Meteorology Study Guide
1.What is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere?
2.What is the lowest layer of the atmosphere?
3.Most important weather phenomena occur in the ____.
4.The tropopause is ____.
5.Earth receives energy from the sun through what method of heat transfer?
6.In general, what is true about places at higher altitudes?
7.Which of the following best describes the temperatures of a city located along a windward coast?
a. warmer summer temperatures than an inland location at the same latitude
b. cooler summer temperatures than an inland location at the same latitude
c. summer temperatures that are very similar to an inland location at the
same latitude
d. winter temperatures that are less mild than an inland location at the same
latitude
8.Which of the following is true?
a. Land heats less rapidly than water.
b. Land heats more rapidly than water.
c. Land reaches higher temperatures than water.
d. both b and c
9.Which of the following best describes temperature variations?
a. Variations are greater over land than over water.
b. Variations are greater over water than over land.
c. Variations are the same over water and land.
d. Variations over water cannot be determined.
10.Isotherms are lines that connect points of equal ____.
11.Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are all examples of ____.
12.Which of the following can change from one state of matter to another at the temperatures and
pressures experienced at Earth’s surface?
a. nitrogen
c. water
b. oxygen
d. carbon dioxide
13.The change of state from a gas to a liquid is called ____.
14.The process of converting a liquid to a gas is known as ____.
15.Air that has reached its water-vapor capacity is said to be ____.
16.What is true about warm, saturated air?
a. It contains less water vapor than cold air.
b. It contains more water vapor than cold air.
c. It contains the same amount of water vapor as cold air.
d. It does not contain any water vapor.
17.The ratio of air’s water-vapor content to its capacity to hold water vapor at that same temperature
is the ____.
18.What is the temperature to which air would have to be cooled to reach saturation?
19.If the water-vapor content of air remains constant, lowering air temperature causes a(n) ____.
20.What are the four processes that lift air?
21.Cool air acts as a barrier over which warmer, less dense air rises, in a process known as ____.
22.Orographic lifting is associated with ____.
23.What is the ultimate energy source for most wind?
24.Which force generates winds?
25.The lines on the weather map that connect points of equal pressure are ____.
26.Variations in air pressure from place to place are the principal cause of ____.
27.The Coriolis effect influences ____.
28.In the Northern Hemisphere, winds associated with a low-pressure system blow ____.
29.In the Northern Hemisphere, winds associated with a high-pressure system blow ____.
30.Air subsides in the center of a(n) ____.
31.High-pressure systems are usually associated with which of the following?
32.The general movement of low-pressure centers across the United States is from ____.
33.If Earth did not rotate, how would air at the equator move?
34.Winds are labeled according to which of the following?
35.An immense body of air characterized by similar properties at any given altitude is known as
a(n) ____.
36.Which two properties characterize an air mass?
37.Maritime air masses form ____.
38.The boundary that separates different air masses is called a(n) ____.
39.On a weather map, which type of front is shown by a line with triangular points on one side?
40.What is a boundary between two different air masses?
41.Along a front, which type of air is always forced upwards?
42. What is the weather like after a cold front passes?