GEOG 1 - Module 4 Assignment

You are enjoying time at the beach on a warm summer day. It is late afternoon, and a breeze has started to develop. For most of the day, the winds were calm; the breeze only started within the past hour or so. Based on these details, what can you say about this breeze? Select all of the options that apply to this scenario.

- The breeze is most likely a cool breeze coming from the water. - Warm land has now sufficiently heated the overlying air, so that cooler air over the ocean is now moving onshore as a sea breeze.

Which of the following forces works to create cyclonic and anticyclonic wind circulation patterns?

1. Coriolis effect 2. Pressure gradient 3. Surface friction

Based on your knowledge of the general circulation of the atmosphere and the data in the Fukushima layer, which of the following coordinate locations was in the highest risk area for downwind radiation contamination in the days after the March 2011 event?

37°N, 153°E

At which of the following placemarks would surface winds be most likely to come from the east?

A

Which of the following phenomena occur in the tropical South Pacific Ocean during ENSO?

A low-pressure system forms over the eastern South Pacific. Upwelling of colder ocean water slows down near the South American coast. Trade winds of the South Pacific weaken and may even reverse direction.

________ winds are created when cold air descending the sheltered (leeward) side of the Rockies is warmed by compression.

Chinook

During El Niño, what is the main force driving the bulge of warm water across the equator from Indonesia to South America?

Coriolis effect

Which of the following placemarks would likely have the highest wind speeds?

D

Which of the following placemarks would have the lowest atmospheric pressure reading?

E

Drag the appropriate labels to their respective targets. Each label may be used only once.

From left to right: Convergent, counterclockwise (L 998) Divergent, counterclockwise (H 1022) Divergent, clockwise (H)Convergent, clockwise (L 982)

Which of the following statements about friction is true?

If the wind is flowing across the isobars at a large angle then the friction force is large.

Circulation in the atmosphere is influenced by whether the planetary body is rotating or nonrotating. Sort the following features by whether they apply to a rotating Earth, a nonrotating Earth, or neither.

Nonrotating Earth:-all surface air flows toward the equator -one pair of convection cells Rotating Earth:-equatorial and subpolar air -presence of trade winds -three pairs of convection cells Neither:-all surface air flows poleward -air sinks at the equator

Which of the follow statements reflects that respective region's climate?

San Francisco has dry summers and wet winters.

What component of global circulation is most responsible for the prevailing winds in this region?

Southeast Trades

Drag the appropriate labels to their respective targets. Each label may be used only once.

Starting from the top (12:00) to the right (3:00): tropical cyclones weakened increased number of landslides fisheries disrupted drought and wildfires drought and crop loss

Which of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information presented in the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940 layer?

The highest pressure gradient associated with the storm at the time of this map was located in Minnesota.

A jet stream generally diverges above a low-pressure (warm) center. However, at Earth's surface, air converges at a low-pressure center. If the divergence of the jet stream is greater than the convergence of air at the surface low-pressure center below it, what will happen to the surface winds? The surface winds will not change. The surface winds will likely get weaker. The surface winds will likely get stronger. The surface winds will begin to move downward.

The surface winds will likely get stronger.

Cyclones can form where low-pressure centers develop at Earth's surface. Air moves inward towards the low pressure center. Air flow generally occurs in a counterclockwise fashion in the Northern Hemisphere, and the opposite direction (clockwise) in the Southern Hemisphere. To sustain low-pressure centers, these systems require an air flow divergence higher in the atmosphere (e.g., in the jet stream). This air flow divergence creates a place for the rising low-pressure air. Similarly, an anticyclone, which forms as air moves clockwise out from a high-pressure center in the Northern Hemisphere, can be sustained by a convergence higher in the atmosphere, which would feed air into this high-pressure center, preventing it from being depleted. (An anticyclone moves counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.) The accompanying image of the eastern portion of the United States illustrates the airflow conditions involved in the creation of cyclones and anticyclones. Match the labels to their correct location.

Top: south, convergence aloft, divergence aloft Bottom: north, anticyclonic flow, cyclonic flow

The main difference between climate and weather could be succinctly stated as __________.

climate is what you expect over the long term, weather is what you get day-to-day

When the isobars are curved in the Northern Hemisphere the wind flows _____

clockwise and parallel to the isobars around a high near the tropopause.

A circulation pattern consisting of a light wind blowing into the city from the countryside is characteristic of a _______ ______.

country breeze

Which force is required for the wind to cross the isobars once the forces are in balance?

friction

Wind crosses the isobars when all of the forces are in balance because _____

friction slows the wind, which decreases the Coriolis force. The pressure gradient force is now greater than the Coriolis force and the wind is pushed across the isobars toward a lower pressure.

Which wind flow is caused by straight isobars in the absence of friction?

geostrophic flow

For geostrophic flow the wind moves parallel to the isobars with the lower pressures on the _____ if you are looking in the direction the wind is blowing toward.

left

In the United States, El Niño affects places that otherwise ___________ by redirecting and concentrating storms, not necessarily by increasing the number of storms or amount of moisture.

might have been drier

Which of the following conditions would lead to a motion that is NOT geostrophic flow?

motion near the surface

A ___ ______ is the result of the air over land heating, expanding, and rising, thereby creating a low-pressure area into which cooler air from over the ocean can move.

sea breeze

Which of the following is true for both geostrophic flow and gradient flow?

the wind follows the isobars

Heated air from mountain slopes gliding up along that slope results in a ______ ______.

valley breeze

Indication of a strong El Niño event usually begins with ___________.

warmer ocean water along the western coast of South America