149 Cards in this Set
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Because a volcano in Indonesia erupted
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Why was 1816 the year without a summer?
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Global Cooling
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When a volcano erupts, additional aerosols are released into the air which get carried around the entire Earth. What does this cause?
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The imbalance between the equator and polar energy
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What is the driving force of weather and the atmosphere?
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1013.2 mb
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What is normal sea level pressure?
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Pressure
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What is the driving point of winds?
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High weather systems produce cooler air, clear skies, and little wind. Low weather systems produce rain.
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High weather systems produce what kind of weather? What about low weather systems?
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Hurricanes
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What is an example of a low weather event?
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Air Pressure
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What does a barometer measure?
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The difference in air pressure (also known as density).
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What causes wind?
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From high pressure to low pressure
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In what direction does wind always move?
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Speed and direction
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What are the two properties of wind?
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Wind speed
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What do anemometers measure?
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Determine wind direction
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What does a wind vane do?
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Nautical mph. 1.15 mph. A measure of wind speed.
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What is a knot?
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33 feet
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How high does a wind vane need to be off the ground?
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Wind
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Ocean currents are driven by what?
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The direction from which they originate
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What are winds named from?
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1. PGF (Pressure Gradient Force)
2. Coriolis Force
3. Friction Force
4. Gravity
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What are the 4 forces of wind?
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Uniform; centrifugal; density
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Gravity is relatively ___ across the surface of the Earth and counteracts ___ force. It changes due to changes in ___.
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It decreases
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What happens to density as altitude increases?
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Sinks; rises
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Heavy (cold) air ___ while light (warm) air ___.
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Pressure Gradient Force
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Difference in pressure across the Earth's surface encourages air flow from one place to another.
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More; less
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The pressure gradient force drives air from H (___ dense) to L (___ dense).
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Isobar
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A line that connects points of equal air pressure across the Earth's surface.
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Coriolis Effect
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A deflection or change in the direction caused by the Earth's direction
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Winds would move in a straight direction
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What would happen without the Coriolis Effect?
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Right; left
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Winds curve ___ in the Northern Hemisphere and ___ in the Southern Hemisphere
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Drag
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What does Friction force cause?
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Because it hinders air flow from one place to another
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Why does friction force cause drag?
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Friction force
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What is the only of the four forces that effects surface wind?
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Winds would move in paths parallel to isobars
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What would happen without friction force?
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Isobars; higher; lower
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The closeness of ___ indicates the gradient between high and low pressure. The closer the isobars, the ___ the wind speed. The farther apart they are, the ___ the wind speed.
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Right; parallel; surplus;
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Winds at the surface always begin by blowing at ___ angles to the isobars. Winds in the upper atmosphere travel ___ to the isobars. Forces in nature tend to move from areas of ___ to areas of ___.
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High
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Air that is descending from above is ___ pressure air.
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Cooler; diverges
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High pressure air is generally ___ and ___ at the surface.
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Low; ascends
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___ pressure air converges at the surface and ___ from below.
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Counter clockwise; clockwise
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Which direction do low pressure cyclones spin? High pressure?
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Descends; clockwise; diverge
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Anticyclones have air that ascend/descend?
Which way do they spin?
And do they converge/diverge at the surface?
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Spinning
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The Earth's surface is ___.
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Poles; equator
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The Earth's surface is spinning at a maximum at the ___ and not spinning at all at the ___.
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Hurricane paths
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The Coriolis effect helps predict what?
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Pressure Gradient Force and Coriolis Force
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What are the two forces that define upper atmosphere winds?
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Geostrophic Winds
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What are upper atmosphere winds called?
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Anticyclones have high pressure; cyclones have low pressure
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Describe the pressures of anticyclones and cyclones?
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No! This is important! Remember this. Geostrophic winds are upper atmosphere winds that are NOT ON THE SURFACE.
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Can Geostrophic winds occur on the surface?
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Clockwise; counterclockwise
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Geostrophic winds move in which direction around high pressure cells? Low pressure cells?
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Surface winds; it changes the direction and makes them difficult to predict
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Friction force only affects ___ ___. What does it change?
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PGF, Coriolis, and Friction Force
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What three forces of wind effect surface winds?
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Intertropical Convergence Zone
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What does ITCZ stand for?
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It controls dust from Africa as well as it migrates north in the summer months to bring rain in Southeast Asia. If there's no rain in SE Asia, they can't grow rice. People go hungry and die.
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What is the importance of the ITCZ?
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Clouds and rain
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The Equatorial Low Pressure Trough is defined by what?
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Convergent uplift. **This is a test question! Don't miss it, the answer is in the name!!
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The ITCZ is defined by what kind of uplift?
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Ascends; moisture and heat
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In the Equatorial Low Pressure Trough, there are large amounts of energy in the region. This consists of lighter, less dense (and hot) air that ___. This air is full of what?
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It cools and condenses which creates rain and clouds
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What happens to the air as it rises?
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Convectional uplift. This occurs at the Equatorial Low Pressure Trough.
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Intense heating causes what kind of uplift?
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North; high
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ITCZ migrates ___ in the summer months. During this time ___ pressure is more pronounced.
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Low; high
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There's ___ pressure in the equator and ___ pressure in the subtropical regions regions.
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Bermuda High/Azores High
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The pressure cell dictates the majority of weather in the Southeast United States.
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The Westerlies in the midlatitudes
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What is the wind belt associated with the Bermuda High?
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Pacific High/Hawaiian High
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The high pressure cell over the Pacific Ocean in the subtropical region of the world.
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Subtropical High Pressure
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What does STHP stand for?
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Dry, cooler winds come from the north to Spain and Portugal, hit the Gulf Stream and then pick up rain and dump it on the Southeast United States.
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Explain the route of the Bermuda High.
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The climates in Spain and the Southeastern US would be switched.
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What would happen if the Bermuda High pressure cell was a low pressure cell?
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Subpolar Low Pressure (cool and moist air)
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What does SPLP stand for?
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1. Aleution Low
2. Icelandic Low
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What are the SPLP cells?
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Polar Front
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Areas across the globe where some of the worst weather occurs, especially in the winter time.
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cold; warm
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A polar front is a battle of ___ and ___ air that don't mix which creates bad weather along the subpolar low pressure cells.
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Cold, dry, desert air.
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The Polar High Pressure (PHP-Artic and antartic) Cells have what kind of air?
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Polar Easterlies
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What is the wind belt associated with PHP?
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Siberian
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All Eurasian areas are dominated by the ___ High.
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Ridges--high pressure and anticyclones
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On a 500 mb pressure map, what are troughs and ridges?
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They converge and drive the westerlies and weather patterns across the United States.
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What happens to the northeast and southeast trade winds at the equator?
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That winds move from high to low pressure.
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What does a 500 mb pressure map show?
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Divergence
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The driving force betweel low pressure and high pressure is the ___ of upper air flow.
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Hadly, Ferrel, and Polar
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What are the three basic cells?
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Hadley
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Air flow that is defined by the equatorial low pressure and the subtropical high.
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Ferrel
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Defined by air flow between the subtropical high and the subpolar low
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Polar
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Defined by air flow between the subpolar low and the polar high
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Rossby Waves
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Undulations in westerly geostropic winds
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Cold
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What kind of weather do Rossby waves cause?
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Balance; surplus; deficit
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Rossby waves help drive energy to achieve ___ between cold air ___ in the north and cold air ___ in the south.
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Jet Stream
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Irregular band of wind at different locations influences surface weather conditions
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Geostrophic winds
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What kind of winds are jet streams?
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Polar and Subtropical
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What are the two jet streams?
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West; east
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Jet streams delineate the position of the polar front and steerw eather from ___ to ___.
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Zonal flow
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Wind flow directly west to east.
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Meridonal Flow
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Wind flow north to south along the meridians (like longitude)
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The Terrain
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Local winds are formed in response to what?
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Day; night
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Sea breezes occur during the ___ and land breezes occur during the ___.
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Sea Breeze
(hint: the key to figuring these out is remembering that pressure moves from high to low--the breeze is coming from the sea)
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Daytime. Lower temperatures and higher pressure over the ocean, higher temperature and lower pressures over land.
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Land Breeze
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Nighttime. Higher temp and low pressure over the ocean and lower temp and high pressure over land.
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Daytime; nighttime
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Valley breezes occur during ___ and mountain breezes occur during ___
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Valley Breezes
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Daytime. Air in the valley warms and rises.
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Mountain Breezes
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Nighttime. Cold air at high elevations is dense and sinks to the bottom.
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Pressure; temperature
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Land and sea breezes are driven by ___ and mountain and valley breezes are driven by ___.
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Katabatic Winds
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When wind moves from high plateau (high pressure) to an adjacent low land (low pressure). They go from warm temp to cold temp. They are stronger than mountain breezes.
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Katabatic Winds
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What kind of winds are the Santa Ana winds?
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Marine vs Continentality
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What drives both sea and land breezes?
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The winter monsoon is dry while the summer monsoon is wet.
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Compare the winter monsoon to the summer monsoon.
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It moves north and brings low pressure.
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What happens to the ITCZ during the summer monsoon?
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Because of the Siberian High pressure cell over the Asian Continent in the winter time.
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Why is the winter monsoon dry?
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Monsoonal winds come from the Gulf of Mexico and up to the American Southwest.
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Describe the NAM (North American Monsoon)
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Frictional Drag of Winds
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What is the driving force behind ocean currents?
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Density
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Coriolis effects the ___ of ocean currents.
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Shape
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Configuration of continents and the ocean floor ___ ocean currents.
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High; low
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When a surface current is cold, it goes from ___ latitude to ___ latitude.
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Low; high
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When a surface current is warm, it goes from ___ latitude to ___ latitude.
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Hemisphere
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Gyres circulate in different directions depending on the ___.
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Clockwise; counterclockwise
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What direction does a gyre circulate in the northern hemisphere? The southern?
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Wind
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Ocean circulations are the same as the ___ around the pressure cells.
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The Bermuda High; clockwise
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The North Atlantic Gyre is in the same area as what pressure cell? What is the movement?
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The Peru Current. KNOW THIS.
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What current exists off the coast of South Africa?
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West Wind Drift
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Strong ocean currents driven by the Westerlies that circumnavigate the continent of Antarctica
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Upwelling currents are surface currents blown away from continents, downwelling currents are being blown into the continents.
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What's the difference between upwelling and downwelling currents?
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Upwelling current
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Winds blow surface currents away from a continent via Coriolis or local winds (land or sea breezes) allowing really deep cool nutrient rich water to surface. (think about it like this--surface currents are blown away so the water beneath it rises up).
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Downwelling current
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Coriolis that slams a current against a continent and creates deep ocean currents. (The current slams up against the continent and then has to go down which is why it's a deep ocean current).
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Thermohaline Circulation (thermo-temperature and haline-salinity)
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Earth's deep ocean currents that are caused by differences in temperature and salinity.
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Thermohaline Circulation (thermo-temperature and haline-salinity)
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Earth's deep ocean currents that are caused by differences in temperature and salinity.
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Slowly. It takes about 1000 years to complete.
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Does the Thermohaline Circulation Cyclce occur quickly or slowly?
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It's the pump for the global conveyor belt system.
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What is the purpose for the NADW?
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Land and water
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Earth is separated into what two hemispheres? (not directional)
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Land is in the northern hemisphere; water in the southern
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What hemisphere is the majority of land in? water?
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Eustasy
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Describes worldwide changes in seal level.
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Does not; does
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The amount of water (does/does not) change, but it's volume in places (does/does not) change.
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Glacio-eustatic Factors
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Looking at changes in water tied up in glaciers.
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97; 3
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__% of water is ocean and __% is fresh water.
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Surface water, ice, and glaciers
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Where is them majority of freshwater located?
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Hydrogen bonds are strong.
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Why are water molecules difficult to separate?
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Capillarity
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The fact that water ends to draw water.
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Humidity
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Water vapor
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Clouds/fog
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Water droplets
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Rainfall, sleet
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Water drops
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Snow
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Water crystals
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Condensation nuclei
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Any kind of particle that is airborne (dust etc) that water can adhere to. This is necessary to have clouds.
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Gas to liquid to solid, solid to liquid to gas
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Describe change of state (phase changes)
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Heat properties
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Change of state requires energy to be absorbed or released
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Sublimation
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Solid to gas. (ex: dry ice)
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Deposition
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Gas to solid. (ex: frost)
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Calorie
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Unit of energy
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1
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A calorie is the amount of energy required to raise _ gram of water _ degree Celsius
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100
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0 degrees Celsius to 100 degrees Celsius requires ___calories.
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1 food calorie
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1000 calories is equal to how many food calories?
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+540
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What is the latent heat of Vaporization?
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-540
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What is the latent heat of Condensation?
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+80
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What is the latent heat of Melting?
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-80
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What is the latent heat of Freezing?
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+680
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What is the latent heat of Sublimation?
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-680
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What is the latent heat of Deposition?
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720
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Going through all three states represents a total of ___ calories absorbed or released.
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GHY 104:Chapter 7 & 8