Exam 1 Study Flashcards
What is the ultimate cause of wind, and what does this also affect?
Differences in temperature, which also affects the pressure and that’s why the air moves
What is associated with rising air, and warmer air?
Low pressure, thermal low
What is associated with sinking air and cold air?
High pressure, and thermal high pressure
What is a surface low called?
Cyclone
A what is a surface high pressure system called?
Anticyclone
What are the forces that cause wind?
Pressure gradient force, Coriolis effect, and friction
__________ initially gets air moving from ______ to ______ pressure
PGF, High, Low
_________ is caused by earths rotation on its axis, deflects wind to the _______ in the northern hemisphere and to the ______ in the southern hemisphere.
Coriolis effect, right, left
________ slows down the wind at the surface
Friction
Winds aloft are caused by a _______ between the _______ and the _________. How do these winds blow?
Balance, pgf, Coriolis effect
Parallel to the isobars
Winds at the surface are caused by a ______ between the _______, _________, and the _______. How do these winds typically blow?
Balance, pgf, Coriolis effects, friction
These winds blow across the isobars
At the surface winds ____ to cyclones and ______ out of anticyclones
Converge, diverge
Surface winds blow ______ and _______ into cyclones in the NH.
CCW, converge
Surface winds blow ________ and _______ out of anticyclones in the NH
CW, diverge
The __________ helps describe the average _________ we observed across the globe
Global circulation of the atmosphere (GCA), wind patterns
What helps redistribute heat from tropical latitudes to higher latitudes?
Global circulation of the atmosphere (GCA)
Where is the Hadley cell
0-30 latitude
In a Hadley cell, _______ air ______ in the ________ and ________ around 30 latitude
Warm, rises, tropics, descends
Because of the ______ circulation we typically find low _______ near the _______ which is called the _________
Hadley Cell, pressure, equator, Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)
Conversely, we typically find _______ near 30 N/S latitude which is called
High pressure, subtropical highs
In the NH, winds flow _____ around and _____ from ___________
Clockwise, diverge, subtropical highs
Because of the divergence from the subtropical highs which direction do the winds blow between 0 and 30 latitude? What are they called?
Northeasterlies, trade winds!
Where do we find west/southwesterly winds
Midlatitudes
Where do we find extremely cold, dense air
Polar latitudes
What are the areas of high pressure in the polar latitudes called?
Polar highs
In the NH wind blows ________ around and ______ out of these polar ______.
Cw, diverges, highs
The winds that diverges out of the polar highs creates what direction winds and what latitudes are they occurring in?
Polar easterlies, between 60 and 90
At around 60 N, a boundary forms between very ______ air transported by the _______ winds and the relatively milder air transported by the __________ winds. What is this boundary called?
Cold, polar easterly, mid latitude westerly
Called the polar front
Does the global circulation of the atmosphere affect global patterns of precipitation?
Yes
Areas in the tropics, near the ITCZ tend to be very ______
Rainy
Areas in the subtropics, near the subtropical highs, tend to be very ________
Dry
Where are most of the world’s deserts found?
Near the subtropical highs
The global circulation of the atmosphere does not shift seasonally
False
During the NH summer, the circulation shifts _______ especially over ______ areas
Northward, land
In the NH winter, circulation shifts ______ especially over ______ areas
Southward, land
Indian summer the _____ monsoon occurs
Wet
Indian winter _______ monsoon occurs
Dry
During the wet monsoon in India where is the resulting wind blowing
From the water to the land
During the dry monsoon in India where is the resulting wind blowing
The wind blows from the land to the sea
________ is a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air
Humidity
What three phases does water exist in the atmosphere
Solid, liquid, and gas
What state does water contain the most energy
Gas
What state does water have the least energy
Solid
What happens when water changes phases in the atmosphere
Latent heat
If water is moving from a lower-energy phase to a higher-energy phase, water molecules ______ latent heat from the surrounding air. This causes the surrounding air to ________.
Absorb, cool
I’d water is moving from a higher-energy phase to a lower-energy phase, water molecules ________ latent heat to surrounding air. This causes the air to ________.
Release, warm
Phase changes that release latent heat (warming)
Condensation, freezing, and deposition
Phase changes that absorb latent heat (cooling)
Evaporation, melting, and sublimation
The capacity if air to hold water vapor ________ as temperature ________
Increases, increases
If the amount of water vapor in the air remains the same but the temperature increases, then what happens to the relative humidity
It will decrease
If the amount of water vapor stays the same but the temperature decreases what happens to the relative humidity?
It will increase
The warmest temperatures and the lowest relative humidity typically occur in the _______ and the coldest temperatures and the highest relative humidity occurs around ________.
Afternoon, dawn
Saturation occurs when
Relative humidity = 100%, and the air temp=dew point temp
Clouds form when what occurs
Saturation
If a parcel near the surface is forced to rise it will cool
Adiabatically
The cooling of air that occurs because of expansion of an air parcel
Adiabatic cooling
As the air rises and cools adiabatically, it will eventually reach the _______ temperature and a ______ will form
Dew point, cloud
4 ways of lifting parcels of air
Convective (warmer pockets of air), fronts, convergent (boundary area in florida), oro graphic (mountains)
3 main cloud types
Cirriform (high clouds, ice crystals), stratiform (low layered without much vertical development), cumuliform (vertically developed clouds)
Areas adjacent to _______ ocean currents receive more __________ the. Areas adjacent to ________ currents
Warm, rain, cold
Areas on the ______ side of the mountains receive more _____ than areas on the _______ side of mountains
Windward, rain, leeward
The leeward side of a mountain with less precip is called a
Rain shadow
What does GIS stand for, what does it mean
Geographic Information System. Computer-based tool used to help people transform geographical data into geographic information
What is remote sensing, how does it work
Scanning the earth by satellite to gather information, measure reflected and emitted radiation at a distance
Lidars uses what kind of sensing
Active
______ radars work by emitting a beam of energy and “listening” for the ______ signal that bounces off its target like rain or snow. This is a what kind of sensing
Weather, returned
Active sensing
Most ______ work by detecting energy that already exist, they don’t emit their own energy what is this called
Satellites
Passive sensing
Lines of latitude measure how far _____ or ______ something is
North, south
Lines of longitude measure how far _____ or _______ something is
West, east
Lines of latitude are referred to as _______
Parallels
Lines of longitude are referees to as ________
Meridians
Latitude of the equator
0 deg
Latitude of the Tropic of Cancer
23.5 deg N
Latitudes of the Tropic of Capricorn
23.5 deg S
Latitude of the Arctic circle
66.5 deg N
Latitude of the Antarctic Circle
66.5 deg S
Longitude of the Prime Meridian
0 deg
The amount of _____ emitted by an object is _______ to its temperature, Warmer objects emit more ____ than cooler objects. What is this law called
Radiation, proportional, energy
Stefan-Boltzmann Law
The _____ an object, the ______ the mean wavelength of the radiation it emits
What is this law called
Hotter, shorter
Wien’s Law
The sun emits what kind of radiation
Shortwave
The earth emits what kind of radiation
Longwave
What causes seasons
The tilt of earth’s axis (23.5 deg) and the resultant variations in the suns angle throughout the year
The suns angle is never _____ at locations ______ of the Tropic of Cancer or ____ of the Tropic of Capricorn
90, north, south
_______ is the latitude at which the suns angle is 90 deg, varies by time of year. Reaches equator on equinoxes, and Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn on solstices
Declination
What is the circle of illumination and what does this have to do with length of days
The dividing days between day and night
What atmosphere do we exist in
Troposphere
At what level do clouds stop ascending upwards in the atmosphere if they reach this height
Tropopause
What do green house gasses do in earths atmosphere
Trap heat from earth
What are green house gasses
Gasses in earths atmosphere that absorb longwave radiation emitted by earth
Locations near the equator are at _______ while locations near the poles are at an _______. At locations in the mid-latitudes are at _________.
Energy surpluses, energy deficit, energy balance
What is pressure
The weight of the atmosphere above you
Average sea level pressure?
1013.25 mb or 101325 Pa
_____ air likes to _____ because as it expands its density ______. This creates low pressure
Warm, rise, decreases
_____ air likes to _____ because it compresses, its density _________ and is associated with high pressure
Cold, rise, increases
PGF is strongest where, and weakest where?
Strongest: poles (faster winds)
Weakest: equator (slower winds)
What are the subtropical highs and subpolar lows called because they are driven by other systems
Dynamic systems
On the surface of the Ferrell Cell, what does air try to do and what kind of wind results
Move from subtropical highs to subpolar lows and is steered but the Coriolis effect
The resulting wind is the mid-latitude westerlies
What is a jet stream
Fast moving “rivers” of air
There are two jets what are they and which one is strongest
Polar, subtropical. The polar is the strongest (fastest of the two)
Where do the polar and subtropical jets exist approximately and how do they flow
Polar: 45 deg N and 60 deg N
Subtropical: 30 deg N
Flows east to west
Seabreeze when does it occur
When wind blows from the oceans (bodies of water) to land
Occurs when there is a low pressure over land
Land breeze
Winds blowing from land to ocean (bodies of water)
Occurs when the pressure is higher over land
Mixing ratio
Measure of the mass of the water vapor
Vapor pressure
Measures the pressure of water vapor in a parcel of air rather than mass
Dew point depression
The difference between the dew point and temperature
The closer dew point and temperature are together, the _______ the dew point depression is and the _____ the water vapor in the atmosphere is to condensing
Smaller, closer
Relative humidity
The percentage of water vapor in a parcel relative the moisture capacity of the parcel
Warmer air holds _________ than colder air can
More moisture
Dry adiabatic lapse (DALR)
Temperature is higher than dew point the temperature of the parcel decreases by 10 deg C very kilometer in the atmosphere as the parcel ascends and descends
Moist (Saturated) Adiabatic Lapse Rate
Temperature and dew point decreases by 6 deg C per kilometer while the parcel ASCENDS only
