Final Exam Review - Chapters 6, 7, and 9 Geo PDF

# Final Exam Review - Chapters 6, 7, and 9 ## Chapter 6: The Restless Sky: Storm Systems and El Niño ### Chapter Summary This chapter provides an overview of storm systems in the atmosphere. Storm systems are arranged by their spatial extent, from local phenomena, such as single-cell thunderstor...

# Final Exam Review - Chapters 6, 7, and 9 ## Chapter 6: The Restless Sky: Storm Systems and El Niño ### Chapter Summary This chapter provides an overview of storm systems in the atmosphere. Storm systems are arranged by their spatial extent, from local phenomena, such as single-cell thunderstorms, up to synoptic-scale events like hurricanes and midlatitude cyclones. El Niño also forms a significant unit in this chapter - **Thunderstorms:** - Most thunderstorms occur in the tropics over land. - Equatorial Africa has the highest thunderstorm frequency in the world. - Thunderstorms are discussed in the order of their spatial extent. - Single-cell thunderstorms are non-severe and short-lived. - Multicell thunderstorms can bring severe weather and are embedded along fronts that persist for hours to days. - Supercell thunderstorms are the strongest of thunderstorms and have a rotating internal core. They always produce severe weather and sometimes produce tornadoes. - The two main hazards of thunderstorms are lightning and tornadoes. - Outdoor lightning safety includes avoiding being on or near the highest points in a landscape and retreating indoors whenever possible. - The strongest tornadoes form over the Great Plains of North America, particularly from northern Texas to Nebraska. - The highest frequency of tornadoes occurs in Florida, but most Florida tornadoes have a low EF scale ranking. - The strongest tornadoes are produced by supercell thunderstorms. - **Hurricanes:** - Hurricanes are tropical cyclonic systems with very low barometric pressure, sustained high winds, and heavy rainfall. - Hurricanes are nature's deadliest storm, and most deaths come from coastal drowning as a result of the hurricane storm surge. - The Indian Ocean hurricanes cause the most hurricane-related fatalities. - Like thunderstorms, hurricanes rely on the instability produced when latent heat is released as a result of condensation of water vapor. - Hurricanes form in the tropics and diminish in strength outside of the tropics due to cold air and water. - Their strength also diminishes near the equator, where there is little Coriolis force, and over land, where evaporation of seawater ceases - **Midlatitude Cyclones:** - Are the largest storm systems on Earth. - Affect North America from fall through spring. - Most midlatitude cyclones are composed of a warm front and a cold front, and they go through several steps of development before they dissipate. - Cold fronts can bring severe weather, such as thunderstorms and tornadoes. - **El Niño:** - Forms a unit in this chapter and provides a transition between storm systems and the climate system, covered in Chapter 6. - El Niño is not a storm system—it is a brief period of climate change involving the reversal of trade winds in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the redistribution of moisture across the tropical Pacific and beyond. - El Niño influences all weather systems covered in this chapter. - Hurricane activity decreases in the Atlantic Ocean during El Niño and increases in Southeast Asia. - Tornadoes in North America increase. - The Asian monsoon weakens in El Niño years. - El Niño's counterpart, La Niña, often follows El Niño and brings conditions opposite those brought by El Niño. - This chapter concludes with a Geographic Perspectives that evaluates the role of climate change in modifying the frequency and magnitude of hurricanes. - At present there is little evidence to support the claim that hurricanes are increasing in numbers or strength. - Computer models indicate that hurricanes are likely to increase in strength and frequency in the coming decades as Earth's atmosphere continues to warm. ## Chapter 7: The Changing Climate ### Chapter Summary Earth's climate system involves the movement of energy and matter between the major physical systems, including the atmosphere, the biosphere, the lithosphere, and the hydrosphere. Climate change occurs as the long-term average of weather and extreme events changes. Earth's climate change history can be summarized as occurring in three modes: long-term trends, cyclical patterns, and random anomalies. There are many greenhouse gases, but water vapor and carbon dioxide are the most important greenhouse gases. Human activity, mostly burning fossil fuels, is increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at an accelerating rate. Earth's physical systems are changing as anthropogenic climate change occurs. Addressing climate change is a challenging but technologically doable task. - **Climate Change:** - Since 1880 Earth's average temperature has increased 0.83 degrees Celsius, or 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature trend is an example of climate change, a change in the long-term average. - Climate change also involves changes in the average frequency or timing of extreme events, like hurricanes, heat waves, the first day of frost, and so on. - Climate change is caused by factors outside the climate system such as the changes in the Sun's output. - Climate change is also caused by changes inside the climate system, like changes in Earth's albedo as regions with snow and ice melt. - Climate change occurs as long-term trends as well. - For example, the Cenozoic cooling trend began 55 million years ago. It was caused by erosion of the uplifted Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountains. - Milankovitch cycles, or changes in Earth-Sun orbital relations, cause cyclical modes of climate change. - Random climate anomalies can be caused by volcanic events or changes in ocean circulation patterns, such as the ocean conveyor belt in the North Atlantic Ocean. - **The Carbon Cycle:** - The long-term and the short-term carbon cycles are extremely important to Earth's changing climate. - The long-term carbon cycle involves movement of carbon into and out of the lithosphere. - Most of Earth's carbon is stored in the lithosphere. - In the short-term carbon cycle, carbon moves rapidly between the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. - Humans have modified the long-term carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels and liberating carbon that was stored in the ground. - When burned, the carbon combines with oxygen, forming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. - Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas - this process is responsible for the anthropogenic greenhouse effect that is today causing climate change. - When carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, so does temperature. - Today the lower atmosphere is warming and most of this warming is occurring in the Arctic as a result of the ice-albedo positive feedback. - In response to climate change, Earth's physical systems are changing. - The cryosphere is diminishing, the oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, sea level is rising, species are moving north, and plant growing days are lengthening. - Climate models forecast continued warming and changes in Earth's physical systems in the coming decades, particularly in the Arctic. - The Geographic Perspectives at the end of the chapter details how the climate change problem can be addressed, ranging from top-down approaches in which the government mandates change, to bottom-up approaches that begin with the individual. ## Chapter 9: Climate and Life: Biomes ### Chapter Summary Major climate types are provided on a world map and the main characteristics of each are provided. Earth's biomes are explored in the context of broad-scale patterns of climate. Eight of Earth's biomes are arranged by latitude, from the equator to higher latitudes. **Low-Latitude Biomes** - Tropical rainforest - Tropical seasonal forest - Tropical savanna **Mid- and High-Latitude Biomes** - Temperate grassland - Mediterranean - Temperate deciduous forest - Temperate rainforest - Boreal forest **Biomes Found at All Latitudes** - Montane forest - Tundra - Desert - A representative photograph, a climate diagram, and a global map showing the biome's geographic extent are provided for each biome. - The major characteristics for each biome are also discussed. - Vegetation structure, Köppen climate type(s), major plant species, and other salient features are discussed. - For example, the tropical savanna has large grazing animals. The montane forest has the world's oldest tree species, the bristlecone pine. It also has the giant sequoia, the largest tree species. - At the conclusion of each biome, the “human footprint” is explored. To varying degrees, humans have modified all of Earth's biomes. - For example, tropical rainforest is rapidly being lost to clearance, mostly for agriculture. Temperate deciduous forest was largely cleared centuries ago or longer in Europe and China. Most grasslands have been converted to agriculture and cattle rangeland. Atmospheric warming is rapidly changing the tundra. - The Geographic Perspectives at the end of the chapter discusses Earth's biomes as having been fragmented and transformed into a mosaic of human land use types. - In most areas, natural biomes are largely gone. - Modern factors driving the loss of habitat and species are discussed, and the question of why people should value nature is raised. ## Sample Questions **Chapter 6** 1. What is an air mass? Describe the characteristics of an mT air mass. Where does it form? 2. What is a thunderstorm? What kind of cloud produces a thunderstorm? What are the three types of thunderstorms? 3. Describe the global geographic pattern of thunderstorms? Where are they most and least frequent, and why? 4. Describe the life cycle of single-cell thunderstorms? How long do they last, and what causes them to dissipate? 5. What is a squall line, and how does it relate to multicell thunderstorms? 6. What is a supercell thunderstorm? How does it relate to a mesocyclone? 7. What is lightning? What kind of cloud produces it? 8. Review outdoor lightning safety. Is it safe to be in a car during a lightning storm? Is everywhere indoors safe from lightning? 9. What is a tornado? What system is used to rank tornado strength, and on what evidence is it based? 10. Where in the world are tornadoes most powerful and most frequent? 11. What are the four major stages of hurricane development? 12. Draw and label the anatomy of a hurricane. Where are winds fastest? Where are they slowest? Describe air movement direction in a hurricane. 13. Explain the role of the hurricane's positive feedback in maintaining high wind speeds. Why is sea spray so important to this feedback? 14. Describe and explain the global geographic pattern of hurricanes. 15. What aspects of hurricanes are the most dangerous? 16. What ocean basin has the most dangerous hurricanes? What makes this area so dangerous? 17. What is a midlatitude cyclone? Where do midlatitude cyclones occur? How do cold fronts and warm fronts relate to them? 18. Compare a cold front with a warm front in terms of how they form and the weather that is typically associated with each. 19. Describe the life cycle of a midlatitude cyclone, beginning with a stationary front and ending with an occluded front. 20. What influences does El Niño have on global climate and weather? 21. Which coastal states in the United States have the shortest hurricane return period? 22. In the context of climate change, why might a person reasonably expect that hurricanes should be getting more frequent and stronger? **Chapter 7** 1. When did the Medieval Warm Period occur? When did the Little Ice Age occur? What impacts on human societies did they have? 2. What happened to temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere during the Younger Dryas? 3. What are climate forcing factors? How are they different from climate feedbacks? Give examples of each. 4. Explain how ice cover at high latitudes can function as a positive feedback that destabilizes climate or as a negative feedback that stabilizes climate. 5. What caused the Cenozoic cooling trend? 6. What are Milankovitch cycles? With what kind of climate change pattern are they associated? 7. What are glacials and interglacials? About how long, on average, has each lasted during the last million years? What caused them, climate forcing or climate feedback? 8. Provide an example of a climate anomaly. Do climate forcings or climate feedbacks cause anomalies? 9. What natural archives do paleoclimatologists examine to reconstruct ancient climates and environments? 10. Compare and contrast the long-term carbon cycle to the short-term carbon cycle. Explain how carbon moves within each. **Chapter 9** 1. What is a biome? What physical factors determine biome type? 2. Briefly describe the Köppen climate classification system. What are the six major climate types used in this system? 3. Describe the spatial relationship between biomes and climate. 4. For each biome in this chapter, describe where it occurs and the climate.