Atmosphere Flashcards
What does a Thunderstorm need to form.
Hot, moist air, and an unstable atmosphere.
Define Thunderstorms
Rainstorms characterized by strong, rapid uplift, heavy rain or hail, lightning, and winds.
Define Hail
Forms during thunderstorms. Cold clouds include ice crystals that partially melt, then re-freeze when caught in updrafts. They grow until they are too heavy.
Define Lightning
Electrical discharge of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud.
Define Tornado
Column of rapidly rotating air extending from a thundercloud to the surface.
What is the Fujita scale
developed to estimate the intensity of tornados.
It is based on wind speeds that are estimated via embedded debris.
Define mesocyclone
A storm-scale region of rotation, typically around 2-6 miles in diameter and often found in the right rear flank of a supercell
The mitigation of tornados.
Communication infrastructuree.g. sirens
wind-resistant buildings that include tornado-proof safe rooms.
Hurricanes
low-pressure systems that develop over tropical oceans.
storm surge waves
an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides.
Define Drought
Extended period of unusually low precipitation that produces a shortage of water for people.
Where do Semi-arid climates occur:
Sub-tropics (e.g. Sahel).
Rain shadows (e.g. Okanagan).
Areas far from water sources (e.g. interior China).
What is El Niño and La Niña
El Niño is the “warm phase” of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation)
La Niña, the “cool phase” of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation)
Wildfire Definition
A self-sustaining, rapid, high-temperature fire.
Define succession.
process whereby different communities move in and modify the environment for successive ones.
Disturbance agents____?
Create and maintain diversity in ecosystems.
What is the basic requirements for a wildfire?
Dry fuel, ignition source, wind. i.e., fuel, oxygen and heat.
What are the three stages of a fire?
- Pre-ignition
- Combustion
- Extinction
Define smoke.
A combination of gases, ash and soot.
Mitigation
Natural wildfires are somewhat self-mitigating.
Good fire management balances human and ecological values.
Public education
Ecological land management e.g., back burning, ecosystem restoration, ect.
Fire-proofing in interface regions. e.g., fire guards, smoke detectors.
What are interface regions?
Boundaries between rural and urban areas.
Define Weather.
Atmospheric conditions that occur locally over short periods of time.
Define Climate.
The long-term regional or even global average of temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades.
Define Global warming.
Long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
Define Climate change
A long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.
Glacial / interglacial periods
(time scales of 10,000s of years) correlate with natural cycles in Earth-Sun relationship to earth (orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and precession.).
What are some of the potential consequences of global worming?
Xtreme weather, ecosystem stress, threat to food supply and rising sea level.
