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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Large regions of low pressure can be created at the surface in two ways: 1. cooling the air at the surface, and 2. air that is forced to descend from jet stream level, in the location downstream of a Rossby wave ridge. |
FALSE - air descends to areas of high pressure |
|
In the northern hemisphere, the geostrophic wind blows parallel to isobars with low pressure located to the right of the wind direction. |
FALSE |
|
In the tropics, there is a deficit of net radiation, because longwave energy emission exceeds solar input at those latitudes. |
FALSE - tropics get the most solar input |
|
In the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), low level westerly trade winds from both hemispheres converge, forcing moist air to rise into a band of cloud and rain. |
FALSE - these are called the tropical trade winds/easterlies |
|
A discontinuous belt of anticyclones (high pressure cells) straddles the Earth at 30 degrees north and south, creating Earth's major desert regions. |
TRUE |
|
A warm, humid and rainy monsoon flow is generated over Southeaset Asia during December-March, from intense solar heating of the continent and formation of a large surface low pressure region. |
FALSE |
|
The thermocline separates the deep ocean, which is just a few degrees above freezing, from a shallow, heated surface water layer. |
TRUE |
|
Fast-flowing currents such as the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream develop along the western sides of ocean basins, while coastal upwelling zones favor the eastern margins of ocean basins. |
TRUE |
|
The deep ocean thermohaline current is generated by sinking of cold, salty, dense water along the eastern margins of Earth's major ocean basins. |
FALSE - upwelling along eastern margins |
|
During El Nino conditions, heavy rain and storminess shifts over the central-eastern Pacific, while abnormally dry (drought) conditions prevail across tropical Indonesia and Australia. |
TRUE |
|
The polar jetstream in the Northern Hemisphere, blowing FROM the west, is strongest during SUMMER. |
FALSE - polar jetstream is easterly |
|
The polar jetstream contains a series of waves (undulating flow) that becomes unstable, generating regions of low and high pressure (cyclones and anticyclones) at the surface. |
TRUE - undulating flow causes high/low pressure cell variations |
|
During El Nino conditions, a large mass of warm, surface ocean water flows eastward toward Peru. |
TRUE |
|
The latent heat associated with sublimination of frozen water is greater than that associated with deposition of vapor onto ice. |
FALSE - they're the same (2.83x10^6 J/kg) |
|
Holding water vapor content of the air constant, relative humidity decreases as the air temperature is reduced. |
FALSE - Rh = ratio of [(H2O content/saturation content) x 100] g/kg |
|
An adiabatic process such as cooling of air as it rises, occurs simply because the rising volume of air expands, which expends some of its internal energy. |
TRUE |
|
The large volumetric increase between a rain drop and a cloud droplet prohibits the observed rapid formation of rain through pure condensation alone. |
TRUE |
|
In subfreezing clouds, snowflakes form via the process of vapor deposition, followed by aggregation...while hailstones develop from the process of riming. |
TRUE |
|
Growth of large hail is limited to summer, because vigorous cloud updrafts are required, which in turn necessitates an unstable air mass. |
TRUE - need the large updraft to support the large hail |
|
In general terms and averaged over the globe, precipitation exceeds evaporation over oceans, while over land, evaporation exceeds precipitation. |
FALSE - more water gets absorbed from oceans (evaporation) |
|
For the global hydrological cycle to exist in a balanced state, runoff from land to ocean must equal advection of water vapor from ocean to land, on an annual basis. |
TRUE |
|
The formation of extratropical cyclones in midlatitudes is predicated on juxtaposition of mT and cP air masses. |
TRUE |
|
A warm front is characterized by intense, convective showers and thunderstorms...while broad regions of stratoform precipitation develop ahead of and along cold fronts. |
FALSE - stratoform clouds don't accompany warm fronts |
|
Air lifted over a high orographic barrier will arrive warmer and drier on the lee side, than before it was lifted on the windward side. |
TRUE |
|
During the mature phase of a thunderstorm cell, both the updraft and downdraft coexist, along with the generation of heavy rain, lightning and strong wind gusts. |
TRUE |
|
The following sequence describes the proper formation and evolution of an Atlantic hurricane: Tropical depression > tropical easterly wave > tropical storm > hurricane. |
FALSE - storm over Africa > tropical depression > tropical storm > hurricane |
|
Hurricanes are powered primarily by heat in the ocean, which is conveyed to the storm clouds through fluxes of sensible and latent heat. |
TRUE |
|
Migrating, extratropical cyclones develop as a result of Rossby waves in the jetstream, in the presence of a large gradient in surface temperature. |
TRUE |
|
A warm front approaches and moves through Baltimore. We would expect to observe a sudden drop in air temperature and shift in wind direction from southerly to westerly. |
FALSE - rise in temperature + shift from westerly to southerly |
|
Severe thunderstorm definition criteria include generation of flash floods and intense lightning. |
FALSE - 1"+ hail, >58mph gusts, tornadoes |
|
A supercell thunderstorm contains a strong region of rotation that coincides with the cloud updraft, called a mesocyclone, from which most strong and violent tornadoes develop. |
TRUE |
|
A derecho contains a powerful downdraft that spreads ahead of the line of storms, moving at a high speed, leaving a long trail of wind damage that spans hundreds of miles. |
TRUE |
|
Hurricane Sandy (2012) struck the US East Coast as an exceptionally large Nor'easter, after making an anomalous left hand turn into the mainland. |
TRUE |
|
Within the circulation of extratropical cyclones, the favored location for the development of severe local storms is BEHIND (west of) the cold front. |
FALSE - development of storms is in front of the cold front |
|
A cold front approaches Baltimore. We would expect to observe an abrupt drop in pressure, rapidly warming air and a shift in the wind direction from westerly to southerly. |
FALSE - cooling air |
|
Within the eye region of a hurricane, the air is much colder than the surrounding vortex, leading to increased air pressure at the ocean surface. |
FALSE |
|
The three deadly aspects of a hurricane during landfall include storm surge, flooding rain (freshwater flooding) and high, sustained winds. |
TRUE |
|
The minimum speed for a hurricane is 74 mph (cat 1) and minimum speed for a cat 5 is 155mph. |
TRUE |
|
Strong category hurricanes include any storm rated Cat 2 or higher. |
FALSE - cat 3 |
|
Two samples of air have temperature = 80 F but the dewpoint in sample A is 55 F and 75 F in sample B. Sample B therefore 1. contains a higher moisture content than A, and 2. sample A will condense after 15 deg F of cooling, vs. 5 deg F for sample B. |
FALSE |
|
Given constant dewpoint temperature throughout the day, relative humidity will typically be lowest during the early morning (sunrise) and highest during the mid-afternoon. |
FALSE - Rh is opposite of diurnal cycle |
|
The Coriolis Effect decreases poleward of the Equator and decreases as the speed of the wind increases. |
FALSE - increases poleward of the Equator |
|
Migrating low pressure systems in the mid-latitudes develop downstream (downwind) of a jetstream ridge. |
FALSE |
|
Stratoform rainfall falls from widespread cloud layers covering large areas, characteristic of winter, whereas convective rain is generally heavier and localized during the summer. |
TRUE |
|
The most violent tornadoes are ranked EF0-EF1 on the enhanced fujita scale. |
FALSE - EF3s-EF5s are strongest |
|
There are many more cat 1/2 hurricanes than cat 4/5 storms each year in the Atlantic. |
TRUE - law of rare events |
|
The Atlantic hurricane season extends from June 1 through the end of September, with the peak activity around Sept. 15. |
FALSE - June 1 - Nov 30 |
|
The disproportionate share of tornado fatalities arise from relatively rare EF4/5 tornadoes. |
TRUE |
|
When describing the force balance giving rise to the geostrophic wind, one must consider the three way interaction of three forces: pressure gradient, coriolis effect, and friction. |
FALSE |
|
The NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) is predicated on the difference in sea-level pressure between the Icelandic (subpolar) low and Bermuda high. |
TRUE |