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Weather > Exam 2 > Flashcards

Exam 2 Flashcards

0
Q

When and how are constant pressure charts created?

A

Creates 12Z and 00Z daily using radiosonde, aircraft, and satellite observations

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1
Q

What is the typical height for the 300 mb chart?

A

30,000 feet

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2
Q

Lines connecting points of equal wind speed on an upper level chart are called what?

A

Isotachs

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3
Q

What is the least likely to produce precipitation?

  1. Development of convective cloud updrafts
  2. Ground level mechanical turbulence
  3. Ascent of moist air forced over a mountain
  4. Convergence of air into a low pressure region
A

Ground level mechanical turbulence

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4
Q

Isotachs are drawn on upper level charts to aid in the identification of what?

A

Jet streams

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5
Q

_____ usually occurs in association with surface low pressure centers

A

Rising motion

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6
Q

The ISA lapse rate in the troposphere is what?

A

2 degrees C per 1,000 feet

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7
Q

What environmental lapse rate is seen in an unstable air layer?

A

4 degrees C per 1,000 feet

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8
Q

Why does the tropopause provide an upper limit to most cloud tops?

A

The lower stratosphere is a stable layer

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9
Q

Solar warming of a surface during a sunny day, with no change in the moisture content of the air layer, would be expected to produce a _______ relative humidity

A

Reduction of relative humidity

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10
Q

What could destabilize a layer of air near the ground?

A

Mechanical turbulence which mixes the air

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11
Q

What force effect causes warm air to rise and cold air to sink?

A

Buoyancy

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12
Q

What can you usually expect when planning a flight in unstable air with high relative humidity?

A

Convective cloud

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13
Q

What do you call a layer of precipitating stratiform clouds that has a cloud base height of 3,000 feet?

A

Nimbostratus

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14
Q

If an observer determines that 4/8 of the sky is covered by a cloud layer how would the sky conditions be reported?

A

SCT

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15
Q

What is an important result of the release of latent heat during condensation from water vapor to cloud droplets?

A

Increased buoyancy

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16
Q

What is the primary process by which frost forms?

A

Vapor deposition

17
Q

Supercooled cloud droplets are observed and aircraft icing occurs most frequently in what temp range?

A

-20 to 0 degrees Celsius

18
Q

Why does rising unsaturated air cool at a rate of 3 degrees C per 1,000 feet?

A

Rising air uses energy to expand in a dry adiabatic process

19
Q

What is the most serious consequence for fog in aviation?

A

Restricted visibility

20
Q

A cloud that appears bright white in both visible imagery and infrared imagery is most likely what type of clouds?

A

Cumulonimbus or high, thick cirrus

21
Q

When flying through humid air, the density altitude is slightly ______ and your aircraft performance is _____

A

Higher, reduced

22
Q

A fibrous, wispy looking white cloud at high elevation is typically composed of what?

A

Ice particles

23
Q

The solid contour lines drawn on a 500 mb chart are lines of equal what?

A

Height

24
Q

What decreases as temperature increases?

A

Relative humidity

25
Q

The vertical motion of air caused by heating of an air parcel is called what?

A

Convection

26
Q

A state change from a solid to a gas is called what?

A

Sublimation

27
Q

The pressure exerted by water vapor molecules in a parcel of air is called what?

A

Vapor pressure

28
Q

What will increase in a rising parcel of air?

A

Relative humidity

29
Q

Small particles that serve as surfaces on which cloud droplets can form are called what?

A

Condensation nuclei

30
Q

The fog that forms along the Pacific Ocean coastal area of California is mainly what type of fog?

A

Advection fog

31
Q

Convective precipitation areas can be best identified on radar scan images by what?

A

Strong reflectivity gradients across short distances

32
Q

Aircraft radar reflectivity values are most likely to be underestimates of precipitation intensity because of what?

A

Attenuation of the radar beam signal through heavy rainfall

33
Q

Geostationary satellites have an orbit which?

A

Matches the speed of earth rotation

34
Q

Wx radar reflectivity increases strongly with what?

A

Precipitation particle size

35
Q

Radar reflectivity is typically strongest for what?

A

A layer of heavy snowfall that is beginning to melt

36
Q

Water vapor products from satellites provide images of what?

A

Mid tropospheric moisture patterns

37
Q

An air layer temp lapse rate of 2.3 degrees celsius per 1,000 ft is what?

A

Conditionally unstable

38
Q

Latent heat is released through what processes?

A

Condensation, freezing, deposition

39
Q

The lifted index provides info on what?

A

Atmospheric instability

40
Q

Radiosonde sounding profile data is valuable for analysis for what?

A

Likelihood of convective thunderstorm formation,
Vertical wind shear,
Estimated cloud ceiling

Weather (6 decks)

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