Chapter 6: Geo

Relative Humidity

The amount of water vapor in a given volume of air

_____ will rise until it reaches the same temperature as the surrounding air.

buoyant air

The rainiest region of the continental U.S. is the

center

Among cloud types, those that occur at the highest altitudes are the

cirrus

____ form is air is cooled to the dew point.

clouds

The most common and widespread form of precipitation is ____.

rain

Absolute Huumidity

A direct measure of water vapor

Most regions of the globe receive a summer maximum of ____.

rainfall

Air containing all of the water vapor it can hold is

saturated

This is known as the temperature at which saturation is reached.

Dew point

The cumulonimbus clouds have the ____ height from top to bottom.

height

Precipitation in the interiors of continents tend to have their wettest season in the ___.

summer

The capacity of air to hold water increases as

temperature increases

Most of the wettest areas around the world are located in the ___.

tropics

The family of clouds of vertical development include ____.

cumulonimbus

Most of Earth's cloudiness can be said to result from

evaporation

The transfer of moisture from land to air is termed

evapotranspiration

In terms of the troposphere, more than ___ percent of all water vapor is found within 1.6 kilometers (1mile) of Earth's surface.

fifty

Water is unique because no other substance in nature occurs in solid, liquid, and ____ forms.

gaseous

The ______ refers to the non-stop circulation of Earth's water supply.

hydrologic cycle

This cycle is a continuous interchange between the atmosphere and Earth, with liquid water evaporating into the gaseous air and subsequently returning to Earth as some form of falling moisture.

hydrological Cycle

Showery weather and cumuliform clouds point to the presence of ____.

instability

Downwind of large mountain ranges there is less precipitation; this drier zone is called

rain shadow

Rising air, warmed by the release of latent heat, cools at a rate called

saturated adiabatic lapse rate

On a warm humid day, the ______ is greater than the thermometer temperature.

sensible temperature

The term used in the U.S. for small raindrops that freeze while falling toward the surface is

sleet

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

specific humidity

A piece of unsaturated air is forced to rise. The lapse rate in the surrounding air is much less than the rate in change of temperature in the rising air. the rising air is said to be ___.

stable

The sky is covered with stratiform clouds and drizzle is falling. Without measuring, one could reliably guess the atmosphere is

stable

_____ refers to water vapor leaving the Earth's surface through plants.

transperation

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

unstable

Air that resist ____ is said to be stable.

vertical movement

The least obvious and most important state of water in the atmosphere is

water vapor

Specific Humidity

The mass of water vapor in a given mass of air

Natural rain fall is slightly

acidic