CHAPTER 1 A south wind a wind that originates in the south and blows north A towering cloud or cluster of clouds accompanied by thunder lightning and strong gusty winds is a thunderstorm Almost all of the earth s weather occurs in the troposphere Areas of high atmospheric pressure are also known as highs or anticyclones As a radiosonde balloon ascends through the atmosphere the balloon eventually bursts and the radiosonde returns to earth At night when the weather is extremely cold and dry atmospheric pressure de creases with increasing altitude At the 500 mb level the amount of oxygen inhaled in a single breath is about one half of that inhaled at sea level Clouds often form in the rising air in the center of a low pressure area Condensation is more likely to occur when the air cools Generally weather in the middle latitudes tends to move from west to east If you were to take a breath of pure oxygen from a tank you d be getting about 5 times the amount of oxygen you d get by taking a normal breath of our atmosphere In a temperature inversion air temperature increases with increasing height In a volume of air near the earth s surface nitrogen occupies 78 percent and oxy gen nearly 21 percent In the atmosphere tiny solid or liquid suspended particles of various composition are called aerosols In the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere surface winds tend to blow counterclockwise and inward around an area of surface low pressure In the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere surface winds tend to blow clockwise and outward around an area of surface high pressure In the stratosphere the air temperature normally increases with increasing height Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and its phenomena Most of the ionosphere is found in what atmospheric layer thermosphere Much of Tibet lies at altitudes over 18 000 feet where the pressure is about 500 mb At such altitudes the Tibetans are above roughly 50 of the air molecules in the atmosphere On a weather map sharp changes in temperature humidity and wind direction are marked by a front Ozone in the stratosphere ozone plays a major role in heating the air if ozone not present the air would become colder with height instead of warming Since the turn of this century CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing in con centration The amount of force exerted over an area of surface is called pressure The atmospheric layer in which we live is called the troposphere The difference in altitude the thickness is greatest in the layer bounded by 1 10mb The earth s atmosphere is divided into layers based on the vertical profile of air temperature The electrified region of the upper atmosphere is called the ionosphere The gas responsible for the greenhouse effect on Venus is carbon dioxide The gas that absorbs most of the harmful ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere is ozone The gas that shows the most variation from place to place and from time to time in the lower atmosphere is which of the following water vapor The greenhouse gas that has been increasing in concentration at least partly due to deforestation is carbon dioxide The hottest atmospheric layer is the thermosphere The instrument that measures temperature pressure and humidity at various alti tudes in the atmosphere is the the radionsonde The ionosphere is an atmospheric layer that contains a high concentration of ions An ion is an atom or molecule that has lost or gained an electron The most abundant gases in the earth s atmosphere by volume are nitrogen and oxygen The most abundant greenhouse gas in the earth s atmosphere is water vapor The number or mass of air molecules in a given space or volume is called density The only substance near the earth s surface that is found naturally in the atmos phere as a solid liquid and a gas is water The primary source of oxygen for the earth s atmosphere during the past half bil lion years or so appears to be photosynthesis The rate at which temperature decreases with increasing altitude is known as the lapse rate The temperature of the tropopause is much colder than the temperature at the earths surface The wind direction is the direction from which the wind is blowing There is a lot of mixing and overturning of air in which of the following atmospheric layers mesosphere Typically water vapor occupies about what percentage of the air s volume near the earth s surface less than 4 Warming in the stratosphere is mainly caused by absorption of ultraviolet radiation by ozone Where cold surface air replaces warm air the boundary separating the different bodies of air is termed a cold front Which latitude belt best describes the middle latitudes 30 to 50 degrees Which of the following are NOT units of pressure newtons Which of the following equations is correct density mass volume pressure force area Which of the following is MOST likely associated with fair weather high pressure area Which of the following is considered a variable gas in the earth s atmosphere wa ter vapor Which of the following processes remove CO2 from the atmosphere photosynthe sis Which of the following weather elements ALWAYS decreases as we climb upward in the atmosphere pressure Gravity holds a planet s atmosphere close to its surface CHAPTER 2 A good absorber of a given wavelength of radiation is also a good emitter of that wavelength This is a statement of Kirchoffs Law A change of one degree on the Celsius scale is larger than a change of one degree on the Fahrenheit scale A red shirt selectively scatters red wavelengths of visible light and absorbs the rest According to Wein s displacement law the wavelength at which maximum radiation occurs is inversely proportional to the temperature An increase in albedo would be accompanied by a decrease in radiative equilibrium temperature Charged particles from the sun that travel through space at high speeds are called solar flares Clouds absorb infrared radiation and reflect visible radiation Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between 0 4 and 0 7 micrometers is called visible light Energy of motion is also known as kinetic energy Evaporation is a cooling process Heat is energy in the process of being transferred from hot objects to cold objects How do red and blue light differ the wavelength of red light is longer How much radiant energy will an object emit if its temp is at absolute zero none If the amount of energy lost by the earth to space each year were not approxi mately equal to that received the
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