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Environmental Science > Final > Flashcards

Final Flashcards

1
Q

Isobars

A

Lines of equal air pressure

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2
Q

Processes that increase salinity (remove water)

A
  • Evaporation

- Formation of sea ice

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3
Q

Surface circulation

A

Huge, slowly moving gyres.

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4
Q

Salinity

A
  • The total amount of solid material dissolved in water
  • Typically expressed in parts-per-thousand (%)
  • Average salinity is 35%
  • Major constituent is sodium chloride
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5
Q

Cumulonimbus

A

cloud forming a towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top, as in thunderstorms

Often produce rain showers and thunderstorms.

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6
Q

Hanging wall

A

The rock above the fault surface

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7
Q

Climate

A
  • Climate is over a long period of time

- Generalized, composite of weather

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8
Q

Factors affecting seawater density

A
  • Salinity

- Temperature- The greatest influence

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9
Q

Ocean Layering

A

Surface layer
Transition zone
Deep zone

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10
Q

Latent heat of condensation

A

Heat energy is released.

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11
Q

Aerosols

A

Tiny solid and liquid particles
Water vapor can condense on solids
Reflect sunlight
Help color sunrise and sunset

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12
Q

Dew point Temperature

A
  • Temperature to which a parcel of air would need to be cooled to reach saturation
  • Cooling the air below the dew point causes condensation
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13
Q

Radiation Fog

A

Earth’s surface cools rapidly

Forms during cool, clear, calm nights

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14
Q

Five main gyres

A
  • North Pacific
  • South Pacific
  • North Atlantic
  • South Atlantic
  • Indian Ocean
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15
Q

Longshore current

A

Current in surf zone
Flows parallel to the shore
Moves substantially more sediment than beach drift

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16
Q

El Niño

A

A countercurrent that flows southward along the costs of Ecuador and Peru

  • Warm
  • Usually appears during the Christmas seaso
  • Blocks upwelling of colder, nutrient-filled water, and anchovies strive from lack of food.
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17
Q

Stratosphere

A
  • About 12 km to 50 km
  • Temperature increases at top
  • Outer boundary is named the stratopause
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18
Q

Strike-Slip Faults

A

(Characterized by horizontal-motion)

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19
Q

Temp. Variation in Low-Lat.

A
  • High temp. at the surface

- Rapid decrease in temp. with depth (thermocline)

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20
Q

Density

A

Mass per unit volume (how heavy something is for its size.)

Determines the water’s vertical position in the ocean

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21
Q

Cold front (cont.)

A

Wall of dark clouds
Heavy precipitation
After the passage of a cold front winds become more northerly, skies clear, and temp. drops

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22
Q

Deep-ocean circulation

A
  • Most water involved in deep-ocean currents begins in high latitudes at the surface
  • A simplified model of ocean circulation is similar to a conveyor belt that travels from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Indian and Pacific Oceans and back again
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23
Q

Fetch

A

The distance that wind travels

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24
Q

Orographic Lifting

A

Elevated terrains act as Barriers

Result can be a rain shadow desert

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25
Q

Surface currents

A

Develop from friction between the ocean and the wind that blows across the surface

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26
Q

Monsoon

A

Seasonal change in wind direction

Occur over continents:
During warm months:
-Air flows onto land
-Warm, moist air from the ocean

Winter Months:

  • Air flows off the land
  • Dry, continental air.
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27
Q

How to spot rip current?

A
  1. See an interference in normal wave pattern
  2. Channel of outgoing water up to 100 meters wide
  3. Stronger when waves are stronger
  4. Channel of outgoing water full of sediment
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28
Q

Frontal (Or precipitation) fog

A
  • Forms during frontal wedging when warm air is lifted over colder air
  • Rain evaporates to form fog.
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29
Q

Sea Level Pressure

A

Average:
- Slightly more than 1,000 millibars
- About 14.7 pounds per square inch
Pressure decreases with altitude
- One-half of the atmosphere is below 3.5 miles (5.6 km)
- Ninety percent of the atmosphere is below 10 miles (16 km)

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30
Q

Collision-coalescence process

A
  • Warm clouds
  • Large hygroscopic condensation nuclei
  • Large droplets form
  • Droplets collide with other droplets during their descent
  • Common in the tropics
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31
Q

Latent heat of fusion

A

Heat released when freezing

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32
Q

Processes that decrease salinity (add water)

A
  • Precipitation
  • Runoff from land
  • Icebergs melting
  • Sea ice melting
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33
Q

Coriolis Effect

A
  • Apparent deflection in the wind direction due to Earth’s rotation
  • Deflection is to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere
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34
Q

Transition zone

A
  • Between surface layer and deep zone

- Thermocline and pycnocline

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35
Q

Continental Shelf

A

Flooded extension of the continent
varies greatly in width
Gently sloping
Contains oil and important mineral deposits
Some areas are mantled by extensive glacial deposits
Most consist of thick accumulations of shallow-water sediments

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36
Q

Ocean Temperature

A

Surface water temperature varies with the amount of solar radiation received

  • Lower surface temperatures are found in high-lat. regions
  • Higher surface temperatures found in low-lat. regions
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37
Q

Spring tide

A

During new and full moons
Gravitational forces added together
Especially high and low tides
Large daily tidal range

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38
Q

Warm front (cont.)

A

Clouds become lower and thicker
Light precipitation
After the passage of a warm front, winds become more southerly and temperatures warm

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39
Q

Fog

A

Cloud with it’s base at or near ground

Most fogs form because of:

  • Radiation cooling
  • Movement of air over a cold surface.
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40
Q

Cyclone winds (Northern Hemisphere)

A
  • Inward (convergence)

- Counterclockwise

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41
Q

Continental Slope

A

Marks the seaward edge of the continental shelf
Relatively steep structure
The boundary between continental and oceanic crust

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42
Q

Cyclone

A

A center of low pressure

Pressure decreases towards the center

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43
Q

Cold front

A 
Cold air replaces warm air
Shown on a map by a line with triangles
Twice as steep (1:100) as warm fronts
Advances faster than a warm front
Associated weather is more violent than a warm front 
-Intensity of precipitation is greater
-Duration of precipitation is shorter
44
Q

Passive Continental Margins

A

Found along most costal areas that surround the Atlantic Ocean

Not associated with plate boundaries

45
Q

Ocean currents

A

Masses of water that flow from one place to another

46
Q

Latent Heat

A
  • Stored or hidden heat
  • Not derived from temperature change
  • Important in atmospheric processes.
47
Q

Evaporation

A

Liquid is changed to gas

48
Q

Dip-slip Fault

A

Vertical movement of hanging wall and footwall

49
Q

Latent Heat of vaporization

A

600 calories per gram of water are added.

50
Q

Advection fog

A

Warm, moist air moves over a cool surface

51
Q

Isostasy

A

Concept of a floating crust in gravitational balance

When weight is removed from the crust, crustal uplifting occurs
- Process is called isostatic adjustment

52
Q

Wave measurements

A

Height- Distance between aa trough and a crest
Length- The horizontal distance between successive. crests
Period- Time interval for one full wave

53
Q

Localized convective lifting

A

Localized convective lifting occurs where unequal surface heating causes pockets of air to rise because of their buoyancy

54
Q

Warm front

A 
Warm air replaces cooler air
Shown on a map by a line with semicircles
Small slope (1:200)
Clouds become lower as the front nears
Slow rate of advance
Light-to-moderate precipitation
55
Q

Andean-Type Mountain Building

A

Oceanic-Continental crust convergence

56
Q

Ozone

A

Concentrated between 10 to 50 kilometers above the surface.

Three atoms of oxygen (O3)

57
Q

Isotherm

A

a line connecting places of equal temperature.

58
Q

Thermosphere

A
  • No well-defined upper limit
  • Fraction of atmosphere’s mass
  • Gases moving at high speeds
59
Q

Deep Zone

A
  • Sunlight never reaches this zone
  • Temperatures are just a few degrees above freezing
  • Constant high-density water
60
Q

Convection

A
  • Mass movement within a substance

- Usually vertical motions

61
Q

Neap tide

A

a tide just after the first or third quarters of the moon when there is least difference between high and low water.

62
Q

Footwall

A

The rock below the fault surface

63
Q

Axis (degrees)

A

Inclined 23^1/2 degrees.

64
Q

Mesosphere

A
  • About 50 km to 80 km
  • Temperature decreases
  • Outer boundary is named the mesopause
65
Q

Windward

A
  • Part of orographic lifting

- Wet side of the mountain

66
Q

Sublimation

A

Solid is changed directly to a gas

67
Q

Condensation

A

Water vapor (gas) is changed to a liquid

68
Q

Transform Fault

A

Large strike-slip fault that cuts through the lithosphere

Often associated with plate boundaries.

69
Q

Surface mixed zone

A
  • Sun-warmed zone
  • Zone of mixing
  • Shallow (300 meters)
70
Q

Jet Stream

A

“river” of air
High Altitude
High velocity (120-140 KM per hour)

71
Q

Deposition

A

Water vapor (gas) changed to a solid

72
Q

Rip current

A

Concentrated movement of water flow in the opposite direction from breaking waves.

73
Q

Diurnal Tidal Pattern

A

A single high and low tide each tidal day

Occurs along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico

74
Q

Cyclone (southern Hemisphere)

A

Inward

-Clockwise

75
Q

Frontal Wedging

A

Cool air acts as a barrier to warm air

Fronts are part of the storm systems called middle lat. cyclones

76
Q

Leeward

A

Dry side of the mountain

77
Q

Continental Rise

A
  • Found in regions where trenches are absent
  • Continental slope margins into a more gradual incline
  • The thick accumulation of sediment
  • At the base of the continental slope turbidity currents that follow submarine canyons deposit sediment that forms deep-sea fans
78
Q

Bergeron Process

A

Temp. in the cloud is below freezing

Ice crystals collect water vapor

79
Q

Bathymetry

A

measurement of ocean depths and the charting of the shape or topography of the ocean floor

80
Q

Tide

A

High tide is lower when the world is facing the moon.

81
Q

Semi-diurnal

A
  • Two high and two low tides each tidal day
  • Little difference in the high and low water heights
  • Common along the Atlantic Coast of the United States
82
Q

Active Continental Margins

A
  • Subduction zone forms

- Deformation process begins

83
Q

Summer Solstice

A

Sun’s vertical rays are located the Tropic of Cancer (23^1/2 N lat)

84
Q

Beach Drift

A

Sediment moves in a zigzag pattern along the beach face

85
Q

Ocean density variation in Low-lat.

A
  • Low density at the surface

- Density increases rapidly with depth (pycnocline) because of colder weather

86
Q

Upwelling

A

The rising of cold water from deeper layers
Most characteristic along west coasts of continents
Brings greater concentrations of dissolved nutrients to the ocean surface.

87
Q

Passive Margins

A

Prior to the formation of a subduction zone

88
Q

Latent heat of melting

A

80 calories per gram of water are added

89
Q

Temp. Variation in High-lat.

A
  • Cooler surface temp.

- No rapid change in temp. with depth.

90
Q

Thermohaline Circulation

A

A response to density differences

  • Temp: cold water is dense
  • Salinity: density increases with increasing salinity.
91
Q

The composition of the atmosphere

A

Nitrogen (N) – 78 percent
Oxygen (O2) – 21 percent
Argon and other gases
Carbon dioxide (CO2) – 0.036 percent

92
Q

Upslope fog

A

Humid air moves up a slope

Adiabatic cooling occurs

93
Q

Radiation (Cont.)

A

All objects, at whatever temperature, emit radiation

Hotter objects radiate more total energy per unit area than do cooler objects

The hotter the radiating body, the shorter the wavelength of maximum radiation

Objects that are good absorbers of radiation are good emitters as well

94
Q

Weather

A
  • Over a short period of time

- Constantly changing

95
Q

Three major topographic units of the ocean floor

A

Continental Margins, Ocean basin floor, Mid-ocean ridge

96
Q

Ocean density variation in High-lat.

A
  • High-density (cold) water at the surface

- Little change in density with depth

97
Q

Cloud droplets

A

Less than 20 mm in diameter

98
Q

Pressure Gradient

A

Pressure change over distance

99
Q

surface circulation Deflected

A

By the Coriolis Effect

  • To right in north hemisphere.
  • To the left in southern hemisphere
100
Q

Reverse fault

A

Dips greater than 45 degrees.

101
Q

Steam Fog

A

Cool air moves over a warm water and moisture is added to the air.

102
Q

Sources of sea salts

A
  • Chemical Weathering of rocks

- Outgassing - gasses from volcanic eruptions

103
Q

Incoming solar radiation

A

Atmosphere is largely transparent to incoming solar radiation

Atmospheric effects:

  • Reflection
  • Scattering
  • Absorption
  • About 50% of solar radiation absorbed by earth surface.
104
Q

Radiation

A 
Consists of different wavelengths:
Gamma (very short waves)
X-rays 
Ultraviolet (UV) 
Visible
Infrared
Microwaves and radio waves
105
Q

Water Vapor

A

Up to about 4 percent of the air’s volume
Forms clouds and precipitation
Absorbs heat energy from Earth

106
Q

Faults

A

Fractures (breaks) in rocks along which appreciable displacement has taken place

107
Q

Convergence

A

Air is flowing together and rising (low pressure_

Environmental Science (4 decks)

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