GLY EXAM 2
Which of the following is true of stream discharge?
NOT NOT NOT Stage is much more difficult to measure than discharge, which is why rating curves were developed.
In severe regional flooding events, hard decisions have to be made on what to do with excess water. In the 1927 Mississippi River flood, water was diverted from New Orleans by:
NOT NOT NOTT!!!!!! setting up a pump system to siphon off water into the sea.
Which of the following is true of sinkholes and landslides?
Sinkholes tend to occur when the water table is lowered and landslides tend to occur when the water table rises.
Which of the following is true of landslides?
They can obbur both on land and on the ocean floor
Which of the following is true of lahars?
They can occur long after an eruption.
Florida is great example of a place with fire-dependant ecosystems
True
Which type of terrain is safer house location in terms of fire safety?
on flat ground
For the people that live near Tungurahua Volcano in Equador, farming practices have been adapted to account for frequent volcanic activity by:
planting short cycle crops that mature quickly
Downslope winds have many regional nicknames - Santa Annas, Diablos, Chinooks. They can rapidly elevate fire risk by:
pushing very warm, dry air from high elevations to lower elevations
Fires are strongly influenced by weather conditions, but large fires can create their own weather. Thunderstorms created by fire called:
pyrocumulus clouds/ pyrocumulus storms
Examine the 3 attached maps. Each of these maps shows a different variable for forecasting fire risk. They are:
rain, wind and humidity
Which of the following ecosystems is NOT significantly dependant on fire to recycle nutrients and regenerate plant communities?
rainforests
Which type of lava is most likely to be the source of pyroclastic density currents, also known as pyroclastic clouds)?
rhyolitic, slow flowing
Most of the sand on continental beaches comes from:
rivers and floods carrying sediment from the interior of the continent
In a flat region where the rocks consist mostly of marble, which of the following is most likley?
sinkholes
Ecosystems that are fire-dependant need want kind of fire?
small, short-lived fires
Look at the end of the timeline (1970 - 2014). After decades of aggressive fire suppression, the end result was:
sooooooooo many wildfires.
Good advice for cleaning up ash includes:
start in upwind locations and work towards downwind locations.
Which of the following measures contraction and expansion?
strainmeter
Past volcanic eruptions have led to short-term (one to several years) cooler temperatures globally because:
sulfate aerosols reflect radiation.
A good strategy for preventing slides of the top-most rock layers in a hard-rock setting is:
supporting the slopes with a retaining wall or by adding large bolts
A good strategy for preventing slides of the top-most rock layers in hard-rock setting is:
supporting the slopes with a retaining wall or by adding large bolts
Which part of the United States is home to most of the tornado activity on Earth?
the Great Plains
Ocean tides on Earth are more strongly influenced by the gravitational pull of:
the Moon
True or false: Florida has more days with thunderstorm activity each year than any other state in the continental US. (Hint, see figure 10.17)
true
Is the slope in this image is best described as: (for photo check screenshot)
unstable and moving slowly due to creep
The fastest wind speeds in a tornado are in which part of the funnel cloud?
up high near the top
Some of the residents of Montserrat call the ash fall events "blessings in disguise" because:
volcanic ash may kill crops but it also greatly enriches soil for future crops.
Thunderstorms grow when warm, humid air rises into the atmosphere. There are several ways the air can be moved upwards. Orographic Lifting is:
warm air pushed up due to topography, like mountains, hills or cities with many skyscrapers
Most of the excess heat from the warming atmosphere is stored in the ocean. How does this influence hurricane risk?
warm water strengthens hurricanes. Warmer oceans mean hurricanes can get more powerful.
Thunderstorms grow when warm, humid air rises into the atmosphere. There are several ways the air can be moved upwards. Frontal Lifting is:
warm, less dense air is pushed up as it encounters a colder, more dense airmass.
A lahar is a mixture of rock fragments (including tephra) and ______________________.
water
The figure shows a flood frequency curve. Which of the following is true?
NOT NONE
The sun is not a consistent source of energy- going through a cycle of more and less energy output. This cycle is roughly
11 years
All preventative/controlled fires (regardless of who set them) were stopped in California by a bill passed by the California legislature in:
1850
Which of the following directly decreases downstream flooding?
??? BUT Levees increase downstream flooding and mapping of flood zones can reduce damage due to flooding but, by itself, does not reduce the flooding.
A warming climate means some places will experience more precipitation, but others will experience drought. How are droughts and deserts related?
A desert is an area where getting little rain is the norm, drought is a condition where an area that should be getting rain is not getting rain.
Which of the following is true of shear force, normal force, and shear strength for mass movement? :) similar q
A rising water table tends to decrease shear strength.
Which of the following is true of shear force, normal force, and shear strength for mass movement? :)) similar q
A steeper slope will have a greater shear force than a gentler slope.
A Heat Island is the name given to urban areas that are warmer that the surrounding area. Heat Islands are a result of:
All of the other answers are correct
Regional Floods differ from flash flood in terms of the speed of inundation, but also:
All of the other answers are correct.
Why is it useful to monitor seismicity (earthquakes) near volcanoes?
All of the other answers are correct. (Earthquakes can trigger volcanic eruptions or landslides, Seismometers can record vibrations from surface processes such as lahars, so that warnings can be provided, & Certain types of earthquakes can indicate whether magma is moving towards the surface.
Why is it useful to monitor gases emitted from volcanoes?
All of the other answers are correct. (carbon dioxide can be deadly., changes in gas emissions can indicate magma activity and possible eruption., & sulfur dioxide can impact climate.)
Which of the following is true of dams?
All of these
Which of the following tends to increase the proportion of rainfall that runs off? HEYYYYYYYY CAREFULLL
All of these (Areas with steeper slopes have a higher proportion of runoff. Areas with more intense rainfall have a higher proportion of runoff. Areas with less permeable surfaces have a higher proportion of runoff.) ALSO (Areas with steeper slopes have a higher proportion of runoff. Areas with more intense rainfall have a higher proportion of runoff. Areas with less permeable surfaces have a higher proportion of runoff.)
When a drainage basin is urbanized:
All of these (infiltration decreases, runoff increases, & urban flash flooding increases
Which of the following is good advice after an eruption:
All of these are good advice. ( avoid driving on recent lava flows., If there has been ashfall, clean your windshield wipers to avoid damaging your windshield., & avoid driving on recent lahar deposits.
Which of the following is true of global temperatures, atmospheric circulation, and precipitation?
Areas near the poles receive less energy from solar radiation than areas near the equator.
Based on the following graph of Discharge vs Stage, which of the following statements is true?
At a stage of 9 ft, the discharge would be 60 cubic feet per second
In the section Predicting Fire, processes for estimating fire hazards are described. The in-the-field approach and the satellite approach described in this section are both looking at one contributing factor of fire risk, which is:
Available moisture in the plants/surface cover
A great deal of politics regarding fire management happens between 1886 and 1910, including the start of the National Forestry Service and the California Dept of Forestry and Fire protection. But wildfires moved from a land use / economic issue to a hazards / disasters issue in 1910 when an event named "The Big Blowup":
Burned millions of acres and killed at least 80 people.
The Milankovitch Cycles describe changes in Earth's climate from:
Earth's movement in space
Which of the following severe weather hazards is responsible for the most number of fatalities in the US every year?
Extreme Heat
Lahars are impossible to forecast.
False
Some areas of southern California have burned multiple times in the past few decades, and as we have established burning away the underbrush is a good thing to prevent catastrophic wildfires. True or false: the areas in southern California that have burned multiple times are at less risk for wildfires now.
False
True or False: Grass fires pose little to no risk to human infrastructure
False
True or false: Jet streams are stationary air currents, meaning the stay in place and rarely change locations.
False
True or false: Pyroclastic flows can only travel down valleys and low-lying areas and can't travel uphill.
False
True or false: material deposited from pyroclastic flows cools quickly once the event is over.
False
Volcanic gasses have a small area of effect, meaning the only potential hazards from them are on or near the volcano.
False
Match the following mass-wasting types with their relative speeds:
Fast = Earth flow Slow = Creep
Smokey the Bear arrives on the scene in 1944 and becomes part of one of the longest running ad campaigns in history. His famous slogan was changed from "Only YOU can prevent ________" to "Only YOU can prevent __________" to make the distinction between natural fires and dangerous, out of control fires.
Forest Fires / Wildfires
In the section about flood basalts, the text explains that flood basalts are rare and dangerous, but one recently happened in which country?
Iceland, in 2014.
There were many people living in California before colonization. Indigenous tribes had sophisticated methods to keep fires manageable in the seasonally windy and dry California weather, which included controlled burns to eliminate underbrush. These programs were greatly diminished when:
In 1793, The Governor of California mandated that missionaries should punish Indigenous people for setting fires.
Read the section called Building Safer Homes. Wildfires spread so quickly in southern California that it is assumed by people who live in the area that if a fire breaks out in a high-fire-hazard neighborhood, firefighters won't get there in time to save their homes. In response, the people in this story have chosen to:
Invest heavily in fire-resistant homes and personal fire-fighting equipment.
Which of the following is correct about energy circulation in in the lower atmosphere?
It takes energy to evaporate water, resulting in cooling.
Which of the following is true of the "100 year flood"?
Its discharge is less than that of a 500-year flood.
Which of the following engineered structures is the most effective at stopping the down-current (or longshore) migration of sand?
Jetty
Which of the following is true of lava flows?
Lava flows generally cause less deaths than pyroclastic flows or lahars.
Which of the following is true about volcano monitoring?
Most eruptions are preceded by seismic swarms.
Florida may have more thunderstorms than any other state, but we rarely get hail. Which atmospheric condition is required for hail to form?
NOTTTT wet conditions up high, but dry conditions near the ground
Which of the following is correct regarding heat circulation in the atmosphere?
None of these (The oceans have a lower heat capacity than land. It takes energy to condense water, resulting in cooling. As air rises and cools, it can hold more water. Water has higher heat capacity than land. Rising air cools and can hold less water, leading to condensation. Due to latent heat effects (energy required for and released by phase changes), evaporation cools and condensation warms the surroundings.)
Which of the following is NOT true of a stage-discharge relation?
Once made, discharge does not need to be measured again.
While the science (and thousands of years of traditional knowledge) was clear that occasional burning of the underbrush was critical to preventing catastrophic fires, California adopted an all-out ban on prescribed burns of any kind in 1923. Attention (and money) shifted from preventing /mitigating fires to putting them out. One of the more sensational approaches was the "Smokejumper" program, which:
Recruited young men to parachute (jump) into remote wildfires to battle the flames.
Humans can increase the occurrence of slope failures by:
Removing vegetation
The federal government got involved in California fire suppression in 1886, when:
The US Army was sent to Yellowstone National Park to "purge" the area of people setting fires in the park.
The primary difference between a flash flood and a regional flood is:
The area of extent - flash floods impact isolated areas and regional floods impact large areas.
Jerry Baker describes what it was like watching the fire approach his property and says he had followed guidance to leave 100 feet between trees to minimize the ability of fire to spread. During the Rim fire:
The fire spread to the trees by embers carried by the wind, and the trees caught fire
As a follow up to the information on this website, which is a few years old, here's a top 10 list of largest California Wildfires (Links to an external site.) . Take a close look at the dates and details. Which of the following is true of California wildfires? Note: this is the last question using online resources. Feel free to close out those windows now.
The fires are getting larger in terms of acres burned as time goes on.
How has the tree density for the Stanislaus National Forest changed since the survey in 1911? Don't feel like reading for the answer? Take a look at the images on slides 11, 12 and 13 from 1915-2002 in this PowerPoint presentation from a talk at UC Berkeley on fire policy: FederalFirePolicy_Stephens2018.pdf
The tree density is much more; with 25 trees per acre in 1911 and 220 trees per acre now
Heat waves are often not treated as a serious natural hazard, but they kill many people every year. TRUE or FALSE: The process of perspiration (sweat) works most effectively to cool the human body in low-humidity conditions.
True
True or False: During El Nino years, the North Atlantic has fewer hurricanes
True
True or false: Almost all skiers caught in snow avalanches are skiing outside of marked and maintained slopes
True
True or false: Heatwaves result in more deaths in the U.S. than any natural hazard.
True
True or false: a volcano that is dormant for many years is can still produce large and violent pyroclastic events.
True
True or false: lahars can travel further from a volcano than a pyroclastic cloud.
True
True or false:Heatwaves result in more deaths in the U.S. than any other natural hazard.
True
We all know lava is hot, but is it true or false that the temperature of lava can be hot enough to melt glass and metals like gold and copper?
True
Is the slope in this image is best described as: (trees near pathway looking like they got their ankles broke XD) (the pathway has two parallel wood logs that are skinny and long on the bottom left/middle going to a path that leads towards the right.
Unstable and moving slowly due to creep
In 1949, The need for more firefighters prompted California to:
Use prison inmates as firefighters
One of the examples of slides illustrated in this chapter is near the coastal town of Point Fermin. In this case, the bluff is being made unstable by:
a clay unit and an unsupported underwater cliff
Which of the following occurs most rapidly?
a cover-collapse sinkhole
One of the differences between a slide and a flow is that:
a flow has more water
For our last question, the next section introduces an Icelandic word, Jökulhlaup (pronounced yoke-ya'll-up). What is that?
a massive flood triggered by the sudden release of lake or glacier water due to volcanic activity.
How thick does an ash deposit need to be to collapse a typical house roof on Monterrat?
about half a meter (roughly 1.5 feet)
Volcanic gasses can contaminate:
air, water and soil
Humans can increase the likelihood of sinkholes by:
all of these
Due to the curvature of the earth, areas near the poles:
all of these (lose more heat than they receive from solar radiation. receive less solar radiation than areas near the equator, and gain heat from poleward transport of heat in the atmosphere and oceans.)
Why are remote sensing (airborne, including satellite-based) methods useful for monitoring temperatures, gas emissions, and land surface movement?
all of these (many volcanic regions are remote and difficult to access., remote sensing methods can provide a larger viewer than measurements on the ground., & volcanoes are dangerous places for scientists to take measurements.)
Heat waves impact cities more than rural areas because:
all other answers are correct
Longshore drift is the result of waves coming in at an angle to the beach. It causes sand to move:
along or parallel to the shoreline
Seawalls are concrete structures designed to protect the shoreline from storm damage. Seawalls:
are a short-term solution to coastal erosion
There are many good things about having more trees on the planet, but in this case, the trees in Northern California forests:
are too densely packed - too many in a small space
Wind is created when air moves from:
areas of higher pressure towards areas of lower pressure
Which hazard might you need to prepare for even if you live hundreds of miles from a volcano?
ash fall
In sever regional flooding events, hard decisions have to be made on what to do with excess water. In the 1927 Mississippi River flood, water was diverted from New Orleans by:
blowing up the levees with dynamite, flooding te rural areas outside of town
Pyroclastic flows can travel a distance of _ from their point of origin:
more than 20 km (12.5 miles)
Moisture between sediment grains on a slope: (Hint: Think about building a sand castle on the beach)
can promote stability if present in small amounts
The impacts of aerosols- solid particles in the air- on air temperature is complex. But overall, aerosols in the upper atmosphere:
cause a cooling effect.
If you are driving in a narrow river valley in the mountains and are alerted to a flash flood warning, you should:
climb to higher ground
If you are hiking in a volcanic valley during an eruption, you should:
climb to higher ground if the volcano is known to have lahar or pyroclastic flow risk.
Ice storms can cause catastrophic damage to infrastructure. Ice storms happen in which of the following conditions:
cold air up high and low to the ground, but warm air in between.
Volcanoes can impact climate. Periods of prolonged volcanic eruptions have a [warming/ cooling] effect on global climate
cooling
Which type of sinkhole forms most quickly?
cover collapse
Look carefully at the image. Based on visual evidence, the type of mass wasting in the photo is best described as a: (see screenshot)
creep
An erosional coastline is likely to have which of the following hazards?
crumbling or unstable cliffs.
One of the major causes of flooding in mid-latitude coastal regions around the world is a weather pattern called an atmospheric river, which are best described as:
currents of warm air that carry large volumes of water vapor from tropical areas to continental coasts
debris avalanches can be large enough to bury whole towns
much more dangerous
Debris avalanches are another hazard that can move large amounts of material rapidly down the side of a volcano. Which of the following is true about debris avalanches?
debris avalanches can be large enough to bury whole towns
On a _______ shoreline, natural processes add more material(sand, rocks, etc.) than what is taken away by erosion
depositional
Seasonal shifts in weather patterns create different wave action on the beach. In the winter, waves are typically ________, and in summer they are typically ______.
destructive/ constructive
A stream in equilibrium is a system in which:
discharge, channel shape, and load are all in balance and any change to one will cause changes in the other
Most U.S. fatalities during floods occur to people who are:
driving
There are several ways pyroclastic clouds can form. In a "fountain collapse", the volcano:
erupts, and the ash column is too dense to go up, and instead falls down the slopes of the volcano
True or false: the sun heats all of the Earth's surface equally
false
Match the following mass-wasting types with their relative speeds
fast: earth flow slow: creep
Ladder fuels can be found in nature as well as in neighborhoods and cities. They are best described as:
flammable materials close together at incremental heights, which allow the fire to climb up or down.
The story of Terry McGough's house burning down during the 1993 Altadena fire is a great example of a process described in the textbook reading (see fig 14.13) as "ladder fuels", which are:
flammable materials close together at incremental heights, which allow the fire to climb up or down.
The Fire Triangle describes the three components required for a fire. They are:
fuel, oxygen, heat.
Glaciers on top of volcanoes have what impact on lahar formation?
glaciers provide an ample water supply when heated, making lahars more likely.
Global air circulation is driven by:
greater solar heating at the equator than at the poles
Slope failures often occur during or after periods of high rainfall because:
greater weight of water increases the shear force
In lecture, we talked about the La Conchita, CA earthflow that happened in 1995, and how difficult it was to clean up the debris without further destabilizing the slope. As a follow up, your book explains what happened 10 years later:
heavy rains mobilized a deadly debris flow from the old flow
Which of the following annual rain patterns would create the highest fire hazard in the fall in a temperate or seasonal forest?
heavy spring rains followed by extreme drought in the summer
Which of the following is NOT a condition needed for cyclone formation and growth?
high win shear
In the section A Perfect Storm, a forestry scientist describes the weather conditions during the Rim fire. They were:
hot, dry and windy
Urban flash flooding is generally caused by:
impermeable surfaces that prevent infiltration and increase runoff
When the sun has many "sunspots", the energy output of the sun:
increases
In the section Fire Safe Councils, Glenn Gottschal with the Fire Safe Council says the likelihood of future fires in the area is:
inevitable - it is a matter of when, not if a fire will come
Sulfur dioxide can:
irritate respiratory systems
In the section on mitigation, the text explains that the advantage of creating retaining walls out of loose rock behind mesh rather than solid wall is:
it is able to shift slightly to accommodate points of stress
In the section on mitigation, the text explains that the advantage of creating retaining walls out of loose rock behind mesh rather than a solid wall is:
it is able to shift slightly to accommodate points of stress.
The area contributing runoff to a stream is:
its drainage basin
If slope failures can't be prevented or warnings given in sufficient time, the best solution is:
keep people out of harms way
Why is lightning far more likely in storm over land than storms over the ocean?
land warms up faster than water
Lava tubes impact lava flows in what way?
lava tubes enable lava to travel much further from the vent than they could on the surface
A greenhouse gas is gas that:
lets solar energy into the atmosphere, but blocks it from radiating black into space.
In the section Fuels of Fire, the textbook has the example of shrub fires that got out of control in Florida. These fires were initially started by:
lightning and extreme drought
Which of the following locations is most likely to accumulate gas to a level that poses a health hazard?
low areas like valleys and caves near the volcano
In terms of viscosity, which type of lava flows the fastest?
low viscosity basaltic lavas
The "Storm of the Century" is a famous example of a costly a deadly:
mid-latitude cyclone / nor'easter
The peak of the last Ice Age was about 20,000 years ago. With all that water locked up in ice on the continents, there was [more/ less] dry land along the coasts at that time
more
The peak of the last Ice Age was about 20,000 years ago. With all that water locked up in ice on the continents, there was [more/ less] dry land along the coasts at that time.
more
If climate models are accurate, which of the following best describes the changes in global precipitation(rain and snow) patterns?
more precipitation in high latitudes, less rain in middle and lower latitudes
Plant disasters can help us learn how to better protect ourselves from future disasters. In the case of the Oakland fires of 1923, they helped identify weakness in fire preparation. When the 2003 San Diego county fires broke out,
the area suffered major damage in 2003 for almost all of the same reasons in the 1923 event
Slopes made out of clay are considered "weak", or more prone to failure because:
the flat structure of the grains.
The video explains that there are benefits to living near basaltic (non-explosive) lava eruptions, which include all of the following except:
the gas from molten lava has health benefits for skin.
Tidal Bores, which can be dangerous waves, occur where:
the geography of the shores funnels rising tide water in to a narrow bay or river channel
Now try your hand at issuing a fire weather warning. Examine the 3 maps closely. In what part of the continent is there the highest risk for wildfires? Tips: the blank map is provided as scratch paper if you would like to manually combine the information on the maps to outline the area most at risk. You are looking for the area where all three risk factors overlap. When you think you have the area identified, select the multiple choice option that best identifies the area at high risk for wildfires.
the highest-risk area stretches from Northern Mexico, across Texas and New Mexico and into Oklahoma.
The Fujita scale for tornado classification assigns a rank (EF1-EF5), based on:
the level of damage the tornado caused
Southern California is uniquely suited to large wildfires because of the "Santa Annas", which are:
the local name for strong seasonal winds
If two locations both have temperatures around 100 degrees F, and one has high humidity and has low humidity, which location poses the greatest risk for heat stress on the human body?
the location with high humidity
When a cool air mass and a warm air mass intersect,
the warm air mass is pushed up, creating precipitation
Precession describes what about the Earth's orbit
the wobble, or variation of the spin of the Earth
Natural systems like large sand beaches and mangroves along the coast act as important hazard mitigation tools primarily because:
they absorb wave energy that would otherwise erode the coast.
Which is true of jet streams?
they are bands of very fast moving air
In the section Fuels of Fire, the textbook explains that the group of shrub species known as chaparral are some of the most flammable plants on earth because:
they are coated with natural oils
Video footage of volcanic ash makes it look like dust or dirt, but what is volcanic ash actually made of?
tiny sharp fragments of glass and rock
Which of the following consists of continuous vibrations caused by moving magma and gas?
tremor
Based on what we've learned in the activity so far, the likelihood of wildfires is higher in temperate climates where there is a large difference in rainfall seasonally than in deserts, which are dry year-round. (Not sure? refer to the section Fire Weather and Winds in Chapter 14 of your textbook).
true
The most abundant greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere is:
water vapor
What is the difference between weather and climate?
weather refers to short-term (minutes to days) and climate refers to longer-term averages
From the embedded video: Ashfall - An Eclipse On the island of Montserrat, The Sourfriere Hills Volcano has been erupting frequently since the late 1990s. What was one of the primary reasons the ash was causing so much damage to the buildings?
when ash is combined with rainwater, if forms concrete.
Understanding how local wind patterns change daily is crucial to knowing how a fire will move through an area.
wind blows from the ocean towards the land during the day, and from the land out to sea at night