Quiz 2 Review Questions

Transcription

1 Quiz 2 Review Questions Chapter 7 Lectures: Winds and Global Winds and Global Winds cont 1) What is the thermal circulation (thermal wind) and how does it form? When we have this type of circulation, how do the heights of the isobars differ in the air over warm and cold surfaces? 2) Answer the following questions for BOTH the sea breeze and the land breeze: a. In what direction does wind blow: from land to sea or from sea to land? b. Where are the surface highs and lows (over land or over the water)? c. WHY do these pressure systems form where they do? d. Does this wind happen during the day or during the night? 3) Describe the mountain breeze and valley breeze in the same way you described the land and sea breeze in the previous question. 4) What is a Katabatic wind? 5) What are the chinook winds? What is the main reason they are warm? 6) What type of winds are the Santa Ana winds? 7) Does the tropopause height increase or decrease as we move from the equator to the north pole? Hint: are warm air columns taller or shorter than cold air columns? 8) Based on your answer to the previous question, does the pressure gradient force generally want to push air aloft toward the equator or toward the pole? 9) Where do jet streams form? What are the names and latitudinal locations of the two jet streams in the Northern Hemisphere? Are they westerlies or easterlies? 10) What is the Intertropical Convergenze Zone (ITCZ) and where is it? How does its position change seasonally?

2 11) Circle the correct answer: (lows/highs) form over land in the summer, while (lows/highs) form over land in the winter. 12) What is a monsoon? How does the Indian Monsoon relate to the ITCZ? What are the lifting mechanisms that play a role in the Indian Monsoon? 13) What causes the Indian Monsoon? Be able to draw diagrams showing wind direction in winter vs. spring. Hint: it has to do with reversal of the type of pressure system over the Indian continent during different times of the year. 14) Here in the U.S.A and much of Canada, our prevailing winds are called and they move in the direction. While these winds prevail, are we ALWAYS going to have surface winds blowing that way or will surface lows and highs sometimes spice things up? 15) Where are the semipermanent highs and lows in the northern hemisphere? 16) Describe Ekman transport and the Ekman spiral. Which force drives this process? 17) Describe how the following conditions change during ENSO: wind direction or strength, locations of high and low pressure systems, location of rainfall, and location of warmer ocean waters. Be able to draw pictures of the Pacific Basin during El Nino and non-el Nino years. 18) Why is El Nino bad for fisherman on the Peruvian coast? 19) BRIEFLY describe the North Atlantic Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the Atlantic Meridional Oscillation. 20) What is the Three Cell Model of global circulation and what does it assume? Does it perfectly represent the real world? 21) Be able to locate the three circulation cells on a figure of the globe. Know their names and the latitudes at which each starts and stops. Know at which latitudes there is rising motion and at

3 which latitudes there is subsidence (the highs and lows). Be able to locate and label the two jet streams on the same map. See spring 2015 Quiz 2 for this question. 22) What is one failing of Hadley s original single-cell model of global circulation? 23) Where are the trade winds (between what two latitudes) and in what direction do they blow? 24) If you are trying to sail from Europe to the New World, why would you need to sail first to northwest Africa before moving westward? If you are trying to sail from the New World back to Europe, where would you need to leave from? 25) Do we have surface lows at the pole or at the equator, based on our atmospheric circulation model? (See question 22) 26) Why are there deserts? (Hint: it has to do with the location of our circulation cells see question 22) 27) What are the doldrums and what kind of weather usually happens there? 28) What are the horse latitudes? 29) What is the polar front? The subpolar low? What weather happens here? Chapter 8 Lectures: Air Masses and Fronts and Cyclogenesis 1) What is an air mass? 2) What are the two main surface categories for air mass source? What do they tell us about the air mass in terms of humidity? 3) What are the three main location categories for air mass source? What do they tell us about the air mass in terms of temperature?

4 4) Which combination of surface and location categories does not exist (aka this type of air mass is nonexistent)? 5) Know the abbreviations we use for the various air masses (example: ct= continental tropical) Note: on last year s exam the multiple choice answers were only given to you as these abbreviations, so you must know them. 6) Of continental air masses and maritime air masses, which one is dry and which one is moist? 7) Which air mass do we sometimes call The Siberian Express? 8) In the United States, which air mass can only be seen in the summer? 9) Given a map (of the U.S. or another country) be able to label where each type of air mass would be entering the country (example: continental polar will enter the United States from the north, while continental tropical will enter from Mexico). You should also know what kind of weather conditions these air masses can bring. 10) What is the dry line? 11) What is the process behind Lake Effect Snow and where do we see this in the USA? 12) Can air masses be modified? How? 13) A front is a transition between density, temperature, or both? 14) What is the frontal zone? 15) Be able to draw/identify all the types of fronts. Know the air masses associated with each front. Be able to look at a map of a mid-latitude cyclone and label where the different air masses are. 16) What is a stationary front? 17) Why does a warm air mass flow over a cold air mass when they meet?

5 18) How do the weather and clouds differ between cold fronts and warm fronts? 19) How do temperatures, pressures, and wind directions change before, during, and after a warm front passes through? How about for a cold front? 20) What are occluded fronts and how do they happen? Describe the difference between warm type occlusion and cold type occlusion. In which part of the United States can warm type occlusions be found? 21) What is a mid-latitude cyclone? Are they the same thing as hurricanes? 22) For a cold front, where would you expect the clouds to be? 23) For a warm front where would you expect the clouds to be? 24) Comma clouds: what do they represent? What is the dry slot? 25) In what direction do cyclones rotate in the Northern Hemisphere? What type of pressure system is this indicative of? (YOU GUYS KNOW THIS!) 26) What are the different stages of cyclogenesis? Be able to describe at each stage what each front is doing 27) What are the three things you need for cyclogenesis? 28) What are some of the regions of cyclogenesis? 29) Circle the correct answer: An extra-tropical cyclone is strengthened through (upper level convergence / upper level divergence). Explain why this is true. 30) What is zonal flow? What is meridional flow? (In terms of jet stream movement) Chapter 9

6 Lecture: Forecasting 1) What does a persistence forecast assume? 2) What is the definition of a probability forecast and what does it assume? 3) What is a climatology forecast? Be sure to know the difference between the forecast time scales for climatology vs. probability forecasts. 4) Which type of forecast assumes that the speed, direction, size, and intensity of a storm are not changing? What is the failing of this forecast? 5) Which type of forecast assumes that weather will behave the same way under a specific set of conditions? What does this forecast recognize that the trend forecast fails to? What is the failing of this forecast? 6) The daily forecasting of weather by computers using mathematical equations is called? 7) The use of several forecast models or different versions of the same model to improve short and medium range forecasts is called? 8) Understand and be able to describe the phrase Red sky at night, sailor s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. 9) Why are prognostic charts useful/what are some of the things they can tell us? 10) Be able to list the steps of numerical weather prediction. 11) Which type of forecast uses Model Output Statistics? 12) What is an ensemble forecast?