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GEO exam 2!
a
57
Geology
Undergraduate 3
10/12/2010

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Term
The principal controls and influences of temperature patterns include
Definition
, altitude, land-water heating differences, cloud cover, ocean currents, and surface conditions.
Term
The land surface cools off more rapidly at night than water does because
Definition
correct: all of these answers





a. the energy is stored in a shallow layer near the surface of the land, and so it can be radiated away faster.
b. the amount of energy stored in the land is less than that stored in the water column.
c. water has a higher specific heat than the solids that make up the land.
d. all of these answers (except "none") are true.
Term
Which of the following is true regarding the specific heat of land and water?
Definition
The temperature or water will rise faster than that of land when exposed to the same amount of insolation.
c. Land surfaces have a higher specific heat than water surfaces.
Term
. If the Gulf Stream shifted away from Iceland and England, winter temperatures in these locations would
Definition
become cooler, thereby decreasing the average winter temperature.
Term
Which of the following experiences the least continentality
Definition
. a small tropical island
Term
Which of the following experiences the least continentality?
Definition
. a small tropical island
Term
An isoline that connects all points of the same temperature on a map is called
Definition
an isotherm
Term
. The isotherm that connects all points of highest mean temperature on a world map is called
Definition
the thermal equator
Term
Which of the following is true of the thermal equator during the month of July?
Definition
It trends poleward over continents and equatorward over oceans.
Term
Which of the following is true
Definition
Northern Hemisphere temperatures are more strongly dominated by continentality than are Southern Hemisphere temperatures.
Term
. The annual temperature range map (below) shows that the
Definition
greatest ranges occur in east central Siberia in Russia.
Term
Which of the following is not a correct expression for standard atmospheric pressure at sea level?
Definition
30.00 mb.
Term
. Air flows _________ a surface high pressure area because the air in the high pressure zone is _______ than that of the surrounding air
Definition
out of; denser
Term
Wind speed is measured instrumentally with
Definition
an anemometer.
Term
Which of the following matches is correct relative to air circulation
Definition
cyclone = clockwise circulation in the Southern Hemisphere
Term
The wind belts used by mariners to travel from Europe to North America during the days of sailing ships were the
Definition
NE trades
Term
. The dominant surface winds from the subtropics to high latitudes are the
Definition
westerlies.
Term
Which of the following is true of Hadley cells?
Definition
They appear vertically symmetrical on eather side of the equator.
Term
Which of the following describes the pressure gradient force?
Definition
It drives air from areas of higher to lower barometric pressure
Term
. An isoline of equal pressure plotted on a weather map is known as
Definition
an isobar
Term
. On a weather map of air pressure, what can you infer from a closer spacing of isobars?
Definition
the pressure gradient is steep, creating a faster flow of air
Term
If the Earth did not rotate, air would flow
Definition
perpendicular to the isobars, i.e. straight across the isobars.
Term
According to the text, which of the following is true regarding the effects of the Coriolis force?
Definition
The Coriolis force is zero along the equator, increasing to one-half of maximum at 30 degrees latitude and maximum at the poles.
Term
Which of the following is true of objects and wind moving over distance and time on Earth's surface?
Definition
They are apparently deflected from a straight path to the right in the Northern Hemisphere
Term
. In the absence of friction, the combined effect of the Coriolis force and the pressure gradient force produces
Definition
. geostrophic winds at altitude above the ground.
Term
. The intertropical convergence zone is characterized by
Definition
. convergence and uplift of warm surface air.
Term
Air flow in a Northern Hemisphere high pressure zone is
Definition
downward, outward, and clockwise.
Term
During the winter, the Bermuda High migrates to the ________ and becomes the _______.
Definition
east; Azores High
Term
The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is associated with
Definition
the equatorial low-pressure trough.
Term
Land-sea breezes are caused by
Definition
(toward the land) air flows that develop in the afternoon as the land heats faster than neighboring water surfaces.
Term
. The two major, forceful northward flowing warm currents in the Northern Hemisphere are the
a. equatorial countercurrents.
b. California and Peru currents.
Definition
Gulf Stream and Kuroshio currents.
Term
Major ocean currents are produced by
Definition
frictional drag of winds and the Coriolis force and water density differences
Term
Earth is most properly characterized as
Definition
the water planet.
Term
Water covers about _______ percent of the Earth's surface.
Definition
70
Term
According to the text, the present quantity of water on Earth was achieved approximately ______ years before the present.
Definition
2 billion.
Term
Other than ice sheets and glaciers, the largest repository of fresh water is located in
Definition
groundwater.
Term
Liquid water has a density of approximately:
Definition
1 g/kg
Term
Which of the following is true regarding the evaporation of water off a lake that has a surface temperature of 20 degrees C (68 deg. F)?
Definition
The phase change involves the latent heat of evaporation, or 585 calories per gram.
Term
When water condenses, it ____________ heat energy and ____________ the surrounding air.
Definition
releases; heats
Term
In order to melt two grams of ice, how many calories of heat energy must be added to the ice during its phase change? (Note that the specific heat of water = 1 cal/gm; the heat of fusion = 80 cal/gm; the heat of vaporization = 585 cal/gm; and the heat of sublimation = 670 cal/gm).
Definition
172 cal
Term
. In winter (even in Florida - this has happened to the professor's house) freezing water can break water pipes and even crack automobile engine blocks. Why does this happen?
Definition
Water expands in volume as it freezes as a consequence of hydrogen bonding.
Term
Relative humidity isRelative humidity is
Definition
the amount of water vapor in the air at a given temperature expressed as a percentage of the moisture-holding capacity of the air.
Term
The capacity of the air to hold water vapor is basically a function of
Definition
the temperature of both the water vapor and the air.
Term
. A mass of air always becomes saturated when it reaches the
Definition
dew-point temperature.
Term
A humidity measure that remains constant as temperature and pressure change, and which is expressed as a mass of water vapor per mass of air, is
Definition
specific humidity.
Term
. All adiabatic temperature changes occur as a result of
Definition
expansion or compression of the air.
Term
The moist adiabatic rate (MAR) is __________ the dry adiabatic rate because ________.
Definition
less than; condensation heats the air
Term
An air parcel is considered unstable when it
Definition
continues to rise until it reaches an altitude at which the surrounding air has a similar density.
Term
When the environmental lapse rate is between the dry and moist adiabatic rates, conditions are described as
Definition
conditionally unstable.
Term
Air that is not saturated will cool or heat at a rate of ____________ as it rises or descends, respectively.
Definition
10 C degrees per 1000 m (5.5 F per 1000 ft)
Term
Areas between 25 and 35 degrees north latitude usually are ____________ because this area is dominated by air that is sinking and being ________?
Definition
deserts; heated by compression
Term
Weather isWeather is
Definition
the short-term condition of the atmosphere.
Term
The condensation process requires
Definition
condensation nuclei and saturated air.
Term
. The principal process for raindrop formation in tropical warm clouds is
Definition
collision-coalescence processes.
Term
Collision-coalescence and the Bergeron process both act to
Definition
increase the size of water droplets and ice crystals.
Term
. Florida has the highest thunderstorm frequency in the U.S. because
Definition
All of these answers (except "none") are correct.
Term
. Which of the following is incorrect?
Definition
. fog = a stratus cloud that is high in elevation off the ground.
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