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Geog 1900 > Unit 1 > Flashcards

Unit 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Which of the following is not a variable gas?

A. Carbon Dioxide

B. Oxygen

C. Ozone

D. Water vapor

A

B

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2
Q

Why is the top of the troposphere colder than the bottom?

A

The air is heated by the surface

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3
Q

Why is the top of the stratosphere warmer than the bottom?

A

Because ozone absorbs solar energy

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4
Q

Which temperature scale initiates with absolute zero?

A

Kelvin

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5
Q

Of the permanent gases, which is the most abundant and comprises approximately 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume?

A

Nitrogen

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6
Q

Which of the following gases is removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis?

A

Carbon dioxide

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7
Q

Why has carbon dioxide increased by about 1.8 ppm per year since measurements began? (Choose all that apply)

A. Anthropogenic combustion of fossil fuels

B. Increased photosynthesis

C. Deforestation

A

A, C

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8
Q

What causes the depletion of the beneficial ozone in the stratosphere?

A

CFCs

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9
Q

Which of the following is not an element of the scientific method?

A. Hypothesis

B. Analysis

C. Redirection

D. Prediction

A

C

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10
Q

The temperature is lowest here:

A. Mesopause

B. Stratopause

C. Tropopause

D. Stratosphere

A

A

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11
Q

The “stratosphere” warms because of:

A

The interaction of ozone and ultraviolet light

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12
Q

What is the distance from one wave crest to the next wave crest?

A

Wavelength

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13
Q

Which wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum are visible to the human eye?

A

0.4 - 0.7 microns

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14
Q

At what wavelength does the sun emit the most radiation?

A

0.5 microns

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15
Q

At what wavelength does Earth emit the most radiation?

A

10 microns

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16
Q

During which month are the Sun’s rays directly overhead at the equator?

A

March and September

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17
Q

When does the subsolar point coincide with 23.5 degrees N?

A

June

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18
Q

What is the total daily radiation receipt at a location dependent upon?

A

Latitude and day length

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19
Q

The standard unit of energy in the international system (SI) is:

A

Joule

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20
Q

During which month does perihelion occur?

A

January

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21
Q

Earth’s peak emission of 10 micrometers can be quantified using which radiation law?

A

Wien’s Law

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22
Q

What are three main mechanisms for heat transfer between Earth’s atmosphere and surface?

A

Conduction, convection, and radiation

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23
Q

Which type of scattering is caused by small gas molecules and affects shorter wavelengths?

A

Rayleigh

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24
Q

Which type of scattering is caused by larger aerosols and affects longer wavelengths?

A

Mie

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25
Q

How much of the incoming solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere actually reaches the surface of Earth?

A

54 percent

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26
Q

How much of the incoming solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere is absorbed by the atmosphere?

A

23 percent

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27
Q

What is the total planetary albedo?

A

30 percent

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28
Q

What is the process whereby radiation making contact with the surface is redirected away without being altered?

A

Reflection

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29
Q

What is the term for the 8- to 12-micrometer region of Earth’s emission curve?

A

Atmospheric window

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30
Q

The specific heat of water is how much greater than that of land?

A

Five times

31
Q

What is the term for the effect of an inland location that experiences greater temperature extremes?

A

Continentality

32
Q

How is the annual temperature range calculated?

A

Subtract the highest and lowest monthly mean temperatures

33
Q

How is the daily mean temperature calculated?

A

Average the minimum and the maximum temperature for a day.

34
Q

What is the source of the vast majority of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere?

A

Fuel combustion

35
Q

Which of these are associated with episodes of severe air pollution?

A. High temperatures

B. Low temperatures

C. Temperature inversions

D. High wind speeds

A

C

36
Q

If the wind slowed to 5 m/s, what would the pollution do?

A

Increase

37
Q

Urban buildings cause the overall albedo to do what?

A

Decrease

38
Q

Why has the air quality in Pittsburgh improved?

A

Because of factory and steel mill closures.

39
Q

In terms of weather, what is Vancouver, Canda.

A

An urban heat island

40
Q

Which of these contributes to urban heat islands?

A. High albedo

B. Sea breeze

C. Land breeze

D. Tall buildings

A

D

41
Q

What is air pollution most readily disperesed by?

A

High winds

42
Q

What is the United States’s largest source of carbon monoxide?

A

Automobiles

43
Q

What factor(s) contribute(s) to the bad air quality in Los Angeles?

A

Location, large number of automobiles, and cloud-free conditions during mid-day

44
Q

In which epoch are we living?

A

Holocene

45
Q

How long ago did the latest interglacial begin?

A

15,000 years

46
Q

The temperature trends indicate that the temperatures are doing which of the following?

A. Increasing

B. Decreasing

C. Remaining stable

D. Showing no trend

A

A

47
Q

What is the feedback between ice and albedo an example of?

A

Positive feedback

48
Q

Which of these refers to changes in the tilt of Earth’s axis?

A. Obliquity

B. Precession

C. Eccentricity

D. Palynology

A

A

49
Q

What is the anthropogenic greenhouse gas that has been the subject of intense scientific scrutiny and political controversy?

A

Carbon dioxide

50
Q

What is most of the rise in global temperatures since the mid-twentieth century very likely due to?

A

Anthropogenic greenhouse gases

51
Q

Which of the following methods is used for determining past climates?

A. Oceanic deposits

B. Remnant landforms

C. Ice cores

D. All of the above

A

D

52
Q

___ is the state of the atmosphere at a particular moment.

A

Weather

53
Q

___ is the statistics (average and variability) of weather.

A

Climate

54
Q

The ___ is a mixture of gas molecules, small suspended particles of solid and liquid, and falling precipitation.

A

Atmosphere

55
Q

___ is the study of atmosphere and the processes (such as cloud formation, lightning, and wind movement) that cause what we refer to as the “weather.”

A

Meteorology

56
Q

___ concerns itself with the same elements of the atmosphere that meteorology does, but on a different time scale. ___ relies on averages taken over a number of years in orderto gauge typical atmospheric conditions for locations across Earth’s surface.

A

Climatology

57
Q

___ gases are found everywhere in nearly the same proportion, whereas ___ gases are those whose distribution in the atmosphere is uneven in both time and space.

A

Permanent; variable

58
Q

Which is the most abundant of the variable gases?

A

Water vapor

59
Q

What is the process by which green plants convert light energy to chemical energy.

A

Photosynthesis

60
Q

Small solid particles and liquid droplets in the air are collectively known as ___.

A

aerosols

61
Q

The ___ of any substance is the amount of mass of the substance contained in a unit of volume.

A

Density

62
Q

Name the four layers of the atmosphere from lowest to highest altitude.

A

Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere

63
Q

At the top of the troposphere, a transition zone called the ___ marks the level at which temperature ceases to decrease with height.

A

Tropopause

64
Q

Situations where temperature increases with height are known as…

A

inversions

65
Q

Within the stratosphere is the ___, a zone of increased ozone concentrations at altitudes between 20 and 30 km.m

A

ozone layer

66
Q

___ is a process in which intense ultraviolet solar radiation is absorbed by O2, splitting the molecule into its constituent atoms (O + O).

A

Photodissociation

67
Q

An additional layer, called the ___, extends from the upper mesosphere into the thermosphere and contains large numbers of electrically charged particles called ions.

A

ionosphere

68
Q

___ indicates the amount of water vapor present relative to the maximum possible.

A

Relative humidity

69
Q

The percentage of insolation reflected by an object or substance is called its…

A

albedo

70
Q

When light strikes a mirror, it is reflected back as a beam of equal intensity in a manner known as…

A

spectacular reflection

71
Q

When a beam is reflected from an object as a larger number of weaker rays traveling in many different directions, it is called ___ or ___.

A

diffuse reflection, scattering

72
Q

Scattering agents smaller than about one-tenth the wavelength of incoming radiation disperse radiation in a manner known as…

A

Rayleigh scattering

73
Q

Because of the absence of preference for any particular wavelength, scattering by clouds is sometimes called…

A

nonselective scattering

Geog 1900 (2 decks)

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