Atmosphere

Question 1

What does a Thunderstorm need to form.

Answer 1

Hot, moist air, and an unstable atmosphere.

Question 2

Define Thunderstorms

Answer 2

Rainstorms characterized by strong, rapid uplift, heavy rain or hail, lightning, and winds.

Question 3

Define Hail

Answer 3

Forms during thunderstorms. Cold clouds include ice crystals that partially melt, then re-freeze when caught in updrafts. They grow until they are too heavy.

Question 4

Define Lightning

Answer 4

Electrical discharge of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud.

Question 5

Define Tornado

Answer 5

Column of rapidly rotating air extending from a thundercloud to the surface.

Question 6

What is the Fujita scale

Answer 6

developed to estimate the intensity of tornados.
It is based on wind speeds that are estimated via embedded debris.

Question 6

Define mesocyclone

Answer 6

A storm-scale region of rotation, typically around 2-6 miles in diameter and often found in the right rear flank of a supercell

Question 7

The mitigation of tornados.

Answer 7

Communication infrastructuree.g. sirens
wind-resistant buildings that include tornado-proof safe rooms.

Question 8

Hurricanes

Answer 8

low-pressure systems that develop over tropical oceans.

Question 9

storm surge waves

Answer 9

an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides.

Question 10

Define Drought

Answer 10

Extended period of unusually low precipitation that produces a shortage of water for people.

Question 11

Where do Semi-arid climates occur:

Answer 11

Sub-tropics (e.g. Sahel).

Rain shadows (e.g. Okanagan).

Areas far from water sources (e.g. interior China).

Question 12

What is El Niño and La Niña

Answer 12

El Niño is the “warm phase” of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation)
La Niña, the “cool phase” of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation)

Question 13

Wildfire Definition

Answer 13

A self-sustaining, rapid, high-temperature fire.

Question 14

Define succession.

Answer 14

process whereby different communities move in and modify the environment for successive ones.

Question 15

Disturbance agents____?

Answer 15

Create and maintain diversity in ecosystems.

Question 16

What is the basic requirements for a wildfire?

Answer 16

Dry fuel, ignition source, wind. i.e., fuel, oxygen and heat.

Question 17

What are the three stages of a fire?

Answer 17

1. Pre-ignition
2. Combustion
3. Extinction

Question 18

Define smoke.

Answer 18

A combination of gases, ash and soot.

Question 19

Mitigation

Answer 19

Natural wildfires are somewhat self-mitigating.

Good fire management balances human and ecological values.

Public education

Ecological land management e.g., back burning, ecosystem restoration, ect.

Fire-proofing in interface regions. e.g., fire guards, smoke detectors.

Question 20

What are interface regions?

Answer 20

Boundaries between rural and urban areas.

Question 21

Define Weather.

Answer 21

Atmospheric conditions that occur locally over short periods of time.

Question 22

Define Climate.

Answer 22

The long-term regional or even global average of temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades.

Question 23

Define Global warming.

Answer 23

Long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.

Question 24

Define Climate change

Answer 24

A long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.

Question 25

Glacial / interglacial periods

Answer 25

(time scales of 10,000s of years) correlate with natural cycles in Earth-Sun relationship to earth (orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and precession.).

Question 26

What are some of the potential consequences of global worming?

Answer 26

Xtreme weather, ecosystem stress, threat to food supply and rising sea level.