Weather & Climate Flashcards
What is climate?
Climate is the average cause or condition of the weather or a place usually over a period of years determined by temperature, wind velocity, and precipitation.
What is Atmosphere?
Atmosphere is the layer of air that surrounds the earth
What types of gases are in the atmosphere? Name all five.
Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen.
What gas is the most abundant in the atmosphere?
Nitrogen
What are the five layers of the atmosphere? In order from earth to space
Troposphere Stratosphere Mesosphere Thermosphere Exosphere
What happens as altitude increases?
Pressure decreases
What is the atmospheric pressure in sea level?
1000 millibars, or 1 atmosphere
Why is the atmosphere divided into 5 layers?
The atmosphere is not uniform, and its properties change with altitude.
What atmosphere is closest to the earth?
Troposphere
What is the height of the troposphere?
0 to 10 km
What are the characteristics of the troposphere? Name all 3
All weather occurs in that atmosphere, more than half the air is in the layer, and the temperature drops as the altitude increases.
What is the height of the stratosphere?
10-50 km
For the stratosphere, as the altitude increases, the temperature…
The temperature increases
Characteristics of Stratosphere, name the two
Protective ozone layer is above of this atmosphere, and rivers of air called jet streams can be found at the base of this layer
What is OZONE?
Ozone is a gaseous layer in the upper stratosphere that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. At lower levels, ozone becomes a major pollutant.
What is the symbol for Ozone?
O3
What is SMOG?
Pollution formed by the interaction of pollutants and sunlight (photochemical smog), usually restricting visibility, and occasionally hazardous to health.
What is the height for mesosphere?
50-90km
For the mesosphere, as the altitude increases, the temperature…
Decreases
Characteristics of the mesosphere, name 3
Coldest layer of the atmosphere, Meteors burn in this layer, radio waves reflected
Hieght of the thermosphere
90-300km
For the thermosphere, as the altitude increases, the temperature…
Increases
4 Characteristics of the themosphere
Hottest layer, auroras occur in this layer, ionosphere is found here which is the component that creates auroras
How do CFCs deplete the ozone layer?
It gets mixed with the lower atmosphere and keeps rising up, past the ozone layer, and UV light reacts with it. It creates O3 and chlorine destroys ozone molecules.
What products are responsible for damaging the ozone layer?
Pesticides, aerosol cans, refrigirators, ACs, fire fighting equipments, and solvents.
What are cirrus clouds?
Clouds that are high, wispy clouds made of ice. Even in the summer, these clouds are made of ice because it is cold high in the troposphere.
What does cirrus mean?
Curls
What are cumulus clouds?
Large clouds that sometimes looks like huge puffs of cotton. Sometimes, these clouds look like animals of familiar things at low to middle altitude.
What does cumulus mean?
Heap
What is weather?
Weather is the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, and clearness or cloudiness.
What are cumulonimbus clouds?
Cumulonimbus clouds often produce lighting and thunder. These clouds get dark gray and rain or hail falls from them.
What are stratus clouds?
Clouds that are made up of low layers of clouds that usually cover the whole sky and block out the sun. These clouds bring gray overcast days.
What does stratus mean?
Stretched out
Cirrus
High
Alto
Middle
Stratus
Low
What are warm fronts?
Warm air slides over departing cold or large bands of precipitation from. Cold air and warm air slide over each other, and cold air stays in the bottom and holds the ground because its denser.
What are cold fronts?
When cold air pushes under a warm air mass. Warm air rises quickly - narrow bands of violent storms form. Cold air pushes the warm air and does whatever it wants, and thunderstorms are more likely because it’s rapid.
How do cold fronts get diminished?
By thermal energy from the sun
What are occluded fronts?
Two air masses merge and face warm air between them to rise quickly. Strong winds and heavy precipitation will occur.
What are stationary fronts?
Warm or cold front STOPS MOVING. Light wind and precipitation may occur accros the front boundary.