Geology 20 part 3
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- What cuts off a tornado's supply of energy?
- Cold surface air.
- What drives pressure cells?
- Adiabatic cooling and the coriolis effect.
- What happens in a thunderstorm's dissipating stage?
- Downdrafts dominate, while cloud mass shrinks.
- What is pyrolysis?
- It's when wood gets heated up, changing its chemical structure, which releases gases such as oxygen.
- When do Santa Ana winds occur?
- It occurs when a high-pressure cell is situated for some time over the Rocky Mountains and a love-pressure cell is situated off the coast of CA.
- What keeps the supercell of a tornado energized?
- Convection.
- What is fire?
- It's when oxygen is combined with organic material from plants, carbon dioxide, and water, which releases heat energy.
- Why does lightning happen?
- It happens because dust and other charged particles are rapidly carried upward by the rising warm air.
- What happens when pressure zones interact with the jet streams?
- It can deflect it.
- What's the recipe to make fire?
- It requires a combination of oxygen, fuel, and heat. (The Santa Ana winds proved two of these).
- What are mesocyclones?
- They are supercells which results from the counter-clockwise rotation of rising air in the Northern Hemisphere.
- How long do typical thunderstorms last, and how wide is it?
- 15 miles in diameter and lasts for 30 minutes.
- What provides the perfect conditions for fire?
- Dry, warm winds (like the Santa Ana winds).
- What happens when the tropical jet stream is deflected to the north?
- The warm air from the tropics is carried northward.
- Where do tornadoes develop from?
- It develops from a class of thunderstorms called supercells.
- What happens when jet streams get deflected by pressure zones?
- It can cause warm and cold air to mix the boundary between them (which is also know as a FRONT).
- What happens when the supercell is carried into the cold front?
- Heavy rains occur along its leading edge and tornadoes tend to form at its trailing edge.
- What is the tornado capital of the world?
- The interior of the US.
- What happens when lightning strikes?
- The air is heated to several thousand degrees in less than a second, socking the air and sending a shock wave that we hear as thunder.
- What causes most of the wildfires?
- Humans.
- What happens when tornadoes dissipate?
- It appears as thin ropes, and are thus called rope tornadoes.
- What happens in a thunderstorm's mature stage?
- Updrafts continue, while strong downdrafts operate.
- What is the recipe for a tornado in the US?
- It needs a low-altitude, northerly flow of marine tropical air from the gulf of Mexico with temperature of 75 degrees fahrenheit. A middle-altitude, cold, dry air mass from Canada or out to the Rocky mountains at speeds of 50 mph. It also needs a light-altitude jet stream racing east at speeds of 150 mph.
- In what direction do tornadoes usually spin in the Northern Hemisphere?
- Counter-clockwise.
- What is the consequence when the air rapidly rise?
- Adiabatic cooling occurs quickly, which causes it to lose its ability to hold water, forming clouds over a small area.
- Where can pressure zones develop?
- It can develop anywhere over Earth's surface depending on air and ocean circulation.
- What is the most common way for wildfires to occur?
- Lightning strikes.
- Why do hurricanes produce most of their damage when they travel inland away from the heat source of the sea?
- It's because hurricanes contain so much water vapor.
- What happens when the mesocyclone approaches the ground?
- A visible condensation funnel descends from the base of the storm, which becomes a tornado.
- What is the leading cause of forest fires, and one of the major causes of weather-related deaths in the US?
- Lightning.
- What has the highest wind speeds of any weather phenomenon?
- Tornadoes.
- What are the three stages of a thunderstorm's life cycle?
- Early stage, mature stage, dissipating stage.
- Where can we expect most thunderstorms to occur, at ridges or troughs in the jet stream?
- In troughs where warm air crashes into cold air.
- What is the amount of energy released by a thunderstorm equal to?
- It is equal to the energy use of a city of 100,000 people for a month.
- What are electrons attracted to aside from protons?
- It doesn't matter, one atom is as good as the next.
- What is a warm front?
- It is when warm air flows into cold air.
- What makes the top of the thundercloud more positively charged than the bottom?
- The separation of charged particles within the thundercloud and the rising air.
- What's so special about the connection between electrons and protons?
- it can easily be broken.
- What are some of the thunderstorm hazards?
- Flood, hail, lightning.
- What is a thunderstorm?
- It is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its attendant thunder.
- What is the deadliest tornado ever recorded in US history?
- The tri-state tornado, traveling over 200 miles at around 60 mph through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
- What is used to measure tornado strength?
- The Fujita scale, which is based on the damage a tornado causes to human-built structures and vegetation.
- What is the smallest particle that comprises a chemical element?
- An atom.
- When is California's fire season?
- It occurs during the late fall and winter as Santa Ana winds blow from the East.
- What happens when warm air crashes into cold air?
- The air gradually rises over the colder, denser air.
- How do plants get dried out?
- By being near a fire, experiencing a drought, or throughout the summer season.
- What powers a tornado?
- Warm, moist air.
- What is hail?
- It is a form of precipitation which consists of irregular lumps of ice. It forms when wet air rises to places in the atmosphere below freezing, which can turn condensed water into ice.
- What is a tornado?
- It is a rapidly rotating column of air, usually descending from a thunderstorm.
- Where do the most sever thunderstorms occur?
- It occurs along cold fronts.
- Where does lightning mostly happen?
- It happens between the equator and 30 degrees latitude areas.
- What is electromagnetic force?
- It's when electrons in an atom are attracted to protons in the nucleus.
- What IS NOT needed for a tornado's formation?
- Coriolis effect.
- What's the result of rising air that quickly loses its ability to hold water?
- Precipitation events can occur along cold fronts, which is usually very intense.
- What happens when cold air crashes into warm air?
- It forces the warm, buoyant air to rise rapidly.
- What is a cold front?
- It is when cold air flows into warm air.
- What happens in a thunderstorm's early stage?
- Cumulus clouds rise.
- What must happen to plants before it can be burned?
- Most of the water that exists inside them must be heated away.
- What happens when the tropical jet stream is deflected to the south?
- The cool air from the poles is carried southward.
- What are the four main types of thunderstorms?
- Single cell, squall line, multicell, and supercell.