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GRG 401C > Exam 2 > Flashcards

Exam 2 Flashcards

(78 cards)

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1
Q

What is weather?

A

The short-term, day-to-day condition of the atmosphere

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2
Q

What is orographic lifting?

A

Air being forcibly pushed up a mountain slope

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3
Q

How are clouds usually classified?

A

Altitude and shape

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4
Q

What does relative humidity refer to?

A

The amt of water vapor in the air at a given temp and pressure, expressed as a percentage of the maximum water vapor possible at a given temp

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5
Q

What is specific humidity?

A

The measure of humidity given as grams of water per kilogram of air

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6
Q

What are cumulonimbus clouds?

A

Clouds that have strong vertical development and produce precipitation

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7
Q

What is the dry adiabatic rate?

A

10 C° per 1000 m (5.5 F° per 1000 ft)

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8
Q

Describe maritime tropical (mT) air that emerges from the Pacific and the Atlantic

A

Its varied in stability and moisture content

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9
Q

What are cirrus clouds?

A

This cloud type can indicate an oncoming storm, especially if they thicken and lower in altitude

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10
Q

What was the wettest average annual place on earth from 1941 to 1992?

A

Hawaii

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11
Q

Where is water most dense?

A

At 4°C (39°F)

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12
Q

What is tornado development associated with?

A

Mesocyclone circulation

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13
Q

What is a result of convectional lifting?

A

Afternoon showers in the southeastern United States

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14
Q

What are tropical cyclones?

A

Large and powerful storms that form over the oceans without fronts or conflicting air masses

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15
Q

Where are the strongest winds in a tropical cyclone usually recorded?

A

Right-front quadrant

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16
Q

What is latent heat?

A

The heat that is involved in the change from one state of water to another

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17
Q

Why does occlusion occur?

A

In a wave cyclone because the cold front travels faster than the warm front

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18
Q

When is the atmosphere unstable?

A

When the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic rate

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19
Q

Where does most of the precipitation and evaporation on Earth take place?

A

Over the oceans and seas

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20
Q

How much of earths precipitation falls over the ocean?

A

78%

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21
Q

What does potential evaporation refer to?

A

The amount of water that would evaporate or transpire if the moisture supply were available

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22
Q

How much of earth’s surface is covered by water?

A

71%

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23
Q

How is actual evapotranspiration (ACTET) calculated?

A

By potential evapotranspiration - deficit

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24
Q

How long has earth had the present volume of water circulating through earths surface system?

A

4 billion years

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25
What is the largest potential source of freshwater on earth?
Groundwater
26
What is an aquifer?
A subsurface layer of permeable rock through which groundwater can flow
27
What is the water table?
The upper limit of the zone of saturation in the groundwater environment
28
Describe aquifers capacity
Their capacity is reduced by groundwater mining
29
What are some consequences of groundwater mining?
Ground subsidence, aquifer collapse, and lack of freshwater for human consumption and agriculture
30
Describe the worlds water supply
Over a billion people in 80 countries lack access to safe drinking water
31
What is an actual evapotranspiration (ACTET) use of water?
Water that has evaporated from a field
32
How are artesian wells formed?
Water under pressure in a confined aquifer that rises to the surface without pumping
33
Describe the High Plains aquifer
It irrigates about one-fifth of all U.S. cropland
34
What are some solutions to water scarcity?
Desalination, more efficient irrigation in arid countries, and regulation and reduction of household water use
35
What is a climatic region?
Broad similarities among local climates that contain characteristic long-term weather patterns
36
What is an empirical classification of climate based on?
Temperature and precipitation
37
How prevalent are tropical climates on Earth?
They cover 36 percent of the Earth’s total surface
38
Describe mesothermal climates
- Increasing variability of day length and insolation move poleward from the tropics - Has distinct seasons, but generally has warm to moderate winters - Roughly 40 percent of Earth’s human population lives here
39
Outside of the polar regions, what is the coldest climate on earth?
Subarctic regions which experience an average temp below freezing for 7 months and minimum temperatures of below –68°C (–90°F)
40
Describe Ice Cap climates
All months average below freezing at 0ºC (32ºF)
41
Describe the semiarid steppe climate
When the precipitation is roughly one-half the natural moisture demand
42
Describe dry climates
The result of fairly constant subsidence and in some instances the presence of a rain shadow.
43
Where on Earth has the most extreme subarctic climate?
Verkhoyansk, Siberia, Russia
44
Describe tropical climates
They have virtually no winter due to consistent day length and insolation from an almost perpendicular Sun angle.
45
What is the Köppen classification?
The climate classification system based largely on temperature and precipitation
46
Describe the desert climate
Moisture deficit is a predominant, permanent characteristic
47
Which tropical climate type has a dry season that lasts one or more months and lies in coastal regions characterized by seasonal variations of wind?
Tropical monsoon
48
Which climate type has the greatest annual range in temperature?
Subarctic
49
Which climate has the longest rainy season that is consistently moist and warm ?
Rain forest
50
Describe marine west coast climates
They have unusually mild winters and cool summers for their latitude
51
What is climate?
Climate includes average weather data over years as well as the variability and extremes
52
Which climate occupies the largest percentage?
Dry climates
53
What is dendrochronology?
The use of tree rings to reconstruct past climates
54
When did CO2 concentrations hit an all time high?
May 2015, at nearly 404 ppm
55
What are Milankovitch cycles?
Periodic changes in the Earth’s ellipticity, axial precession (wobble), and obliquity (axial tilt)
56
What is the dominant cause of global warming?
Human activities
57
What is the IPCC?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes
58
How do ice core and ocean sediment cores reconstruct past climates?
Oxygen isotope analysis
59
What is responsible for the largest amount of radiative forcing?
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
60
What is the rise in sea-level due to?
2/3 of the rise is due to the melting of land ice and the other 1/3 is due to thermal expansion
61
What is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas produced by human activity?
Methane (CH4)
62
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
- Signed by 84 countries in 1997 | - Its a legally binding international agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
63
What is the primary anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide?
Burning of fossil fuels
64
Where is per capita emissions of total greenhouse gases generally the highest?
Countries reliant on the burning of fossil fuels
65
Since 1880, what was the warmest decade and the warmest year in the Northern hemisphere?
- 2000-2010 | - 2015
66
What is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere?
Water vapor (H2O)
67
What are general circulation models?
Aka GCMs, they are complex computer models that characterize portions of the atmosphere and ocean in terms of climate-related variables
68
What is true about the science surrounding climate change?
Scientists are now 95-100% certain that ongoing climate change is anthropogenic
69
When was the last time temperatures were similar to today's interglacial period?
Eemian interglacial (about 125,000 years ago)
70
What are some observed impacts of climate change?
Higher sea surface temperatures, decreases in snow cover, and an increase in water vapor content in the troposphere
71
What are some methods for short-term climate reconstructions?
Dendrochronology, carbon isotope analysis, and lake sediment core analysis
72
What is the largest carbon sink?
The ocean, absorbing nearly 50 percent of excess carbon
73
What is the Keeling curve?
The graph plotting the ongoing changes in concentrations of carbon dioxide from 1959 to present
74
What is specific heat?
The amount of heat energy needed to change the temperature of a substance
75
What happens when relative humidity = 100%?
Any addition of water or cooling of air leads to condensation
76
What are the types of low level clouds?
Stratus, cumulus, stratocumulus (up to 2000 m)
77
What are the types of mid-level clouds?
Altocumulus, lenticular (2000-6000 m)
78
What are the types of high level clouds?
Cirrus (6000+ m and made of ice crystals)

GRG 401C (4 decks)

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