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SIO35: Water
Study Questions for Final 2013
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is thermohaline circulation and why is it an important regulator of earth temperature? | Three-dimensional pattern of ocean circulation driven by wind, heat, and salinity. Winds transport warm tropical surface water in the Atlantic towards the north where it cools, becomes dense, and then sinks back into the ocean to begin the cycle again. |
| What causes the trade winds, often referred to as the Easterlies? | Coriolis effect or the earth's rotation and deflection of air to the west, right in northern hemisphere or left in the southern hemisphere and Hadley cell circulation which is warm air rising and cool air descending or taking place of the rising warm air. |
| What is the theory of plate tectonics? | The earth's crust is split into separate plates like a jigsaw puzzle. There are 8 major plates that are always moving very slowly since they are floating on a semi-molten layer of rock. |
| Name the three types of plate boundaries. | Divergent plates are pulled apart from each other. Convergent plates are compressed together. Transform plates slide past each other vertically. |
| What is an artesian well? | A well drilled through a layer of rock in the ground that receives water from a higher altitude so there is pressure to force the water to flow upward. |
| Name two problems associated with pumping out groundwater? | River waters have been over-used and polluted. Water management agencies miscalculate how much usable water there is in rivers and artesian wells. |
| Describe the orographic effect. | An air mass comes to a mountain range and is forced upward, causing any moisture to cool and form precipitation in the forms of rain or snow. |
| What is the rain shadow effect? | An air mass rises up the windward side of a mountain range, it has its moisture squeezed out and reduces the chance of the land having rain or snow. |
| Describe the 3 atmospheric circulation cells. | Hadley = convection cell in which air rises at the equator and sinks at medium latitudes Polar = atmospheric circulation in which air subsides at the poles and moves towards the equator Ferrell = distributes thermal energy of the surface of Earth |
| What is Ekman transport? Describe the surface water transport direction and total water transport direction in reference to the wind direction. Explain how Ekman transport could cause coastal upwelling. | Natural process by which wind causes movement of water near the ocean surface. Direction of transport is dependent on the hemisphere: northern hemisphere is 90 degrees to the right while the southern hemisphere is 90 degrees to the left. |
| Explain how Ekman transport could cause coastal upwelling. | Coastal upwelling occurs when Ekman transport moves surface waters away from the coast; surface waters are replaced by water that wells up from below. |
| What are ocean gyres and how do they form? | Any large system of rotating ocean currents mostly involved with large wind movements. The coriolis effect form them since it is the twisting motion given to moving fluids as a result of the rotation of the Earth. |
| What is El Nino? Explain it in terms of atmospheric and oceanic circulation. | El Nino is caused by the relaxing of the trade winds, which in turn cause warm water carried by trade winds to slug back east towards Central/South America. It causes warm ocean temperatures, increased cloudiness, and weak trade winds. |
| What percentage does groundwater make up of usable fresh water? | Groundwater makes up 0.575% of fresh water. |
| What is fusion and what is required for fusion to occur? | Fusion is the formation of heavier elements from lighter elements. |
| Discuss fusion in terms of atomic number and weight - use the fusion of hydrogen to helium as an example | 4 Hydrogens, which have the atomic weight of 1, fuse to make Helium, which has the atomic weight of 4. During fusion, 2 pairs of electrons and positrons are emitted. |
| What is the main difference between elemental abundance in the solar system versus the elemental abundance in the Earth system? | Universe = hydrogen and helium Earth = iron and oxygen |
| Explain the Big Bang theory. | The universe was created by a primeval atom's explosion. From that explosion, the expansion of the universe began in a state of enormous density, pressure, and temperature. |
| What data supports the Big Bang hypothesis? | Red shift of galaxies indicates that they are moving away from one another at high speed and the space between them is still increasing. Cosmic microwave background radiation shows that there is low-level background radiation throughout the universe. |
| Why are scientists interested in finding water on other planets? | Water is an essential component to all life on Earth. If scientists are able to find liquid water on other planets, then life will sustain on planets other than Earth. |
| Name the eight planets and discussion their composition. | Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The first four planets are stony while the last four are gassy. |
| What formed the Earth's magnetic field? Why is it important for early Earth history? | Electrical current produced by the coupling of convective effects and rotation in the spinning liquid metallic outer core of iron and nickel. It protects the earth from big outbursts of radiation from solar flares and winds. |
| Discuss the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere. What are the four most common gases in the early atmosphere? | Early atmosphere was blown away by solar winds. Volcanic activity led to water vapor. Water vapor led to precipitation forming liquid water. O2 added to atmosphere by plant life. Ammonia, water vapor, methane, and hydrogen. |
| Name two lines of evidence for water on Mars. | Ridges of the surface of Mars were thought to have had liquid water running from beneath the surface which would have filled cracks with deposited minerals. The polar caps of Mars are evidence that water once ran through Mars. |
| Discuss ionic versus covalent bonds. Give an example of each. | Ionic = chemical bond in which one atom loses an electron to form a positive ion and the other atom gains an electron to form a negative ion; salt Covalent = chemical bond that involves sharing a pair of electrons between atoms in a molecule; water |
| What is a hydrogen bond? | Chemical bond consisting of hydrogen atom between two electronegative atoms with one side a covalent bond and the other being an ionic bond. |
| How does a hydrogen bond compare to other types of bonds in terms of relative strength? | They are weak in relative strength which makes it easy for water to change from solid to liquid to gas in relatively fast intervals. |
| Describe the difference in composition for the Earth's crust, mantle, and core. | Crust = solid rock Mantle = "liquid" rock due to high heat and pressure Core = completely molten rock that stays in this state due to constant high pressure |
| What is latent heat? How is it different from sensible heat? | Latent = heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or liquid into a vapor without change in temperature Sensible = same but with a change in temperature of a substance |
| Discuss the density of water in terms of temperature - how is water unique? | Hot water is less dense and will float on room-temperature water will cold water is denser and will sink in room-temperature water. |
| Discuss the water cycle. | Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, percolation, and around again. |
| Describe how tectonic deformation affects the circulation. | Tectonic deformation causes rain shadows and monsoons since it has to do with mountains. It also splits and closes oceans. |
| Discuss the major types of rivers and what they tell you about climate. | Meandering stream = dense vegetation and constant flow of water; more precipitation in the area Braided stream = sparse vegetation and variable flow of water; less precipitation in the area |
| What drives the atmospheric circulation cells? | Seasonal shifts in the sun's position and changes in the temperature of oceans drive the cells. |
| What is Pacific Decadal Oscillation? | Pattern of climate variation that changes phase every few decades and affects weather patterns in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Pacific Islands; detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean |
| How does PDO impact climate? | When the PDO is positive, the west Pacific becomes cool while when the the PDO is negative, the west Pacific becomes hot. |
| How does PDO impact rainfall in the western United States? | |
| What is albedo and how does it affect sea ice and glaciers? | The proportion of the radiation that is reflected off a surface. Cooling of the earth's surface tends to increase ice cover and the albedo, reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed and leading to more cooling. This works the opposite way with warming |
| What is ocean acidification? Why is it a concern? | Ocean acidification is the decrease in ocean pH due to higher levels of dissolved carbon dioxide. Acidification affects the ocean's organisms and ecosystems, such as coral reefs that are eroded due to the lack of calcium carbonate and the increase of CO2. |
| What is required to grow an ice sheet? | Ice sheets are able to grow if snow accumulation happens more often and in greater quantities than snow melting and evaporation. |
| Describe two major ways the Sierra snowpack affects river discharge. | |
| What is the thermocline? How is it different from the mixed layer? | A layer in the ocean in which temperature changes rapidly with depth. A mixed layer is a top layer of the ocean in which wind stir it up, creating uniform temperature and salinity. |
| What causes lakes to overturn at high latitudes? Why is lake overturn important? | Lakes at higher latitude tend to be cooler because of lower air temperature despite being exposed to more solar radiation. In order for the lake to have uniform temperature, spring and fall overturns allow the wind to mix the surface and below waters. |
| What processes control lake clarity? | |
| What causes tides? Explain the difference between spring and neap tides. | Gravitational and centrifugal forces in relation to the moon and the earth causes tides. Spring tides are prominent during new and full moons while neap tides are prominent in the quarter phases of the mon. |
| List the three different types of tides and explain how they are defined. | Diurnal, semidiurnal, and mixed. Tides are classified by the number of high tides per day, the relative heights of successive high tides, and the length of time between equivalent high or low tides. |
| What causes mixed semi-diurnal tides? | Mixed semidiurnal tides happen if the high and low tides differ in height. What causes tides in general is the fact that water cannot move freely around the globe since large continents block their paths. |
| List three processes that control sea level fluctuations and explain how the processes work. | Thermal expansion, the melting of glaciers and ice caps, and the loss of ice from big ice sheets, like Greenland and Antarctica. Water expands with heat and glaciers take longer to form then melt, causing an increase in sea level. |
| What is the Little Ice Age? List three mechanisms that cause climatic cooling. | A comparatively cold period occurring between major glacial periods. |
| What is the difference between climate and weather? | Weather pertains to temperature and atmosphere conditions hour by hour and day by day over a specific location. Climate is the same concept except that it deals with average weather over a longer period of time. |
| How does urbanization affect runoff? Sketch the relation between precipitation and runoff for an urban area versus a rural area through time. | |
| What are the urban sources of pollution? | |
| What is the medieval warm period? What may have caused it? | |
| Can volcanic eruptions affect climate? How? | |
| Describe how snow packs might affect river discharge? | |
| Sketch the annual river discharge for a river affected by El Nino versus a river affected by the snow pack - how are they different? | |
| Why is the Colorado River discharge low for its drainage area? | |
| List two problems San Diego is facing in regards to their water supply from the Colorado River. | |
| Why is California terms a "Virtual Watershed"? | |
| Explain the difference between the areas serviced by the three main water districts (Central Valley Project, State Water Project, and the Colorado River Delivery Systems). | |
| Why is California concerned about the Salton Sea? | |
| Discuss the two alternative sources of water to help meet future demands. | |
| Why is there such a debate over dams? Discuss two pros and cons for building dams. | |
| Discuss the pros and cons of desalination. | |
| Name two global hotspots for water and explain the problem for each. | |
| List four ways you could help conserve water and estimate the amount of water that could be conserved. |
Created by:
IvyHang94
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