Atmosphere and Atmospheric Interaction

Question 1

The Amazon Rainforest is supplied nutrients by dust blown across the Atlantic Ocean, originating from ______.

Answer 1

Northern Africa

Question 2

What is the SAL, and what does it stand for?

Answer 2

Saharan air layer, warm, dusty air over the Saharan region of Africa

Question 3

What underlays the SAL in its extent over the Atlantic Ocean?

Answer 3

A shallow, 900-1800 m layer of cool, humid air (the marine layer).

Question 4

How does the SAL remain warm despite being adjacent to a cool layer?

Answer 4

The suspended dust particles absorbs solar radiation.

Question 5

What happens when the SAL engulfs a hurricane or a tropical precursor to a hurricane?

Answer 5

The system weakens

Question 6

The SAL is rich in iron and is thus a contributor to _______ in the Gulf of Mexico.

Answer 6

Algal blooms

Question 7

How is the SAL thought to potentially affect coral reefs in the Caribbean?

Answer 7

Dust may transported to the Caribbean my cause algal blooms

Question 8

About half the atmosphere’s mass is concentrated within about _____ m of the Earth’s surface.

Answer 8

5500

Question 9

About 99 percent of the atmosphere’s mass is concentrated within about _____ m of the Earth’s surface.

Answer 9

32000

Question 10

Who were the chemists who first isolated various constituent gases from the air, demonstrating that air is a mixture of gases that are either elements or compounds?

Answer 10

Joseph Black, Daniel Rutherford and Joseph Priestley

Question 11

The principal source of Earth’s atmosphere is ______, which is ______.

Answer 11

Outgassing, the release of gases from rock through volcanic eruptions and meteorites strikes

Question 12

Perhaps as much as ___ percent of all outgassing occurred within a million years of the planet’s formation, though it continues today at a much slower rate

Answer 12

85

Question 13

What was Earth’s primeval atmosphere primarily composed of?

Answer 13

Carbon dioxide (C02), with some nitrogen (N2), and some water vapor (H20)

Question 14

What did Earth’s primeval atmosphere contain trace amounts of?

Answer 14

Methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and hydrochloric acid (HCl).

Question 15

Argon was added to Earth’s atmosphere by the radioactive decay of ____ in the planet’s bedrock.

Answer 15

Potassium-40 isotope

Question 16

What effect on the composition of Earth’s atmosphere did high-energy solar ultraviolet radiation have?

Answer 16

caused the disassociation of water vapor into its constituent atoms, contributing a small amount of free oxygen while the hydrogen escaped to space.

Question 17

From ______ to _______ years ago, the sun was _____, but Earth was still warm because ______.

Answer 17

4.5 billion to 2.5 billion, 30 percent dimmer, the abundance of CO2

Question 18

Earth’s CO2-rich atmosphere was _______ than today.

Answer 18

10 to 20 times denser

Question 19

The average surface temperature of Earth’s CO2-rich atmosphere was ________ as opposed to today’s, which is ________.

Answer 19

85 °C to 110 °C, 15 °C

Question 20

By 4 billion years ago, the earth began ____ and the the Earth system changed.

Answer 20

cooling

Question 21

Gaia cooling caused the formation of ______ from _____.

Answer 21

clouds, the condensation of water vapor

Question 22

On early Earth, clouds produced rain, which in conjunction with ______ gave rise to the ocean.

Answer 22

runoff from landmasses

Question 23

On early Earth, rains locked carbon into rocks and minerals by

Answer 23

dissolving it in the rainwater as carbonic acid, which then chemically reacted with bedrock.