G107 Exam 2

The ________ ice shelf is the largest on Earth.

Ross

The world's largest expanse of middle latitude dry climates is on the continent of ________.

Asia

The textbook uses climographs. Climographs are useful in ________.

classifying climate

Circulation in the troposphere is mainly a(n) ____ system.

closed

The release of latent heat from water molecules is called ________.

condensation

Which of the following is one of the causes of monsoons?

continents heat and cool differently than oceans

In a surface anticyclone in the Southern Hemisphere, winds spiral ______.

counterclockwise and outward

All of Earth's frozen water is called the ________

cryosphere

Clouds of vertical development include the type called ________.

cumulonimbus

the rate of pressure decreases ______

decreases with altitude

Which of the following lapse rates represents the greatest temperature change over altitude?

dry adiabatic

Another designation for the mediterranean climate is ________

dry summer subtropical

The world's highest average annual wind speed can be found ________.

in Antarctica

the place with the fastest average winds on earth is ______

in Antarctica

________ is the time of day when tornadoes are most likely to occur.

mid-afternoon

The lowest temperature which is found in liquid surface seawater is approximately ________ degrees Celsius.

-2

Of the following temperatures, which of the following is CLOSEST to the official low temperature (in degrees Celsius. ever recorded on Earth?

-90

At sea level the atmosphere exerts a force closest to ___ kilogram(s) per square centimeter

1

Which of the following best represents the length of the life cycle of a typical midlatitude cyclone?

1 week

Earth's "world ocean" contains ________ cubic kilometers of salt water.

1.32 billion

In order to be classified as a hurricane, sustained wind velocity must exceed ________ kilometers per hour (mph..

119 km/hr (74 mph)

wind has generated electricity since the _____.

1880s

Sea breezes rarely penetrate a maximum of ______ kilometers inland.

30

The furthest north citrus can be grown in North American is at ________ North latitude in the California Cs climate type.

38°

The Arctic Ocean contains about ________ percent of Earth's total ocean water.

4

The relative humidity would be ________% if the actual water vapor in the air was 10 grams per cubic meter, the air's capacity to hold water vapor was 20 grams per cubic meter and the dewpoint temperature was 20 degrees Celsius.

50

The oceans contain approximately ________ percent of all water on Earth.

97

Which ocean is surrounded by most of the world's major volcanoes?

Pacific

Of the regions of the United States, which has the highest incidence of tornadoes?

Central States

A Cfa climate exists on the southeastern coast of the United States. Which climate type exists on the southwestern coast of the United States?

Csa

Which of the following is NOT a climate type found in South America?

D

Melt ponds and moulins are closely associated with ________.

Greenland

Which of the following is the most likely time to sight a tornado in the United States?

June

Which country is the most likely place on Earth for a tornado to occur?

The United States

Most of the wettest (highest average rainfall and humidity) areas around the world are located in the ________.

Tropics

A wet monsoon is associated with high rainfall totals and is caused by ______.

a seasonal reversal of winds

A wall of sea water rushing up into an embayment is called ________.

a tidal bore

In an occluded front, the warm air sector is ________.

above the ground

The amount of water vapor expressed as the mass of water vapor in a given volume of air is ________.

absolute humidity

Cold air moving over a warmer lake surface will result in a(n) ________ type of fog.

advection

Which factor is corrected for on most maps of atmospheric pressure?

altitude

Thunderstorms DO NOT usually accompany ________.

anticyclones

Typically, a(n) ________ in the confined water zone is a sloping or dipping layer that reaches to, or almost to, the surface at some location, where it can absorb infiltrating water.

aquifer

Which of the following air masses can be identified as being "very stable"?

arctic

Which of the following is TRUE concerning the surface westerlies

are composed of winds from all directions

gas molecules in the lower atmosphere

are readily compressed and heated

Geographically speaking, the most important currents ________.

are the flows making up the ocean's general circulations

Usually, the highest relative humidity is ________.

at dawn

The angle of the wind flow across the isobars _____.

becomes smaller with height

A chunk of independently floating ice is an ice ________.

berg

the "snow-eater" wind of the rocky mountains is called the _____.

chinook

The part of the hurricane characterized by only a few scattered high clouds and light winds is known as the ________.

eye

The damage done in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina was mainly a result of ________.

flooding from the failure of levees

The GOES satellites monitoring the weather of the United States are ________.

geostationary

the poles are most closely associated with _____

high pressure

City A and City B are located 500 km from one another and are the same latitude. City A has a much greater annual temperature range than City B. The most likely explanation for this fact is that City A ________.

is in a more continental climate than City B

The average lapse rate in the troposphere ________.

is quite variable by time and region

Cold winds pouring downhill because of gravity are called _____

katabatibc winds

Biological water (water in living organisms. constitutes what percentage of water in the Earth system?

less than 1%

Water vapor can be described by all but one of the following.

light blue color

When air is heated it expands and _____.

lowers its pressure

An Earth surface pressure of 1,005 millibars is associated with ______

lows or highs depending on conditions

The current rise in global sea level can be attributed to ________.

melting of glaciers

The greatest day-to-day and seasonal contrasts of climate are found in the ________ climates.

middle latitude

The basic unit of pressure mapped on weather maps is _____

millibars

the basic unit of pressure mapped on weather maps is _____.

millibars

Which of the following is closely associated with acid rain?

motor vehicle exhaust

The lowest high tides are ________ tides.

neap

As a general rule, friction is greatest _______

near Earth's surface

You are in the Northern Hemisphere. The pressure gradient force is from north to south. The surface wind which blows is from _____.

northeast to southwest

In the United States, winter precipitation exceeds summer precipitation ________.

on the West Coast

Air forced to move over a mountain is most closely associated with which type of lifting?

orographic

Geostrophic wind always flows ______

parallel to the isobars

Which of the below best describes water moving through Earth material because of the influence of gravity?

percolation

The contact zone of warm tropical and cold Polar air is known as the ______

polar front

wind speed is determined by ______

pressure gradient force

Which seawater has been found to have the least density?

seawater near the bottom

How warm or cold it feels to us is the ________ temperature.

sensible

The salinity of ocean water is derived mainly from ________.

sodium chloride

The average directional movement of tornadoes is ________.

southwest to northeast

When neither air mass displaces the adjacent one, their boundary is called a(n. ________ front.

stationary

A large scale vertical downward motion in the atmosphere is a ______

subsidence

Subtropical deserts are so dry because of ________ associated with the presence of the STHs.

subsidence

The BWh climate is "caused" by the ________.

subtropical high

divergence is most closely associated with _____

surface air in anticyclones

Which portion of the United States tends to have the greatest average wind speeds in all seasons?

the Great Plains

If there were no continents and the Earth did not rotate, the surface wind patterns would be simple: surface winds would blow from ______.

the North in the Northern hemisphere

Which of the following is the least likely zone of formation for a large air mass?

the US Midwest

The movement (track along the ground). of middle latitude cyclones is determined by ________.

the jet stream

City A has an air pressure of 1,000 millibars. City B has an air pressure of 1004 millibars. The distance between the two cities is 100 kilometers. The different of 4 millibars over 100 kilometers is known as _____.

the pressure gradient

Cold air pushes equatorward and warm air pushes polewards when _____.

the rossby waves have great amplitude

the reason winds exist is _____

the unequal heating of the Earth system

Concerning midlatitude anticyclones, which of the following is FALSE?

they contain air mass conflict

The Enhanced Fujita Scale was adopted in 2007. It is based on estimates of 3-second gusts of wind as estimated by ________.

tornado damage

The correct designation (formal name) for a hurricane is as a(n). ________.

tropical cyclone

When air is heated enough so that it is warmer than the surrounding air, it is ________.

unstable

In most classification schemes, which principal indicator is used to delineate five zones and their subtypes?

vegetation types

Which of the following promotes evaporation?

warm water