Geosystems Meteorology Test
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Why is the earth's surface headed unevenly (3 reasons)
-
1. non uniform in composition and distribution
2. earth's tilt
3. earth's rotation, causing day and night - What factors contribute to the non-uniformity of the earth?
-
1. different amounts of ocean vs. continental plate
2. different levels of albedo - What is albedo and insolation
-
albedo- reflectance of a substance
insolation- amount of time sunlight is hitting the earth - what's the meterological equator?
- place where the sun rays and the earth are at a 90 degree angle; varies over the seasons
- describe the thickness and density of the atmosphere.
-
poles= thinner and denser
equator= thicker and less dense - how is the atmosphere classified?
- temperature and composition
- name the layers of the atmosphere from closest to farthest from earth by temperature
- troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere
- describe the temperature change in each of the four layers of atmosphere
- down, up, down, up
- What is the environmental lapse rate?
- the rate at which the temperature decreases as altitude increases in the troposphere
- name the layers of the earth by composition from closest to farthest from earth
- homosophere, heterosphere
- What elements are found in the homosphere?
- Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon
- Explain the Hadley cell.
- Describes surface winds. Surface flow is equator-ward and aloft flow is poleward.
- What are Rossby waves?
- The west-to-east jet streams found in the upper troposphere that goes across the US (kind of dips down at one point)
- Coriolis effect?
- tendency of wind to bend right in the northern hemisphere and left in the southern hemisphere. due to the earth's rotation.
- Intertropical convergence zone?
-
ITCZ. Belt of clouds at meteorological equator. ari rises and condenses. no wind.
aka "doldrums" - Horse latitudes?
- about 30 degrees latitude. air sinks. cloudless skies. very weak winds.
- Name the order of the winds, plus the direction they point, from the north pole down to the equator
- polar easterlies [southwest], westerlies [northeast], trade winds [southwest]
- Which type of satellite is used to see clouds from space?
- GOES
- What does the visible light channel measure and what do white and black represent?
-
1. reflectivity
2. white=lots; black=little - What does the IR channel measure and what do white and black represent?
-
1. temperature
2. white=cold, black=warm - What are the important characteristics of water vapor?
-
1. polar
2. 3 natural states
3. high heat capacity - What is the process when air goes straight to ice?
- Deposition
- What is the latent heat of melting and of evaporation, respectively?
- 80 cal/kg and 600 cal/kg
- Which holds more water... warm or cold air?
- warm!
- What is the SVPP?
- Saturation Vapor Pressure Point. Point of 100% relative humidity. aka "dew point." temperature dependent
- What is relative humidity?
- water in the air divided by water that could be in the air
- What tool is used to measure humidity?
- Sling psychrometer
- Describe absolute humidity.
- How much water a given volume can hold. AKA capacity.
- Describe specific humidity.
- AKA mixing ratio. mass of water in a particular mass of air.
- What's an isobar?
- A line of equal barametric pressure
- Describe cyclonic air flow
- Counter-clockwise. inwards.
- Describe anti-cyclonic air flow
- clockwise. outwards.
- Which is greater, dry or wet adiabatic lapse rate?
- dry.
- What is the adiabatic lapse rate?
- The rate at which cooling occurs due to a change in density as altitude increases.
- What is a front?
- Where there's a change between warm and cold air
- What's a rain shadow?
- The phenomenon where the far side of a mountain where wet air is blown over it is warmer than the temp on the near side.
- Why would air be lifted?
-
1. orographic lifting
2. convective heating
3. convergence
4. frontal wedging - What the hay is orographic lifting?
- When air is pushed up a mountain.
- Which is steeper, when cold slides into warm or when warm slides into cold?
- When cold slides into warm.
- What's an airmass?
- a HUGE bubble of air. usually about as big as 7 states. same temperature and humidity throughout (horizontally)
- What are the conditions for the formation of an airmass?
-
1. formed over uniform areas of composition.
2. no wind. - How much snow is in 1 inch of rain?
- 10 in of snow!
- Define stable and unstable air.
-
stable- adiabatic rate > environmental lapse
unstable- adiabatic rate < environmental lapse - Define conditionally unstable.
-
dry adiabatic rate > environmental.
wet adiabatic rate < environmental - Describe the "snow map" and the "rain map"
-
Snow is always frozen, but it gets warmer and then cooler as it falls.
Rain is never frozen and just gets warmer as it falls. - Describe the sleet and freezing rain "maps."
- Both go from freezing to liquid to freezing, but the "bulge" for sleet is higher than the "bulge" for freezing rain.
- What is rime?
- The supercooled water that lines existing slowflakes.
- What's a graupel?
- A coated snowflake in the sky.
- Explain radiation fog.
- Air w/ little wind in contact w/ cold surface. as air cools, it reaches the dew point and fog is formed.
- Explain advective fog.
- Warm air moves over a cool surface and condenses.
- Explain steam fog.
- Cold air is over warm water.
- How are clouds named?
- Altitude and shape
- Name the cloud types based on altitude.
-
cirrus = high level
alto = mid level - Name the characteristics of the different cloud shapes
-
cumulus = convective and unstable. fluffy.
stratus = condensation and stable. wispy. - What are the 2 mechanisms w/ which cloud droplets become big enough to rain?
-
1. collision-coalescence
2. Bergeron process - What's the Bergeron process?
- When ice crystals and cloud droplets exist in the same air parcle, the ice tends to grow at the expense of the cloud droplets.