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Geology Exams > Atmospheric Natural Disasters > Flashcards

Atmospheric Natural Disasters Flashcards

1
Q

What is the difference between High and Low Pressure?

A

H: pushes air down + anticyclone + hot/dry
L: Air rises up + cyclone + wet

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2
Q

What weather is caused by High Pressure?

A

heat waves + droughts (hot/dry events)

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3
Q

What weather is caused by Low Pressure?

A

Wet events

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4
Q

What influences high temperatures?

A

Insolation, albedo, humidity, heat waves

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5
Q

What is the most deadly meteorological natural disaster?

A

heat waves

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6
Q

Where is the Hadley Cell? Describe some of its characteristics.

A

around the equator, hot Air moves to the left, the equator become a band of LP, and the other end of the cells is a band of HP

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7
Q

Where is the Ferrel Cell? Describe some of its characteristics.

A

The middle cells (US is in this one)
Hot air moves to the right
Polar air sinks down

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8
Q

Where is the Polar Cell? Describe some of its characteristics.

A

Colder air sinks from the poles

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9
Q

What is the Coriolis Effect?

A

Spin of the earth causing wind to bend

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10
Q

What is a Temperature Inversion?

A

Descending cold air

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11
Q

Describe air in the Northern Hemisphere

A

Low pressure goes counterclockwise, curving to the right
High pressure goes clockwise, curving to the left

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12
Q

What causes a drought?

A

Lots of HP with little rainfall

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13
Q

What is a rainshadow? What causes it?

A

a patch of land that has been forced to become a desert because mountain ranges blocked all plant-growing, rainy weather.

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14
Q

Describe the Anasazi Drought of 1267

A

23 year drought that led to the abandonment of Mesa Verde Pueblos

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15
Q

What caused the downfall of the Mayan Civilization? (760-910 CE)

A

Systemic ecological collapse due to deforestation, siltation, decline of biodiversity, and drought

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16
Q

Describe the Dust Bowl (1931-1939)

A

Affected 75% of the US
Poor agricultural practices, high temps, low rainfall, and high winds

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17
Q

How did the Sahara Desert form?

A

Cyclical change from tropical to desert due to periodic climate change

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18
Q

Describe the Atacama Desert

A

Oldest + driest hot desert in the world
Caused by a rainshadow, inversion layer, HP anticyclone, and is on the Hadley+Ferrel Cell boundary

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19
Q

How do deserts expand? How can that expansion be accelerated?

A
  1. When there are extended amounts of HP
  2. Rapid anthropogenic global warming
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20
Q

What is fire season?

A

combo of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and heat

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21
Q

What percentage of fires are caused by lightning? What percentage by humans?

A

L: 15%
H: 85%

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22
Q

What is fire?

A

Photosynthesis in reverse

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23
Q

What ecosystems are fires necessary in?

A

all but tropical rainforests and deserts

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24
Q

What contributes to fire weather?

A

Hot sunny days, topography, warm dry winds, drought conditions

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25
Q

Describe the Greek Forest Fires of 2007, 2018, and 2021

A

2007: 84 dead
2018: caused by a man and wind spread it, 102 dead
2021: Heat wave caused it, 3 dead

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26
Q

Describe the Australia drought & bushfires of 1939, 2009, and 2019-2020

A

1939: Black Friday bushfire (71 dead)
2009: Black Saturday bushfire (180 dead)
2019-2020: 33 humans dead, over 3 billion animal deaths

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27
Q

Describe California’s drought & wildfire history

A

accelerating

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28
Q

What percentage of people are killed in wet weather disasters?

A

66%

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29
Q

What atmospheric processes have to do with Temperature?

A

Insolation, albedo, circulation

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30
Q

What atmospheric processes have to do with Pressure?

A

LP: unstable air
HP: stable air

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31
Q

What atmospheric processes have to do with Water?

A

Humidity, precipitation, and dew point
Latent Heat of phase change

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32
Q

What is the difference between stable and unstable air?

A

Stable = HP
Unstable = LP

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33
Q

What is seasonal precipitation?

A

Temp dependent

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34
Q

What is fog?

A

A cloud touching the Earth

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35
Q

What is rain?

A

Drop of water with enough mass to reach the surface of the Earth

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36
Q

What is an ice storm?

A

Super-cooled rain that freezes when it touches a frozen surface

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37
Q

What is frost?

A

dew that freezes in air and deposits on surfaces

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38
Q

What is snow/hail/sleet?

A

a crystallized drop of water with enough mass to gravitationally fall to the earth while frozen

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39
Q

How does El Nino affect the Pacific Ocean temperature? The Western Americas? SE Asia and Australia?

A

PO: warms it
WA: LP
SE A & A: HP

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40
Q

How does La Nina affect the Pacific Ocean temperature? The Western Americas? SE Asia and Australia?

A

PO: cools it
WA: HP
SE A & A: LP

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41
Q

What is the Polar Jet stream? Describe how it changes in Winter and in Summer.

A

The current of fast-moving air in the upper troposphere
Winter: winds at 125 km/hr, moves more south
Summer: winds at 60 km/hr, moves more north

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42
Q

What are the two types of moisture content?

A

continental (dry)
maritime (moist)

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43
Q

What are the three types of temperatures of air masses?

A

tropical (warm)
polar (cold)
arctic (extremely cold)

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44
Q

What are the source regions of the Continental Arctic (cA) air mass?

A

Highest latitudes in Asia, North America, Greenland, and Antarctica

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45
Q

What are the source regions of Continental Polar (cP) air mass?

A

High-latitude continental interiors

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46
Q

What are the source regions of Maritime Polar (mP) air mass?

A

High-latitude oceans

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47
Q

What are the source regions of Continental Tropical (cT) air mass?

A

Low-latitude oceans

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48
Q

What are the source regions of Maritime Tropical (mT) air mass?

A

subtopical oceans

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49
Q

What is a Warm Front?

A

Warm air pushes into area with cold air
Slow rise of warm air, causing thickening clouds and moderate rainfall

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50
Q

What is a Cold Front?

A

Cold air pushes beneath warm air
Fast rise of warm air causing the formation of cumulonimbus clouds, heavy rain, thunderstorms

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51
Q

What is an Occluded Front?

A

closure of front, cutting off warm air mass from the surface

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52
Q

Describe the Winter of Terror 1951

A

649 avalanches
265 dead
3-4.5 m of snow in 2-3 days
Steep topography

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53
Q

Describe the Blizzards of 1885-1888

A

Blizzard with 35 mph winds for 3+ hours
Nor’eassterly winds sunk ships
50 inches of snow from 1 storm
cattle froze
extreme flooding
Caused by Krakatoa

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54
Q

Deadliest Blizzard Iran 1972

A

Deadliest blizzard
26 feet of snow in 6 days
Buried 4000 people, trapped thousands

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55
Q

How does a thunderstorm happen?

A

warm humid air rises causing the formation of cumulonimbus clouds

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56
Q

What are the wind speed and hail size of a severe thunderstorm?

A

Wind: speed more than 58 mph
hail: more than 0.75 inches

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57
Q

What is a supercell?

A

single, extremely powerful storm cell

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58
Q

What do updrafts and downdrafts do?

A

bend and wrap around and amplify each
they form and carry hail

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59
Q

What is a downburst?

A

strong downdrafts with wind gusts of more than 270kph

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60
Q

What is a Gust Front?

A

when downdrafts reach the ground and surge forward

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61
Q

What are Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCC)?

A

circular, organized systems of several thunderstorms

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62
Q

What are mesocyclones?

A

vortex of air around 2-10km in diameter
air rises and rotates around a vertical axis
-> rotating wall cloud protrudes down

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63
Q

What are Funnel Clouds?

A

narrow, rapidly rotating vortex does not touch down

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64
Q

How is Lightning generated?

A

charge separation

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65
Q

What is a tornado?

A

constricts mesocyclone to several hundred meters across & touches down -> extreme P chang over short timespan

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66
Q

What is a water spout? Where do they occur?

A

Smaller tornados that never reach land
occur over warm water

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67
Q

What scale is used to determine the intensity of a tornado?

A

Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale) 0-5

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68
Q

Severe thunderstorm watch vs warning

A

Watch: situation conducive to tornado formation
Warning: severe thunderstorm has developed

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69
Q

Define Doppler radar

A

used to detect supercells

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70
Q

What is a Hook & vault formation?

A

often means tornado formation is imminent

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71
Q

Deadliest tornado Bangladesh 1989

A

F4 struck 2 large cities
1300 dead
around 80000 homeless
after 6 months of drought

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72
Q

What country has the most tornados? Why is that the case?

A

US
Clash of maritime tropical and continental polar air, midwest is flat land (no E-W mountain ranges)

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73
Q

Describe the Tri-State Tornado 1925

A

F5, deadliest in US history (695 dead)
Missouri, Illinois, Indiana
$16.5 million in damages

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74
Q

Describe the Joplin Tornado 2011

A

F5, more than a mile wide
Winds at 250 mph
158 dead
$2.8 million in damages and $2.2 insurance payout

75
Q

What is the difference between hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons?

A

Location
H: Atlantic
C: Indian Ocean and Australia
T: SE Asia and W Pacific

76
Q

Where do hurricanes get most of their energy from?

A

Deep layer of warm water that is more than 27C/81F that fuels latent heat of condensation

77
Q

Describe the Northern vs. Southern hemisphere hurricane season

A

N: Primarily Aug and Sept
S: Primarily Jan to Mar

78
Q

Define tropical disturbances

A

disorganized groups of thunderstorms with weak P gradients and little to no rotation

79
Q

Define Easterly waves

A

The origin of most W Atlantic tropical disturbances that become hurricanes.
Large undulations/ripples in the normal trade wind pattern

80
Q

Define Tropical depression

A

a tropical disturbance develops so that there is 1 or more closed isobar on a weather map

81
Q

Define tropical storm

A

depression that intensifies further and maintains wind speeds above 60 km/hr

82
Q

How is the Coriolis effect involved with hurricane formation?

A

it is required for hurricanes to form
This is why no hurricanes form at the equator

83
Q

What is the sea level pressure of a normal hurricane?

A

950mb
For each millibar of pressure decrease, there is 1 cm of sea level rise

84
Q

Describe the eye of a hurrricane

A

average 20 miles in diameter
region of HP that lasts 1-2 hrs

85
Q

Describe the eye wall

A

margin of the eye
zone of most intense storm activity with the strongest winds, thickest clouds, and most intense precipitation

86
Q

Define hot towers

A

located in some eye walls
localized portions of the eye wall that rise up to 7 mi high
indicate that the storm will intensify within 6 hrs

87
Q

What can be inferred from a shrinking eye?

A

An intensifying storm that is reaching its max strength

88
Q

What is emerging land?

A

tectonic uplift or falling sea level (erosion -> mass wasting)

89
Q

What is submerging land?

A

tectonic subsidence or rising sea level (deposition -> flooding)

90
Q

What is subsidence?

A

land decreasing in elevation tectonically

91
Q

What causes Sea Level Rise?

A

atmospheric warming, ocean warming, melting land ice + permafrost, and tectonic divergence rate

92
Q

What causes land subsidence?

A

withdrawl of groundwater, oil, natural gas, magma, and lava
permafrost melt
freeze-thaw and shrink-swell cycles
mine collapse
cave formation and collapse
drought

93
Q

What are storm surges?

A

a rise in water level due to a hurricane moving landward, in the N hemisphere on the E side, winds are in the same direction as the movement of the storm, so storm surge is greater

94
Q

What other disaster is associated with hurricanes?

A

tornados

95
Q

What are the benefits of hurricanes?

A

major source of water
carry life forms long distances
stir up nutrients
regenerate ecosystems

96
Q

What are the hazards of hurricanes?

A

extreme flooding
hazardous flying debris
water contamination
coastal erosion

97
Q

How do you end a hurricane?

A

eliminate its energy source

98
Q

Hurricane watch vs warning

A

Watch: a prediction that an approaching hurricane will approach land in more than 24 hours
Warning: it is expected to make landfall over the US within 24 hours

99
Q

What is the Saffir-Simpson scale?

A

classifies hurricanes into 5 categories

100
Q

Describe the 1900 Galveston TX Hurricane

A

Deadliest US hurricane (around 8000 dead)
Storm surge was 8-12 ft
Category 4

101
Q

Describe the deadliest hurricane: Bhola Cyclone 1970

A

Category 4
500,000 dead
115 mph winds
gusts of 150 mph
storm surge flooded Gages Delta

102
Q

Describe Hurricane Mitch 1998

A

Category 5
180 mph winds
around 19,000 (Honduras had 7,000 of those deaths)

103
Q

Describe Typhoon Yunya 1991

A

Category 3
At the same time that V6 Mount Pinatubo erupted

104
Q

Describe Hurricane Katrina 2005

A

Category 5
1836 dead
$125 billion in damage
flooded 80% of New Orleans

105
Q

What is Karst topography?

A

sinkholes and caves form as acidic groundwater erodes subsurface rocks and soil

106
Q

What is a sinkhole?

A

cave roof collapses

107
Q

What percentage of the US land is coastal?

A

10%

108
Q

What percentage of the US population lives on the coast?

A

40%

109
Q

Tectonically passive vs active

A

Passive = subsiding
Active = uplift

110
Q

What is the erosion rate influenced by?

A

type of bedrock
tidal range
wave exposure
weather
earthquakes
uplift + subsidence

111
Q

Describe the Atlantic coast

A

wide tidal range
has the most coasts that are open to wave erosion (2.6 ft/yr)
varied bedrock (resistant and non-resistant)
barrier islands are common
sea level rise ~1 ft/century

112
Q

Describe the Gulf of Mexico coast

A

narrow tidal range
low wave energy
non-resistant rocks
tectonic subsidence
Mississippi river delta dominates
6 ft/yr of erosion

113
Q

Describe the Pacific coast

A

tectonic uplift
mostly non-resistant rock
high energy waves
mid-level tidal range
0.016 ft/yr of erosion

114
Q

Describe the Great Lakes shorelines

A

7ft fluctuation since 1860
tectonic uplift

115
Q

What causes sea coast flooding?

A

tsunami
high tide
wind
sea level rise
low barometric pressure

116
Q

What is the tide range?

A

high minus low tide

117
Q

What are spring tides?

A

Earth, moon, sun in alignment (new and full moons) = max high tides and wide tidal range

118
Q

What are neap tides?

A

Earth, moon, sun at a right angle (1st and 3rd quarter moons) = min high tides and most restricted tidal range

119
Q

What causes surface waves? What determines wave intensity?

A

wind
wind velocity

120
Q

What is a rogue wave?

A

more than 2 times the size of surrounding waves

121
Q

What are breaker waves?

A

When a wave touches the seafloor at 1/2 wavelength, bottom of the wave slows due to friction, wavelength begins to decrease, wave height begins to increase, top of wave falls over and breaks

122
Q

What is a rip current?

A

move away from the shore to balance water moving towards the shore

123
Q

What causes erosion on headlands?

A

wave refraction

124
Q

What is beach drift?

A

the direction of sand flowing down current

125
Q

What eventually happens to irregular coastlines?

A

smooth out over time with erosion

126
Q

What are atolls?

A

a ring-shaped reef, island, or chain of islands formed of coral that act as a wave break

127
Q

What happens when the rock grain is parallel to the coast?

A

protects the coast and forms long beaches

128
Q

What happens when the rock grain is perpendicular to the coast?

A

more inland flooding

129
Q

What does the longshore current direction determine?

A

where erosion and deposition occur
the movement of sand, oil, nutrients, and boats
used to prevent erosion, determine land use planning, promote ecosystem health

130
Q

What are the differences between Bay Barriers, Tombolos, and Spits?

A

Bay Barrier: Coastal barriers that connect two headlands, and enclose a pond, marsh, or another aquatic habitat.
Tombolo: a deposition landform by which an island becomes attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land
Spit: a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores

131
Q

Describe the Barrier Island system

A

Along the Atlantic coast, protects the land behind it

132
Q

What is a rip rap?

A

large rocks too big for waves to move
protects terrace base

133
Q

What is a seawall?

A

protect what’s behind them only

134
Q

What is a beach groin?

A

Groins are shore perpendicular structures, used to maintain updrift beaches or to restrict longshore sediment transport.

135
Q

What is a jettie?

A

A jetty is a long, narrow structure that protects a coastline from the currents and tides.

136
Q

What is a breakwater?

A

a barrier built out into a body of water to protect a coast or harbor from the force of waves.

137
Q

What can limit erosion?

A

natural and man-made dunes

138
Q

What are the damages of beach nourishment?

A

Big ships would vacuum sand from the bottom of the ocean (including ecosystems down there) and just shoot it to fill in beaches. This is a flawed system because not only does it destroy ecosystems, but it is a temporary fix to a big problem. It’s just going to erode away anyway.

139
Q

What administrations monitor the weather?

A

National Weather Service (NWS)
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

140
Q

What is a Drainage basin?

A

River tributaries propagate toward lower elevations linking together as a watershed that begins at the headwaters

141
Q

What happens with tributaries as elevation decreases?

A

tributaries increase in width & depth & floodplain area

142
Q

Describe high gradient rivers

A

steep slope
mostly erosional
lots of landslides & debris flow

143
Q

Describe alluvial fans

A

when rivers transition from high to low gradient
distributaries distribute the water among multiple drainages

144
Q

Describe floodplains (low-gradient rivers)

A

depositional area = loose sediment = more intense shaking during an earthquake

145
Q

What types of channels form on floodplains?

A

meandering: erosion & deposition on bends
braided: lots of deposition

146
Q

What is a distributary? What are the two types? Describe them

A

when a channel divides & distributes across a larger area. deposition dominates = flooding
Delta: a depositional landform
created by the entrance of a river into an ocean, sea, desert, estuary, lake, or another river
Estuary: a semi-closed coastal body of water with one or more streams flowing into it and a free connection into the open sea

147
Q

What causes river floods?

A

storm surges
heavy rain
rain on impermeable sufaces
snow and ice melt
failed levees and dams

148
Q

What determines a flood probability?

A

a linear relationship between time and discharge

149
Q

When do peak floods occur?

A

after peak rainfall

150
Q

What is a Zone 1 flood?

A

steep: flash flooding, arid climates, dam/levee break

151
Q

What is a Zone 2 flood?

A

downstream: storms inundate floodplain

152
Q

What is a Zone 3 flood?

A

alluvial fans and deltas

153
Q

What is a mega flood?

A

atmospheric rivers

154
Q

What determines the damage and size of a flood?

A

length of storm, timing, infiltration conditions, topography, vegetation, humans

155
Q

How do we decrease flood hazards?

A

create structures, reshape rivers, zoning/land use, preparation, evacuation

156
Q

Describe 1800’s Worst flood: Johnstown PA 1889

A

South Fork Dam failure
2209 dead; 99 entire families

157
Q

Describe the most destructive US flood: Great Mississippi flood of 1927

A

heavy rains
246 dead
led to the building of the largest system of levees and floodways

158
Q

Describe the Deadliest flood in history: China 1931

A

4 million dead due to drowning, starvation, and disease
followed a 2 year drought and a bad winter with lots of snow, heavy rain made it melt

159
Q

Describe Boulder CO 2013 flooding

A

extreme mass wasting and flooding
8 dead; 5 missing
on an alluvial fan
20+ inches of rain

160
Q

Describe California mega flood Ark Storm 1862

A

worst storm to hit CA
Lots of damage to the point that CA declared bankruptcy
Recurrence interval of 100-200 years

161
Q

Which part of a hurricane does the Department of Commerce propeller plane study to forecast hurricane development?

A

eye wall

162
Q

Which organization decides evacuation orders during a US hurricane?

A

National Hurricane Center in Miami

163
Q

Does land or water warm more quickly during the day, causing warm air to rise?

A

Land

164
Q

In the northern hemisphere, winds are diverted to the __________.

A

Right

165
Q

Describe Hurricane Sandy October 2012

A

95 mph winds and a record deluge flooded entire neighborhoods

166
Q

How many people in the US are in harm’s way from hurricanes?

A

More than 47 million people from TX to MN

167
Q

What are the conditions that allow clouds to form?

A

Impurities in the air known as cloud condensation nuclei are required to transform air into ice crystals forming clouds

168
Q

What landform is the major source of atmospheric mineral dust?

A

Sahara Desert

169
Q

How does the Sahara have the power to prevent hurricanes?

A

Arid air from the dust cuts off hurricane development

170
Q

How often does Miami, FL experience large storms?

A

Every other year

171
Q

How are buildings tested against hurricane winds?

A

They use 105 extremely powerful fans that blow air at 200 km/h that are at all angles
They add flaming winds and rain

172
Q

How many people were killed by Hurricane Sandy? How much did the damage cost?

A

142 dead
50 billion dollars

173
Q

Hurricanes are to ____________ what _______ are to winter.

A

Summer
Blizzards

174
Q

Where do blizzards that impact Europe develop?

A

US

175
Q

How are hurricanes & earthquakes connected? Which regions are most vulnerable to this connection?

A

Extreme precipitation can lead huge amounts of earth into the ocean, changing the pressure ratios in the ground and causing earthquakes
Haiti, Taiwan, Japan

176
Q

How is Japan using technology to prevent typhoon destruction?

A

Huge pipes underground detur the flow of water underground and into the pacific ocean

177
Q

When & where did the largest storm disaster occur on Earth?

A

1970 in eastern Pakistan

178
Q

What was Project Storm Fury?

A

Tried to stop hurricanes by using silver iodide (spoiler alert, it didn’t work)

179
Q

How does China modify the weather?

A

Tons of chemicals are sprayed into the air

180
Q

How does Saharan dust affect the Amazon, ocean surface waters, and West African weather?

A

Trees thrive in the amazon with phosphorus and iron
Red tides that kill fish
Monsoons to Droughts in West Africa

181
Q

How is lightning studied in Florida?

A

They launch a rocket with a spool of kevlar coated cooper wire to bring lightning to them

182
Q

What major weather event threatens California?

A

The Arc Storm (big flood disaster with lots and lots of rain)

183
Q

What weather changes are expected as a result of climate change?

A

Heat waves
Extreme rainfall
Storms

184
Q

What is expected by the year 2070?

A

The world’s port cities will be more flooded

Geology Exams (4 decks)

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