Atmosphere Test Study Guide
1. Which characteristics of the atmosphere make it especially conducive to life?
2. What is the current composition of the Earth’s atmosphere? What events do
scientists think caused the changes in the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 3.5
billion years?
3. What are the Layers of the atmosphere and their defining characteristics?
TroposphereStratosphereMesosphereThermosphere-
4. What are atmospheric conditions like in the troposphere and stratosphere?
5. Describe each of these key properties of the atmosphere that influence weather and
climate:
Air pressure:
Air temperature:
Humidity
5. What causes global air circulation and wind patterns? What is the prevailing wind in
the continental US? What are the other two major circulations and where are they
located?
6. What is weather? What is climate?
7. What are the 6 types of climates and what are their characteristics (hint: Koppen
system: tropical, mild, dry, etc.)?
8. What is global warming? What factors affect the temperature at or near the Earth’s
surface?
9. List the causes and characteristics of:
Thunderstorms: Low pressure systems.
Tornadoes:
Hurricanes: Low pressure systems. Warm moist air and warm water below.
10. Describe the different types of clouds.
Cumulus
Alto
Stratus
Cirrus
11. What causes the seasons?
The Earth’s axis tilted, and the revolution changes the seasons.
12. Explain the Coriolis Effect.
13. What causes wind?
14. What are the five major air masses, what are their characteristics, and where do
they form?
Maritime Tropical (mT)
Continental Tropical (cT)
Continental Polar (cP)
Maritime Polar (mP)
Continental Arctic
15. What is the difference between a warm and a cold front?
Warm fronts have a lower pressure and a cold front has higher pressure
16. What are the other two types of fronts? And what do their symbols look like?
Stationary Front and Occluded Front
Stationary Fronts symbols are Red and Blue, going up and down with both cold and
warm fronts in different directions.
Occluded Front symbols are purple, going up with both cold and warm fronts
17. Define:
Albedo: how reflective a material
Convection: the transfer of thermal energy.
Conduction: direct contact
Radiation: energy that moves in waves or photons
18. Which layer of the atmosphere is the ozone located? What does the ozone layer
do? What were we doing to destroy the ozone layer?
19. What do we use to measure pressure? What are isobars?
We use a barometer to measure air pressure. They are equal lines of pressure
20. How do you know you reached the dew point?
You’ll see clouds
21. As you increase your elevation what happens to pressure, density, and
temperature?
The temperature decreases, the pressure decreases, and the density decreases.
22. What does falling air pressure mean? What weather does it bring?
23.
Does warm or cold air hold more water?
Warm air
24.
What are the two types of scales used to measure tornadoes and hurricanes? And
what are their ranges?
The Fujita Scale, 1-5 scale. Sapphere Simpsoen Scale, 1-5 scale
25.
What is El Nino and where does it impact?
A warm current.
26.
What are Heat Islands and Microclimate?
Heat islands are small cities that