Q&A Hero

Q: The normal range for air pressure at sea level is A) 500 to 1000 mb. B) 100 to 650 mb. C) 980-1050 mb. D) 1060-2010 mb.

Q: Normal sea level pressure has a value of A) 1013.2 millibars. B) 28.50 inches of lead. C) 32.01 millibars of mercury. D) 500 mb.

Q: Evangelista Torricelli, a pupil of Galileo, determined A) atmospheric pressure is uniform in the troposphere. B) winds flow from airs of high to low pressure. C) large-scale circulations of winds. D) air pressure varied with weather conditions.

Q: The horizontal motion of air relative to Earth's surface is A) barometric pressure. B) wind. C) convection flow. D) a result of equalized pressure across the surface.

Q: Discuss several ways in which global temperatures affects humans and how humans affect global temperatures.

Q: Would residents of Miami or San Francisco be more likely to pay attention to the heat index? Why?

Q: How does wind affect the wind-chill factor and the heat index?

Q: What are the various factors that can affect the apparent temperature?

Q: Compare and contrast the wind-chill factor and the heat index.

Q: Compare and contrast Northern and Southern temperature ranges. Also, compare tropical and midlatitude temperature ranges.

Q: Where should you move to if you wanted to live an a region with the greatest annual range of temperatures? If you changed your mind and wanted to live in the region with the lowest annual temperature range where should you go? What are the qualities that create each of these situations?

Q: Why do continental locations usually have greater extremes of temperature than do maritime locations at the same latitude?

Q: Compare, contrast, and explain maritime and continental conditions.

Q: How do ocean currents affect both water and air temperatures? Use the Humboldt Current and Gulf Stream as examples.

Q: Why is the higher specific heat of water as compared to rock or soil an important factor in determining temperature characteristics and changes?

Q: Distinguish between temperature and heat. Then describe the important characteristics of the three main temperature scales.

Q: Discuss how latitude, altitude/elevation, cloud cover, and land-water heating differences can influence global temperature patterns.

Q: There is little scientific agreement about long-term warming trends.

Q: Climate change has led to the accelerating loss of glaciers.

Q: Hypothermia occurs when a person has overheated to the point where the body is unable to cool itself.

Q: There is as yet no scientific consensus concerning the idea that Earth is warming as a result of human activities.

Q: Scientists have determined that an increase of global temperatures by a single degree of Celsius will have little effect.

Q: The highest temperatures on Earth are associated with the intense heating in subtropical deserts.

Q: Strong winds and low humidity accompanying high temperatures result in higher heat index than low winds and high humidity.

Q: Surface temperature anomalies maps from the past four decades show an overall positive warming trend.

Q: The last 15 years feature the warmest years in the climate record.

Q: The largest average annual temperature ranges occur at subpolar locations within the continental of North America and Asia.

Q: In July, the hottest places on Earth occur in Southern Hemisphere subtropical regions.

Q: The Southern Hemisphere is dominated by maritime influences, whereas the Northern Hemisphere is dominated by continentality.

Q: Continentality results in a greater range between maximum and minimum daily and yearly temperatures.

Q: Most evaporation occurs over large land masses influenced by continentality.

Q: Evaporation is a cooling process.

Q: Because water has a higher specific heat than land, it cools more quickly.

Q: Average air temperatures at higher elevations are generally higher, with smaller differences between areas of direct sunlight and shadow.

Q: The intensity of solar radiation decreases away from the equator and poleward.

Q: The subsolar point migrates annually between 47 N and 47 S latitude.

Q: Maritime locales tend to have much larger daily and annual temperature ranges than areas in the interior of continents.

Q: Areas expensing continentality, such as Verkhoyansk, Russia, can have exceptionally large annual temperature ranges (e.g. a range of 105 C (189 F)).

Q: In winter, isotherms over the interior of Northern Hemisphere continents trend equatorward.

Q: The climate of Iceland, located at 65 N, is dictated mostly by its latitudinal position just below the Arctic Circle.

Q: Ocean temperatures are typically recorded at the deepest points in the ocean.

Q: The moving of currents results in the mixing of cooler and warmer waters.

Q: Ocean currents along midlatitude west coasts, even near deserts, are cool.

Q: Maritime influences tend to decrease both daily and monthly temperature ranges.

Q: You would expect a tropical island to have a high degree of continentality.

Q: If you went for a walk on a hot beach, you could cool your feet off substantially by digging them into the sand.

Q: Clouds moderate temperatures producing lower daily maximums and higher nightly minimums.

Q: Elevation and altitude are essentially the same thing.

Q: Air pressure decreases with increased elevation.

Q: The normal lapse rate of temperature change is 6.4C/1000 m (3.5/1000 ft).

Q: At low latitudes, permanent snow fields and glaciers are virtually non-existent, even in mountainous areas.

Q: Snow line elevation increases with increasing latitude.

Q: Temperatures are usually quite uniform and unchanging with altitude.

Q: Annual mean temperatures are rarely taken and have little utility to scientists.

Q: Monthly mean temperatures are made by taking the average of the highest and lowest temperatures of the month.

Q: Daily mean temperature is factored in one of two ways: either the average of hourly temperature readings taken over a 24-hour day or the average of the daily minimum-maximum reading.

Q: Ice has only one melting point, but water has many freezing points depending on the purity and volume of water and certain atmospheric conditions.

Q: Water has more than one freezing point.

Q: Air temperature is an indication of the average kinetic energy of individual molecules within the atmosphere.

Q: Official temperature measurements are made in dark-colored, sealed boxes placed at ground-level in direct sunlight.

Q: Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the gas, liquid, or solid molecules.

Q: The flow of temperature into an object raises its heat.

Q: Present carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher now than any time in the last 800,000 years.

Q: On cold, windy days, the air feels cooler due to evaporative heat loss from skin.

Q: To date, the warmest summer on record in the U.S. occurred inA) 1974.B) 1838.C) 2012D) 2001.

Q: Which of the following is not true about heat stress? A) Heat stress poses little threat to human health. B) Heat stress can lead to potentially life-threatening conditions. C) Heat stress can results in cramps, exhaustion, and even heat stroke. D) The National Weather Service reports a heat index to gauge the human body's probable reaction to the combined effects of temperature and relative humidity.

Q: Which of the following is true regarding climate change? A) Climates have varied over the last 2 millions years and are, in essence, always changing. B) Few professional scientific organizations support actions to mitigate climate change. C) There is no scientific consensus on human-forced climate patterns. D) The current witnessed climatic changes are within this natural climatic variability.

Q: According to the U.S. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which of the following is not a predicted outcome for each Celsius degree increase in global temperature? A) 5% to 15% increase in crop yields (as currently grown) B) 3% to 10% increase in rainfall during heaviest precipitation events C) 25% decrease in Arctic summer sea ice D) 200% to 400% increase in area burned by wildfire

Q: Based on the maps, which of the following is true? A) The 1970s had the greatest degree of temperature anomalies. B) The greatest temperature anomalies of the 1980s accorded in the North Atlantic Ocean. C) There were no significant temperature anomalies in the 1990s. D) The 2000s showed widespread temperature anomalies worldwide.

Q: Global average air temperatures worldwide A) have appeared to stabilize after a century of increase. B) are at present demonstrating no apparent trend one way or another. C) are being influenced by human-induced changes in the greenhouse effect. D) are generally lower than 20 years ago.

Q: Global temperatures are A) rising at a rate of 0.17 C (0.3 F ) per decade. B) higher than any time in the last 800,000 years. C) increasing at a decreasing rate. D) increasing by 3% per year.

Q: As reported by the National Weather Service, the heat index A) relates temperature and relative humidity. B) combines air pressure and temperature in a comfort index. C) gives you an indication of the effect of wind on the skin. D) is generally reported during critical winter months.

Q: ________ is a prolonged period of abnormally high temperatures, usually in association with humid weather. A) A temperature anomaly B) Sensible heat C) Apparent temperature D) A heat wave

Q: Which is true for global annual temperature ranges? A) The lowest ranges occur over continental interiors in the Northern Hemisphere. B) The greatest ranges occur in the subtropics over the oceans. C) The greatest ranges occur over the continental masses in the Southern Hemisphere. D) The greatest ranges occur in east central Siberia in Russia.

Q: Which of the following is true? A) Northern Hemisphere temperatures are more strongly dominated by continentality than are Southern Hemisphere temperatures. B) Southern Hemisphere temperatures are more strongly dominated by continentality than are Northern Hemisphere temperatures. C) The Northern and Southern hemispheres are dominated equally by maritime influences. D) The Northern and Southern hemispheres are dominated equally by continentality.

Q: In January, the thermal equator A) trends southward into the interior of South America and Africa. B) trends northward over all ocean basins. C) peaks in the interior of Eurasia. D) is not influenced by continentality.

Q: San Francisco, CA and Wichita, KS are located at approximately the same latitude. Which of the following is true? A) San Francisco experiences several months with average temperatures below the freezing point. B) Annual temperature ranges in Wichita are greater than those in San Francisco. C) Summer temperatures in San Francisco far exceed those of Wichita. D) Minimum average temperatures in Wichita are consistently lowers than those in San Francisco. E) On average, December temperatures in San Francisco tend to be lower than those in Wichita.

Q: If the Gulf Stream shifted away from Iceland and England, winter temperatures in these locations would A) become cooler, thereby decreasing the average winter temperature. B) become warmer, thereby increasing the average winter temperature. C) remain the same. D) It is impossible to say what would happen to the winter temperatures.

Q: The region with the highest average ocean temperatures in the world are A) in the Western Pacific Warm Pool in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. B) along the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic. C) east of the Humboldt Current long South America's Pacific Coast. D) near the Benguela Current in the South Atlantic.

Q: Both City A and City B are located at the same latitude and the same amount of cloud cover. City A has a mean annual temperature of 27C and a temperature range of 22C. City B has a mean annual temperature of 26C and a temperature range of 14C. Which city is located in the interior of the continent? A) City A B) City B C) Both City A and B are located in the interior D) Neither City A or B are located in the interior