G107 Exam 2
The ________ ice shelf is the largest on Earth.
Ross
The world's largest expanse of middle latitude dry climates is on the continent of ________.
Asia
The textbook uses climographs. Climographs are useful in ________.
classifying climate
Circulation in the troposphere is mainly a(n) ____ system.
closed
The release of latent heat from water molecules is called ________.
condensation
Which of the following is one of the causes of monsoons?
continents heat and cool differently than oceans
In a surface anticyclone in the Southern Hemisphere, winds spiral ______.
counterclockwise and outward
All of Earth's frozen water is called the ________
cryosphere
Clouds of vertical development include the type called ________.
cumulonimbus
the rate of pressure decreases ______
decreases with altitude
Which of the following lapse rates represents the greatest temperature change over altitude?
dry adiabatic
Another designation for the mediterranean climate is ________
dry summer subtropical
The world's highest average annual wind speed can be found ________.
in Antarctica
the place with the fastest average winds on earth is ______
in Antarctica
________ is the time of day when tornadoes are most likely to occur.
mid-afternoon
The lowest temperature which is found in liquid surface seawater is approximately ________ degrees Celsius.
-2
Of the following temperatures, which of the following is CLOSEST to the official low temperature (in degrees Celsius. ever recorded on Earth?
-90
At sea level the atmosphere exerts a force closest to ___ kilogram(s) per square centimeter
1
Which of the following best represents the length of the life cycle of a typical midlatitude cyclone?
1 week
Earth's "world ocean" contains ________ cubic kilometers of salt water.
1.32 billion
In order to be classified as a hurricane, sustained wind velocity must exceed ________ kilometers per hour (mph..
119 km/hr (74 mph)
wind has generated electricity since the _____.
1880s
Sea breezes rarely penetrate a maximum of ______ kilometers inland.
30
The furthest north citrus can be grown in North American is at ________ North latitude in the California Cs climate type.
38°
The Arctic Ocean contains about ________ percent of Earth's total ocean water.
4
The relative humidity would be ________% if the actual water vapor in the air was 10 grams per cubic meter, the air's capacity to hold water vapor was 20 grams per cubic meter and the dewpoint temperature was 20 degrees Celsius.
50
The oceans contain approximately ________ percent of all water on Earth.
97
Which ocean is surrounded by most of the world's major volcanoes?
Pacific
Of the regions of the United States, which has the highest incidence of tornadoes?
Central States
A Cfa climate exists on the southeastern coast of the United States. Which climate type exists on the southwestern coast of the United States?
Csa
Which of the following is NOT a climate type found in South America?
D
Melt ponds and moulins are closely associated with ________.
Greenland
Which of the following is the most likely time to sight a tornado in the United States?
June
Which country is the most likely place on Earth for a tornado to occur?
The United States
Most of the wettest (highest average rainfall and humidity) areas around the world are located in the ________.
Tropics
A wet monsoon is associated with high rainfall totals and is caused by ______.
a seasonal reversal of winds
A wall of sea water rushing up into an embayment is called ________.
a tidal bore
In an occluded front, the warm air sector is ________.
above the ground
The amount of water vapor expressed as the mass of water vapor in a given volume of air is ________.
absolute humidity
Cold air moving over a warmer lake surface will result in a(n) ________ type of fog.
advection
Which factor is corrected for on most maps of atmospheric pressure?
altitude
Thunderstorms DO NOT usually accompany ________.
anticyclones
Typically, a(n) ________ in the confined water zone is a sloping or dipping layer that reaches to, or almost to, the surface at some location, where it can absorb infiltrating water.
aquifer
Which of the following air masses can be identified as being "very stable"?
arctic
Which of the following is TRUE concerning the surface westerlies
are composed of winds from all directions
gas molecules in the lower atmosphere
are readily compressed and heated
Geographically speaking, the most important currents ________.
are the flows making up the ocean's general circulations
Usually, the highest relative humidity is ________.
at dawn
The angle of the wind flow across the isobars _____.
becomes smaller with height
A chunk of independently floating ice is an ice ________.
berg
the "snow-eater" wind of the rocky mountains is called the _____.
chinook
The part of the hurricane characterized by only a few scattered high clouds and light winds is known as the ________.
eye
The damage done in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina was mainly a result of ________.
flooding from the failure of levees
The GOES satellites monitoring the weather of the United States are ________.
geostationary
the poles are most closely associated with _____
high pressure
City A and City B are located 500 km from one another and are the same latitude. City A has a much greater annual temperature range than City B. The most likely explanation for this fact is that City A ________.
is in a more continental climate than City B
The average lapse rate in the troposphere ________.
is quite variable by time and region
Cold winds pouring downhill because of gravity are called _____
katabatibc winds
Biological water (water in living organisms. constitutes what percentage of water in the Earth system?
less than 1%
Water vapor can be described by all but one of the following.
light blue color
When air is heated it expands and _____.
lowers its pressure
An Earth surface pressure of 1,005 millibars is associated with ______
lows or highs depending on conditions
The current rise in global sea level can be attributed to ________.
melting of glaciers
The greatest day-to-day and seasonal contrasts of climate are found in the ________ climates.
middle latitude
The basic unit of pressure mapped on weather maps is _____
millibars
the basic unit of pressure mapped on weather maps is _____.
millibars
Which of the following is closely associated with acid rain?
motor vehicle exhaust
The lowest high tides are ________ tides.
neap
As a general rule, friction is greatest _______
near Earth's surface
You are in the Northern Hemisphere. The pressure gradient force is from north to south. The surface wind which blows is from _____.
northeast to southwest
In the United States, winter precipitation exceeds summer precipitation ________.
on the West Coast
Air forced to move over a mountain is most closely associated with which type of lifting?
orographic
Geostrophic wind always flows ______
parallel to the isobars
Which of the below best describes water moving through Earth material because of the influence of gravity?
percolation
The contact zone of warm tropical and cold Polar air is known as the ______
polar front
wind speed is determined by ______
pressure gradient force
Which seawater has been found to have the least density?
seawater near the bottom
How warm or cold it feels to us is the ________ temperature.
sensible
The salinity of ocean water is derived mainly from ________.
sodium chloride
The average directional movement of tornadoes is ________.
southwest to northeast
When neither air mass displaces the adjacent one, their boundary is called a(n. ________ front.
stationary
A large scale vertical downward motion in the atmosphere is a ______
subsidence
Subtropical deserts are so dry because of ________ associated with the presence of the STHs.
subsidence
The BWh climate is "caused" by the ________.
subtropical high
divergence is most closely associated with _____
surface air in anticyclones
Which portion of the United States tends to have the greatest average wind speeds in all seasons?
the Great Plains
If there were no continents and the Earth did not rotate, the surface wind patterns would be simple: surface winds would blow from ______.
the North in the Northern hemisphere
Which of the following is the least likely zone of formation for a large air mass?
the US Midwest
The movement (track along the ground). of middle latitude cyclones is determined by ________.
the jet stream
City A has an air pressure of 1,000 millibars. City B has an air pressure of 1004 millibars. The distance between the two cities is 100 kilometers. The different of 4 millibars over 100 kilometers is known as _____.
the pressure gradient
Cold air pushes equatorward and warm air pushes polewards when _____.
the rossby waves have great amplitude
the reason winds exist is _____
the unequal heating of the Earth system
Concerning midlatitude anticyclones, which of the following is FALSE?
they contain air mass conflict
The Enhanced Fujita Scale was adopted in 2007. It is based on estimates of 3-second gusts of wind as estimated by ________.
tornado damage
The correct designation (formal name) for a hurricane is as a(n). ________.
tropical cyclone
When air is heated enough so that it is warmer than the surrounding air, it is ________.
unstable
In most classification schemes, which principal indicator is used to delineate five zones and their subtypes?
vegetation types
Which of the following promotes evaporation?
warm water