Q&A Hero

Earth Science

Q: Compare and contrast the normal lapse rate, environmental lapse rate, the dry adiabatic rate, and the moist adiabatic rate.
Q: What is atmospheric stability? What are adiabatic processes and how they are related to atmospheric stability?
Q: Define and distinguish between relative humidity and specific humidity.
Q: Describe water's phase changes and the latent energy associated with each.
Q: List several of water's unique properties.
Q: Atmospheric water vapor is both a greenhouse gas and affects human comfort level.
Q: Clouds are unimportant to climate change.
Q: Fog can be harvested as a water resource.
Q: Fog over both the land and sea can create potential dangerous situations.
Q: Fog is a cloud layer on the ground restricting visibility to less than 1 km (3,300 ft).
Q: Thunderheads are cumulonimbus clouds.
Q: Cirrus clouds are associated with thunderstorms and hard showers.
Q: Clouds with the prefix nimbo- and the suffix -nimbus are rain clouds.
Q: Clouds with the prefix alto- are high clouds composed mostly of ice.
Q: An ascending parcel of air tends to cool by expansion, while a descending parcel of air tends to heat by compression.
Q: Conditionally unstable conditions are produced when the environmental lapse rate is less than both the dry adiabatic rate and moist adiabatic rate.
Q: Unstable conditions are produced when the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic rate.
Q: The moist adiabatic rate (MAR) is less than the dry adiabatic rate (DAR) because of the release of the latent heat of condensation within the rising parcel of air.
Q: The average moist adiabatic rate is 6 C/1000 m (3.3 F/1000 ft), but values actually vary as a function of both temperature and moisture content.
Q: The dry adiabatic rate (DAR) applies to a parcel of air that is saturated.
Q: A parcel of air tends to heat by expansion and cool by compression as it moves vertically in the atmosphere.
Q: An unstable air parcel continues to rise until it reaches an altitude where the surrounding air has a density and temperature similar to its own.
Q: A stable air parcel resists upward displacement.
Q: The cooling of air by emitting infrared energy to space is an example of adiabatically cooling.
Q: The sling psychrometer is an instrument for measuring relative humidity.
Q: The higher the temperature, the lower the maximum specific humidity.
Q: Specific humidity is the mass of water vapor (g) per mass of air (kg).
Q: Vapor pressure is the share of air pressure made up of water-vapor.
Q: The lowest temperature of a typical day also corresponds with the lowest relative humidity.
Q: The dew-point temperature occurs when relative humidity is approximately 80-85%.
Q: Warm air is capable of holding more water vapor than cooler air.
Q: If a parcel of air is cooled and the amount of water vapor remained constant, its relative humidity would rise.
Q: Relative humidity is not affected by changes in temperature or pressure.
Q: Relative humidity is the mass of water vapor per mass of air.
Q: There is an inverse relationship between temperature and relative humidity, e.g. on a typical day, relatively humidity is highest when the temperatures are the lowest.
Q: Air is saturated when the dew-point temperature and the air temperature coincide.
Q: The water vapor content of the air is termed humidity.
Q: Evaporation is a warming process.
Q: The phase change from liquid water to water vapor involves more energy than the phase change from ice to water.
Q: Deposition is the phase change from of a solid (ice) to a gas (water vapor).
Q: Hydrogen bonding between water molecules produces the properties of surface tension and capillarity.
Q: Less than 0.03 percent of Earth's water is stored in the atmosphere.
Q: The phase changes of water provide a significant amount of the energy that powers the general circulation of the atmosphere.
Q: The dominant cooling process on Earth results from condensation.
Q: Below a temperature of 4C (39F), water expands as it continues to cool.
Q: As water cools from room temperature, it contracts in volume and reaches its greatest density at 4C (39F).
Q: The bulk of the evaporation on Earth occurs over the continents.
Q: The fact that water expands as it freezes allows it to break pipes and damage roads.
Q: The technique of allowing water to freeze has been used to quarry rocks.
Q: Which of the following illustrates how humans are using fog as a resource?A) Electronic freeway signs in California's central valley warn of fog hazards.B) Gliders utilize winds from morning glory clouds for recreational purposes.C) Residents in the Atacama Desert in Chile use nets to intercept advection fog.D) Sand beetles harvest moisture from fog in the Namib Desert.
Q: What type of cloud that has a thin wispy appearance, consists of ice crystals, and often precedes a warm front? A) cirrus B) stratocumulus C) cumulonimbus D) altostratus
Q: An individual raindrop consists of approximately ________ moisture droplets. A) 20 B) 2000 C) 1 million D) 1 trillion
Q: Which of the following is incorrect? A) fog = a stratus cloud that is high in elevation off the ground B) cumulus cloud = vertically developed cloud C) precipitation = rain, sleet, snow, hail D) cloud droplets = condensation nuclei and water
Q: A stratus cloud that produces precipitation is known as A) cirrocstratus. B) stratocumulus. C) nimbostratus. D) altostratus.
Q: Which type of cloud would dominate the weather in a region under the ITCZ? A) cirrus B) altostratus C) cumulonimbus D) cirrocumulus
Q: Which of the following cloud type is associated with rain? A) stratocumulus B) cirrostratus C) cirrus D) cumulonimbus E) lenticular
Q: Which of the following is a high altitude cloud? A) stratus B) cirrus C) altocumulus D) cumulus
Q: The condensation process requires A) dew-point temperatures alone. B) condensation nuclei and saturated air. C) moisture droplets. D) condensation nuclei alone.
Q: Sea smoke refers to A) smoke plume caused by undersea volcanoes. B) air pollution over oceans caused by ships. C) fog that moves from a bay inland. D) evaporation fog at sea.
Q: On cool spring mornings, veils of fog can often be seen rising above warm lakes and ponds. This type fog is an example of ________ fog. A) radiation B) convection C) advection D) evaporation
Q: A fog that develops when warm, moist air blows over a cold current (such as the California Current) is an example of ________ fog. A) radiation B) convection C) advection D) evaporation
Q: Cooling of a surface overnight that chills the air layer directly above that surface may form A) an advection fog. B) an upslope fog. C) an evaporation fog. D) a radiation fog.
Q: The prefix nimbo- and the suffix -nimbus means A) that clouds are generally forming. B) clouds that occur in the middle altitudes (2000-6000 m). C) that clouds are generally dissipating. D) that the clouds are producing precipitation.
Q: The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 A) demonstrated that localized circulation can curtail widespread dispersal of aerosols. B) erupted unexpectedly, inhibiting scientists from monitoring its effects. C) had little global affects and was mostly isolated to the Philippines. D) provided a unique opportunity to assess the dynamics of global atmospheric circulation.
Q: In 2006, a wayward oil platform was carried via ocean and wind currents to the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, bringing with it A) 30,000 rubber ducks, turtles, and frogs. B) a massive oil spill. C) 62 non-native marine species. D) much needed food and other supplies.
Q: A(n) ________ is an instrument used to measure wind speed. A) anemometer B) wind vane C) barometer D) sling psychrometer
Q: Describe deep-ocean thermohaline circulation. Discuss the relationship between thermohaline circulation and global climate change.
Q: Compare and contrast the economic and ecological costs of wind and fossil fuel power. Include wind-generating capacity in the United States and Europe.
Q: Describe the formation and characteristics of both surface ocean currents and deep ocean currents.
Q: Describe and explain the formation and effects of the monsoon winds of southern Asia.
Q: Explain the occurrence of land and sea breezes and mountain and valley breezes.
Q: Describe the characteristics of Northern Hemisphere jet streams.
Q: Discuss the formation of Rossby waves.
Q: Describe the formation of ridges and troughs in the upper atmosphere and how they are connected with weather patterns.
Q: Discuss the formation of the ITCZ and the typical weather patterns found within it.
Q: Describe the four main pressure areas of the Northern Hemisphere and discuss their effects on major wind patterns.
Q: Sketch out a general model of the Earth's circulation patterns. Include the intertropical convergence zone, subtropical highs, subpolar lows, polar highs, the trade winds, the westerlies, the polar easterlies, and Hadley cells.
Q: Using an example explain the Coriolis force. Examine and explain the effect of the Coriolis force on wind speed and direction.
Q: Examine in detail the various ways in which wind speed and direction are determined by the pressure gradient force, the Coriolis force, and friction.
Q: List and briefly describe the four forces that shape the speed and direction of winds.
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