global warming
a continental polar air mass moves into the territory occupied a continental tropical air mass. what is most likely to happen?
a cold front forms at the boundaries between the two air masses
what is ozone
a gas that resides in the stratosphere, a gas consisting of molecules containing three oxygen atoms, and a gas that blocks ultraviolet radiation from reaching earth
when water changes from a liquid to a vapor it
absorbs heat from the environment
near a high-pressure weather system (also called an anticyclone), clouds are unlikely to form. why is this?
air flows downward and outward from a high
what is air pressure greatest at sea level?
air pressure depends on the weight of overlying air molecules
what is the gulf stream
an ocean current that moves warm water from the equator to the coast of northern Europe, a surface current, and the source of warm winds that blow from the ocean over the lands of Great Britain and Norway
global winds blow a maritime tropical (mt) air mass inland. over time, this air mass is likely to
become a continental tropic air mass
how is the atmosphere like a florists greenhouse
both trap long-wave electromagnetic radiation
the ocean current called the gulf stream
carries heat from the gulf of mexico to the north american coast and northern European
suppose that you saw clouds that were high in the sky and looked like wispy strands of tattered cloth. an hour later, it started to rain. the clouds you saw were
cirrus clouds
how are weather and climate related
climate is the average whether over a period of many years
the weather forecast says that a warm front is moving into town. while the front is in town, what kind of whether is likely?
cloudy with precipitation
the change of water vapor to liquid is called
condensation
as an air parcel rises, it
expands and cools
what slows the escape of long-wave radiation from the earths surface
greenhouse gasses
if the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, earths average global temperature will
increase
an air mass that contains warm, moist air is a
maritime tropical air mass
wind is due to
pressure differences in the atmosphere
cyclones are areas of low pressure. they are associated with
rough weather
what factors determine earths average global temperature
solar radiation and greenhouse gas concentration
why are you more likely to get sunburned if you visit a low altitude location compared to a high-altitude location
solar rats strike low altitude locations most directly
the elements of weather include
temperature and precipitation
why does air flow into the center of a cyclone
the center of a cyclone is a region of low air pressure
temperatures in earths atmospheric layers vary in zig-zag pattern with altitude principally
the chemical composition of the atmosphere varies
why is water vapor not implicated in climate change as methane and carbon dioxide are
the concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere has remained relatively constant despite changes in human activity
on what day of the year does the north pole tilt most directly toward the sun
the summer solstice
almost all energy on earth comes directly or indirectly from
the sun
the seasons are primarily due to
the tilt of the earths axis
the troposphere is the atmospheric layer where
weather occurs
air pressure is due to the
weight of the overlying air
the Coriolis effect turns
wind and ocean surface currents
earths surface receives more solar radiation near the equator than at the poles. this uneven heating of earths surface produces
winds