Geology Short Q&A

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Chapter 6:..

Review:

2.) Atmospheric Rivers are narrow bands of concentrated water vapor that move in the lower atmosphere, and they are responsible for the horizontal flow of water vapor outside the tropics.

4.) Distillation converts ocean water into freshwater through the process of evaporation, where water from the ocean vaporizes to leave dissolved substances, then condenses into the clouds and falls as freshwater.

6.) The air temperature, dewpoint, and the wet-bulb temperature are the same when the air is saturated

8.) High and middle temperature in the troposphere means high water evaporation from the earth's surface, which increases the amount of precipitable water compared to when the temperatures are low, and water evaporation is low.

Critical Thinking:

2.) With the increase in the moisture content of the topsoil, the is an increase in evaporation which is a cooling process that makes the topsoil that has a high moisture level has a lower temperature.

4.) Convective clouds have a high possibility of forming over bare grounds as compared to snow-covered grounds. This is because the air temperatures across grounds covered with snow are very low, which prevents convection.

6.) The joint polar satellite system has microwave sensors that measure the amount of water vapor present in its column called the vertically integrated water vapor, then express the measurements into centimeters to make water vapor look like it is in the atmospheric column condensed to layers of liquid water. Imagery by this satellite is applied in learning the physical characteristics, development, and effects of atmospheric rivers.

8.) If the parcel was saturated, the atmosphere was stable. This is because stability affects the vertical motion in the atmosphere, so convection and turbulence are improved when the air is unstable and inhibited when the air is stable.

Chapter 7:

Review:

2.) The natural sources of cloud condensation nuclei include wind erosion of soil, ocean organic compounds, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, cycled eruptions, and ocean sprays. These nuclei favor the condensation of water vapor which leads to the formation of cloud droplets.

4.) Collision-coalescence process makes precipitation form in a warm cloud, and the process takes place where the clouds are made up of cloud droplets of different sizes. When the clouds have larger droplets, they have a high terminal velocity compared to the smaller droplets, making them collide and coalesce with the smaller droplets present in their path.

6.) Freezing rain is made up of raindrops that have been supercooled, and they partially freeze when they get into contact with cold surfaces at a subfreezing temperature to form a coat of ice on roads, branches, or other surfaces that are exposed. Ice pellets are spherical or irregularly shaped particles of ice that form when snowflakes partly or completely melt when they are falling through the freezing air under the cloud base.

8.) Mountain ranges create horizontal winds with a wave-like pattern greater than the summit's downwind. As the air becomes sufficiently humid and ascends with the wave’s condensation, expansion cooling takes place, making the lee-wave clouds form.

Critical Thinking:

2.) Supercooled cloud droplets have a temperature below the normal freezing point of water, but they still remain in their liquid state. Cloud droplets become supercooled when no foreign materials can act as the ice-forming nuclei. Schaefer point acts as the threshold temperature at which the cloud droplet cools without freezing.

4.) Inside the clouds, there exist supercooled water droplets that have a temperature that is below freezing, and when aircraft flies through this layer, the droplets experiencing air pressure behind the aircraft's wings cools and becomes colder leading to the formation of ice crystals that creates a punch-hole like a shape in the clouds.

6.) A weather radar that operates under the reflectivity mode means that the radar emits short pulses of microwave energies which are reflected back through precipitation size particles such as hail, rain, or snow back to the receiver. Using dual-polarization increases the accuracy of a forecast and enables timely and accurate warnings.

8.) Some of the atmospheric conditions that influence the base height of cumuliform clouds include wind circulation, inversion, convection, and temperature. A convective condensation level is an atmospheric point through which air parcels become saturated, making condensation start taking place by convection creating a level that coincides with an altitude of the cumuliform cloud's base.

Chapter 8:

Review:

2.) Horizontal air pressure gradients are caused by changes in air pressure along the surface of constant altitude, creating a force that acts towards the low-pressure perpendicular to isobars, making the air parcels move towards the low pressure.

4.) The Coriolis effect makes the horizontal wind change its direction to the right of its initial direction when it reaches the northern hemisphere and to the left when it reaches the southern hemisphere.

6.) The roughness of the earth's surface creates a frictional resistance that slows the wind and makes the wind blow directly across isobars and towards regions with low pressure.

8.) When the surface wind converges towards the center of the cyclone, air ascends, and it experiences expansion cooling increasing its humidity, and when the saturation process is achieved, the clouds may form, resulting in precipitation.

Critical Thinking:

2.) Gravity is the product of two forces working together: the object's gravitational force and the object's centripetal force, which accelerates the unit mass of an object directly towards the surface of the earth. Since Gravity acts directly downwards towards the earth's surface, it has no effect on the horizontal winds.

4.) Geostrophic wind is an unaccelerated horizontal movement of air flowing in a straight path at an altitude above the atmospheric boundary layer. Geostrophic wind is a result of a balance between the horizontal pressure gradient force and the Coriolis effect. The gradient wind develops at high altitudes in the atmospheric boundary layer around anticyclones or cyclones.

6.) High pressure is denser, forcing air towards the surface of the earth, which makes air become dry, and with ow pressure, the density is low and lifts the air up, causing moisture to be formed.

8.) A developing cyclone upper-air support needs horizontal divergence as a result of the effect of the Coriolis force that opposes the pressure gradient acceleration makes the air change direction, and rather than the wind blowing directly from high to low pressure, the earth's rotation makes the wind to deflect from its course.

Chapter 9:

Review:

2.) A semi-permanent subtropical anticyclone involves a weak horizontal air pressure gradient over a wide area covering the system center, which causes light surface winds over a wide area of the subtropical ocean. Wind belts that are formed in the equatorward and the poleward flank are the trade winds.

4.) southern California is influenced by the eastern flanks, which are high in Hawaii during summer. They bring dry weather. During winter, the great changes to the equator side, which causes the rainy season.

6.) Southwest Monsoon results from intense solar radiational heating, raising the ground temperature of the overlying air, reducing the air pressure to too low levels in the troposphere in a wide area as the warm high-pressure system creates aloft in the upper and middle troposphere.

8.) Polar front is a narrow zone of change between warm and cold air masses, and with movements, the air is deflected by the Coriolis effect that makes it turn and blow parallel to isotherms and polar fronts.

Critical Thinking:

2.) This jet stream is part of the winter jet stream, driven by the strong jet streaks that form in winter along the east coast of North America and Asia, where the temperature contrasts between the snow-covered land and ice-free surface.

4.) The extratropical cyclone requires strong horizontal divergence aloft, supplied by the jet streak, a section of the jet stream made up of very strong winds.

6.) ENSO is referred to as the coupled phenomenon since it depends on the feedback between ocean and atmosphere where the changes in the ocean bring about changes in the atmosphere, which then affects the ocean.

8.) Been able to predict El Nino and La Nina increases the chances of understanding the adverse effects that are associated with these extreme events. With improved prediction, we can understand when extreme weather events are to take place and the possible damage they will cause.

Chapter 10:

Review:

2.) The pacific air over the continental U.S acquired these characteristics since most of eastern North America experiences lengthy episodes of mild and generally dry weather as a result of polar air masses staying off the north while the tropical air masses stay to the south.

4.) With enough air support, an extratropical cyclone can form then intensify. Cyclogenesis mostly takes place along the polar front directly under the area of strong horizontal divergence in the upper troposphere.

6.) The Northwest sector of a mature extratropical cyclone is the warm side, and the wind directions veer, creating a cold front that is followed by a warm front. However, the cold side of the storm has wind directions that back without passing the fronts. During winter in the Northwest, substantial snowfall is more likely to form on the cold side than on the warm side.

8.) Chinook winds usually blow from the southwest and they become compressed as it descends the eastern leeward slopes where the air temperature rises making it considerably warm. The warm air becomes unsaturated, and its relative humidity decreases.

Critical Thinking:

2.) An occluded front is when an extratropical cyclone moves into colder air, and a front forms when it is in its life cycle. Cold occlusion is when air behind the advancing cold front becomes cooler than the air ahead of the warm front, and the cold air slides under and lifts the air in the warm sector, the warm front, and cool air. Warm occlusion develops when air behind the advancing cold front is not as cold as the air ahead of the warm front.

4.) An Alberta-track low brings less snowfall to the great lakes as compared to the Colorado-track low since the Alberta storm is further away from the source of moisture and travels much faster.

6.) A mature extratropical cyclone in satellite imagery has a 1500-3000 km diameter, a maximum speed of 55-70 Kilometers per hour, originates from the middle latitudes or polar fronts, and the direction of motion is eastward or northeastward. The conveyor belt model shows the circulations in a mature extratropic cyclone as different interacting air streams referred to as conveyor belts.

8.) Valley breeze is an upslope wind formed during the day, while a mountain breeze is a downslope wind formed during the night.