Homework Questions #1: Answers
1. What are the two most crucial constituents of the atmosphere in regard to
weather and climate?
Water vapor and Carbon dioxide
2. How are human beings disrupting the delicate balance of the carbon dioxide
cycle?
By rapidly emitting CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels that took millions of
years to store
3. What is the critical function of ozone in regard to maintaining life on earth?
Ozone absorbs damaging incoming ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun
4. Weather is _______the condition of the atmosphere at any point in time__________.
5. Climate is ______________weather “averaged” over time ___________________
or, essentially, _____the characteristic (typical) weather of a given region _______.
6. What about a particular places’ location is the most important factor in
determining its climate?
Latitude
7. a) What is the band of rain showers and thunderstorms in the region of maximal
solar heating near the equator called?
Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
b) Is the air rising or sinking in this region?
Rising
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8. a) What type of semi-permanent subtropical weather systems, are located to the
north and south of this band?
Subtropical High Pressure Systems
b) Is the air rising or sinking in these areas?
Sinking
9. Why do ocean temperatures change less quickly than continental temperatures?
1. Water has a greater “heat capacity” (can absorb more heat without a rise in
temperature due to its ability to mix heat down to greater depths)
2. Water has a greater “specific heat” (innate quality of the substance - it requires
more energy to raise the temperature of water compared with solid ground)
10. What effect does orography (terrain) have on climate?
1. Large amounts of annual precipitation fall on mountain range upslope surfaces
(upwind) due to upward motion of air
2. Rain shadows with very little annual precipitation occur downwind of mountain
ranges due to downward motion of air
11. a) As the temperature of a substance rises, does the amount of radiation it emits
increase or decrease?
Increase
b) Does the wavelength increase or decrease?
Decrease
12. ________Visible_________is the predominant electromagnetic (EM) radiation
wave type emitted by the sun and __________infrared_________ is the
predominant electromagnetic (EM) radiation wave type emitted by the earth?
13. a) Albedo is a measure of the percentage of EM radiation that is
_____reflected_________by a substance.
b) What is the substance (covers the ground at high latitudes) that has the
highest albedo?
Snow
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14. When a substance absorbs EM radiation, what happens to the temperature of
that substance?
It increases
15. The “greenhouse effect” occurs because greenhouse gases do not absorb
_________visible light (radiation)__________ from the sun but do absorb
_________infrared radiation______________ emitted by the earth.
16. Greenhouse gases, in effect, behave like the ________panes of glass_________in
a greenhouse, permitting sunlight to pass through and ___heat the earth________
but then absorbing that warmth as it tries to____escape back out into space____.
17. What are the two most important greenhouse gases?
Water vapor and carbon dioxide
18. a) Which of these gases is playing a larger role in our ongoing global climate
change (warming)?
Carbon dioxide
b) Why?
Because its concentration in the atmosphere, and thus its greenhouse effect, is
increasing (fossil fuel emissions). Water vapor concentrations have not changed
significantly
19. According to the IPCC, “warming of earth’s climate system is
_______unequivocal_________”
20. According to the IPCC, “Most of the observed increase in globally-averaged
temperatures is very likely ( > 95% probability) due to _____the observed
increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations________________”.
21. Global warming is ______less_______ over oceans than continents.
and greater at ___high__ latitudes.
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22. Climate models project that there will be decreased precipitation in what regions
that already have less precipitation than many areas (and problems with
drought as well)?
Subtropical high pressure systems
23. What is the definition of temperature?
The measure of the average kinetic energy (speed of the molecules) of a substance
24. Atmospheric pressure is the _______weight of the column of air ______
above you.
25. a) What is the name of the atmospheric layer where all weather occurs?
Troposphere
b) Does temperature increase or decrease as you go up in this layer?
Decrease
c) Does atmospheric pressure increase or decrease as you go up in this layer?
Decrease
26. a) What is the name of the layer above the “weather” layer?
Stratosphere
b) Does temperature increase or decrease as you go up in this layer? Why?
Increases due to the presence of ozone, which absorbs ultraviolet radiation from
the sun
c) Does atmospheric pressure increase or decrease as you go up in this layer?
Decrease
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27. What is the transition between the “weather” layer and the layer above called?
Tropopause
28. Which is lighter (less dense) moist air or dry air?
Moist air
29. Which is lighter (less dense) warm air or cold air?
Warm air
30. Wind direction is the direction_____from which the wind is blowing________.
31. Rawinsondes (“weather baloons”) provide information on ____the vertical
structure of the atmosphere (troposphere and stratosphere________________ for
weather analysis and computer modeling for weather forecasting.
32. Radar is utilized to identify _____the location and intensity of precipitation______.
33. Doppler radar is useful for identifying ___rotating thunderstorms and tornadoes__.
34. a) What type of satellite is only useful during the day?
Visible satellite
b) Which type of satellite essentially measures the temperature of visualized
objects and can be used at all times, day and night?
Infrared satellite
35. Lines (contours) of equal pressure drawn on a weather map are called
______isobars_________.
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