Climate 102 Exam #1

The sun emits a maximum amount of radiation at wavelengths near ____, while the earth emits maximum radiation near wavelengths of ____.

0.5 micrometers, 10 micrometers

If a 100 year flood happens this year, what tare the odds of a 100- year storm happening again next year?

1%

Explain two ways the relative humidity may be changed. ________________ _______________________________

1. Change amount of moisture, 2. Change temperature.

How many molecules of air released from the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 will be physically in YOUR lungs in your next breath?

100

A temperature of 27°C would be equal to what temperature on the Kelvin scale?

300°K

What is the probability of a ten-year storm NOT happening in 10 years?

35%

On the average, about what percentage of the solar energy that strikes the outer atmosphere eventually reaches the earth's surface?

50%

Much of Tibet lies at altitudes over 18,000 feet where the pressure is about 500 mb. At such altitudes, the Tibetans are above roughly:

50% of the air molecules in the atmosphere

Which latitude below would experience the fewest hours of daylight on Dec. 22?

60 degrees N

The albedo of the moon is 7%. This means that:

7% of the sunlight striking the moon is reflected

Which is heavier: Dry air at 90°F or muggy air at 90°F?

All other things being equal the muggy air means water vapor has been added to the air and replaces heavier N2 and O2. Hence moist air is lighter per volume of air.

When the relative humidity is given, why is it also important to know the air temperature?

Because the amount of moisture actually present depends on both.

The temperature scale where 0°represents freezing and 100°boiling:

Celsius

Earth is the only known planet with oxygen as a dominant constituent. How is it we got the oxygen and other planets did not?

Earth is the only planet where water can exist in the atmosphere as a liquid. In liquid form it systematically removed soluble gases from the atmosphere, including CO2 and SO2 leaving N2 as the dominant gas. Initially oxygen formed in photolysis (CO2 -> CO + O and H2O -> OH + O) at very low concentrations and the oxygen molecules reacted to form ozone. Once an ozone layer formed life could begin deep in the oceans and photosynthesis ultimately produced the large increases in oxygen.

The 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London, England (latitude 51.5°N). How high in the sky will the Sun be at the summer solstice?

Elevation angle = 90° - 51.5 + 23.5 = 62°

When is the hottest day of the year? Why that day?

End of July or early August, until then the amount of shortwave energy received exceed amount of IR lost by surface, after that loss of IR is greater than gain of solar.__________

If the Sun cooled to 3000°K describe how sunlight would change on Earth

Energy rom Sun would drop by a factor of 16 ________________________________________________________ Wavelength of maximum emission would double toward infrared (from 0.5µm to 1.0µm)

Describe how volcanic eruptions affect the surface temperature of the Earth from eruption through 20 years (include all effects).

Initial effect cooling due to addition of SO2 to stratosphere creating sulfate haze and blocking sunlight_______(3 pt) Eventually particles leave atmosphere leaving extra CO2 that has a longer lifetime and adds warming________(2 pt)

the temperature of the tropopause:

Is much colder than the temperature at the earth's surface

At the North Pole the sun will rise above the horizon on ____ and _________ set below the horizon on ____.

March 21, September 23

Give an example of a positive feedback in climate that explains why polar regions may show the largest temperature rise with rising greenhouse gas concentrations.

Melting ice exposes more water/land with lower albedo ________________________________________________ In absence of sunlight during Arctic winter the cycling of IR dominates energy balance _______________________

Are the formation of the "ozone hole" and "global warming" related? _________ Explain why or why not.

Only through CFC's. CFC's destroy ozone through chemical reactions in the stratosphere and are a greenhouse gas with high global warming potential. Other than that there are no known linkages.

Which relates to weather rather than climate?

Outside it is cloudy and snowing

Why do you have to rise farther to get halfway through the atmosphere in Georgia than Michigan?

Simply put, air when warmed is in an open system and can expand. Warmer air expands making less dense air so you have to rise farther to get through the same mass of molecules

What does the relative humidity represent?

The amount of moisture in the atmosphere divided by the amount of moisture the atmosphere can hold at that temperature.

How might you estimate the temperature of a lightning bolt? [Bad answer: temperature at which your golf club melts...]

Use Wein's law and measure which wavelength hold the maximum amount of radiation.

Ozone hits its maximum concentration at 25 km. Why does the stratosphere get even warmer up above that height, hitting its peak around 50 km above the surface?

While not at maximum ozone still exists at higher elevations. The uv entering the atmosphere will be absorbed by whatever ozone it encounters first, often around 50 km. Less uv makes it down to the zone of maximum ozone

Argue if you would expect an ice age to occur again in North America. Explain why or why not.

Yes _____________________________________________________________________________________(1 pt) The Earth's orbit will change to being more elliptical _____________________________________________(2 pts) making for a longer period farther from the Sun and short period near the Sun __________________________(1 pt) Mention Precession + Obliquity __________________________________

Which of the following carries the least amount of energy?

a photon of infrared light

A high water vapor pressure indicates:

a relatively large number of water vapor molecules in the air

At the 500 millibar (mb) level, the amount of oxygen inhaled in a single breath is _________________ of that inhaled at sea-level.

about one-half

Warming in the stratosphere is mainly caused by:

absorption of ultraviolet radiation by ozone

The horizontal transport of any atmospheric property by the wind is called:

advection

The earth's atmosphere is divided into layers based on the vertical profile of

air temperature

In a temperature inversion:

air temperature increases with increasing height

In terms of the Earth's atmosphere, a radiation inversion is defined as this:

an increase in temperature as you go higher in the troposphere

The lowest temperature is usually observed:

around sunrise

The largest annual ranges of temperatures are found:

at polar latitudes over land

Which of the following is an incorrect association? a. albedo - percent of radiation reflected from a surface b. kinetic energy - energy of motion c. black body - selective absorber d. longwave radiation - Earth radiation

black body - selective absorber

A south wind:

blows from the south

Although the polar regions radiate away more heat energy than they _________ receive by insolation in the course of a year, they are prevented from becoming progressively colder each year by the:

circulation of heat by the atmosphere and oceans

During the afternoon the greatest temperature difference between the surface air and the air several meters above occurs on a:

clear, calm afternoon

One would expect the lowest temperatures to be found next to the ground on a

clear, dry, calm night

In January, the earth is _____ to/from the sun and the _____hemisphere _________ is tilted away from the sun.

closest, northern

The higher the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in the shells of organisms that lived in the sea during the geologic past, the ____ the climate at that time.

colder

In clear weather the air next to the ground is usually ____ than the air above during the night, and ____ than the air above during the day.

colder, warmer

The transfer of heat by molecule-to-molecule contact:

conduction

A heat transfer process in the atmosphere that depends upon the _________ movement of air is:

convection

The heat transfer process in the atmosphere that depends upon the movement of air is:

convection

One way of increasing the relative humidity in the atmosphere is to

decrease temperature, keeping actual vapor pressure constant

Large volcanic eruptions with an ash veil that enters the stratosphere, tend to _____________ ____ at the surface.

decrease temperatures

The number or mass of air molecules in a given space or volume is called:

density

What is the leading weather-related cause of death?

heat

The term latent means:

hidden

Heat is energy in the process of being transferred from:

hot objects to cold objects

The earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5° with respect to the plane of its orbit _____________ around the sun. If the amount of tilt were increased to 40° we would expect in middle latitudes:

hotter summers and colder winters than at present

The earth's first atmosphere was composed primarily of:

hydrogen and helium

The deepest radiation inversion would be observed:

in polar regions in winter

In terms of the Ideal Gas Law, if volume stays the same and temperature increases, the pressure will:

increase

If the earth's average surface temperature were to increase, the amount _________ of radiation emitted from the earth's surface would ____ and the wavelength of peak emission would shift toward ____ wavelengths.

increase, shorter

If the earth's average surface temperature were to increase, the amount of radiation emitted from the earth's surface would ____ and the wavelength of peak emission would shift toward ____ wavelengths:

increase, shorter

Over the past 100 years or so, it appears that average global temperatures have:

increased slightly

It appears that, as the number of sunspots increases, the sun's total energy output:

increases slightly

In the stratosphere, the air temperature normally:

increases with increasing height

The most recent warming trend experienced over the Northern _________ Hemisphere could be the result of:

increasing levels of CO2

The primary cause of a radiation inversion is:

infrared radiation emitted by the earth's surface

The earth's atmospheric window is in the:

infrared region

The proper order from shortest to longest wavelength is:

infrared, visible, ultraviolet

If we double the temperature of an object:

it emits 16 times as much energy

Which of the following is not a reason why water warms and _________ cools much more slowly than land?

it takes more heat to raise the temperature of a given amount of soil 1°C than it does to raise the temperature of water 1°C.

The rate at which temperature decreases with increasing altitude _________ is known as the:

lapse rate

Roughly, when Is the hottest day of the year

late July Why that day? Maximum solar input is at summer solstice but at that point the solar input is greater than the earth's infrared output so there is a surplus of energy and temperature continue to rise until end of July when input roughly equals output and temperature stabilizes before falling the rest of the year.

This is released as sensible heat during the formation of clouds

latent heat

If the concentration of ozone were to decrease significantly, which of the following might also occur?

less absorption of ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere an increase in the number of cases of skin cancer the stratosphere would cool more ultraviolet radiation would be absorbed at the earth's surface

Typically, water vapor occupies about what percentage of the air's volume near the earth's surface?

less than 4%

The earth's radiation is often referred to as ____ radiation, while the sun's radiation is often referred to as ____ radiation.

longwave, shortwave

The most abundant gas in the stratosphere is:

nitrogen

The outpouring of gases from the Earth's interior is called:

outgassing

The primary source of oxygen for the Earth's atmosphere during the past half billion years appears to be:

photosynthesis

The primary source of oxygen for the earth's atmosphere during _________ the past half billion years or so appears to be:

photosynthesis

The amount of force exerted over an area of surface is called:

pressure

Often before sunrise on a clear, calm, cold morning, ice (frost) can be seen on the tops of parked cars, even when the air temperature is above freezing. This condition happens because the tops of the cars are cooling by:

radiation

On a clear, calm, night, the ground and air above cool mainly by this process:

radiation

The percentage of water vapor present in the air compared to that required _____________ for saturation is the:

relative humidity

In summer, humid regions typically have ____ daily temperature ranges and ____ maximum temperatures than drier regions.

smaller, lower

Volcanoes that have the most impact on global climate seem to be those rich in:

sulfur

Which of the following provides a measure of the average speed of air molecules:

temperature

Low clouds retard surface cooling at night better than clear skies because:

the clouds absorb and radiate infrared energy back to earth

At noon on June 22, the sun will be directly overhead at:

the equator

If two parcels at sea level have the same size but different temperatures, the colder parcel of air will have:

the same pressure but higher density than the warm parcel

Precession of the equinox refers to

the wobble of the earth on its axis

An important reason for the large daily temperature range over deserts is:

there is little water vapor in the air to absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation

The lag in daily temperature refers to the time lag between the:

time of maximum solar radiation and the time of maximum temperature

The order of the layers of the atmosphere from lowest to highest is:

troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere

The Milankovitch Theory proposes that climatic changes are due to:

variations in the earth's orbit as it travels through space

The sun emits a maximum amount of radiation at in the______spectrum, _________ while the earth emits maximum radiation in the _________ spectrum.

visible, infrared

The most abundant greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere is:

water vapor

Which of the following is considered a variable gas in the earth's atmosphere?

water vapor

Which of the following gases are mainly responsible for the _________ atmospheric greenhouse effect in the earth's atmosphere?

water vapor and carbon dioxide

Studies reveal that during colder glacial periods, CO2 levels ____ during warmer interglacial periods.

were lower than

The lowest temperature that can be attained by evaporating water into the air is known as the:

wet-bulb temperature