meteorology unit study guide Flashcards
gaseous envelope surrounding the earth
atmosphere
earth’s crust including landforms, rocks, and soils
lithosphere
the water on the surface of the earth in oceans, rivers, lakes, rain, and mist
hydrosphere
living matter on earth, including all plant and animal life forms
biosphere
earths first atmosphere is mostly of ______ and ______
helium, hydrogen
why did earths first atmosphere change? earths _______ was not _____ _________ to hold the gases in
( through a collision of a _____ sized object) _______ and _______ were lost
gravity, strong enough, mars, hydrogen, helium
earths second atmosphere is mostly of intense __________ which led to the release of _____ _____, _____ ______ (CO2), ____ _______ (CO), and _________ (N) along with other small gases
as a result _____ became to form due to the water vapor
volcanism, water vapor, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, clouds
why did earths second atmosphere change: evolution of __________ organisms __________ consumed CO2 and water which made ________ (O) this allowed animals to be possible
photosynthetic, cyanobacteria, oxygen
earths current atmosphere is made of nitrogen __% oxygen __% other gases __% (other gases: argon, carbon dioxide, water vapor, helium, hydrogen, neon
78, 21, 1
how many layers of the atmosphere are there
4
bottom layer of the atmosphere where most ______ occurs; ______ also decreases with altitude (same answer as the first blank)
weather, troposphere
____ and __ layer above the _________; also has the _____ layer which warms this layer; absorbs ________ rays and releases this energy in the form of heat
clear, dry, tropopause, ozone, ultraviolet
temperature begins to ____ in this layer
drop, mesosphere
what is this layer? atmosphere is thin but receives intense _____ ________; part of this layer is called the _________ where the suns radiation knocks off _______ in the gases and causes them to form ______
solar radiation, ionosphere, electrons, auroras
name all the pauses in the atmosphere and how the temperature changes in each of them
tropopause temp stops decreasing, stratopause temp stops increasing, mesopause temp starts decreasing
the ultimate source of heat for earth is
the sun
heat energy enters and moves through the atmosphere in these 3 ways
conduction, convection, radiation
radiation transfers energy through space in the form of _________ waves; all objects warmer than ______ ____ will emit some form of _________; doesnt require a _______ so energy can only travel through empty space
electromagnetic, absolute zero, radiation, medium
water vapor changes directly into a solid
deposition
solid directly to a gas
sublimation
the amount of water vapor in the air
humidity
the amount of water vapor compared to how much the air can hold
relative humidity
moisture is measured using what
psychrometer
___ _____ is the temp that air needs to be cooled to reach _________; this also causes ____________ to begin
dew point, saturation, condensation
dew point is always higher/same or lower/same than the actual temp; a dew point that is higher does what
lower/same, holds more water
if dew point and air temp are close it feels
humid
if dew point and air temp are far apart it feels
dry
2 things needed for condensation to happen: air must be cooled to at or below its ____ _______; it needs material to stick to called __________ ______
dew point, condensation nuclei
dew and frost happen when air cools to ___ _____ by contact with a _____ surface
dew point, cold
if it is above 0 degrees celsius ___ forms
if it is above 0 degrees ______ forms
dew, frost
forms when cold surface cools the ____ moist air above it, tiny droplets form around _________ ______; millions of water droplets _______ together to form a cloud
warm, condensation nuclei, collect
for clouds to form the air has to be _________
and cloud __________ _____
saturated, condensation nuclei
steps to cloud formation: warm air ____ taking the water vapor with it
once it _____ below its dew point it condenses
then needs something to stick to which is _________ _____
a bunch of water droplets then _______ together to make a cloud
rises, cools, condensation nuclei, collect
clouds are named by what
height and shape
wispy stringy clouds -
sheet like flat clouds -
puffy cotton ball clouds -
low gray rainy clouds
cirrus, stratus, cumulus, nimbus
prefixes telling the height for clouds
low clouds below 2000 m are:
middle leveled clouds 2000-6000 m are:
high clouds above 6000 m are:
strato, alto, cirro
type of weather that freezes with contact of the ground
freezing rain
type of weather that freezes before contact with the ground
sleet
type of weather that are bounced in a cloud until they fall into a huge ball of ice
hail
what is the rain shadow effect
near a mountain range the _________ side gets lots of rain but the _________ side gets not a lot of rain
windward, leeward
measures how much light energy is being reflected when hitting a surface
albedo
what is insolation
incoming solar radiation received by the earth
intensity of insolation is determined by
time of day, the angle of the suns rays, time of year, cloud cover, type of surface
when insolation reaches the surface it is radiated back into the atmosphere then CO2 and water vapor absorbs the radiation preventing it form going into space
greenhouse effect
an areas long term pattern of weather
controlled by latitude, elevation, nearby water, ocean currents, topography etc.
climate
areas current weather or whats happening outside right now
weather
air pressure is measured with a
barometer
air pressure changes because of what
temp and humidity
a line that joins points of equal air pressure lines closer together mean STEEPER pressure gradient
isobar
areas with HIGH pressure have what kind of weather
areas with LOW pressure have what kind of weather
happy weather for high pressure
lousy weather for low pressure
as elevation ________ the pressure ________ because there is less ___ around you
increases, decreases, air
what is this? when earths rotation steers winds and surface ocean currents this force causes moving air and water on the surface of the earth to curve to the RIGHT in the northern hemisphere and to the LEFT in the southern hemisphere; hurricanes in the northern hemisphere rotate ______________ and __________ in the southern hemisphere
coriolis effect, counterclockwise, clockwise
a band of fast moving wind moving from ____ to ____ at the top of the troposphere unaffected by friction
jet stream, east, west
no wind zone near the equator caused by warm rising air
doldrums
5-30 degree latitude blow from the northeast toward the equator, warm and steady winds
trade winds
5-30 degree latitudes blow from the WEST toward the north causes weather in the U.S to move from the west to east
westerlies
60-90 degree latitudes dry and cold winds that blow from high pressure POLES to low pressure POLES in the westerlies
polar easterlies
