Exam 2 Flashcards
Where did Earth’s water come from?
Origin from coalescence of icy planetesimals or impact of icy comets
What is the distribution of Earth’s water?
Distribution of Earth’s water is uneven
(rapid circulation in surface and atmosphere)
Majority of the water is ocean
What are the unique properties of water?
Simple molecular structure dictates its properties Oxygen (O) atom (desire for two additional electrons) 2 Hydrogen (H) atoms (desire to share one electron each)
What is humidity and how do we express it?
amount of water vapor in air, Relative Humidity, Vapor pressure and Specific Humidity.
How does temperature change humidity?
Low temperature is high relative humidity and high temperature is low relative humidity.
What is an air parcel and how does it move? Is it stable or unstable?
body of air with a specific temperature and humidity, Temperature determines stability
How does a cloud form?
Begin as a large mass of moisture droplets, temperatures get colder, water vapor starts condemning on each other and a cloud is formed.
What is fog? What are the three types ofog?
cloud layer on the ground,
Radiation fog
Advection fog
Evaporation fog
What happens if the parcel of air is less dense than surrounding air?
Parcel rises and expands
What happens if the parcel of air is more dense than surrounding air?
Parcel sinks and compresses
How do we know if the parcel of air is warming or cooling when rising (ascending) or falling (descending)?
Rising air cools by expansion (responds to the reduced pressure at high altitudes)
Falling air heats by compression
What is a cloud?
Aggregate of tiny moisture droplets & ice crystals Suspended in air
Large enough in volume & concentration to be seen
How do we classify a cloud?
Altitude and Shape
Describe Stratus cloud.
Uniform, Featureless, gray clouds that look like high fog low cloud
Describe Altostratus cloud.
Thin to thick clouds with no halos. Sun’s outline just visible through clouds on a gray day. Middle Clouds
Describe Altocumulus cloud.
Clouds like patches of cotton balls,drippled, and arranged in lines or groups. Middle Clouds
Describe Cirrus clouds.
High clouds, Wispey feathery, with delicate fibers, streaks or plumes.
Describe Cumulus clouds.
Vertically developed clouds, Sharply outlined , puffy, billowy
flat-based with swelling-tops. Associated with fear weather.
What’s the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is The short- term, day-to-day condition of the atmosphere
Climate is Long term weather trends in a region
What are air masses and how are they classified?
Distinctive body of air, with characteristics of its source region
Classified by moisture and temperature
What are the common air masses that affect the weather of N. America?
Moisture (m – maritime, c – continental)
Temperature (P – polar, T – tropical
What are the atmospheric lifting mechanisms?
Convergent
Convectional
Orographic
Frontal
What causes the rain shadow in the western US?
Orographic lifting
Thurnderstorms, What are the characterisitcs,where do you find them and what damage can they do?
Thunderstorm: Turbulence, Wind sheer, lightening, they are found in mid-latitude where warm moist air front collides and border cool air fronts. Hail can cause tons of damage
Tornadoes, What are the characteristics, where do you find them and what damage can they cause?
Tornadoes: or a violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground surface, usually visible as spinning vortex of clouds and debris. All over the place and anytime, but it’s more common in the middle US (Texas, Oklahoma) and during the Spring through early summer. Can cause a ton of damage.
Hurricanes what are characteristics, where do you find them and what damage can they cause?
Hurricanes: Have high wind speeds, occur within the tropics. they can millions of daughter in damage.
Where do we find Earth’s water resources (relative water distribution)?
Surface Water Resources Groundwater Resources
What is the hydrologic cycle and what are its components?
A simplified model of the flow of water, ice, and water vapor from place to place.
atmosphere, surface, and subsurface
What is a water budget? What are the components? How do you read a water budget graph?
derived from measuring the input of precipitation and its distribution and the outputs of evapotranspiration.
components are precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface-waterand groundwater flow. Like ana economic budget, there will be a surplus and defecit.
What are the measurement techniques used to measure precipitation and evapotranspiration?
rain gauge, evaporation pan or lysimeter
What are the problems associated w/ groundwater usage?
Toxic seepage
Collapsing aquifer
Seawater intrusion
The process by which water permeates the soil or porous rock into the subsurface environment
Percolation
is a hydrologic process where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater.
Recharge
Water across to subsurface regions of soil moisture storage through penetration of the soil surface.
Infiltration
Las Vegas and Colorado River water supply
Las Vegas uses the Colorado River as it main water supply source.
True or False. Groundwater accumulation can occur over millions
True
What is the upper limit of the zone of saturation called?
Water Table
A subsurface layer of permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (silt, sand, or gravel) through which groundwater can flow is known as a(n):
Aquifer
What type of aquifer is bounded above and below by impermeable layers?
Confined
What is climate and what are the components that determine climate?
The trend of weather over a long period of time (regional)
Components: temperature and precipitation, insolation, energy availability, air pressure, and air mass
How do we classify climate and what are the 6 general climate classes?
Genetic classification and Empirical classification 6 general classes are: Tropical Mesothermal Microthermal Polar Highland Dry:
Understand the different climographs for these 6 general climate classes.
Look over charts.
What are the methods (proxy) used to determine past (both long term and short term) climate changes?
Paleoclimatology Trapped gas bubbles in glacial ice Fossil plankton in ocean sediments Tree growth rings Speleothems (mineral formations from caves)
What is an isotope and how do we use them?
variation of a particular atomic nuclei, investigate changes in the concentrations of certain atomic isotopes
What are possible fluctuation mechanisms for change climates (e.g., eccentricity, precession, tilt, topography, etc.)?
Orbital Variations,Solar irradiance, Continental position and topography, Atmospheric gases and aerosols
What is the evidence of current climate change and what are the causes?
Increasing temperatures over land and ocean surfaces and in the troposphere
Increasing sea-surface temperatures and ocean heat content
Melting glacial ice and sea ice Rising sea level
Increasing humidity
Causes: Contributions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and halogenated gases
How will climate change affect the Earth in the future (projections)?
Global warming
Understand negative and positive feedback systems and examples
amplifies system changes (destabilizes present conditions)
inhibits system changes (stabilizes present conditions)
Describe radiation fog.
moist / wet ground cools at night
Describe advection fog.
Air in one place migrates to where it can condense
Describe evaporation fog.
water evaporates from water surface - cold air overlying water surface - condensation.
