MET1010 Part 2
A mirage is caused by
The bending of light by air of different densities
When the air temperature increases, the saturation vapor pressure will
increase
The difference between the "moist" and "dry" adiabatic rates is due to
The fact that latent heat is released by a rising parcel of saturated air
Stars are not visible during the day because:
The scattered light coming from the sky is too bright to be able to see the weaker light from the stars
During an equinox
The sun is directly above the equator , 0 degrees latitude
The main reason(s) for warm summers in middle latitudes is that
The sun is higher in the sky and we receive more direct solar radiation, the days are longer
The lag in daily temperature refers to the time lag between the
Time of maximum solar radiation and the time of the max temperature
Which of the following would be TRUE if the earth did not have an atmosphere?
To see a rainbow at sunrise, you should look toward the west
Which of the following is TRUE about rainbows?
To see a rainbow you should look toward the west
The sun is directly overhead at Mexico City (latitude 19°N):
Twice a year
Secondary rainbows occur when:
Two internal reflections of light occur in raindrops
The annual variation of earth-sun distance is ____ seasonal weather changes
irrelevant
Lines connecting points of equal temperature are called:
isothems
Which of the following can only be seen when the sun is to your back and it is raining in front of you?
rainbow
When the environmental lapse rate decreases more rapidly with height than the dry adiabatic rate, the atmosphere is
Absoluley unstable
Where are the days and nights of equal length all year long
At the equator
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
You would most likely see a halo or sundog with which of the following cloud types?
Cirrostratus clouds
Ideal conditions for a strong radiation inversion are
Clear , calm, dry , winter night
During the afternoon, the greatest temperature difference between the surface air and the air several meters above occurs on a
Clear, calm afternoon
In a conditionally unstable atmosphere, the environmental lapse rate will be ____ than the moist adiabatic rate and ____ than the dry adiabatic rate.
Greater, less
Suppose the dew point of cold outside air is the same as the dew point of the air indoors. If the door is opened and cold air replaces some of the warm air, then the new relative humidity indoors would be
Higher than before
The earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5° with respect to the plane of its orbit around the sun. If the amount of tilt were increased to 40°, we would expect in middle latitudes
Hotter summer, colder winter
In most areas, the warmest time of the day about 5 feet above the ground occurs
In the afternoon between 2 and 5 pm
If the setting sun appears red, you may conclude that:
Only the longest waves of visible light are striking your eyes
Which of the following determine the kind (wavelength) and amount of radiation that an object emits
temperature
Which of the following provides a measure of the average speed of air molecules
temperature
Which cloud type below would most likely form in an unstable atmosphere?
cumilonimbus
As the air temperature increases, with no addition of water vapor to the air, the relative humidity will:
decrease
As the difference between the air temperature and the dew point increases, the relative humidity
decreases
The temperature to which air must be cooled in order to become saturated is the
dew point
At sunset in the middle latitudes, look for a rainbow toward the:
east
When water changes from a liquid to a vapor, we call this process
evaporation
As the air temperature increases, the air's capacity for water vapor:
increases
Subsidence ____ stability.
increases
If you were to take a trip during the summer from Ohio to Nevada, you would most likely observe that afternoon cumulus clouds ____ as you travel west.
increasing
Considering each hemisphere as a whole, seasonal temperature variation in the Southern Hemisphere is ____ that in the Northern Hemisphere
opposite
On a clear, calm night, the ground and air above cool mainly by which process
radiation
When a plate of hot food is left on the table for awhile, it cools by
radiation
A sounding can be measured by
radiosonde
What color would the sky be if air molecules selectively scattered only the longest wavelengths of visible light?
red
The bending of light that occurs when it enters and passes through a substance of different density is called:
refraction
Conditional instability depends on the condition of
saturation
On a foggy night, it is often difficult to see the road when the high beam lights are on because of ____ of light by the fog.
scattering
Red sunsets, blue moons, and milky-white skies are mainly the result of:
scattering
Air which resists vertical displacements is considered to be
stable
If an air parcel is given a small push upward and it falls back to its original position, the atmosphere is said to be
stable
Most thunderstorms do not extend very far into the stratosphere because the air in the stratosphere is
stable
The main reason why vegetables take longer to cook in boiling water at high altitudes is because
the temperature of boiling water decreases with increasing altitude
If an air parcel is given a small push upward and it continues to move upward on its own accord, the atmosphere is said to be
unstable
Which of the following environmental lapse rates would represent the most unstable atmosphere in a layer of unsaturated air
11 degress c per 1000m
On the summer solstice, the altitude of the noonday sun is highest
231/2o north latitude (tropic of cancer)
The latitude at which there is a yearly balance between incoming and outgoing radiation is about ____.
37 degrees
Which latitude below would experience the fewest hours of daylight on Dec. 22?
60 degrees north (high latitudes)
Which of the following latitudes is closer to the earth's axis
90 degrees
Incoming solar radiation in middle latitudes is less in winter than in summer because
A and b only
A high water vapor pressure indicates
A high number of water vapor molecules in the air
White light is ____ of electromagnetic radiation.
A mixture of all visible wavelengths
If the environmental lapse rate is less than the moist adiabatic rate, the atmosphere is
Absolutely stable
Air molecules selectively scatter visible light because:
Air molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light
During the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere
All of these
Which of the following are capable of producing a red sunrise or sunset?
All of these
A rising parcel of air that does not exchange heat with its surroundings is an example of:
An adiabatic process
When the air is saturated, which of the following statements is NOT correct
An increase in temperature will cause condensation to occur
Which of the following conditions would be described as the most stable
An inversion
During the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the "land of the midnight sun" would be found
At high latitudes
Radiational cooling typically occurs
At night
Nighttime temperatures rarely drop below the dew point temperature because
At saturation, latent heat of condensation is released into the air
The time of day when the relative humidity reaches a maximum value is usually
At sunrise
More solar radiation is received at the:
At the surface
Two objects, A and B, have the same mass but the specific heat of A is larger than B. If both objects absorb equal amounts of energy,
B will be warmer than a. a needs more heat to raise its temperature
An example of orographic clouds would be
Clouds forming on the windward slope of a mountain
In clear weather, the air next to the ground is usually ____ than the air above during the night and ____ than the air above during the day
Colder, warmer
What two sets of conditions, working together, will make the atmosphere the most unstable
Cool the surface and warm the air aloft
Which set of conditions, working together, will make the atmosphere the most stable?
Cool the surface and warm the air aloft
The dry adiabatic rate is the rate at which
Dry air changes its temperature as a result of expansion or compression
The rate at which the actual air temperature changes with increasing height above the surface is referred to as the
Environmental lapse rate
Which of the following are caused by the bending of light through ice crystals?
Halos or sundogs
The Gulf Coast states are more humid in summer than the coastal areas of Southern California mainly because of the:
Higher water temperatures in the gulf of mexico
The deepest radiation inversion would be observed:
In polar regions in winter
In meteorology, the word insolation refers to
Incoming solar radiation
If the air temperature remains constant, evaporating water into the air will ____ the dew point and ____ the relative humidity
Increase, increase
The primary cause of a radiation inversion is
Infrared radiation emitted by earth's surface
A knowledge of air stability is important because:
It determines the vertical movement of the air
When it is January and winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is ____ and ____ in the Southern Hemisphere
January, summer
A radiation inversion is most commonly observed
Just above the ground
Which of the following cloud types would commonly be found downwind of a mountain?
Lenticular clouds
Without the atmospheric greenhouse effect, the average surface temperature would be
Lower than at present
At the North Pole the sun will rise above the horizon on ____ and set below the horizon on ____.
March 21, September 23
The ratio of the mass of water vapor in a given volume (parcel) of air to the mass of the remaining dry air describes the
Mixing ratio
The rate at which the temperature changes inside a rising (or descending) parcel of saturated air is called the
Moist adiabatic rate
Longer days are generally associated with
More rain fall
Water heats up ____ and cools off ____ than land
More slowly, more slowly
In July, at middle latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, the day is ____ long and is ____ with each passing day
More than 12 hors, getting shorter
Suppose saturated polar air has an air temperature and dew point of -10°C, and unsaturated desert air has an air temperature of 35°C and a dew point of 10°C. The desert air contains ____ water vapor and has a ____ relative humidity than the polar air
More,lower
At what time during a 24-hour day would a radiation temperature inversion best be developed
Near sunrise
The lowest temperature is usually observed
Near sunrise
Which of the following is NOT a reason why water warms and cools much more slowly than land?
Not- heat energy is mixed in a deeper layer of water
Over the earth as a whole, one would expect to observe the smallest variation in temperature from day to day and from month to month
On a small island near the equator
During summer near the North Pole, the sun is above the horizon ____ in the mid-latitudes
On march 20
Which of the following can be used as a method of protecting an orchard from damaging low temperatures during a radiation inversion
Orchard heaters, wind machines, irrigation
The largest annual ranges of temperatures are found
Polar latitudes over land
The temperature an air parcel would have if it were moved to a pressure of 1,000 mb at the dry adiabatic rate is called the:
Potential temperature
Which of the following instruments use wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperature to obtain relative humidity
Psychrometer
The name commonly used to describe the drier region observed on the downwind (leeward) side of a mountain range is
Rain shower
As light passes through ice crystals, ____ is bent the least and is, therefore, observed on the ____ of halos or sundogs
Red, inside.
Halos are caused by:
Refraction of light passing through ice crystals
The wind-chill factor
Relates body heat loss to an equivalent temperature with no wind.
The percentage of water vapor present in the air compared to that required for saturation is the:
Relative humidity
Which of the following will increase in a rising parcel of air?
Relative humidity
As the air temperature increases, with no addition of water vapor to the air, the dew point will
Remain the same
The most latent heat would be released in a ____ parcel of ____ saturated air
Rising; warm
Another name for diffuse light is:
Scattered light
The blue color of distant mountains is due primarily to:
Scattering of light
In summer, humid regions typically have ____ daily temperature ranges and ____ maximum temperatures than drier regions
Smaller, lower
A conditionally unstable atmosphere is ____ with respect to unsaturated air and ____ with respect to saturated air
Stable , unstable
Which of the following is the poorest conductor of heat
Still air
In the northern hemisphere, the number of hours of daylight begins to shorten after the
Summer solstice
Which of the following will increase the relative humidity in a home during the winter
Taking a shower and letting air circulate throughout the home
Suppose yesterday morning you noticed ice crystals (frost) on the grass, yet the minimum temperature reported in the newspaper was only 35°F. The most likely reason for this apparent discrepancy is that:
Temperature readings are taken in instrument shelters more than 5 feet above the ground
Refraction of light by the atmosphere is responsible for:
The earlier rising and later setting of the sun, the elliptical shape of the sun at sunset, the visual perspective of stars and plants in the sky etc...
An important reason for the large daily temperature range over deserts is that
There is little water vapor in the air to absorb the re-radiate infrared radiation
In a blinding snowstorm in Vermont, the air temperature and dew-point temperature are both 30°F. Meanwhile, under clear skies in Arizona, the air temperature is 85°F and the dew point temperature is 38°F. From this information, you could conclude
There is more water vapor in the air in arizona
To see a sundog, you should look about 22 degrees:
To the left or right of the sun
Which of the following has a wavelength shorter than that of violet light
Ultraviolet radiation
____ are found beneath fair-weather cumulus (cumulus humilis) clouds, whereas ____ are found between the clouds
Updrafts, downdrafts
The lowest temperature that can be attained by evaporating water into the air is known as the
Wet-bulb temperature
At what time of day is the relative humidity normally at a minimum
When the air temperature is highest
In the Northern Hemisphere, which of the following days has the fewest hours of daylight
Winter solstice
The maximum in daytime surface temperature typically occurs ____ the earth receives its most intense solar radiation
after
The temperature at which water boils depends mainly on
air pressure
Which of the following sets of conditions would produce a cumulus cloud with the lowest base
air temperature 90 degree F and dew point temperature 60 degrees F
The dry adiabatic lapse rate is ____ greater than the moist adiabatic lapse rate
always
