Climate & Physiognomy (Week 3 Lecture 4 & 5)

Question 1

______ is a local area’s short term temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, cloud cover and other physical conditions of the atmosphere measured over hours or days.

Answer 1

Weather

Question 2

______ is a Long-term prevailing weather conditions in an area.

Answer 2

Climate

Question 3

______ consists of patterns on the global, regional, and landscape (multiple ecosystems) level.

Answer 3

Macroclimate

Question 4

______ consists of very fine patterns, such as those encountered by the community of organisms underneath a fallen log.

Answer 4

Microclimate

Question 5

What determines microclimate?

Answer 5

Determined by fine-scale differences in the environment that affect light and wind patterns

Question 6

What determines the general type of vegetation in an area?

Answer 6

Climate determines the general type of vegetation in an area

Question 7

Who found the effects of altitude and air pressure on patterns of temperature and precipitation.

Answer 7

Alexander van Hulmboldt

Question 8

What are the two primary components of a region’s climate?

Answer 8

Temperature and moisture

Question 9

The climate is determined by ______ ______ and ______ of ______ and ______.

Answer 9

mean variability, seasonality of Temperature and percipitation

Question 10

______ is a measure of the total kinetic energy, the energy of motion of the molecules in a substance.

Answer 10

Heat

Question 11

______ is a measure of the average kinetic energy of those molecules.

Answer 11

Temperature

Question 12

True or False: Temperature at any spot on the earth’s surface – determined primarily by the amount of radiant energy that receives from the sun.

Answer 12

True

Question 13

True or False: The sun’s energy is the longwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Answer 13

False, shortwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum

Question 14

True or False: As objects heated by sunlight, they emit longwave radiant energy.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

______ is the transport of heat energy from one place to another by atmospheric and oceanic currents.

Answer 15

Convection

Question 16

______ ______ results when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reabsorbs longwave radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface.

Answer 16

Greenhouse effect

Question 17

Secondary heating of the Earth’s surface then occurs by ______ from the atmosphere.

Answer 17

Reradiation

Question 18

True or False: Without Greenhouse effect, the Earth would be bitterly cold everywhere, all of the time.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

True or False: shortwave radiation absorbed by the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface is balanced by the long wave energy emitted

Answer 19

True

Question 20

The combination of ______ and ______ radiation determines the ambient temperature at Earth’s surface.

Answer 20

Shortwave and longwave

Question 21

______ is rainfall and snowfall and relative humidity.

Answer 21

Perciptation

Question 22

True or False: Water molecules in the atmosphere are ineffective at absorbing longwave radiation, and therefore, humid air acts as a reservoir of stored heat.

Answer 22

False, they are effective

Question 23

True or False: Warm air is less dense than cold air.

Answer 23

True, and therefore rises and has a greater capacity for holding moisture than does cooler air

Question 24

______ is greatest at the equator, and the air there is warmed, thus create a pattern of rising air in a belt around the Earth at the Equator

Answer 24

Solar radiation

Question 25

What are the two outcomes of air movement from solar radiation?

Answer 25

Large amounts of precipitation in equatorial regions

Air flowing towards the Poles at high altitudes

Question 26

True or False: The movement of air masses at the Earth’s surface is a major factor in determining surface oceanic currents, which in turn play a major role in terrestrial climates.

Answer 26

True

Question 27

______ side of a mountain has high precipitation whereas the ______ sides of mountains have low precipitation.

Answer 27

Windward, leeward

Question 28

______ ______ are created when dry air descends on the leeward side of the mountain.

Answer 28

Rain shadows

Question 29

True or False: Every mountain cannot cast a rain shadow.

Answer 29

False, every mountain can cast a rain shadow

Question 30

What are the two ways land masses can be affected by their proximity to oceans or other large bodies of water?

Answer 30

Air passing over the water can pick up moisture and deposit it on land as rain or snow or

Land can tend to lose moisture to the body of water depending on relative air and water temperatures

Question 31

______ ______ is an example of when air passing over the water can pick up moisture and deposit it on land as rain or snow.

Answer 31

Lake effect

Question 32

True or False: Patterns of variation in temperature and precipitation are generally regular with some predictability.

Answer 32

True

Question 33

True or False: Changes in atmospheric CO2 levels (both natural and anthropogenic) – has large effects on global climate.

Answer 33

True

Question 34

______ ______ creates rain shadows; rise of the Rocky mountains 34 mya and is associated with spread of grasslands across the middle of NA.

Answer 34

Mountain building