Physical Geography
Terms
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- Mesospause
- Coldest portion of Atmosphere
- Hydrostatic Balance
- relationship between gravity and air pressure
- Altostratus
- mid level blanket, sun just visible, gray day
- Radiant Energy
- Transferred in streaming waves
- radiation fog
- ground cools faster than air
- Relative humidity
- ACTUAL amount of water vapor divided by the CAPACITY of the air
- Troposphere
- 90% mass of the atmosphere
- Cloud Formation
- Requires condensation nuclei
- Wein's Law
- HOT objects have a shorter wavelength than COLD objects
- Transmission
- Passage of shortwave and long wave energy through the atmosphere or water
- stratocumulus
- soft gray, globby, irregular overcast
- Stratosphere
- 9% mass of atmosphere
- Perihilion
- period when the earth is closest to sun
- Absolute humidity
- Mass of water vapor (grams) per volume of air (cubic meters)
- Where does Geostrophic Wind Occur?
- Only occurs above surface (~1.5 miles) due to friction
- Freezing rain
- snow melts completely and freezes after it hits the ground
- Bergeron Process
- Ice crystals grow at the expense of water droplets
- advection fog (ocean, snow)
- warm air over cold surface
- Sleet
- partially melted snow that refreezes before it hits the ground
- 1st law of thermodynamics
- Energy is neither created nor destroyed
- Three Components of wind
- PGF, Coriolis, Friction
- Stratosphere
- Temperature INCREASES with height
- Dew point
- Temperature to which air must cool for condensation to occur (saturation)
- nimbostratus
- drizzle, rain clouds
- Virga
- Rain that doesn't hit the ground
- Kirchoffs Law
- All objects emit radiation and absorb radiation
- Cirrus
- Wispy, Feathery, Delicate
- Cirrostratus
- High thin veil, ice crystals, halos
- Specific humidity
- Mass (grams) of water vapor per total mass of air (kilograms)
- PGF
- Difference in pressure over distance
- Scattering
- Radiation comes in contact with molecules, which redirect the light's movement
- Aphelion
- period when the earth is furthest from the sun
- PGF
- Starts atmospheric motion, Determines wind speed
- Temperature Inversions
- Layer where lapse rate is much less
- Troposphere
- Heat Source is Ground
- Advection
- Horizontal Transfer important in Liquid and Gases
- Coriolis
- deflection of wind at the earth's surface to the right
- Vertically Developed Clouds
- Cumulus, Cumulonimbus
- Land Sea Breeze
- due to thermal differences, reverses diurnally
- Cumulus
- Puffy, Flat based, Fair weather
- Hail
- Particles of ice held aloft by thunderstorm updraft
- radiation fog
- most common type of fog
- Monsoon
- seasonal reversal of winds
- Formula for Pressure
- R (Density) (Temperature)
- Mountain/Valley Winds
- refers to the sinking cool air at night into the valley
- Low Clouds
- stratus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus
- Collision-Coalescence: tropics (warm)
- Particles bump into each other and merge together
- Isobars
- Lines of equal pressure
- radiation fog
- fog that occurs on clear calm nights
- Convection
- Vertical Transfer important in Liquid and Gases
- Geostrophic wind
- Perfect Balance between Coriolis effect and PGF
- High Clouds
- Cirrus, Cirrostratus, Cirrocumulus
- Sensible Heat
- Heat energy 'sensed' by thermometers
- Middle Clouds
- Altostratus, Altocumulus
- stratus
- uniform, featureless, high fog
- Albedo
- Percent of energy reflected by a surface
- Troposphere
- Zone of weather
- Thermosphere
- Only part of atmosphere being heated by the sun
- advection fog (sea smoke, hot tubs)
- cold over warm moist surface
- Cumulonimbus
- thunderclouds, well developed, anvil top
- Cirrocumulus
- dappled, mackeral sky
- Valley fog
- Cold air moving into a valley causing condensation
- Factors Affecting Insolation at Surface
- Sun Angle, Day Length, Absorption, Reflection, Scattering
- Specific Heat
- The amount of energy required to raise 1 gram of substance 1° Celsius
- 4 Spheres of Geography
- Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere
- Latent Heat
- amount of energy absorbed or released during phase changes of water
- Mountain (Chinook, Santa Anna)
- warm dry air on the down slope of the leeward side of the mountains
- Stefan-Boltzmann Law
- HOT objects emit more radiation than COLD objects
- Types of Energy
- Kinetic, Potential, Radiant
- Stratosphere
- Warming is due to ozone
- Altocumulus
- cotton balls
- Density Formula
- mass/volume