rs 1, 2, 3 4 (not including clouds) What parameter (humidity, pressure, temperature etc) is used to define the vertical structure of the atmosphere?...

Study Questions for Test 1Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 4 (not including clouds)What parameter (humidity, pressure, temperature etc) is used to define the vertical structure of the atmosphere?What is air composed of? What are the two primary gases?What parameter (humidity, pressure, temperature etc) always decreases with altitude What atmospheric gas absorbs dangerous short wavelength radiation from the Sun? Where is most of it located? Where on Earth is it most depleted raising concerns? What is the aurora and where on Earth is it most visible?What element exists in all three states on Earth?What are the three greenhouse gases and which one are scientists most concerned about today?Which atmospheric gas is most important for formation of clouds and precipitation? What percentage of the atmosphere does it comprise? How is oxygen regenerated in our atmosphere? Ninety percent of the atmosphere lies below what altitude in kilometers?What processes were involved in the formation of Earth’s first atmosphere?Where on Earth is the tropopause lowest and highest? Where are the coldest temperatures in the atmosphere?What and where is the ionosphere?What is the lapse rate in the troposphere?What is advection?What is albedo?What is the inclination of Earth axis in relation to the Sun at the beginning of each of the seasons? What is the tilt of the axis in relation to the plane of Earth’s orbit?What causes the seasons? How are seasons in N and S hemispheres related What is convection and how does it occur?How is solar altitude related to the length of the path of sunlight through the atmosphere?How is temperature and radiation wavelength related What is an insulator?Excluding the Sun, the atmosphere is heated by what source?What effect do large bodies of water have on temperature?Where was the highest temperature in the U.S. recorded What does windward and leeward mean? The daily max and min temperatures generally occur at what times?In a one day period how much to oceans warm or cool?Why does the S hemisphere experience a more moderate climate than the N hemisphere?What is heat?What factor causes the seasons to vary very little at the equator?What is a thermograph? What factors most affect what temperature a person “feels”?What are isotherms and what do they indicate?What is specific heat?How do clouds affect the daily temperature?What two things happen to air when it rises and what effect does this have on the relative humidity of the rising air? Likewise what happens when air sinks?When is the relative humidity lowest and highest on a sunny day?What is meant by lapse rate?What is convection and when is it likely to be strongest?What are the terms for the various changes of state of Water?What is expansional cooling?Addition of water vapor to air will have what effect on dew point and humidity?How is the capacity of air to hold water vapor affected by temperature?What is convection?How do clouds affect the daily temperature?What two things happen to air when it rises and what effect dos this have on humidity?Likewise what happens when air sinks?When is the relative humidity highest and lowest on an average sunny day?What is meant by stable and unstable atmospheric conditions? What kind of weather is associated with each?In relation to the hydrologic cycle what processes absorb and release heat into the atmosphere?What is convergence and divergence? Surface air convergence and divergence would likely produce what kind of weather?What is the dew point?What is a psychrometer?What is advection fog? Radiation fog?Study Questions for Test 2Chapters 5, 6, 7 & 8What type of cloud most commonly produces optical effect? What are mare’s tails? What are cumulonimbus clouds? Describe their tops. What is advection fog? Radiation fog? What are cumulus clouds and what characteristic determines how they are characterized?What cloud type produces steady rain?What is sleet and freezing rain and what atmospheric conditions produce it?How are condensation nuclei produced?What does the term stratus mean?What is supercooled water? By what criteria are clouds classified?What are the names of the clouds of non-vertical development of high, middle and low altitude?How is pressure gradient related to the strength of the wind?How is the strength of the Coriolis Force related to latitude?What does a wind direction mean? What is normal air pressure at sea level?What is a cyclone, anticyclone, ridge and trough? What kind of weather is associated with each?How do wind flow in a cyclone and anticyclone ..vertically and horizontally? What are the two primary forces that cause wind and what does each do?What is an isobar? What causes a sea breeze?What are the 3 pressure belts and 4 wind belts of the Northern Hemisphere? Where is each located/ What are the names associated with each? What kind of weather is associated with each?What is a monsoon? What is a Santa Ana wind? What is a mesoscale wind? Give an example.Why are jet steams stronger in wintertime? High pressure is associated with what kinds of wind and weather?At what time of the year are upper winds strongest? In what wind belt of most of the U.S. located?Name the five air masses that affect the U.S. What is the source region and what are the temperature and humidity characteristics of each? What is the boundary zone between two air masses called? What is a source region?What is air mass modification and when does it occur?Air masses are uniform in what two characteristics?What is the polar front theory?What are middle latitude cyclones and in what direction do they generally travel?What is the approximate lifetime of a middle latitude cyclone?How does the lifting of air compare between a cold front and a warm front?How is a cold, warm and stationary front depicted on a weather map?What weather conditions would indicate the approach of a middle latitude cyclone?Where did the “storm of the century” originate?What is a warm front and a cold front and what weather accompanies and follows each?Study Questions for Test 3Chapters 9, 10, 11 & 12Study Questions for Test 3Chapters 9, 10, 11 & 12What is a climatalogical forecast … a persistence forecast … a steady-state or trend forecast … an analogue forecast … an ensemble forecast?How does the orbit of a polar orbiting satellite differ from that of a geosynchronous satellite?Find temperature, dew point, air pressure, wind direction and speed on a simple station model. What is the Fujita scale? What type of cloud is associated with thunderstorms?At what time of day are air masses thunderstorms most likely to develop?Define the stages of lightning bolt. Cumulonimbus clouds stop usually building vertically at what level of the atmosphere? What is a Doppler radar and what does it measure?What are the three stages of thunderstorm development? What is a tornado? What are the stages of tornado development? At what time of year are tornadoes most common? What is a gust front? What are the stages of hurricane development? What causes a hurricane to weaken? What part of a hurricane causes the most damage? What is the Saffir-Simpson Scale? What cloud is most common in a hurricane?Hurricanes develop in what wind belt?What weather conditions exist in the eye of a hurricane? … in the eye wall?From what source does a hurricane derive its energy?What causes hurricane winds to be so strong? When is hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean? What are geostationary satellites? What factors most limits weather forecasting accuracy?What are the seven main factors that determine the global pattern of precipitation?How did Koppen classify Earth's climates? What type of climate does the term "boreal" refer to?How does diurnal temperature range compare to annual temperature range in the topics?Why do coastal deserts develop near large bodies of cool water?Are the coldest climates found generally on the west or east coats of continents?Describe the condition of surface vegetation in a tropical rain forest.In a polar tundra climate what happens to the tundra during the summertime?Study Questions for Final (New Material from Chapter 12) What are the seven main factors that determine the global pattern of precipitation?How did Koppen classify Earth's climates? What type of climate does the term "boreal" refer to?How does diurnal temperature range compare to annual temperature range in the topics?Why do coastal deserts develop near large bodies of cool water?Are the coldest climates found generally on the west or east coats of continents?Describe the condition of surface vegetation in a tropical rain forest.In a polar tundra climate what happens to the tundra during the summertime?