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Question 1

Everything radiates as a

Answer 1

black body

Question 2

Latent heat

Answer 2

Heat released/absorbed during change in phase

Question 3

Sensible heat

Answer 3

The heat we feel…Transferred by rising and mixing of warm air

Question 4

Vapour pressure (e) =

Answer 4

Actual amount of vapour in the air at any given time

Question 5

Saturated vapour pressure (es) =

Answer 5

Maximum amount of water vapour a parcel of air can possibly hold

Question 6

How is temperature rested to saturated vapour pressure?

Answer 6

The higher the temp = The higher saturated vapour pressure (es)

Question 7

Water will continue to evaporate into a parcel of air until

Answer 7

e = es….vapour pressure = saturated vapour pressure

Question 8

Unsaturated air =

Answer 8

Dry air

Question 9

Relative Humidity (RH) =

Answer 9

e/es x 100%……Ratio of actual moisture to maximum moisture content

Question 10

Mass Mixing Ratio =

Answer 10

Weight of moisture per kg of dry air….g/Kg

Question 11

When does condensation occur?

Answer 11

When air is saturated…i.e. e = es and RH = 100%

Question 12

The temperature at which condensation occurs is

Answer 12

Dew Point Temperature (Td)

Question 13

How can condensation occur?

Answer 13

By cooling at constant pressure, cooling by lifting (adiabatic) or by adding more moisture to the air parcel eg. subtropical oceans

Question 14

Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate (DALR) =

Answer 14

The rate at which dry (unsaturated) air cools with height…9.8degreesC/Km

Question 15

Environmental Lapse Rate =

Answer 15

The actual rate at which the atmosphere cools (static)

Question 16

The atmosphere is stable if…

Answer 16

DALR > ELR…Stable…The parcel is cooling more quickly than the air around it

Question 17

The atmosphere is unstable if…

Answer 17

DALR < ERL…Unstable…The parcel if cooling less quickly than the air around it

Question 18

Air can become unstable if it is…

Answer 18

Heated from below

Question 19

Air can become stable if it is…

Answer 19

Cooled from below

Question 20

1st Law Thermodynamics in relation to adiabatic cooling

Answer 20

du + dw = 0….So it must cool

Question 21

Free convection

Answer 21

Convection due to density differences

Question 22

Forced convection

Answer 22

Uplift by mechanical forces eg. orographic barrier (mountain), frontal uplift

Question 23

Supersaturation

Answer 23

Air cooled below its dew point

Question 24

Hygroscopic Nucleir are what?

Answer 24

Particles which attract water e.g. aerosols, dust…Condensation occurs onto hygroscopic nuclei

Question 25

Cumuloform signifies

Answer 25

Free convection.......heaped clouds

Question 26

Stratiform signifies

Answer 26

Forced convection.....flat, sheet-like clouds, mass ascent

Question 27

Pressure gradient equation =

Answer 27

Change in pressure / Change in distance

Question 28

What is an adiabatic process

Answer 28

Occurs without exchange of heat between a system and its surroundings. Cooling by lifting...Air parcel rises, where pressure is lower, so it expands. As it expands, it does work on its surroundings This extracts heat energy The parcel cools Vapour pressure, e remains the same Saturated vapour pressure, es decreases with decreasing heat Until e = es, and condensation occurs (RH = 100%)

Question 29

Coriolis =

Answer 29

Apparent deflection of moving objects (air masses) to right in N and left in S hemisphere, as earth rotates

Question 30

What is geostrophic wind?

Answer 30

Balanced flow between Pgf and Co, observed above the friction layer in the atmosphere (above 500m) - Must have straight parallel isobars - Wind blows at right angles to the pressure gradient - Pgf = Co

Question 31

How does friction affect V?

Answer 31

Friction reduces V, therefore Coriolis reduces

Question 32

How does friction affect wind direction?

Answer 32

Causes convergence of air into low pressure

Question 33

Convergence

Answer 33

Air moves toward areas of low pressure (due to friction)...Due to deceleration ... Leads to clouds/rain

Question 34

Divergence

Answer 34

Air moves outward away from an area of high pressure...Due to acceleration

Question 35

Surface convergence leads to

Answer 35

Upward motion...Ascent

Question 36

Surface divergence leads to

Answer 36

Downward motion...Descent

Question 37

Vorticity =

Answer 37

The spin in the system (of moving body)

Question 38

Positive vorticity when

Answer 38

When vorticity if in the same sense of the Earth: "Cyclonic"

Question 39

Negative Vorticity when

Answer 39

When vorticity is in the opposite sense of the Earth: "Anticyclonic"

Question 40

Absolute vorticity =

Answer 40

Total spin in the system ... Remains a constant

Question 41

Define jet streams

Answer 41

Narrow Bands of very strong winds in the upper troposphere (Associated with intense horizontal temperature gradients)