiProjects, it is relevant to this class and a good article to choose.

Potential Article: Ecological stability
This article is of high-importance and is a part of WikiProject Ecology making it a good candidate to edit. After reviewing the talk page, other editors have suggested that there is a lack of information. Therefore, a good place to start would be to plan out new sections that are relevant to the subject. I could contribute to this article by adding relevant information to try and fill the missing gaps. The stability analysis portion has almost no information; this is an important aspect of the article and modification is necessary. Furthermore, there is no information on how ecological stability impacts other aspects of the earth so I believe that this could be a good contribution to the article.

Article Evaluation: Cladocera
 Content Evaluation 

After reading this article, all of the information is relevant to the topic, Cladocera, and none of the information is distracting or takes away from the topic. In the introduction, there is a brief physical description of the species as well as its origin which is helpful to the reader. The information used is relevant, and taken from reliable sources. However, the cyclical parthenogenesis, occasional cycles of reproduction, has no information and this is an important part of the life cycle of the Cladocera that is missing from the article. Furthermore, many species from the taxonomy of the Cladocera are missing due to a lack of research on the subject. Hopefully, since this article is part of a WikiProject, people are working on contributing missing information to further improve this subject.

 Tone Evaluation 

In my opinion, tone of this article is very unbiased. There are no claims that are biased towards any persons opinion. The crustacean's physical appearance and origin was discussed in a scientific manner, relevant to the article. There is underrepresentation in some of the topics relating to the Cladocera, including: lifecycle, ecology and taxonomy.

 Source Evaluation 

After checking citations, the links seem to working normally and the sources do in fact support the research of the article. The facts regarding this crustacean are represented with accuracy and are pertinent to the topic of discussion. The information comes from credible sources and there does not seem to be any sign of plagiarism. The sources are neutral, and the majority are from peer reviewed or published literature.

 Talk Page 

The talk page mentions that this article is part of the WikiProject Arthropods, which is a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of arthropod's on Wikipedia. There are no current conversations occurring on the talk page of Cladocera. This article has been rated C-class on the projects quality scale which I agree with because there is a reasonable amount of detail and it is all properly referenced. It has been rated mid-importance on the importance scale because it fills specific knowledge for certain areas.

 Overall Summary 

Overall, this article provides key information on the topic of discussion and offers accurate information regarding the description and origin of the Cladocera. Although the information is organized and reliable, more research is needed to assure the Cladocera is being represented to its fullest potential.

Commented on Talk:Cladocera February 2, 2018.