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Midterm 1 1. The earth was formed 4. 5billion yrs ago 2. Atmosphere formed primarily by? Degassing of the earth’s mantle 3. Which three gases constitute most of the atmosphere near earths’ surface? Nitrogen, oxygen and argon 4. Where does the atmosphere’s oxygen come from? Photosynthesis 5. Greenhouse gases: Absorbs long wavelength radiation from the earths’ surface 6. What are the most important greenhouse gases? Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane 7. Climate change Long term imbalance between incoming and outgoing radiation 8. The moisture content of the atmosphere Increases sharply with temperature . Why does anthropogenic CO2 matter for climate? It absorbs long wave radiation and has a long residence time in the atmosphere 10. Wiens’ law states that: Hot objects radiate at short wavelengths 11. Stenfan-boltaman’s law states that a physical body above the temperature of 0 K emits an energy flux whose intensity: As the fourth power of temperature. 12. Which of the following statements is true The earth received shortwave radiation from the sun, emits longwave radiation. 13. The planetary albedo is defined as The fraction of solar radiation reflected by the earth. 14.
Why are the poles colder than the equator? C. because of beam spreading 15. As the earth revolves around the sun, it experience seasons. Why? C. the earth’s axis is tilted. 16. When are seasonal contrasts the greatest? D. Solstices. 17. “The greenhouse effect” is the popular term for : C. The trapping of earth’s outgoing longwave radiation due to greenhouse gases 18. Which planet presents us with a dramatic example of “Runaway green house effect? ” D. Venus 19. Heat capacity or specific heat refers to B. The quantity of energy required to raise 1 k of a substance’s temperature by 1K 20.
What is the main reason why the ocean is able to store so much heat? B. its specific heat is 4 times that of dry air 21. In the climate system, thermal energy is defined as the sum of: C. Latent and sensible energies 22. In the atmosphere, pressure decreases sharply with height. Why? A. Because hydrostatic balance states that the higher one goes, the less air there is above; hence the less pressure is felt 23. Why does air cool when it rises? C. the loss of pressure with altitude causes adiabatic cooling 24 When do clouds from? A. when a large amount of watervapor is addes to an airparce, B. hen adiabatic cooling lowers the saturation vapor pressure to the point where air parcel become saturate C. when buoyant air reaches the lifiting condenstation level D. All of the above 25 The pressure gradient forces push air C. from regions of high pressure of regions of low pressure 26. Friction acts to: A. Slow down atmospheric motion 27. In the northern hemisphere, the Coriolis force: D. Deviates air parcels to the right 28. The buoyancy force was a fundamental insight due to: D. Archimedes. 29. Buoyancy is responsible for which fundamental atmospheric motion? D. Convection 30. Geostrophy means a balance between:
C. Coriolis force and pressure gradient force 31. Geostrphic balance occurs widely in the atmosphere and oceans away from boundaries. Its consequence is that air tends to: C. Circle around regions of high or low pressure 32. Atmospheric convection is responsible for: A. hunderstorms B thurricanes C the intertropical convergence zone D All of the above 33. Why drives the general circulation of the atmosphere? B. Radiation imbalance between the tropics and the high latitude 34. On average, the Hadley cell is best described by: A. Ascending motion near equator: descending motion near 30 degrees: surface easterlies. 5Given enough specific humidity, rain usually occurs as a result of: B. Upward motion (ascent) 36. Droughts are directly caused by: (should be be descending) A. adiabatic decompression B. anomalous evaporation C. land use D. None of the above 37. Weather systems are associated with traveling: A. low pressure regions 38. Midlatitdue cyclones are close tied to which type of wave? A. planetary (rossy) waves 39 Tropical cyclones are storm systems powered by : Atlantic(cyclones), Pacific(typhoons) C. latent heat extracted from the upper ocean 40. In the Pacific Ocean, tropical cyclones are called: C. typhoons 41.
Why are there no tropical cyclones near the equator? B. increase tropical sea-surface temperature as a response to co2 emissions. 41. Why are there no tropical cyclones near the equator? C. coriolis effect is zero at the equator. 43. Tropical cyclones are important for climate because they: B. Transfer moisture and heat from the lower atmosphere to the upper atmosphere. 44. What was the most damaging aspect of Hurricane Katrina? C. A large storm surge. 45. What is the average economic cost of hurricanes over the US? C. $3. 5 billion/year 46. Why are droughts so damaging to society? C. they can persist for many years on end. 7. What made the Dust Bowl droughts such an environmental and social disaster? A. Very severe drought conditions B. land mismanagement C. lack of timely political response E. all of the above 48. Poleward heat transport in the atmosphere is accomplished by: A. the Hadley cell B. tropical cyclones C. midlatitudecyclones, E. all of the above 49. Without poleward heat transport, the equator-to-pole temperature gradient would be: B. enhanced 50. Thinking of the rotating tank experiment you saw in the lab, do barocclince eddies such as midlatitude cyclones weather system s B. a meridional temperature gradient and rotation