What are the major elements of weather and climate?

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TESC Earth Science

General Earth Science Final

Question	Answer
What is the first layer of the atmosphere where most weather occurs?	Troposphere
The state of the atmosphere at a given place and time	Weather
The terms weather and climate can be used interchangeably.	False
What are the major elements of weather and climate?	humidity air temperature wind speed air pressure
Which of the following is a major component of photochemical smog?	ozone
More than 50% of the air in the atmosphere is found where?	below 6 kilometers
The atmosphere is divided into four layers on the basis of _____________.	Temperature
The most abundant gas by volume for clean, dry air is __________.	nitrogen
The temperature decrease with altitude in the troposphere is called the ____________ lapse rate.	environmental
On the equinoxes, all places on Earth receive 12 hours of daylight.	True
Earth's _____________ determines day and night.	Rotation
The shortest day occurs during the _________ in the Northern Hemisphere.	December solstice
On June 21, the vertical rays of the Sun strike a parallel of latitude known as the __________,	Tropic of Cancer
Earth's axis is tilted in the same direction throughout the year towards the North Star.	True
The higher the solar angle or altitude of the Sun, the more spread out and less intense is the solar radiation that reaches Earth's surface.	False
What is the principal source for atmospheric heat?	terrestrial radiation
The most important difference among electromagnetic waves is their wavelength.	True
The transfer of heat by circulation within a substance is called ___________.	convection
The transfer of heat through matter by molecular activity is called radiation.	False
The two principal atmospheric absorbers of terrestrial radiation are carbon dioxide and __________.	water vapor
Which one of the following forms of radiation has the longest wavelength?	radio waves
White light and the colors of the rainbow represent the ________ radiation.	visible light
Clouds reduce the daily temperature range.	True
What are lines on a map that connect equal temperatures called?	isotherms
The specific heat is far greater for water than land.	True
Which one of the following surfaces has the highest albedo?	snow
In general, the average temperature range increases with an increase in _________.	latitude
The hottest temperatures in July are most likely to be found ______________.	just north of the equator.
_______ is the only substance that exists in the atmosphere as a solid, liquid, and gas.	water
Freezing releases 80 calories per gram to the surrounding environment as __________.	latent heat of fusion
If heat energy is added to a substance and it does not cause a change in temperature, the heat energy is called __________.	latent heat
The conversion of a vapor directly to solid is best described as _________.	deposition
The process of condensation releases 540-600 calories to the surrounding air.	True
At the dew point temperature, the air is both saturated and has a 100% relative humidity.	True
A hair hygrometer measures the humidity using electrical currents.	False
The ______________of air goes up as the temperature goes up.	water vapor capacity
If the amount of air stays the same at 1 kilogram, and the temperature decreases, what is most likely for relative humidity?	increases
The ratio of the mass of water vapor to the mass of dry air within a unit or parcel of air is known as __________.	mixing ratio
Air that has reached its water vapor capacity is said to be	saturated
Stable air resists vertical movement.	True
The process where cool air acts as a barrier over which warmer, less dense air rises is called __________.	frontal wedging
When the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic rate, air is defined by the term ________.	absolute instability
When vertically moving air expands or contracts it will experience ____________ temperature changes.	adiabatic
A towering cloud that may produce rain showers or a thunderstorm is called __________.	cumulonimbus
sheets or layers covering most of the sky	stratus
wispy fibers with a feathery appearance	cirrus
puffy globular cloud masses	cumulus
Fog is a cloud with its base at or very near the ground.	True
Hygroscopic nuclei or particles _______water.	absorb
Visible aggregates of minute droplets of water or tiny crystals of ice formed within the atmosphere are called ___________.	clouds
trace of precipitation is reported if the amount of rain is less than what?	.025 centimeters
If the surface temperature is greater than 4 degrees Celsius, snowflakes will probably _______ near the surface.	turn to rain
The collision-coalescence process is most important to explain precipitation from _________.	tropical warm clouds
An aneroid barometer works on the basis of measuring the change in ________ of a partially evacuated chamber.	shape
Standard sea-level pressure is____________.	1013.2 millibars
__________ invented the mercurial barometer.	Torricelli
The atmosphere is confined by what?	Earth’s surface and gravity
_____________is the ultimate energy source for most wind.	unequal surface heating
Which of the following factors are responsible for producing wind?	pressure gradient and solar radiation
Variations in air pressure from place to place are the principal cause of which of the following?	wind
Air is subsiding in the center of a ___________.	high pressure system
Centers of low pressure are called what?	cyclones
Fair weather can usually be expected with the approach of a/an _________,	anticyclone
The general movement of low pressure centers across the United States is from ___________.	west to east
As wind moves from the subtropical high towards the equator, it is deflected by the .	Coriolis effect
The trade winds blow out of the __________, straightening to east to west flow along the equator.	NE and SE
The polar front is a stormy belt caused by the interaction of_________.	warm and cool winds
The general position of the jet stream over North America during the hot summer months is closest to ______________,	Canada
Near the equator, rising air is associated with a pressure zone known as the _________.	equatorial low
The largest influences on atmospheric global circulation are Earth's rotation and	unequal heating of Earth's surface
The only truly continuous pressure belt on Earth is the ___________.	Southern Hemisphere subpolar low
The surface winds between the subtropical high and equatorial low pressure zones are the	trade winds
Wind direction is defined according to?	the direction the wind is blowing from
Wind speed is best measured by a/an _________.	cup anemometer
In coastal areas as land is heated to higher temperatures, __________ develops.	an area of lower pressure
In general, the low latitudes receive ____rainfall than the high latitudes.	more
The pattern of high and low pressure variations in the eastern and western Pacific is called the __________.	Southern Oscillation
Climate involves interactions and exchanges among the parts of the climate system.	True
Earth's climate system is powered by energy from the Sun.	True
Temperature and precipitation are the most important elements in a climatic description.	True
The description of the aggregate weather conditions of a place or region is referred to as	climate
A classification system designed by Wladimir Köppen is widely used and the climates are divided into major groups designated by a capital letter.	True
A ____________ climate dominates the southeastern United States.	humid subtropical
In a polar (E) climate, the average temperature of the warmest month is above 10°C (50°F).	False
Köppen believed that the distribution of natural vegetation was an excellent expression of the totality of climate.	True
Much of Northern America east of the Rockies is part of the _____________ group of climates.	D
Much of California has a climate similar to that surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.	True
The Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes generally receive the greatest amount of its precipitation during the ___________.	summer months
Wet tropical climates are strongly influenced by the equatorial high pressures.	False Year-round rainfall is associated with the equatorial low.
The consensus in the scientific community is that altering atmospheric composition by the addition of carbon dioxide and trace gases will eventually lead to a ____________ planet with a different distribution of climatic regimes.	warmer
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased over the last 150 years.	True
Global average surface temperatures increased during the 20th century.	True
A geocentric model holds that ______is the center of the universe.	Earth
Aristarchus professed a Sun-centered or ___________ view of the universe.	heliocentric
Eratosthenes used the angles of the noonday Sun in two Egyptian cities to calculate the size of Earth.	True
The apparent westward movement of a planet against the background of stars is called _________.	retrograde motion
This early civilization recorded the appearance of Halley's comet for at least 10 centuries.	Chinese
Who was the ancient Greek who developed a geocentric model of the universe explaining the observable motions of the planets?	Ptolemy
_________ was the first astronomer to use a telescope.	Galileo
Gravity is directly proportional to mass.	True
The farther away a star is, the greater its parallax will be.	False With greater distance the shift is minimized.
The shape of a planet's orbit is _________.	elliptical
Tycho Brahe is best known for _________.	explaining the principle of stellar parallax
Kepler wrote about planetary motions in his work "The Harmony of the Worlds."	True
The apparent shift in the position of a star caused by Earth's motion is called _________.	stellar parallax
The first modern astronomer to propose a Sun-centered solar system was _________.	Copernicus
_____ constellations divide the sky into recognizable units.	88
Another name for the star Polaris is	North Star
The right ascension is usually measured in hours.	True
The most visible stars in a constellation are generally named in order of their ____________ by the letters of the Greek alphabet.	brightness
The apparent path of the Sun against the backdrop of the celestial sphere is called _________.	the ecliptic
A(n) ____________ eclipse occurs when the Moon casts its shadow on Earth.	solar
A solar eclipse cannot be seen with every new Moon because _________.	the Moon's orbit is inclined approximately 5 degrees
Half of the illuminated disk of the Moon is visible from Earth during the _________ phase of the Moon.	first-quarter
The Jovian planets contain a large percentage of which gases?	hydrogen and helium
Among the terrestrial planets, Mars has a ______________ density.	lower
Compared to other planet-satellite systems, Earth's Moon is unusually large.	True
Most of the lunar surface is made up of highlands.	True
The maria are concentrated on which side of the Moon?	facing Earth.
The Copernicus crater is one of the oldest features on the surface of the Moon.	False
Although this planet is shrouded in thick clouds, detailed radar mapping has revealed a varied surface topography. This planet is	Venus
Second only to the Moon in brilliance in the night sky is	Venus
The most striking feature on the face of ______ is the Great Red Spot.	Jupiter
These objects are composed of frozen gases (including ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide) that hold together small pieces of rocky and metallic materials.	comets
The ionized tail of a comet points away from the Sun.	True
Most asteroids lie between the orbits of __________.	Mars and Jupiter
The movement of light energy can be described as a __________.	wave and discreet particle.
The electromagnetic spectrum and the radiant energy best support the movement of light described by __________.	the wave theory
Light can act like a stream of particles.	True
Longer wavelengths correspond to more energetic particles.	False
Spectra: continuous spectrum	incandescent solid
Spectra: dark-line spectrum	cool gas, low pressure
Spectra: bright-line spectrum	hot matter, low pressure
Blue wavelength is shorter than red wavelength.	True
As they are heated from low to high temperature, solid objects will appear to glow in which of the following sequences of color?	red, yellow, white
The spectra of most stars are of the dark-line type.	True
The change in wavelength related to an energy source moving away or towards a receiver is explained by the	Doppler effect
When a light source is moving away, the light appears redder than it actually is.	True
When several radio telescopes are wired together, the resulting network is called a radio _________.	interferometer
Ultraviolet and infrared radiation is best recorded from a star using satellites and equipment "above" the atmosphere.	True
Brief explosive solar events are called solar _________.	flares
During nuclear fusion, some of the matter is converted to energy.	True
The primary material from which stars are made is ___________.	hydrogen
The cycle of solar activity of the Sun is ____ years.	11
The Sun's atmosphere includes the chromosphere and the corona.	True
The layer of the solar atmosphere recognized as a thin red rim above the photosphere is called the ___________.	chromosphere

Created by: kitza528

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