Reference no: EM131679222

Meteorology Homeworks

Homework 1 -

Chapter 1 -

1) What is the primary source of energy for the Earth's atmosphere?

2) List the four most abundant gases in today's atmosphere.

3) Of the four most abundant gases in our atmosphere, which one shows the greatest variation from place to place at the Earth's surface?

4) What are some of the important roles that water plays in our atmosphere?

5) What are some of the aerosols in the atmosphere?

6) (a) Explain the concept of air pressure in terms of weight of air above some level.

(b) Why does air pressure always decrease with increasing height above the surface?

7) (a) What atmospheric layer contains all of our weather?

(b) In what atmospheric layer do we find the highest concentration of ozone? The highest average air temperature?

8) How does weather differ from climate?

9) Define meteorology and discuss the origin of this word.

10) When someone says that "the wind direction today is south", does this mean the wind is blowing toward the south or from the south?

Chapter 2 -

1) Distinguish between temperature and heat.

2) Explain how heat is transferred in our atmosphere by:

(a) conduction

(b) Convection

(c) Radiation

3) What is latent heat? How is latent heat an important source of atmospheric energy?

4) How does the amount of radiation emitted by the Earth differ from the that emitted by the Sun?

5) How do the wavelengths of most of the radiation emitted by the Sun differ from those emitted by the surface of the Earth?

6) Why are carbon dioxide and water vapor called selective absorbers?

7) List four important greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

8) Explain how the Earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect works.

9) In the Northern Hemisphere, why are summers warmer than winters even though the Earth is actually closer to the Sun in January?

10) If it is winter and January in New York City, what is the season and month in Sydney, Australia?

Homework 2 -

Chapter 3 -

1) Explain why the warmest time of day is usually in the afternoon, even though the Sun's rays are most direct at noon.

2) On a calm, sunny day, why is the air next to the ground normally much warmer than the air several feet above the ground?

3) Explain how radiational cooling at night produces a radiation temperature inversion.

4) Explain why thermal belts are found along hillsides at night.

5) During the winter, frost can form on the ground when the minimum thermometer indicates a temperature above freezing. Explain.

6) Why do the first freeze in autumn and the last freeze in spring occur in bottomlands?

7) Why are the largest annual ranges of temperature normally observed over continents away from large bodies of water?

8) What is a heating degree-day? A cooling degree-day? How are these units calculated?

9) (a) Assume the wind is blowing at 30 mi/hr and the air temperature is 5 deg F. Determine the wind chill equivalent temperature in Table 3.2, p. 71.

(b) Under the conditions listed in (a) above, explain why an ordinary thermometer would measure a temperature of 5 deg F.

10) What atmospheric conditions can bring on hypothermia?

Chapter 4 -

1) How does condensation differ from precipitation?

2) What are condensation nuclei and why are they important in our atmosphere?

3) In a volume of air, how does the actual vapor pressure differ from the saturation vapor pressure? When are they the same?

4) (a) What does the relative humidity represent?

(b) When the relative humidity is given, why is it also important to know the temperature?

(c) Explain two ways the relative humidity may be changed.

(d) During what part of the day is the relative humidity normally lowest? Normally highest?

5) Why do hot and humid summer days usually feel hotter than hot and dry summer days?

6) (a) What is the dew-point temperature?

(b) How is the difference between dew point and air temperature related to the relative humidity?

7) Describe the conditions that are necessary for the formation of:

(a) radiation fog --

(b) advection fog -

8) Clouds are most generally classified by height above the Earth's surface. List the major height categories and the cloud types associated with each.

9) How can you distinguish altostratus clouds from cirrostratus clouds?

10) Which clouds are associated with each of the following characteristics:

(a) mackerel sky -

(b) lightning -

(c) halos -

(d) hailstones -

(e) mares' tails -

(f) anvil top -

(g) light continuous rain or snow -

(h) heavy rain showers -

Homework 3 -

Chapter 5 -

1) What is an adiabatic process?

2) How would one normally obtain the environmental lapse rate?

3) Why are the moist and dry adiabatic rates of cooling different?

4) If the atmosphere is conditionally unstable, what does this mean? What condition is necessary to bring on instability?

5) Why are cumulus clouds more frequently observed during the afternoon?

6) List the four primary ways in which clouds form.

7) What is the primary difference between a cloud droplet and a raindrop?

8) Describe how the process of collision and coalescence produces rain

9) What is the difference between freezing rain and sleet?

10) (a) What is Doppler radar?

(b) How does Doppler radar measure the intensity of precipitation?

Homework 4 -

Chapter 15 -

1) Why are cumulus clouds normally white?

2) Explain why the sky is blue during the day and black at night.

3) What can make a setting (or rising) sun appear red?

4) (a) Describe how a halo forms.

(b) How is the formation of a halo different from that of a sundog?

5) Why are secondary rainbows much dimmer than primary rainbows?

Chapter 6 -

1) Explain why atmospheric pressure always decreases with increasing altitude.

2) What is considered standard sea-level atmospheric pressure in millibars? In inches of mercury?In hectopascals?

3) How does sea-level pressure differ from station pressure? Can the two ever be the same? Explain.

4) Why will Denver, Colorado always have a lower station pressure than Chicago, Illinois?

5) What are isobars?

6) What do Newton's first and second laws of motion tell us?

7) What does a steep (or strong) pressure gradient mean?

8) What is the name of the force that initially sets the air in motion, and hence causes the wind to blow?

9) Explain why, on a map, closely spaced isobars (or contours) indicate strong winds, and widely spaced isobars (or contours) indicate weak winds.

10) What does the Coriolis force do to moving air...

(a) in the Northern Hemisphere?

(b) in the Southern Hemisphere?

11) Explain how each of the following influences the Coriolis force:

(a) wind speed -

(b) latitude -

12) What is geostrophic wind? On an upper level chart, how does it blow?

13) On a surface map, why do surface winds tend to cross the isobars and flow from higher pressure toward lower pressure?

14) Since there is always an upward-directed pressure gradient force, why doesn't air rush off into space?

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