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Weather Ch. 5 & 16
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Long-term cycle: Eccentricity (E) | 100,000 year cycle; change in earths elliptical orbit |
| E=0, E=.017, E=.058 | Circular orbit, current (7% difference in solar energy), max (23% difference between aphelion and perihelion) |
| E will remain ( ) for the next 50,000 years | Low |
| More elliptical= ( ), less elliptical= ( ) | Ice age, interglacial |
| Long-term cycle: Obliquity | 41,000 year cycle; change in earths tilt |
| Tilt=23.45˚, tilt=24.5˚, tilt=22˚ | Current, max, min |
| ( ) tilt will occur in under 15,000 years | Minimum |
| Long-term cycle: Precession | 23,000 year cycle; change in time of year perihelion and aphelion occur. |
| Aphelion=July, Perihelion=Jan; Aphelion=Jan, Perihelion=July | Current (warmer); in 11,000 years (cooler) |
| Earth will be ( ) 10k-15k years from now due to the changes in these long-term cycles | Cooler |
| These cycles only change earths temperature .1˚F to .2˚F every ( ) years | 100 |
| In the last 100 years earth has warmed nearly ( )˚F | 2 |
| Can long-term or short-term natural cycles explain this warming trend? | No |
| Short-term cycle: Sunspots | 11 year cycle; # of sunspots changes with each cycle |
| More sunspots= ( ), less sunspots= ( ) | Warmer; cooler |
| Short-term cycle: Ocean currents | 1) Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)- 40-80 years; cool phase=cooler temps; warm phase=warmer temps 2) El Nino/La Nina-1-2 year phase; Nino=warmer temps; Nina=cooler temps |
| Short-term cycle: Weather Patterns | More clouds=cooler, less clouds=warmer |
| Short-term cycles include: | Sunspots, ocean currents, weather patterns and volcanic eruptions |
| Long-term cycles include: | Eccentricity, obliquity, and precession |
| Since 2000 short-term cycles suggest earth should be ( ) yet temps continue to ( ) | Cooler; rise |
| Water molecule (H2O) | Can exist in solid, liquid and vapor form on earth |
| 10% of earth is covered by ( ) | Ice |
| Over 70% of earth is covered by ( ) | Liquid water |
| Water vapor ranges from ( )% in the ATM | 0-4 |
| Hydrological cycle | Water that evaporates off the ocean eventually returns |
| ( )% of H2Ov in the ATM is from the ocean | 85 |
| ( )% of H2Ov in the ATM is from land | 15 |
| Transpiration | Evaporation from plants and trees |
| Over ( )% of all precipitation falls back into the ocean | 50 |
| H2Ov remains in the ATM an average of ( ) days | 7-10 |
| CO2 remains in the ATM an average of ( ) days | 100 |
| The ATM has a limit for ( ) in the ATM | H2Ov |
| ( ) air can hold more H2Ov, while ( ) air holds less H2Ov before its saturated | Warmer; cold |
| Saturation | The max amount of H2Ov the air can hold at a given temp |
| When the air is saturated | Evaporation rates=condensation rates, no net evaporation, clouds form |
| 2 things to measure regarding H2Ov | H2Ov content and saturation point |
| Moisture variables: | Humidity, absolute humidity, specific humidity, mixing ratio, relative humidity, vapor pressure, saturated vapor pressure, dew point temp, wet bulb temp, heat index temp |
| Humidity | A general way to specify about H2Ov in the ATM |
| Absolute humidity | =mass of H2Ov/volume of air; depends on volume; not used in weather |
| Specific humidity | =mass of H2Ov/total mass of air; measures H2Ov content; units g/kg; difficult to measure |
| Mixing ratio (MR) | =mass of H2Ov/mass of dry air; measures H2Ov content; units g/kg; difficult to measure |
| Relative humidity (RH) | A ratio that compares the amount of H2Ov in the air to the amount of H2Ov the air can hold. RH=(H2Ov content/H2Ov capacity)•100%; ranges from 0-100%; units in % |
| RH measures | How close the air is to the saturation point |
| RH=100% | Air is saturated, no net evaporation, evaporation rates=condensation rates, difficult to measure |
| Low RH= | |
| Vapor pressure (VP) | The force exerted by H2Ov in the air; measures H2Ov content; units in millibars (mb) |
| N2 78%=>780mb so H2Ov 1%=> | 10mb VP |
| H2Ov ranges from 0-4% so VP ranges from ( )mb | 0-40 |
| Saturated vapor pressure (SVP) | The amount of force the H2Ov would exert if the air was saturated; measures H2Ov capacity; units in mb; based on temp |
| RH=VP/( )•100% | SVP |
| 2 things to measure regarding moisture | H2Ov content (DP) and saturation point (RH) |
| Dew Point Temperature | The temp the air would need to be for saturation to occur; units in temp; measures H2Ov content |
| When the air temperature=DP the RH=?% | 100 |
| When the air temp and DP are far apart in value, the RH is ( ) | Low |
| Increase in DP = ( ) in H2Ov content; decrease in DP = ( ) in H2Ov content | Increase; decrease |
| The temperature can't drop below ( ) so ( ) can't rise above temperature | DP |
| Wet bulb temperature | The coldest you can get the air by evaporation; use to find DP and RH |
| Wet bulb depression= | Dry bulb (air temp) - wet bulb |
| Heat index temperature | How hot the air feels due to high temp and RH |
| Ground saturation | Occurs on long and clear nights with light wind and a temp inversion; the ground temp has to cool to the DP temp of the air |
| 3 types of ground saturation | Dew, frost, frozen dew |
| Ground saturation: Dew | When liquid drops from on a surface where the temp=DP and is >32˚F |
| Ground saturation: Frost | When ice crystals form on a surface where the temp= DP and is ≤ 32˚F |
| Ground saturation: Frozen dew | When liquid drops freeze on a surface 1st temp=DP>32˚F (condensation) and 2nd temp=DP ≤ 32˚F (freezing) |
| For clouds to form you need 2 factors: | RH=100%; condensation nuclei (CN) |
| Condensation nuclei | Particles that serve as a place for H2Ov to condense |
| Types of CN | Dust, smoke, soot, salt, pollution, bacteria, ash, pollen |
| Categories of CN | Hygroscopic, hydrophobic, neutral |
| CN: Hygroscopic | Water attracting; condensation begins at RH≥75% (i.e. salt) |
| CN: Hydrophobic | Water repelling; no condensation even at RH=100% (i.e. oil based CN) |
| CN: Neutral | Condensation begins at RH=100%; most CN are neutral (i.e. dust, smoke, soot, ash) |
| Typical air contains ( ) CN/cm³ | 10,000 to 100,000 |
| City air contains ( ) CN/cm³ | 100,000 to over 1 mil |
| Desert air contains ( ) CN/cm³ | 100 to 10,000 |
| CN reduce your visibility by producing ( ) | Haze |
| Haze | A reduction to your visibility due to CN |
| Dry Haze | Reduction to visibility due to high amounts of CN |
| Wet Haze | Reduction to visibility due to growing hygroscopic CN |
| Clean air has visibility over ( ) miles | 50 |
| Typical air has visibility over ( ) miles | 20-40 |
| City air has visibility under ( ) miles | 10 |
| Fog | A cloud that forms at or near ground level |
| Thick vs. thin fog (factors): | Amount of CN; amount of H2Ov |
| 4 ways fog forms (types of fog) | Advection fog; radiation (valley) fog; upslope fog; evaporation (steam) fog |
| Advection fog | When warmer air moves over a colder surface and cools to the DP (i.e. CA coast in summer) |
| Radiation (valley) fog | When a cool and saturated layer of air forms under a warmer/dry layer (persistent); great valley of CA in winter |
| Upslope fog | When the wind pushes air up a slope and the temp cools to the DP |
| Evaporation (steam) fog | When cold air blows over a warmer water surface and the DP rises up to the temp |
| Cirro- | High/wispy/curl |
| Alto- | Middle cloud |
| Cumulus- | Cellular/non-uniform |
| Stratus- | Layered cloud/uniform (blanket-like) |
| Nimbus- | Precipitation (rain cloud) |
| 5 Cloud families: | High clouds; middle clouds; low stable clouds; low vertical clouds; unusual clouds |
| High clouds | Temps<-40˚C; all ice; mainly thin and white: cirrus, cirrostratus, cirrocumulus |
| Cirrus | Thin and scattered, wispy and fibers, Mares' tails |
| Cirrostratus | Thin sheet of clouds, can be transparent, halo effect around sun/moon |
| Cirrocumulus | Small and thin cloud cells, can be lined up in rows or bands, Mackrell sky effect, smaller than thumb nail |
| Middle clouds | Temps 0˚C to -40˚C; mixture of ice and water drops; light grey base: altostratus, altocumulus |
| Altostratus | Thin blanket of light grey clouds, watery sky effect |
| Altocumulus | Medium sized cloud cells, light grey base, can be lined up or in rows or bands, ≥thumb nail and <fist (larger than cirrocumulus, more grey) |
| Low stable clouds | Temps of base above 0˚C; all water base; medium to dark grey base: stratus, nimbostratus, stratocumulus |
| Stratus | Low blanket of grey clouds, for sometimes can produce "drizzle" |
| Nimbostratus | Thicker stratus, produces a light and steady precipitation |
| Stratocumulus | Larger cloud cells, rounded or pancake shaped, can be interconnected in rows, mainly flat and grey (started as stratus, broke up into cumulus), larger than fist |
| Low vertical clouds | Cumulus, cumulus congestus, cumulonimbus |
| Cumulus | Flat grey base, white cotton-like side and top, little vertical growth, "fair weather clouds" |
| Cumulus congestus | Thicker cumulus, congestus- "to tower" in the sky, can have heavy but brief shower |
| Cumulonimbus | Thunderstorms, thickets cloud, anvil top, can have lightning, thunder, hail, tornados |
| Unusual clouds | Contrail, lenticular, mammatus |
| Contrail | Human produced, "chemtrails", icy, tracks from jets |
| Lenticular | Lens shape cloud, over and downwind of mountains, layers, concave |
| Mammatus | Under thunderstorms, tornado |
Created by:
Matti
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