Earth Science Final Flashcards

Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place (short duration). Climate is the generalization of weather conditions for a given place based on the average of past records.

Air temperature, Humidity, Type and amounts of clouds, Type and amount of precipitation, Air pressure, Wind speed

The environmental lapse rate is the decrease in temperature as you go up through the troposphere avg = 3.5 degrees F/ 100 ft. It is determined by radio sounds attached to a balloon.

<p>Variation in the earth's angle as it revolves around the sun.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The length of daylight increases with latitude toward the summer solstice and decreases with latitude towards the winter solstice.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The hotter the body, the shorter the wavelength of max radiation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>High altitude and lapse rate</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Solid → Gas (sublimation, absorb), Solid → Liquid (melting, absorb), Liquid → Gas (evaporation, absorb), Gas → Solid (deposition, released), Gas → Liquid (condensation, released), Liquid → Solid (freezing, released)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The sling psychrometer works on the principle of cooling due to evaporation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The adiabatic rate of cooling is lowered because condensation releases latent heat.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The environmental lapse rate is the cooling upward because the atmosphere is heated mainly by the earth's surface. Adiabatic cooling occurs as air rises because it expands and does work to move other air aside.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<ol> <li>Advection fog - warm moist air moves over cool surface. 2. Radiation fog - earth's surface cools rapidly, thin layer of air cooled below dew point. 3. Upslope fog - air cools adiabatically as it moves up a slope. 4. Steam fog - cool air over warm water. 5. Frontal fog - warm moist air moves over cool air and rain adds moisture.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Sleet is clear to translucent ice pellets. Freezing rain is rain that freezes when it hits. Both fall through a temperature inversion when snow turns to ice; sleet forms when there is a thick layer of cold air below the inversion.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>With a mercurial barometer, the weight of the air pressure pushing down on the mercury in the dish holds up a column of mercury in a glass tube. The aneroid barometer has a metal chamber that changes shape, compressing as air pressure increases.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Close spaced isobars occur in areas of high wind speed while wide spaced isobars occur where there are gentle slow wind speeds.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Land heats up and cools down faster than water, so in winter the wind blows off the cold (high air pressure) Asian continent to the Indian Ocean, producing cool, dry weather. In the summer, Asia heats up and the wind blows off the Indian Ocean, producing the warm monsoon rainy season.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Local winds are small scale winds produced by a locally generated pressure gradient caused by local temperature variants.</p> Signup and view all the answers