ESS Test 2
Some incoming solar radiation is reflected back into space. Which of the following situations would result in the most reflection of incoming solar radiation?
Clear skies over Antarctica
Latent heat energy is released by _______
Condensation
Geologically, ______ are actually submerged parts of the continents
Continental Shelves
According to the adiabatic principle as air rises it _______, and as it sinks it ______.
Cool, warms up
In the Southern Hemisphere, daylight hours are longest at the
December solstice
What factor is most responsible for changing salinity values found in high latitudes?
Fresh water input
General name for a narrow zone separating two air masses
Front
Earth is closest to the Sun in
January
Where would you find the largest difference in shallow and deep ocean temperatures?
Low latitudes
What air pressure and wind directions are present in tornados?
Low pressure, winds flow inward
Which of the gases absorb in the infrared and thus contribute to greenhouse warming
Methane,Carbon dioxide, water vapor
Where and when do hurricanes originate?
Over the tropical oceans during the summer.
Marine organisms that swim freely under their own locomotion are classified as
Pelagic
Which surface would have the lowest albedo?
Rainforest
What happens to the density of seawater with increasing depth in the oceans?
Rapid increase shallow, then fairly constant with depth.
What happens to relative humidity of an isolated, unsaturated parcel of air as temperature decreases?
Relative humidity increases
Why is there salt in the oceans?
Runoffs from the continents
The Earth absorbs _____ radiation and re-radiates ________ radiation.
Shortwave, long wave
If we cannot see the ocean floor from an airplane, we cannot see it from space either. So, how does a satellite measure the depth of ocean water to determine the topography of the ocean floor?
The satellites can detect very minute variances in gravity which are reflected in the topography of the ocean floor.
Why do maritime polar air mass have relatively high humidity and cold temperature?
They form over high latitude oceans.
A large, flat topped submerged hill rising from the sea floor is
a guyout
Deposits generated by turbidity currents are also called
graded beds
Clams and oysters are often studied by _______ paleontologists?
invertebrate
Earth's early atmosphere had _____ oxygen, and at the present time the atmosphere is comprised of _____ % oxygen.
virtually no, 21
Air that is _____ will be more likely to produce thunderstorms. A _______ decrease in temperature with height would also be more likely to produce thunderstorms.
warm and wet, rapid
A fossil that forms when an object is pressed into mud and dries is an ______ fossil?
Cast fossil
The organisms living around hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean get their energy from ______.
Chemosynthesis: creating energy from sulfur-bearing chemicals.
Approximately, what percentage of the earth's surface is covered by oceans?
70%
In 1953, Stanley Miller used an electrical spark to produce these building blocks of life in the lab.
Amino Acids
Measuring the depth of the ocean is called
Bathymetry
How did an oxygen- rich atmosphere develop from a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere?
Through photosynthesis by cyanobacteria
Which of the following is the type of fossil that consists of fossilized nests, burrows, footprints, etc.?
Trace Fossils (Ichnofossils)
During the spring and fall equinoxes the maximum solar energy falls on the _____.
equator
Petrified wood is formed by the process of fossilization called ________
mineralization
Air masses are characterized by their ________ content and _______.
moisture, temperature
Land surfaces heat ______ rapidly than water, and cool _____ rapidly then water.
more, more
Most fossils are found in
sedimentary rock
Which of the following collection of fossils would be LEAST useful for determining the age of a section of rocks?
the fossil of a family of creatures that lived unchanged for a very long time.
The thermocline is
the zone of rapidly changing water temperature below the warm surface temperature below the warm surface water.
This cow patty, if fossilized, would be a
trace fossil
The eye of a tropical cyclone has ______ winds, and the eye wall has _________.
weak to no, strong
What factors are the most critical in determining whether a fossil is preserved?
whether the creature had hard parts and how fast it was buried.
