Midterm 2 planet earth

toxic volatiles escape into atmosphere during manufacturing and industrial activities such as

Manufacturing of chemicals refinery of petroleum,Spraying of pesticides,Garbage incineration

what are the three most abundant gases in the earths atmosphere

Nitrogen 78, oxygen 21, argon .9

Why are the continents high and oceans low?

Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust because oceanic crust consists mostly of basalt

What are some of the factors that cause salinity to vary from place to place?

Rate of precipitation Runoff Sea ice melt and formation Evaporation

two main factors that influence seawater density?

Salinity and temperature

Why do continental interiors show greater seasonal extremes of temperature than coastal regions?

Specific heat of land causes faster heating and cooling compared to ocean water.

the two main contributions of life to the chemical evolution of earths atmosphere were

The addition of oxygen and the removal of carbon dioxide

how is wavelength and frequency of an electromagnetic wave related

The longer the wavelength the lower of frequency

list the main types of air pollutants in the US

Toxic volatiles carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen oxide, particulate matter

list the four layers if earths atmosphere

Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere

how do warming temperatures raise the level?

When water is warm it expands, thermal expansion Release of glacial meltwater

A glacier that forms in mountainous terrain and covers and area of less than 50,000 square kilometers is a(n) ____ glacier.

alpine

Chlorofluorocarbons are compounds that react with

and destroy ozone

Due to the Coriolis effect, currents in the Northern Hemisphere ____.

are reflected to the right

The process of smog formation occurs when incompletely burned gasoline reacts with nitrogen oxide and sunlight to form ozone, which in turn reacts with

automobile exhaust

Locations at the same latitude that receive the same amount of solar radiation

can have different climates

Completely burned hydrocarbons produce

carbon dioxide and water

what in the atmosphere is the major contributer to earths albedo

clouds

The primary source of sulfur dioxide pollution is

coal-fired electric generators

Samples of sediment can be collected from the seafloor using ____.

coring devices

In an El Niño year, the trade winds will

decrease

Oceanic crust is ____ than continental crust and therefore ____ isostatically.

denser, sinks

Deep-sea currents are driven by ____.

differences in water density

he Coriolis effect will alter a wind's ____.

direction

A portion of the atmosphere that becomes warmer than surrounding air will ____.

expand and rise

Although many of Earth's alpine glaciers have been rapidly shrinking in recent years, the Antarctic Ice Sheet has remained stable, losing no ice mass.

false

Granite is more dense than basalt.

false

In the Southern Hemisphere, the Coriolis effect deflects wind to the right and creates a clock- wise spiral.

false

Oceanic crust is thicker than continental crust.

false

Snowfields and glaciers have relatively low albedo.

false

Temperature decreases continuously with altitude in all atmospheric layers.

false

The Clean Air Act and its amendments have done little to decrease total emissions of air pollutants.

false

incoming solar radiation is absorbed by Earth's surface as long-wave radiation and reemitted as short-wave radiation.

false

The region of the globe directly beneath the Sun is warmer because it

receives direct sunlight

what are some techniques used to map the ocean floor?

remote sensing, direct sampling

removing carbon from the atmosphere requires the interaction of life processes with mainly two of the earths cycles

rock and tectonic cycle

A spring tide is a ____ tide that occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are ____.

small, aligned

The two most common ions dissolved in seawater are ____.

sodium and chloride

Wind speed is determined by the magnitude of the pressure difference over distance.

true

During an interval of 24 hours and 53 minutes, most coastlines experience ____ high tide(s) and ____ low tide(s).

two and two

What causes a monsoon?

uneven heating of land and adjacent sea

Cycles identified by Milutin Milankovic´ are caused by

variations in Earth's orbit and spin axis

glaciers play a major role in two of the earths cycles

water cycle and rock cycle

The most important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are

water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane

In the ____, temperature increases with altitude, because ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation.

stratosphere

Acidic precipitation is produced by

sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides dissolving in moist air

Ocean water density depends on ____.

temperature and salinity

What property of sea water determines water's vertical position in the ocean?

temperature and salinity

The wavelength (color) of emitted electromagnetic radiation is determined by the ____ of the source.

tempurature

Most of the water that fills Earth's oceans came from ____.

the outer regions of the solar systems

at any given altitude, air pressure is caused by

the weight of the air above

The layer of ocean water in which temperature drops rapidly with depth is called the ____.

thermocline

The largest source of air pollutants in the United States come from

transportation

Which of the following shows the correct order of the atmospheric layers, from the lowest layer to the highest layer?

troposphere ® stratosphere ® mesosphere ® thermosphere

All of Earth's oceans are connected and water flows from one to another.

true

An echo sounder determines water depth by measuring the time it takes a sound signal to bounce off the seafloor and travel back to the instrument.

true

An ocean wave moves along the sea surface, but the water in the wave travels in circular paths.

true

Conduction is the transport of heat by direct collision among atoms or molecules.

true

Currently, Earth has only two ice sheets.

true

Donora-type incidents in the United States have not been repeated.

true

Frontal weather patterns are determined by the types of air masses that collide and their relative speeds and directions.

true

Glaciers form U-shaped valleys.

true

If Earth had no atmosphere, radiant heat loss would be so rapid that Earth's surface would cool drastically at night.

true

Incomplete combustion of fossil fuels releases carbon monoxide (CO), which is colorless, odorless, and toxic.

true

Ocean currents play a major role in determining average temperature of a given region on Earth.

true

Oceans are commonly warmer than adjacent land in the winter and cooler in the summer.

true

Ozone is both a pollutant and a beneficial component of the atmosphere, depending on elevation.

true

Pressure from the weight of overlying ice favors melting at the base.

true

Sea levels has risen and fallen repeatedly in the geologic past, and coastlines have emerged and submerged throughout Earth's history.

true

Some coastlines are rising isostatically because the lithosphere was depressed by thick ice sheets during the Pleistocene glaciation that have since melted away.

true

The Mid-Oceanic Ridge system is Earth's largest mountain chain.

true

The ozone in the upper atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing much of the high-energy ultraviolet light before it reaches Earth's surface.

true

The salinity of the oceans has been relatively constant throughout much of geologic time because salt has been removed from seawater at roughly the same rate at which it has been added.

true

The three mechanisms that cause air to rise are orographic lifting, frontal wedging, and convection-convergence.

true

When a substance changes from one state to another, ____ heat is absorbed or released.

latent

James Lovelock used the term ____ to refer to Earth, comparing it to a living creature due to the interconnectivity of all of its systems.

Gaia

list 3 factors with which climate changes

latitude, seasons bc of earth's tilt, the geography, wind direction, clouds, and albedo

A first rapid increase of oxygen in the atmosphere (the First Great Oxidation Event) occurred about ____ years ago.

2.4 billion

The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain ____ percent of the world's ice.

99

what is a photon

A single particle or pulse of electromagnetic radiation

what are the two influences on atmospheric pressure

Altitude, weather (temperature)

Which statement describes the process of photosynthesis?

Chlorophyll-bearing plants convert carbon dioxide and water to organic sugars and release oxygen.

3 mechanisms heat energy can be transferred

Convection radiation and conduction

list some of the effects of the ice age glaciers

Erosional features, great lakes Depositional features, loess Sea level drop Great lakes Rebound of the continents

Describe ways that oceans affect earth's climate.

Evaporation Currents and accompanying winds El nino events The capacity of sea level water to absorb Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

why are the atmospheric gases concentrated near the surface of the earth

gravity

what are the two environments where glaciers exist

high latitudes and high altitudes

Sinking air exerts a downward force to form ____ regions.

high-pressure

The Mid-Oceanic Ridge rises high above the surrounding sea floor because new lithosphere forming at the ridge axis is ____ and of relatively ____ density.

hot, low

why is the mid oceanic ridge elevated above the adjacent deep-ocean basins?

newly created lithosphere is hot and therefore less dense than the cooler rocks of the deep ocean basin

When two oceanic plates converge, the sinking plate pulls the sea floor down to create ____.

oceanic trench

Solar energy breaks oxygen molecules apart in the stratosphere, releasing ____, that then combine with additional oxygen molecules to form ____.

oxygen atoms and ozone