Final exam Flashcards
Occluded front
Cold front overtakes warm front likely bringing rain or snow
Dry line
a boundary between wet and dry air masses, no temperature difference, often triggers the formation of thunderstorms because the dry air has a lower density than the wet air
Cold front
Cold, dense air mass pushes under a warm, lighter air mass, forcing the warm air to rise; often causes rain and thunderstorms
stationary front
when a cold air mass and a warm air mass collide but neither overtakes the other
warm front
A warm air mass replacing a cool air mass; warm air masses often accumulate moisture, bringing rain
Thunderstorms are most often associated with
Cold fronts and dry lines
What are the three stages of an air mass thunderstorm?
- cumulus
- mature
- dissipating
What is an MCC
A Mesoscale Convective Complex; a large, circular, long lived cluster of showers and thunderstorms typically lasting 8-10 hours
Squall line
line of thunderstorms forming along or ahead of a cold front
tornado
A violently rotating column of air touching the ground, usually attached to the base of a thunderstorm that form in contrasting air masses with wind speeds of up to 300mph
Hurricane
Counter clockwise, low pressure system that form from updrafts of rising warm air in maritime tropic air masses with wind speeds of up to 74mph
The eye of a hurricane has no clouds because of
sinking cold air
where are the strongest winds in a hurricane located?
the eye wall
Hurricanes dissipate when they
move over land
Hurricanes only form when the water temperature is
over 80 degrees
Hurricanes rarely form between 5 south and 5 north latitude because
the Coriolis effect is too weak, the coriolis effect makes the hurricane rotate
The main difference between tropical depressions and tropical disturbances is
rotation
The hurricane storm surge is caused by
pushing outward of water away from the eye by winds blowing away from the center
The name of the US government agency in charge of weather and climate forecasts is
National weather service
Organization responsible for the international exchange of weather data
World meteorological organization (WMO)
convergence
a location where airflows or ocean currents meet, characteristically marked by upwelling of air or downwelling of water
divergence
Stronger wind moves away from a weaker wind or air streams move in opposite directions, when it occurs in the upper levels of the atmosphere it leads to rising air
Koppen classification “A” represents
Humid tropical
Koppen classification “B” represents
dry climates
Koppen classification “C” represents
humid midlatitude, mild winters
Koppen classification “D” represents
Humid midlatitude, severe winters
Koppen classification “E” represents
Polar
The greenhouse effect
certain gasses in the atmosphere absorb longwave radiation and heat the surrounding air
The current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is about
400ppm
layers of the atmosphere
- Troposphere
- Stratosphere
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere
- Exosphere
What layer of the atmosphere is the ozone layer found in
stratosphere
What is heat
Heat is a transfer of energy from areas with high temperatures to areas with low temperatures
The primary cause of seasons is
The tilt of the earth’s rotation axis
Convection
the movement of particles through a substance, transporting their heat energy from hotter areas to cooler areas
Albedo
reflection of the sun’s radiation off of snow
Most of earth’s radiation is emitted in the form of
infrared
Isotherm
Map connecting all the places with the same temperature
adiabatic cooling
As the altitude increases, atmospheric pressure decreases, causing the air to expand. As the air expands, the temperature decreases
Frontal wedging
When a warm air mass and cold air mass collide (same process as a warm front)
Clouds are formed by water vapor and
condensation nuclei
Clouds and precipitation most form because of
air being cooled as it rises through adiabatic cooling
Condensation
the formation of a cloud droplet by water vapor collecting around a nuclei
Clouds are classified according to
their form or appearance
clouds that appear high in the atmosphere (20,000ft or 6000m)
alto
Clouds with extensive vertical dimentions
Cumulus
A cloud that is best described as a sheet or layers that cover most of the sky
stratus
Prefix that indicates precipitation
Nimbo
The Bergeron process
explains how ice crystals grow at the expense of liquid cloud droplets within a mixed cloud. The air reaches a saturation and some of the resulting droplets will come in contact with freezing nuclei
High and wispy clouds
cirrus
Clouds that are full and large but contain no precipitation
congestus
Clouds that indicate no rain
humilis
The addition of water vapor will cause the air density to
decrease
The primary force that causes all winds is
the pressure gradient force
cyclone
low pressure system
cyclonic airflow is characterized by
divergence aloft and convergence at the surface
