Climate Flashcards

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1
Q

What is weather?

A

Atmospheric conditions of a specific place at a specific time.

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2
Q

What is climate?

A

Average weather conditions in a region over a period of several years (minimum 30 years)

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3
Q

What is anecdotal evidence?

A

Things we see/experience

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4
Q

What is scientific evidence?

A

Fasts/dta using numbers or measurements

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5
Q

What is narrow climate?

A

Doesn’t vary much

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6
Q

What is wide climate?

A

varies a lot

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7
Q

What is moderate climate?

A

mild; not too cold or hot

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8
Q

What is severe climate?

A

extreme; hot or cold

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9
Q

What is the biosphere?

A

narrow zone around Earth that can support life

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10
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

All the air

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11
Q

What is the hydrosphere?

A

all the water

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12
Q

What is the lithosphere?

A

all the land

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13
Q

What are the four layers of the atmosphere? (lowest to highest)

A

Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere

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14
Q

What is the troposphere?

A

surface -> 10km

temp is 15 to -60

contains 80% of atmospheric gases, and most living organisms

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15
Q

What is the stratosphere?

A

10km -> 50km

temp is -60 to 0

contains the ozone layer (O3)

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16
Q

What is the mesosphere?

A

50km -> 80km

temp is 0 to -100

contains trace water vapour

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17
Q

What is the thermosphere?

A

80km -> 300km

temp is -100 to +1500

contains very little gas

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18
Q

What is inversion?

A

reversal of temperature change with altitude (expected to get colder with height, but in the stratosphere and thermosphere it gets hotter)

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19
Q

What is the sun to the Earth?

A

Source of all energy

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20
Q

What are the waves on the electromagnetic spectrum? (fastest to slowest)

A

gamma rays, x-ray, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwaves, radiowaves

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21
Q

What are gamma rays used for?

A

used in chemo therapy to kill cancer cells

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22
Q

What are ultraviolet rays used for?

A

Absorbed by the skin, this is why we need sunscreen

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23
Q

What is visible light for?

A

what we see; each colour is a different wavelength

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24
Q

What are infrared rays used for?

A

they transmit heat

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25
Q

What is the angle of inclination?

A

The angle of the axis between the North and South Pole (23.5)

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26
Q

What is a solstice?

A

points in Earth’s orbit where the poles are pointed most towards or away from the sun

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27
Q

What is an equinox?

A

days where the number of daylight hours is exactly equal to the number of nighttime hours

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28
Q

What are latitudes?

A

The way earth is split (equator is 0 degrees, poles are 90 degrees)

29
Q

What is the angle of incidence?

A

Angle between the sunray and surface of the Earth (the bigger angle the mroe direct the sunlight)

30
Q

What components affect the sunlight absorbed by the biosphere?

A
  • cloud coverage
  • different gases in the atmosphere
31
Q

What is albedo?

A

percent of solar radiation a material reflects

32
Q

What is the greenhouse effect?

A

heat gets trapped in the atmosphere, and keeps heat close to Earth

33
Q

What is the natural greenhouse effect?

A

Good; keeps the Earth warm. Without it the atmospheric temp would be below 0.

made of watervapour, carbon dioxide, etc

34
Q

What is the artifical greenhouse effect?

A

Caused by human activity; adding more gases into the atmosphere and traps more heat.

made of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, etc

35
Q

What is incoming radiation?

A

solar energy that makes it to the surface of the earth (not reflected)

36
Q

What is outgoing radiation?

A

Thermal energy Earth’s surface re-emits into space (not trapped in the atmosphere)

37
Q

What is the radiation budget?

A

Generally balanced for whole planet

polar regions have a heat deficit
equator regions have a heat surplus

38
Q

What is the second law of thermodynamics?

A

heat always moves from hot to cold

39
Q

What is radiation?

A

thermal energy transfer in gases, a vacuum

40
Q

What is conduction?

A

thermal energy transfer in solids

41
Q

What is convection?

A

thermal energy transfer in fluids (liquids and gases)

42
Q

What is atmospheric pressure?

A

Pressure exerted by a column of air over any given point (colder air exerts mroe pressure since it is more dense)

43
Q

What is wind?

A

movement of air from regions of high pressure to regions of low pressure

44
Q

What is the coriolis effect?

A

bending of moving currents in response to Earth’s rotation

causes winds in each hemisphere to move opposite directions

45
Q

What are jet streams?

A

a ‘‘river’’ of fast flowing winds in the stratosphere

changes in jet streams help predict severe weather

46
Q

What is specific heat capacity?

A

Amount of energy to raise the temperature of one gram of substances by one degree celsius

47
Q

What is quantity of thermal energy?

A

Amount of thermal energy released by one gram of a substance when its temperature chagnaed by one degree

48
Q

What is heat of fusion?

A

amount of energy released or absorbed during a phase change between ad solid and liquid

49
Q

What is heat of vaporization?

A

amount of energy released or absorbed during a phase change between a liquid and gas

50
Q

What are biomes?

A

areas with a specific climate and adaptations

they are open systems as energy and matter is able to enter and leave

51
Q

What is the tundra?

A

bitter cold, high winds, little rainfall, permafrost, many animals hibernate in colder months

52
Q

What is the taiga?

A

cold, lots of snow, annimals have thick fur, trees have needles instead of leaves

53
Q

What is the deciduous forest?

A

mild, lots of rain, trees lose leaves in winter and have thick bark, has very distinct seasons

54
Q

What is the grassland?

A

mild, some rain, plants have deep rooots for moisture in droughts, usually have a rich top soil and seasonal drought and fires

55
Q

What is the rainforest?

A

hot, heavy rainfall, plants have broad leaves, animals have camouflage, has a closed tree canopy so less light on floor

56
Q

What is the desert?

A

very hot at day and cold at night, very little precipitation, plants and animals have water storage

57
Q

What are climatographs?

A

graph showing the average temperature and precipitation of a location over an year

58
Q

What is average temp plotted in?

A

They are plotted in a line graph adn measured in degrees celsius

59
Q

What is average precipitation plotted in?

A

They are plotted in a bar graph and measured in mm

60
Q

How does insolation effect climate?

A

Most related to latitude, biggest effect on climate

61
Q

How do global winds effect climate?

A

Patterns can determine short term weather

62
Q

How do ocean currents effect climate?

A

they have a moderating effect.

63
Q

What is Global Warming Potential (GWP)?

A

measure of the relative ability to trap thermal energy in the atmosphere (CO2 is the reference point)

64
Q

What is persistence?

A

how many years a gas will remain in the atmosphere

65
Q

What are halo carbons?

A

Another class of man made chemicals that can trap thermal energy in the atmosphere

66
Q

What is a carbon source?

A

process that release carbon into the atmosphere

67
Q

What is a carbon sink?

A

processes that remove carbon from the atmosphere

68
Q

What is some evidence for global warming?

A
  • flowers in Northern Hemisphere begun to bloom earlier
  • incidence of extreme weather events that have been increasing
  • snow cover in polar regions decreased
  • average level and temperature of Earth’s oceans are increasing