humidity, condensation, and clouds - I Flashcards
What is a major source of water in the atmosphere?
evaporation from the ocean
What is a major sink in moisture from the atmosphere?
precipitation
What percentage of Earth’s freshwater is ice?
75%
What is the density of liquid water?
~1.0 g/cm*^3
What is the density of ice?
~0.9 g/cm^3
What is the density of vapor?
~10^-5 g/cm^3
What is the albedo of water?
10%
What is the albedo of ice?
30-40%
What is the albedo of snow?
20-95%
What is the albedo of clouds?
30-90%
What is sublimation?
state transformation from ice to vapor
What is deposition?
state transformation from vapor to solid
What state transformations take heat away from the environment?
melting, evaporation, sublimation
Whats state transformations release heat into the environment?
condensation, freezing, deposition
What is the molecular weight of water vapor?
18 g/mol
What is vapor pressure?
pressure exerted by water vapor molecules
What is saturation vapor pressure?
pressure when the air is completely saturated
What is correlated to a higher saturation vapor pressure?
higher temperature
What is absolute humidity?
mass of water vapor/volume of air
What is specific humidity?
mass of water vapor/total mass of air
What is mixing ratio?
mass of water vapor/mass of dry air
What is relative humidity?
vapor pressure/saturation vapor pressure, a percentage of the humidity in an environment in comparison to its maximum capacity for humidity
When you add/remove moisture, what happens to relative humidity?
add moisture = relative humidity goes up
remove moisture = relative humidity goes down
When you cool/warm temperature, what happens to relative humidity?
cooling = relative humidity goes up
warming = relative humidity goes down
When is the highest relative humidity?
in the early morning when it is the most cool
When is the lowest relative humidity?
in the later afternoon during the warmest part of the day
What is dew point temperature?
temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated
Compare the relative humidity of a polar region and a hot desert with the same absolute humidity.
The relative humidity of a polar region is higher than the relative humidity of a hot desert because the polar region is closer to its maximum capacity than the hot desert is.
