Geog 1112

Front 1

Troposphere

Back 1

the region of the atmosphere closet to Earths surface, where the temp inc when you go up

Front 2

4 layers of the atmosphere

Back 2

troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere

Front 3

tropopause

Back 3

the top of the troposphere

Front 4

stratosphere

Back 4

above the tropopause, where temps inc when altitude

Contains the "Ozone Layer"

Nearly 20% of the atmosphere is located here

Front 5

stratopause

Back 5

marks the top of the stratosphere

Front 6

mesosphere

Back 6

above the stratopause

Front 7

mesopause

Back 7

separates the mesosphere from the thermosphere

Front 8

thermosphere

Back 8

the highest atmosphere

Front 9

front

Back 9

a boundry between two regions of air that have diff meteorological properties such as temp and humidity

Front 10

cold front

Back 10

denotes a region where cold air is replacing warmer air

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warm front

Back 11

indicates that warm air is replacing cooler air

Front 12

occluded front

Back 12

char. of both cold and warm fronts

Front 13

isotherms

Back 13

lines of constatant temp

Front 14

isobars

Back 14

connect locations with the same sea level atmospheric pressure

Front 15

isotachs

Back 15

connect locations with the same wind speed

Front 16

isopleth

Back 16

describing contors along which any particular variable is constant

Front 17

station model

Back 17

compressed graphical weather report

Front 18

Kinetic Energy

Back 18

Energy of motion (temp)

Front 19

Potential Energy

Back 19

Energy of position (Gravity)

Ex: Air in the troposphere has alot of potential energy! Its UP HIGH

Front 20

Evaporation

Back 20

liquid turns to water vapor

Front 21

transpiration

Back 21

plants emit water vapor

Front 22

Condensation

Back 22

water vapor turns into liquid

Front 23

What covers 70% of the earth?
What covers 30%?
& Where is alot of this 30%?

Back 23

70%= Water
30%= Land
Most of the land is in the Northern hemisphere

Front 24

Climatology

Back 24

the study of long-term atmospheric averages/extremes

Front 25

weather

Back 25

is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular location and moment

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climate

Back 26

the conditions of the atmosphere over many years

Front 27

Gas that accounts for nearly 80% of Earths Atmosphere

Gas that makes up almost all of the other 20%

Back 27

80%=Nitrogen
20%= Oxygen

Front 28

Trace gas

Back 28

gas found in the atmosphere in very small amts, usually less than 1% of the atmosphere

EX: Carbon dioxide(co2); Methane(ch4); nitrous oxid(n2o); ozone (o3); and CFCs

Front 29

permanent gases

Back 29

gases found in todays atmosphere which do not vary in concentration

Ex: Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon

Front 30

3 major variable gases in the atmosphere

Back 30

Carbon dioxide
Water Vapor
Ozone

Front 31

What trace gas has increased due to cow burps?

Back 31

Methane

Front 32

What gas is bubbling up fron the sea foor and thawing permafrost?

Back 32

Methane

Front 33

What gas is a variable gas but not necessarily a trace gas?

Back 33

Water Vapor

Front 34

Why do carbon dioxide concentrations go up and down during a year

Back 34

b/c the life cycle of plants drives a season cycle of peaks and valleys.

During the winter carbon dioxide goes up b/c plants are dead and no longer taking in carbon dioxide

Front 35

CFC's

Back 35

Do not occur naturally.

They were invented by chemist and were later baned in the US and the Montreal Protocol was put into action to reduce CFC's by 50%

Front 36

Aersols

Back 36

smoke, salt, ash, smog, and dust

Front 37

Why an inc in temp in the "stratosphere"?

Back 37

b/c molecules in the "Ozone layer" are absorbing solar energy.

The air flow is much less turbulent than the troposphere

Planes fly here in the stratosphere

Front 38

what concepts are realted to one another using the Ideal gas law

Back 38

The PRESSURE, TEMP, and DENSITY of a gass are related to one another through this formula

Front 39

Definition and formula of the "Ideal gas law"

Back 39

The ratio of pressure to the product of the density times the temp is always the same.

(Pressure/(DensityXTemp))= consistant

Front 40

Pressure

Back 40

force exerted on a given area

Front 41

Concentration of molecules is measured in terms of what?

Back 41

Density

Front 42

T/F if one of the variables change in the "ideal gas law" then the other two do also.

Back 42

T

Front 43

What increases rapidly as you go up from the earths surface

Back 43

Atmospheric pressure & Density

Front 44

why is the "station model" used?

Back 44

to condense all the numbers describing the current weather at a location into a compact diagram that takes up little space

Front 45

Sea-level pressure

Back 45

every location adjusts to sea-level because it removes the effect of altitude on pressure and allows the meteoroogist to focus on other suface pressure differences.

Front 46

when is the sun farthest away from Earth? And what is it called?

Back 46

on about July 4th

Aphelion

Front 47

When is the sun closest to the Earth? And what is it called?

Back 47

on about January 4th

Perihelion

Front 48

Solar Zenith Angle

Back 48

the angle at which the suns energy strikes a particular location on Earth

Front 49

Why does earth have season

Back 49

becuase Earths tilt

Front 50

specific heat

Back 50

the amt of energy required to raise the temp of a substance

Front 51

Types of Energy transfer

Back 51

conduction
convection
advection
latent heating
ratiation

CCARL

Front 52

conduction

Back 52

heat transfer from molecule to molecule

Requires direct contact

Ex: touching an object to see how hot/cold it is. The transfer of heat/enegy is conduction

Front 53

convection

Back 53

verticle mixing in a fluid

warm air rises as the cold air sinks

Front 54

advection

Back 54

horizontal transport of energy in the atmosphere

Ex: cold front or warm front

Front 55

The first law of Radiation

Back 55

all objects with temps above absolute zero emit radiation

Front 56

stefan-boltzmann law

Back 56

the amt of radiative energy that is emitted by an object is related to the 4th power of its kilvin temp.

I-T^4

Temp to the 4th

Front 57

Wiens law

Back 57

the wavelength of radiant energy emitted depends on the temp of the emitting body

Wavelength of MAXIMUM radiation emitted by an object=(2900/objects temp in Kelvin)

Front 58

The longer the wavelength the higher/lower the temp

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Higher

Front 59

3 things that can happen to Electromagnetic radiation coming into Earths Atmosphere

Back 59

Absorbed
Reflected
Transmitted

Front 60

Greenhouse effect

Back 60

the atmosphere absorbing heat

Front 61

greenhouse gases

Back 61

are trace gases

Front 62

energy budget

Back 62

is the transfer of energy from the artic to the equator and from the equator to the artic.

Tries to equalize Earth

Front 63

2 substances in the earths atmosphere that are needed for the formation of clouds

Back 63

Aerosols
Water vapor

Front 64

the tilt of the earth affects the amt of solar energy reaching a location on earth for two reasons

Back 64

directness of rays
Longer days

Front 65

wavelength of light and heat

Back 65

light= 5 microns
heat= 10 microns