IAH exam #4
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43 Terms
What is weather?
Atmospheric conditions for a small area over a short period of time.
What is climate?
Long-term weather patterns for large areas over long periods of time.
What is the atmosphere?
The layer of gases surrounding Earth.
Where does most weather occur?
The troposphere.
What is Global Warming Potential?
A measure of how well a gas traps heat in the atmosphere.
What is the greenhouse effect?
The natural process where greenhouse gases hold heat and redirect it back toward Earth.
What is reflection?
Light is redirected with no heat transformation.
What is absorption?
Light is absorbed and transformed into heat.
What is transmission?
Light passes through with little absorption.
What is albedo?
The reflectivity of a surface.
High albedo means what?
More reflection, less absorption, less heating.
Low albedo means what?
Less reflection, more absorption, more heating.
What causes seasons?
Earth’s tilt and orbit around the sun.
What does not cause seasons?
Earth being closer or farther from the sun.
Why is Hawaii warmer than Alaska overall?
Hawaii gets more direct and consistent sunlight throughout the year.
What is specific heat capacity?
How much energy it takes to heat a material and how slowly it cools.
Why does water moderate climate?
Water heats and cools slowly.
What causes lake effect?
Cool air moving over warmer water, increasing evaporation and precipitation.
What is a rain shadow?
A dry area on the leeward side of a mountain.
What are Milankovitch cycles?
Periodic changes in Earth’s orbit and axis that affect climate.
What are the three Milankovitch cycles?
Eccentricity, obliquity, and precession.
What is eccentricity?
Change in Earth’s orbit shape.
What is obliquity?
Change in Earth’s tilt.
What is precession?
Wobble of Earth’s axis.
What are CO₂ sources?
Fossil fuels, slash-and-burn agriculture, cement manufacturing.
What are CO₂ sinks?
Forests, oceans, algae, soils, and biomass.
Why does burning fossil fuels release CO₂?
They contain carbon that reacts with oxygen during combustion.
What is ozone?
O₃, a molecule with three oxygen atoms.
Where is good ozone?
In the stratosphere.
Where is bad ozone?
In the troposphere.
Is there a literal ozone hole?
No, it is ozone thinning.
What causes ozone thinning?
CFCs, sunlight fluctuations, and temperature fluctuations.
What was the Montreal Protocol?
A treaty to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, especially CFCs.
What is methane?
CH₄, a greenhouse gas.
Where is methane produced?
Where decomposition occurs in low-oxygen environments.
What organisms produce methane?
Methanogens.
What are methane sources?
Landfills, wetlands, bogs, rice paddies, cows, thawing permafrost, coal mining, fossil fuels.
How much more efficiently does methane hold heat than CO₂?
About 21 times more efficiently.
What is permafrost?
Soil frozen for at least two consecutive years.
Why does thawing permafrost matter?
It activates microbes and can release methane.
What is a positive feedback loop?
A change causes more of the same change.
What is a negative feedback loop?
A change returns a system toward stability.
What is an anaerobic digestor?
A system that captures methane from low-oxygen decomposition.