Meteorology exam 1
50. What is the dry adiabatic lapse rate?
-the rate of change of temperature in a rising or descending unsaturated air parcel -10C per 1000 meters
Suppose the albedo of a planet is measured to be 40 percent. This means that:
40 percent of the Sun's energy is reflected
18. What are equinoxes?
"equal night"), the length of daylight is 12 hours everywhere on Earth
52. What are the three cases of atmospheric stability?
Absolute stability, conditional stability, absolute instability
The horizontal transport of any atmospheric property by the wind is called
Advection
In the atmosphere tiny solid or liquid suspended particles of various compositions are called
Aerosols
With which set of conditions below would you expect wet laundry hanging outdoors on a clothesline to dry most quickly?
Air temperature (F*) 60 Relative humidity 50% Wind speed 20 mph
How does the phase change of water from liquid to vapor generally influence the air temperature experienced in locations near water?
Air temperatures are generally cooler
17. What is perihelion? What is aphelion?
Aphelion is the point of the Earth's orbit that is farthest away from the Sun. Perihelion is the point of the Earth's orbit that is nearest to the Sun
A scientific theory is valid
As long as it is not contradicted by new experimental findings
35. What does the daily temperature variation look like? How is this variation related to the surface radiation budget? Explain why the warmest time of the day is usually in the afternoon, even though the sun's rays are most direct at noon.
As long as solar energy gained exceeds outgoing energy emitted by Earth, the temperature rises. When outgoing energy from Earth exceeds the input of solar energy, temperature falls. B. Note that the daily temperature cycle lags behind the solar radiation input by a couple of hours. The suns rays are most intense however even though solar radiation decreases in intensity after noon, it still exceeds outgoing heat energy from the surface for a time, this situation yields an energy surplus for two to four hours after noon and substantially contributes to a lag between. The time of maximum solar heating and the time of maximum temperature
At what time of year is the earths axis not tilted either toward or away from the sun
Autumnal equinox
The temperature scale that sets freezing of pure water at 0*
Celcius
When chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are subjected to ultraviolet radiation, ozone destroying ________________ is released
Chlorine
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
A halo around the sun or moon indicates that the cloud ________________ is present
Cirrostratus
59. What are the 10 basic cloud types and what are their characteristics?
Cirrus Cirrocumulus Cirrostratus Altocumulus Altostratus Stratus Stratocumulus Nimbostratus Cumulus Cumulonimbus
The following question refers to the temperature and dew point data in the following cities: City A: air temp 95 Dew point (F*) 76 City B: air temp 10 Dew point 10 City C: 30 Dew point 21 City D: 50 42 Which city has the greatest amount of water vapor in the air
City A
The following question refers to the temperature and dew point data in the following cities: City A: air temp 95 Dew point (F*) 76 City B: air temp 10 Dew point 10 City C: 30 Dew point 21 City D: 50 42 Which has the highest relative humidity?
City B
The following question refers to the temperature and dew point data in the following cities: City A: air temp 95 Dew point (F*) 76 City B: air temp 10 Dew point 10 City C: 30 Dew point 21 City D: 50 42 Which has the least amount of water vapor in the air
City B
Nimbostratus
Dark gray clouds, primary precipitation producing clouds
As the difference between the air temperature and the dew point increases, the relative humidity:
Decreases
With an increase in altitude, air pressure
Decreases at a decreasing rate
Cumulus
Dense billowy clouds with flat bases, may occur as isolated or packed clouds
Which of the following factors would have the net effect of making a place warmer in the summer
In the middle of a landmass
58. What is the dominant growth mechanism for droplets in warm clouds?
In the second process, water droplets in warm clouds collide and change their electric charge. Droplets of unlike charge attract one another and merge, thereby growing until they have sufficient weight to fall. the collision-coalescence process involves multiple collisions of tiny cloud droplets that stick together (coalesce) to form raindrops large enough to reach the ground before evaporating. Bergeron process, which produces precipitation from cold clouds, and the warm-cloud process called the collision-coalescence process.
10. What is ozone and where is it in the atmosphere? How does ozone impact UV light?
In the stratosphere Ozone is a form of oxygen that contains three oxygen atoms instead of the usual two. It is a layer of ozone high in the atmosphere, and surrounds the earth. This layer acts as a filter to prevent too much of the harmful ultraviolet light in sunlight from reaching earth. ozone absorbs ultraviolet radi-ation from the Sun
The earth system _______________
Includes parts that affect one another
Most of the radiation emitted by the earth and its atmosphere is in the category of
Infrared
36. Why is temperature not measured at ground level, but typically 1.5-2 meters above the ground?
Placing a thermometer in direct sun-light will give an excessively high reading because the instru-ment itself absorbs solar energy much more efficiently than does air. Placing a thermometer near a heat-radiating surface, such as a building or the ground, also yields inaccurate read-ings. False readings will also be recorded if air is prevented from mov-ing freely around the thermometer.
11. How is atmospheric pressure defined? How do pressure and temperature change with altitude?
Pressure is the weight of the air above a location. Because air is compressible, pressure decreases at an increasing rate as you go up in the atmosphere As you increase in elevation, there is less air above you thus the pressure decreases. As the pressure decreases, air molecules spread out further (i.e. air expands) and the temperature decreases
When you are warmed by the sun, you are experiencing __________________, as opposed to when you burn yourself touching a metal object whose other end is being heated you are experiencing _____________________
Radiation, conduction
64. How is precipitation measured?
Rain gauge, The standard rain gauge increases the height of water collected by a factor of 10, allowing for accurate rainfall measurement to the nearest 0.025 centimeter (0.01 inch). Because the cross-sectional area of the measuring tube is only one-tenth as large as the collector, rainfall is magnified 10 times
Clouds are most likely to ______________ I coming solar radiation
Reflect
What is the relationship between dew point temperature, air temperature, and relative humidity?
Relative humidity can change in two ways: (1) when the amount of moisture in the air increases or decreases or, (2) when the temperature of the air rises or falls. • The dew-point temperature (or simply, dew point) is the temperature to which a parcel of air must be cooled to the point of condensation ????? an increase in temperature results in a decrease in relative humidity
44. What is the relationship between air temperature and relative humidity?
Relative humidity changes when temperatures change. Because warm air can hold more water vapor than cool air, relative humidity falls when the temperature rises if no moisture is added to the air.
Bergeron Process
a process that produces percipitation; the process involves tiny ice crystals in a supercooled cloud growing larger at the expense of the surrounding liquid droplets
41. How can air reach saturation?
as more and more molecules evaporate from the water surface, the steadily increasing vapor pressure in the air above forces more and more water molecules to return to the liquid. Eventually a balance is reached in which the number of water molecules returning to the surface equals the number leaving. At that point, the air is said to have reached an equilibrium called saturation
4. What is a system?
atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere
14. In what atmospheric layer do we find the highest concentration of ozone? The highest average air temperature?
Stratosphere; Thermosphere
48. What is the bottom line for determining atmospheric stability?
Surface air does not rise unless forcefully lifted. If air is forced aloft such as along a warm front, the clouds that form will be thin and widespread. Precipitation, if any, will be light to moderate.
The annual temperatures range at most latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere is much smaller than that in the northern hemisphere. The reason for this is that
There is a greater precentage of water surface in the southern hemisphere
Freezing rain (ice storm) or sleet occurs when
There is a warm layer of air between the cloud and the cold surface
Almost all of the earths weather occurs in the
Trophosphere
13. What atmospheric layer contains all of our weather?
Troposphere
Solar radiation reaches earths surface as
Ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation
25. Why is the atmosphere heated chiefly by radiation emitted from Earth's surface rather than by direct solar radiation?
because gases are selective absorbers, (and emitters), meaning that they absorb strongly in some wavelengths, moderately in others, and only slightly in still others, of radiation. When a gas molecule absorbs radiation, this energy is tranformed into internal molecular motion, which is detectable as a rise in temperature. Thus, it is the gases that are the most effective absorbers of radiation that play the primary role in heating the atmosphere.
Cirrus
Wispy, feathery clouds made of ice crystals that form at high levels.
Earths perihelion
Would not exist if the earths orbit were cicular
The growth of a cloud droplet into a rain drop large enough to fall to Earth in a warm cloud is accomplished primarily through:
collision and coalescence
Salt, dust particles, and smoke are all examples of:
condensation nuclei
47. What are four mechanisms that cause air to rise? How do they work?
convective uplift the hot air is less dense and it rises orographic lifting air is forced to rise when it meets a mountain convergence thunderstorms are caused by comvergence frontal wedging when a cold air mass meets a warm air mass, the colder air wedges its way beneath the less dense warm air
45. What is dew point temperature?
dew-point temperature, or simply the dew point, is the temperature at which water vapor begins to condense
31. What are isotherms, and what is their purpose?
display the distribution of air temperatures over large areas, isotherms are commonly used. An isotherm is a line that con-nects points on a map that have the same temperature (iso = equal, therm = temperature). Therefore, all points through which an isotherm passes have identical temperatures for the time period indicated.
Objects with higher temperatures
emit more shortwave radiation than cooler objects do
26. Explain how the earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect works. Which gases are the primary heat absorbers in the lower atmosphere?
greenhouse effect refers to the selective absorption of terrestrial radiation by atmospheric gases, mainly water vapor and carbon dioxide, that causes Earth's average temperature to be warmer than it would be otherwise. water vapor and carbon dioxide are the primary absorbing gases, with water vapor absorbing around 60 percent of the radiation emitted by Earth. Therefore, water vapor accounts for the warm temperatures of the lower troposphere.
Which association is NOT correct?
high cloud...nimbostratus
A thermometer with a small constriction just above the bulb is a
maximum thermometer
29. Why does the daytime sky usually appear blue if the sky is clear?
molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight
Of the following cloud types, which is most likely to produce the most rain?
nimbostratus
7. What are the amounts and importance of the three most abundant permanent gasses of the present Earth's atmosphere?
nitrogen (78) oxygen (20) make up about 99 percent of the volume of clean, dry air. argon (0.93 percent)
9. Which components of the atmosphere are most important meteorologically?
variable gases in the atmosphere are carbon dioxide, water vapor, and ozone. These gases play important roles in the energy cycles of the atmosphere
Rain that evaporates before it hits the ground, forming characteristic streaks below clouds, is known as:
virga
A poleward moving (northward moving in the Northern Hemisphere) ocean current is:
warm current
38. What are the unusual properties of water?
water is the only liquid found at Earth's surface in large quantities; (2) water is readily con-verted from one state of matter to another (solid, liquid, gas); (3) water's solid phase, ice, is less dense than liquid water; and (4) water has a high heat capacity—meaning changing its temperature requires considerable energy (Lutgens) Lutgens, Frederick K., Edward Tarbuck, Redina Herman, Dennis Tasa. The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology, 14th Edition. Pearson, 20180104. VitalBook file.
How does weather differ from climate?
weather is day to day conditions while climate is year to year condition
A place located along a windward coast:
will probably have cooler summer temperatures than an inland place at the same latitude
Which of these factors influences the sensation of temperature that the human body feels
wind speed, air temperature, and humidity
46. What is an adiabatic process?
process that takes place without a transfer of heat between the system (such as an air parcel) and its surroundings. In an adiabatic process compression always results in warming and expansion results in cooling.
Which type of fog occurs during nights when skies are clear and relative humidity is high?
radiation fog
27. What is the atmospheric window? How is it "closed"?
refers to the fact that the troposphere is transparent (does not absorb) to terrestrial radiation between 8 and 11 micrometers in length. It is "closed" by clouds absorbing outgoing radiation and reradiating much of this energy back to Earth's surface.
The percentage of water vapor present in the air compared to that required for saturation is the
relative humidity
As the air temperature increases, with no addition of water vapor to the air, the dew point will:
remain the same
A conditionally unstable atmosphere is ______________ with respect to unsaturated air and _______________ with respect to saturated air
stable, unstable
32. What is temperature gradient?
the amount of temperature change per unit of distance
Altocumulus
A middle cloud, usually white or gray. Often occurs in globules. Sheep cloud
12. What are the layers of the atmosphere based on temperature? What are their properties?
Based on temperature, the atmosphere is divided vertically into four layers. The troposphere is the lowermost layer. In the troposphere, temperature usually decreases with increasing altitude. Essentially, all important weather phenomena occur in the troposphere. Above the troposphere is the stratosphere, which warms with altitude because of absorption of UV radiation by ozone. In the mesosphere, temperatures again decrease. Upward from the mesosphere is the thermosphere, a layer with only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere's mass and no well-defined upper limit. The ionosphere is an electrically charged layer of the atmosphere where molecules of nitrogen and atoms of oxygen are readily ionized as they absorb solar radiation.
Most of the precipitation that falls in the middle latitudes is formed by:
Bergeron process
61. What is the difference between fog and clouds?
Clouds and fog both form when water vapor condenses or freezes to form tiny droplets or crystals in the air, but clouds can form at many different altitudes while fog only forms near the ground.
Altostratus
Clouds at mid-level that form a light sheet that lets the sun or moon show as a bright spot. Very light precipitation
55. What is a cloud? What is the process of cloud formation?
Clouds consist of billions of minute water droplets and/or ice crystals that are suspended above Earth's surface. For condensation to generate clouds, the air must reach saturation, and there must be a surface on which the water vapor can condense to form liquid droplets. Step 1 Warm, moist air rises vertically in the atmosphere, heating, convection currents, orography lifting, or frontal boundary can achieve this. Step 2 As warm, moist air rises it expands and cools. Step 3 As the moist air rises and cools to the dew point, it becomes saturated and condensation occurs. Step 4 Cloud formation can only occur if the H20 vapor has something to "stick to." Dust particles in the atmosphere act as a condensation nuclei for the H20 vapor. Step 5 If these conditions are met, we have a cloud!
60. What type of clouds would you expect to form in different atmospheric stability cases?
Clouds that form in stable air however, have different form than clouds that form through convection in unstable air. Stable air clouds tend to be layered and are referred to as stratus clouds. Clouds that form in unstable air are tower like, stretching vertically more than horizontally. These are referred to as cumulus clouds. All clouds are suppressed by downward motion. Altocumulus, cirrus, Cumulonimbus
33. What are the principal factors that control the larger-scale temperature distribution and how do they do it?
Controls of temperature are factors that cause temperature to vary at a given location. The primary control of temperature is latitude because it determines the annual variations in Sun angle and length of daylight. • Altitude is an easily visualized control: The higher up you go in elevation, the colder it gets; therefore, mountains are cooler than adjacent lowlands. • Land and water heat and cool differently. Land areas experience greater temperature extremes than water-dominated areas. • Poleward-moving warm ocean currents moderate winter temperatures, while equatorward movement of cold currents moderate summer temperatures. • The effect of cloud cover is to reduce the daily temperature range by lowering the daytime maximum and raising the night-time minimum. • The main control of the daily cycle of air temperature is Earth's rotation, which causes a place to move into and out of daylight. The time of highest temperature usually does not coincide with the time of maximum intensity of solar radiation. • The seasonal temperature cycle is more pronounced the further you get from the equator. • As a result of the mechanism by which Earth's atmosphere is heated, the highest and lowest mean temperatures usually do not coincide with the periods of maximum and minimum incoming solar radiation.
22. What is the difference between convection and advection?
Convection is used to describe that part of the atmospheric circulation that involves upward and downward heat transfer. Advection is used to denote the horizontal component of convective flow.
21. What are the three heat transfer mechanisms? Which mechanism is least important meteorologically?
Convection, conduction, radiation Radiation
The most important process for cloud formation in the atmosphere is
Cooling through the adiabatic process
Thunder and lightening are associated with the ________________ cloud
Cumulonimbus
30. Why don't the tropics keep getting warmer and the poles keep getting colder?
Cyclones and ocean currents transport heat towards the poles
The minimum temperature usually occurs near sunrise because
Earth experiences a net loss of radiation until then
37. What are the dominant processes which occur in the hydrologic cycle?
Evaporation, precipitation, transpiration, runoff, infiltration
During the process of adiabatic cooling, the temperature decreases because the air has
Expended to a larger volume
Primary source of oxygen in the earths atmosphere during the past half billion years or so appears to be
Green plants that carry on photosynthesis
62. What are the different types of precipitation?
Hail, rain, sleet, freezing rain, snow
The most costly average annual weather event is
Hurricanes
Earths first atmosphere was composed primarily of
Hydrogen ans helium
Lines connecting points of equal temperature are called
Isotherms
The wet moist adiabatic rate is different from the dry adiabatic rate because
Latent heat is released inside a parcel kf rising saturated air
20. What is latent heat? What is sensible heat?
Latent heat is the energy involved when water changes from one state of matter to another. During evaporation, energy is stored as latent, or "hidden," heat within the escaping water vapor molecules. • Sensible heat is the heat we can feel and measure with a thermometer, and it does not involve a phase change. It is called sensible heat because it can be "sensed" as a change in temperature
57. What is the dominant growth mechanism for droplets in cold clouds?
Low temperatures and small quantities of water vapor present at high altitudes result in high clouds that are thin, white, and made up primarily of ice crystals In cold clouds ice crystals and water droplets exist side by side. Due to an imbalance of water vapor pressure, the water droplets transfer to the ice crystals. The crystals eventually grow heavy enough to fall to earth. Bergeron process, which produces precipitation from cold clouds, and the warm-cloud process called the collision-coalescence process.
Stratus
Low uniform layer resembling fog, may produce drizle
43. When is relative humidity highest during a typical day? When is it lowest?
Lowest- 3-5pm Highest- 6am dew most likely to form- 6am
34. How can cloud cover influence the maximum temperature on an overcast day? How is the nighttime minimum temperature influenced by clouds?
Many clouds have a high albedo and therefore reflect a significant portion of the sunlight that strikes them back to space. By reducing the amount of incoming solar radiation, daytime temperatures will be lower than if clouds were absent and the sky was clear. At night, the clouds have the opposite effect as during daylight. They act as a blanket by absorbing outgoing terrestrial radiation and reradiating a portion of it back to the surface.
54. What is the "level of free convection"?
Marks the level at which the amount of energy that would need to be added to a parcel to get it to continue to rise
Cirrostratus
May give the sky a milky look, halos around the sun or moon 🌈
Which two gases make up a combined total of 99% of clean, dry air in the homosphere?
Nitrogen and oxygen
The ionosphere is so designated because
Of the electrical charges of atoms associated with it
A primary reason why land areas warm up more rapidly than water areas is that
On land, all solar energy is absorbed in a shallow layer
What gas is produced naturally in the stratosphere and is also a primary component of photochemical smog polluted air at the surface?
Ozone
stratocumulus
Soft, gray clouds in globular patches or rolls. Rolls may join together to make a continuous cloud.
Which of the following provides a measure of the average kinetic energy of air molecules
Temperature
19. Distinguish between temperature and heat.
Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the atoms or molecules in a substance. • Heat is the transfer of energy into or out of an object due to temperature differences between that object and its surroundings. Heat flows from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature.
56. How are cold and warm clouds defined?
Temperatures at these altitudes are usually below freezing, so the high clouds are generally composed of ice crystals or supercooled water droplets. Middle clouds occupy heights from 2000 to 6000 meters (6500 to 20,000 feet) and may be composed of water droplets or ice crystals, depending on the time of year and temperature profile of the atmosphere. Low clouds form nearer to Earth's surface—up to an altitude of about 2000 meters (6500 feet)—and are generally composed of water droplets
The annual range of temperatures may be described as
The difference between average temperatures of the warmest and coldest months
49. What is the environmental lapse rate? How is it determined?
The environmental lapse rate is rate of change in the actual temperature of the atmosphere with height, as determined from observations made by radiosondes and aircraft. -change in environmental temperature with height -6.5 per 1000m
24. What is the relationship between the temperature of a radiating body and the wavelengths it emits?
The higher the temperature of a radiating body, the shorter the wave lengths of maximum radiation it emits. The temperature of the radiating body determines the intensity and characteristics of the radiation it emits.
15. What is the ionosphere and where is it located? What is its importance? How is it related to the auroras?
The ionosphere is an electrically charged layer of the atmosphere where molecules of nitrogen and atoms of oxygen are readily ionized as they absorb solar radiation. • Auroras (the northern and southern lights) occur within the ionosphere. Auroras form as atomic particles ejected from the Sun during solar flare activity enter the atmosphere near Earth's magnetic poles and energize the atoms of oxygen and molecules of nitrogen, causing them to emit light
51. What is the wet adiabatic lapse rate? Why is it less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate?
The latent heat that was absorbed by the water vapor when it evapo-rated is released as sensible heat—energy that can be measured with a thermometer—as condensation takes place. Although the parcel will continue to cool adiabatically, the release of latent heat slows the rate of cooling. In other words, when a parcel of air ascends above the lifting condensation level, the rate at which it cools is reduced - 5°C per 1000 meters for air with a high moisture
23. At which wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum does the Sun radiate maximum energy? How does it compare to Earth?
The sun radiates max energy of 0.5 mm which is in the visible range. The max radiation emitted from the Earth occurs at 10mm within the infrared heat range. Sun - Short wave Earth - long wave
How is the daily temperature range affected by the presence of clouds?
The temperature range is lower when clouds are present
Cirrocumulus
Thin white ice crystal clouds in the form of ripples of waves, mackerel sky ☁️
42. On a typical day, how does the relative humidity vary?
Throughout the day light period, the sun's solar radiation will heat the earth. The earth in turn will heat the atmosphere. As temperatures rise, the humidity will decrease. During the night, the earth is radiating, but not taking in any solar radiation. The atmosphere at the surface cools and the relative humidity will increase.
The primary cause of earths seasons is
Tilt of earths rotation axis, which causes sun angles and daylight length to vary
Primary difference between the concepts of weather and climate is the
Time period involved
Cumulonimbus
Towering, anvil shape at the top, heavy rain, thunder, lighting, hail, tornadoes
This variable atmospheric component can exist in all three states of matter at the temperatures and pressures that normally exist on earth
Water
39. What are the states of matter, the 6 changes of state, and the energy involved in the changes of state?
Water is the only substance that naturally exists on Earth as a solid (ice), liquid, and gas (water vapor) Sublimination, melting, evaporation, condensation, freezing, deposition the process of converting a liquid to a gas (vapor). The energy absorbed by water molecules during evaporation is used to give them the motion Condensation, the reverse process, occurs when water vapor changes to the liquid state. During condensation, water vapor molecules release energy (latent heat of condensation) in an amount equivalent to what was absorbed during evaporation. When condensation occurs in the atmosphere, it results in the formation of fog or clouds Sublimation is the conversion of a solid directly to a gas, without passing through the liquid state. Examples you may have observed include the gradual shrinkage of unused ice cubes in a freezer and the rapid conversion of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) to wispy clouds that quickly disappear Deposition is the reverse process: the conversion of a vapor directly to a solid. An example is water vapor deposited as ice on solid objects such as grass or a window pane
The specific heat of water is high, what does this mean
Water must gain or lose larger amounts of energy when its temperature changes
The most abundant greenhouse gas in the earths atmosphere is
Water vapor (h2o)
As liquid water is evaporated into the atmosphere, heat energy is
absorbed by the evaporating water
When warm moist air moves over a cold surface, ________ fog may result.
advection
What are the basic elements of weather and climate?
air temperature, humidity, type and amount of clouds, type and amount of precipitation, air pressure, wind speed and direction
The atmospheric greenhouse effect is due primarily to the fact that
carbon dioxide and water vapor absorb infrared radiation
8. What are some variable gasses of the atmosphere? What is their importance?
carbon dioxide, water vapor, aerosols, and ozone. Although usually present in small percentages, they can significantly affect weather and climate
Which set of conditions, working together, will make the atmosphere the most stable?
cool the surface and warm the air aloft
Hail is most commonly associated with:
cumulonimbus clouds
53. How are stable and unstable layers created in the atmosphere?
environmental lapse rate is less than the wet adiabatic rate. Note that at 1000 meters, the temperature of the rising parcel is 5°C cooler than its environment, which makes it denser. Even if this stable air were forced above the lifting con-densation level, it would remain cooler and denser than its envi-ronment and would have a tendency to return to the surface. Despite its tendency to remain near Earth's surface, sta-ble air can be forced aloft, most commonly by frontal lifting. If stable air is forced above the lifting condensation level, flat widespread clouds will be generated. Precipitation, if any, will be light to moderate, depending on the mois-ture content of the air. Dreary, overcast days environment temperature rapidly decreases with height—and an unstable atmosphere. Convective lifting of the air near Earth's surface generates towering clouds and the potential for midafternoon thunder-storms that tend to dissipate after sunset.
A convergence of winds near the surface is associated with cloud production because it
forces the air to rise
When the air temperature increases, the saturation vapor pressure will:
increase
Where is the best location to place a thermometer for an accurate air temperature reading
inside a shelter painted white
16. What is the primary cause of the seasons?
tilt of the Earth's rotational axis away or toward the sun as it travels through its year-long path around the sun
The primary purpose served by surface ocean currents is to
transfer heat and equalize the imbalance of energy between the poles and the equator.
The cloud form that is best described as sheets or layers that cover much or all of the sky is termed:
stratus
6. Earth has had 3 distinct atmospheres. Where did each one come from, and what were the major constituents and causes of each?
the first layer was made from helium and hydrogen gasses and was removed by heat and solar wind the second was formed by carbon dioxide, ammonia, and steam being released from the ground and formed from carbon dioxide and water vapor. eventually dissipated into the sea. the third was formed oxidization.
28. What is "albedo"?
the measure of the fraction of solar energy reflected by the Earth's surface
The Bergeron process causes cloud droplets to grow because:
the saturation vapor pressure is lower near ice crystals than it is near supercooled droplets.
The blueness of the sky is mainly due to
the scattering of sunlight by air molecules
40. What does saturation mean?
the state of the atmosphere in which air contains the maximum amount of water vapor that it can hold at a specific temperature and air pressure. At saturation: the relative humidity is 100 percent, temperature and dew point are equal, evaporation of water ceases
5. What is the primary source of energy for the Earth's atmosphere?
the sun and the solar energy it produces
3. What is the difference between a scientific hypothesis and a scientific theory?
theory is always backed by evidence; a hypothesis is only a suggested possible outcome
coalescence and collision
theory of raindrop formation in warm clouds that suggests that the small droplets in clouds grow larger by coalescence until they are sufficiently heavy to fall. As they fall, they collide with other droplets, growing still bigger. Coalescence may be due to collision, but not every collision results in coalescence.