Exam 3 Flashcards
What is climate
Long term patterns of temperature and precipitation
What is weather
Short lived local patterns of temperature and precipitation due to circulation of the troposphere
What makes up earth’s atmosphere
Nitrogen gas
Oxygen gas
Water vapor
Aerosols (minute suspended particles and droplets)
Describe the troposphere
Immediately adjacent to earth’s surface
Convection currents redistribute moisture and heat
Air temperature drops as distance from earth increases
Describe the stratosphere
After troposphere
Almost no water vapor.
1000x more ozone than troposphere
Protects life from uv Rays
Describe mesosphere
After stratosphere
Middle layer
Diminishing temperatures
Describe the thermosphere
After mesosphere
Ionized gases and high temperatures
What is tropopause
Boundary that limits mixing between troposphere and upper zones as air ceases to rise
What happens to uv light as it passes through the atmosphere
1/4 is reflected
1/4 absorbed by the gases
1/2 reaches earth surface
What is the ozone hole, where is it, and why does it form
Where ozone levels of the stratospheric level are greatly depleted in a concentrated area
Mostly over the South Pole (Antarctic)
Forms because of chlorofluorocarbons and pollution a are depleting the ozone level
What is solar insulation
Solar radiation that had been received
What is albedo. Give example of high and low
Light reflected by the earth
High-snow, clouds, water (low sun) sand, atmosphere
Low- water (sun overhead), forest, black spoil
Why doe deserts occur at about 30 north and south latitude
The subtropical jet stream created by the ferrel cell and the had,et cell
Warm air, high and high pressure
Convection currents and winds
What happens to air masses as cold front advances
The cold air hugs the ground and pushes the warmer air up. The warm air is cooled and triggers thunderstorms
What happens to air masses as warm fronts advance
Warm air is less dense and slides over cool air
Forms long wedge-shaped bands of clouds
Cause drizzle
What powered hurricanes
Water vapor is abundant and the latent heat is released by condensation this intensifies convection currents and draws in more warm air and water vapor
-temperature differences + water
What are the milankovitch cycles related to and what do they explain
Related to the period orbit and tilt of earth. The orbit and tilt explain cycles of shifts and changes in the distribution and intensity of sunlight which affect climate and weather patterns
What is El Nino
Warm phase of the souther oscillation, shifting pattern of flow and currents
Warm water in the Pacific Ocean move back and forth between Indonesia and South America. The northern jet stream pulls moist air from the Pacific Ocean causing intense storms and heavy rains in the U.S.
How does sea level respond to past continental glaciation
Decrease during glaciation and increasing during melting
What is the Kyoto protocol and what two counties were exempt
1997 international agreement to roll back carbon dioxide, methan, and nitrous oxide emissions about 5% below 1990 levels by 2012 by setting different limits for different countries based on prior output
Exempt in India and China
What do the continental glaciers in the past 2 million years say about natural climate change and human induced climate change
Climate changes naturally, not necessarily caused by humans. Little ice age began in 1400s before the industrial revolution
Drastic changes can naturally occurs over short periods of time
What caused the brown haze in smog
Nitrogen dioxide
Further oxidized nitric oxide
What is the main cause of carbon monoxide
Produced by cards/trucks
-incomplete combustion
What is the cause of a temperature inversion in the atmosphere and where in the U.S. Is temperature inversion a major cause of air pollution
When a stable layer of warm air lies above cooler air reversing the normal temperature decline with increasing height preventing convection currents from dispersing pollutants
Problem in California
