Meteorology final

Which of the following best describes a front

Boundary between two air masses

Average sea level pressure is about 30 inches of mercury. Roughly speaking, this is about ______ millibars

1000

In standard time, what is the greatest time difference between any two points in the United States (consider the lower)

3 hours

Express the worlds population of approximately 7.6 billion in scientific notation

7.6^*10^9

A sea-level pressure value of about 1050 millibars represents _________

A typical pressure for a strong high-pressure system

Isoplething (when done correctly) accomplishes the following

Allows easier estimation of data at points on a map where data is not provided, shows the location and strength of gradients on a map, locates maxima and minima of the quantity being isoplethed

Pressure____

Always decreases with height

In the northern hemisphere, air tends to circulate_____ around a high-pressure system and _____ around a low-pressure system

Clockwise, counterclockwise

The largest gradient on a weather map will always be found where isopleths are _____

Closest together

Water in the atmosphere does not necessarily freeze at 32F and _____ are required to freeze water

Ice nuclei

He dry moist adiabatic lapse rates are different because

Latent heat of condensation slows the cooling rate inside a rising parcel

_______ are parallel to the equator, while ______ connect the poles

Latitude lines and longitude lines

On a clear sunny morning during the warm season, the lower troposphere may become ____ stable because of surface heating from the absorption of solar radiation

Less

The earth emits _____ energy(per unit area) than the sun and does primarily at ____ wavelengths

Less, longer

Measuring atmospheric stability determines _______

The tendency of parcels to rise and sink, variation between environmental and adiabatic lapse rates, the buoyancy of a parcel relative to its environment

The human eye is sensitive to a small range of the wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. What is this range wavelength?

Visible

Which of the following is a "greenhouse gas"

Water vapor

Which variable gas has the highest concentration, on average, in the atmosphere

Water vapor

Which of the following is a statement of the Bergeron-Findeisen process

When ice crystals and water droplets co-exist at temperatures below 32F, the ice grows in size at the water's expense

Clouds and precipitation are more likely on the _____ side of a mountain, due to ______

Windward, orographic lifting

A graph shows the vertical temperature profile of the atmosphere(measured, for example, from a radiosonde) is called a

Sounding

You are buffeted by a 30MPH wind at an undisclosed location. You are definitely not at _______

South Pole

Which of the following is (are) true

Stability depends on the temperature difference between a parcel and its surroundings

The Stefan-Boltzmann law tells us that

Sun radiates more energy per unit area than the Earth

In an isothermal layer of the atmosphere

Temperature remains content with altitude

Pressure readings shown on surface weather maps are the air pressures

adjusted to sea level

The albedo of the earth refers to the

fraction of solar radiation that is reflected back to space

which of the following has the highest albedo (relative to visible light)

freshly fallen snow

An air mass is characterized by similar properties of ____ and ____ in any horizontal direction.

moisture and temperature

The proper ordering of electromagnetic radiation from the shortest wavelength to the longest wavelength is ____

ultraviolet, visible, infrared

The stability of a layer of air may be increased by _____

warming the top of the layer

With your flight originating at the equator on a heading that is due west. When you land you are __________

Still at the equator

Cumulonimbus clouds are characterized by relatively ____

Strong vertical motions

What do the friction force and the coriolis force have in common

They both depend on wind speed

Which best describes surface winds in the northern hemisphere

They cross isobars at an angle inward toward low pressure

The albedo of the earths atmosphere system is approximately

0.30

Which represents the greatest distance

1 nautical mile

An inversion is _____

A layer in which temperature increases with increasing elevation

How many points on earth have a latitude of 40 degrees

An infinite number of points

The dry adiabatic rate is the rate at which the temperature of ____ changes with height

An isolated parcel (no external heating or cooling)

Lines of constant elevation on a topographic map in an area with a gradual incline would

Be relatively far apart

The gases primarily responsible for the greenhouse effect are

Carbon dioxide and water vapor

Infrared radiation is strongly absorbed by_____ while ultraviolet radiation is strongly absorbed by _____

Carbon dioxide, ozone

As a parcel of air sinks adiabatically, it ______

Compresses and warms

Which air mass would most likely to produce record-breaking low temps

Continental arctic (cA)

Of the air masses that affect North America, which has the smallest (in area) source region

Continental tropic (cT)

Energy transfer by the upward movement of air over a relatively warm surface e is called

Convection

In the upper troposphere, directly above a surge high-pressure system, ther is usually_____

Convergence

Because the station air pressure is a function of elevation, air pressure reading must be

Converted to An equivalent sea-level value

The vapor pressure might be increased to the value of the saturation vapor pressure (so a cloud can form) by_______

Cooling the air, adding water vapor to the air

Air that is rising is _________ due to ___________

Cooling, expansion

In the southern hemisphere, air tends to circulate ______ around a high-pressure system and ______ around a low-pressure system

Counterclockwise, clockwise

Immediately after a cold front passes a surface weather station during winter, the temp usually ____ and the pressure usually ______

Decreases,increases

Which of the following would be an appropriate unit for a temperature gradient

Degrees Celsius per kilometer

The _____ adiabatic lapse rate is greater than the _____ adiabatic lapse rate because _____

Dry, moist, of the release of latent heat when the parcel is saturated

The greenhouse effect is a direct result of

Earths atmosphere

If you are standing west of a smokestack and smoke from the stack drifting over your head, the wind direction is ________

East

Suppose the prevailing winds over a certain mountain are from the west. The rain shadow would likely be on the ______ side

Eastern

Which of the following would not be included in conventional station model on a weather map

Elevation

How many point on earth have a latitude of 40 degrees and a longitude of 130 degrees

Exactly four

What is the transition zone between two air masses called

Front

The peak in the Earth's emission spectrum lies in the _____range of wavelengths, while the peak in the sun's emission lies in_______

Infrared, visible

The greenhouse keeps temps____ than they would be if there were no greenhouse effect

Higher

The dew point is a measure of

How much moisture is in the air

What kind of air mass would be responsible for hot, sticky, summer weather in the eastern United States

Maritime tropics (mT)

Atmospheric pressure

Measure of amount of mass above a specific location

An object absorbs more energy than it emits, per unit area (and everything else remains the same) then the object's temp

Increase

Isopleths of pressure are called

Isobars

Which of the following is not true about the Coriolis force

It is a maximum at the equator and decreases towards the poles

Which of the following is (are) true about the moist adiabatic lapse rate

It is typically smaller over tropical regions

Which is NOT true about the Kelvin Scale

Kelvins can be computed from degree Fahrenheit by adding 273.15

The basic units of SI are the ______ for mass and the _____ for temp

Kilogram, kelvin

What refers more to "climate" than "weather"

Long-term average temp

Which of the following is not primary control of the region's temp

Longitude

Which of the following air masses would ten to have the most moisture

Maritime Tropics (mT)

The basic unit of SI are the _______ for length and the ______ for time

Meter, second

The United States is in the _______ and ________ hemispheres

Northern, western

Which of the following is a very effective absorber of ultraviolet radiation

Ozone

Temp is a measure of average ______ of the molecules in the substance

Pressure

The ____ is the change in pressure over a given distance

Pressure gradient

The 0 degrees line of longitude is known as the ________

Prime meridian

POP, with regard to weather, stand for _______

Probability of precipitation

A form of energy transfer between two objects that does not require the space between them to be heated is ____

Radiation

____ is the transfer of energy by electromagnetic waves

Radiation

The stability of any object is a description of the way it _____

Reacts to being disrupted

The percentage of water vapor in the air compared to that required for saturation is called

Relative humidity

When a parcel of air temp of 30F is warmed up to 70F, what measure of the airs humidity changes

Relatively humidity

At what time of day is the relative humidity normally at a minimum?

Right around sunrise

If the average temp of the sun decreased, the wavelength at which the sun emits the maximum amount of radiation would_____

Shift to a longer wavelength

When net condensation occurs inside a rising air parcel, the rate of cooling inside the air parcel ____

Slows

Vertical motions in the atmosphere are typically weak because parcels of air are usually in hydrostatic equilibrium: the large vertical pressure gradient force is balanced by ______

The coriolis force

If there were not a long-term balance between incoming solar and outgoing infrared radiation, then ______

The earths average surface temp would change

What is the "period of record" for observing station

The length of time that the station has been operational

The coriolis force effect results from _____

The rotation of the earth

The dew point is the temp at which

The saturation vapor pressure is equal to the vapor pressure

High dew points necessarily mean that ______

The vapor pressure is high

The coriolis effect causes the wind to deflect _____

To the right in the northern hemisphere

Fronts are found ____ between air masses where temp and moisture gradients ______

Transition zones, are typically large

elongated areas of low pressure are called___, and they are areas where winds _____

Troughs, converge

The following represents a proper ordering of meteorological phenomena from smallest spatial scale to the largest

Tubular, thunderstorms, hurricanes, high-pressure system

In order for the surface low-pressure center to deepen (that is for pressure to decrease), what must happen

Upper-level divergence must exceed low-level convergence

Strati's clouds are characterized by relatively

Weak vertical motions

The greenhouse effect is primarily the result of

absorption and emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere

In a region of high-pressure, the general vertical movement of air is _____

downward

If the pressure gradient increases, the wind speed would likely___

increase

You climb a nearby mountain carrying your trusty mercury barometer. As you climb higher, the height of the column of mercury ________.

steadily falls