Chapter 9 (External Energy Fuels Weather and Climate)

The __________ are the two main jet streams in each hemisphere.

polar jet and subtropical jet

A polar jet is a belt of winds about 600 miles wide, flowing as fast as _________ in its central "core."

400 km/hr

The polar jet stream flows from west to east, under the influence of the Earth's rotation, in _________.

both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Deep-ocean waters flow in an overturning circulation called _________.

thermohaline flow

Because of the Coriolis effect, if you are in an airplane at the geographic north pole and point it toward Chicago and fly in a straight line at 500 miles per hour, you will _____________________.

pass to the west of Chicago

The rapid rotation of the Earth results in all large moving air masses in the Northern Hemisphere sidling off toward their __________ -hand side, when viewed along the direction of movement, and all moving bodies of air in the Southern Hemisphere veering toward their __________.

right; left

Glass is rather opaque to __________ radiation.

long-wavelength

Greenhouse gases include _________.

H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O

*All of these choices are correct.

Which of the following has the lowest heat capacity?

air

When water vapor condenses it __________.

releases latent heat

During the course of a year, the equatorial regions of Earth receive about _________ times as much solar energy as the polar regions.

2.4

_________ are low-pressure air zones enclosed by somewhat circular isobars.

Cyclones

The altitude where 100% humidity is reached is the__________ level.

lifting condensation

The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is located where __________.

trade winds from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres meet

The intertropical convergence zone's (ITCZ) location __________.

NOT: is always within one degree of latitude from the equator

NOT: flips between one of two possible locations

maybe: varies with the seasons

What causes winds to blow across isobars rather than parallel to them?

Surface friction

An anticyclone is a __________.

high-pressure air zone enclosed by roughly circular isobars

Within the Ferrel cell, surface air flows __________.

poleward

The Southern Hemisphere season change is not as great as in the Northern Hemisphere because __________.

a greater proportion of the surface area is covered by water in the Southern Hemisphere

Why are rain and clouds common in a low-pressure system?

Rising air cools causing condensation.

The absorption and release of __________ as water evaporates and condenses transfers solar energy around Earth's surface and atmosphere.

latent heat

The fraction of solar energy reflected back to space due to Earth's cloudiness or snow and ice cover is known as ______________.

albedo

The horizontal convection that transfers heat towards the poles is known as __________.

advection

__________ occurs when air is forced to rise and move over mountainous topography.

Orographic lifting

Water has the highest heat capacity of all solids and liquids, except liquid ammonia.

true

Polar latitudes show a net cooling because the heat radiated to space is less than the amount gained from the Sun.

false

The transport of energy in moving air masses is often experienced as severe storms.

true

The process of expanding air causes cooling, an adiabatic process where temperature changes without loss of heat.

true

A cooling air mass aloft sinks and compresses, becoming denser and warmer as it sinks.

true

Adiabatic effects include expansional cooling and compressional warming.

true

The vertical movement of air is large compared to its horizontal motion.

false

The Coriolis effect is greater at higher latitudes.

true

Short-wavelength radiation from the Sun passes through a planet's atmosphere but some of the outgoing long-wavelength energy is absorbed and radiated again; this process is known as_________.

the greenhouse effect

Atmospheric jets are relatively narrow bands of high-velocity winds that flow from west to east at high altitudes.

true

The Southern Hemisphere's polar jet flows the fastest during the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

true

Sublimation describes the same process as evaporation

false

The dew point temperature is the temperature at which air reaches 100% relative humidity and excess water vapor condenses to liquid water.

true

The energy released by condensing a given mass of water is the same as that absorbed by evaporating the same mass of water.

true

Energy is absorbed by water when it condenses from vapor.

false

The Sun's energy heats all parts of Earth equally.

false

The oceans hold a much greater volume of heat than the atmosphere even though the atmosphere has a much larger volume.

true

Northern Europe is warmer than it otherwise would be because surface currents in the Atlantic Ocean transfer heat from lower latitudes.

true

Climate is the long-term average of the weather in a given area.

true

The greenhouse effect results in _________.

warming

Reducing the global amount of surface area covered by snow and ice would increase Earth's average surface albedo.

false

Salts are excluded from ice as seawater freezes at the surface of the ocean.

true

The greenhouse effect makes Earth's average surface temperature warmer than it otherwise would be.

true

Water has such a tremendous capacity to either absorb or release heat that it acts as a powerful control or buffer on global climate.

true

The weather in the United States is dominated by air masses that form over the Arctic Ocean.

false

Conduction transfers heat by mass motions in the atmosphere.

false

Conduction is the direct transfer of heat from one substance to another that is in contact with it.

true

When air masses of different densities collide, the less dense air mass is forced to rise through frontal lifting.

true

The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a sample of water is referred to as the ________________heat.

specific

When the relative humidity reaches 100%, excess water vapor condenses and forms liquid water; this temperature is the __________ temperature of the air mass.

dew point

The process of changing from a solid to a gas is referred to as _________.

sublimation

A sloping surface separating air masses that differ in temperature and moisture content is called a _________.

front

Ascending air at the equator and descending air around 30°N and S latitudes create semicircular air circulation routes known as _________.

Hadley cells