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99 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Albedo |
Reflectivity of a surface |
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The greenhouse effect |
Excess heat is reradiated at long waves and absorbed by gases in atoms |
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Dew point temperature |
When the highest humidity turns into rain/wind |
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If you are in an airplane at the North Pole and point it toward Chicago and fly straight where will you land? |
Land west of Chicago (clockwise) |
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The rapid rotation of the earth results in all large moving air masses in the Northern Hemisphere |
Right, left |
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What are the greenhouse gases? |
Water vapor, CO2, methane, cfcs |
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Water has the highest heat capacity of all solids and liquids, except liquid ammonia |
True |
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A cooling air mass almost sinks and compresses, becoming denser and warmer as it sinks |
True |
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The dew point temperature is the temperature at which air reaches 100 percent relative humidity |
True |
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The suns energy heats all parts of the earth equally |
False |
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Before life was present on earth, the atmosphere was full of CO2, and the average surface temperature of the earth would of 550 degrees |
False |
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Because of its fluctuations in the abundance of CO2 is the most important of the gases |
True |
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Derecho |
A line of thunderstorms that have winds comparable to hurricanes |
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Fujita scale |
Quantifies the tornado on wind speed (tornado magnitude) |
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What type of severe weather results in the highest annual death toll? |
Heat |
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Severe weather causes what percent of deaths from natural disasters |
75 |
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Much of the mid latitude severe weather in the Northern Hemisphere occurs via cyclones. Which direction do they rotate and around what type of pressure zone? |
Counterclockwise, low pressure core |
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How does the air within a thunderstorm compare to the surrounding air? |
Less dense |
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Thunderstorms wreak havoc with other weather conditions |
All the above |
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Which state has the most thunderstorms |
Florida |
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Which phenomenon has the highest wind speeds |
Derecho |
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What population do tornadoes preferentially kill |
Old people, mobile homes, occupants of exterior homes, those unaware of alerts |
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Saffir Simpson scale |
Assessment of the strength of a hurricane |
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What direction do hurricanes rotate around a central core in the northern hemisphere |
Counter clockwise |
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Rank the following in order of increasing strength |
Tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, hurricane |
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As a hurricane forms, converging surface winds meet at the central core |
Warm, upward, moist |
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Where are the strongest winds within a hurricane |
Eyeball |
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Why does a large mound of seawater build up beneath the eye of a hurricane |
Low pressure zone pushing the water into chimney of eye |
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Which month has the most hurricanes |
September |
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What results in the most deaths in tropical cyclones |
Storm surge |
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Fronts are not associated with hurricanes |
True |
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Hurricanes are often form right on the equator, because the ocean water is warmest there |
False |
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The number of people killed by hurricanes has increased |
False |
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During the 20th century the average global surface temperature rose how many degrees |
.6 c |
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Which greenhouse gas accounts for 60% of global warming |
Carbon dioxide |
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Which greenhouse gas in the most efficient at trapping heat |
Cfcs |
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What has caused the climactic cooling of the 55.5 million years |
Make up of Pangea, continents moving, snow ice increased albedo, uplifting of mountains |
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What caused the cycles of of slow buildup and advance of glaciers followed by rapid shrinkage and retreat |
Earths tilt, precession, eccentricity |
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What is characteristic of a strong El Niño |
All the above |
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What is earths relative position to the sun during the winter in the northern hemisphere |
Closer to the sun |
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When did the dust bowl happen |
1930 |
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Not only do warm and cold intervals come and go, but they do not necessarily correlate with wet and dry periods |
True |
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Our knowledge of the global advance retreat history of glaciers has been leaping ahead |
True |
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If CO2 were not present in the atmosphere, the average temperature at the earths surface would be about 0 f |
True |
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Base level |
Level of which a stream cannot erode |
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What is a factor that interact to make streams seek equilibrium |
All the above |
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If a stream experiences more energetic water flow, how does the stream respond |
Increasing synocity, be meandering |
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On a given stream, how does the occurrence of small floods compare to large floods |
More often |
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Statistically, the 100 year flood has what percent chance of occurring any year |
1% |
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What causes killer floods |
All the above |
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Which is responsible for fifty percent of flash flood deaths |
Vehicle related |
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What efforts are taken to control rivers |
All the above |
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With respect to channelization, straightening the channel does what to the gradient of the stream bottom and water flow |
Increase velocity, increases gradient, increases slope |
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Excesses in stream discharge or stream sediment load are managed by the stream changing dependent variables |
True |
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The biggest floods known on earth are within the past two million years occurred during the meetings of continental sheets |
True |
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The largest flood known in an area is likely to exceeded someday by a larger one |
True |
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CHAPTER 14 |
Start here |
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Pyrolysis |
Thermal digration of wood |
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How to sacrifice your house to the fire gods |
All the above |
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Fire is the rapid combination of oxygen with carbon, hydrogen, and other elements of organic material in a reaction that produces flame, heat, light |
True |
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Strong winds tend to blow fires out |
False |
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What are external processes that increase the odds of a slope failure |
All the above |
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Relative size of clay crystals |
Very small |
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Many hill slope masses are weak due to which conditions |
all the above |
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What triggers mass movements |
All the above |
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Fastest mass movement |
Avalanche |
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What forces must a landslide mass overcome before it moves downhill |
Friction and inertia |
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Creep is an ultra slow upslope movement |
False |
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Crown fires |
Fire that race through treetops |
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Quicksand does not suck people and object down |
True |
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Main types of mass movements are downward, falling or subsiding, sliding and flowing |
True |
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Long shore drift |
Acts like an offshore river |
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When waves reach shallow water, what controls their velocity |
Depth of water |
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Newton’s law that force is proportional |
Force = mass X acceleration |
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How does mass and distance affect gravitational attraction |
Mass is a larger number, distance is smaller |
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How does sea wall construction affect severe coastal erosion |
Makes it worse |
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How do waves react when the hit headlands |
Retract and focus energy |
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When are tidal forces highest |
Twice a month |
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What happens to sand as a wave approaches man made obstructions along the coast at an angle |
Depositing on near, eroding on right (wake) |
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Ladder fuels |
Fire that climbs from smaller plants to larger ones |
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Meteor |
Meteoroids through the earths atmosphere (shooting star) |
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Comets |
Ice and rocky debris |
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Asteroids |
Piece of a planet that broke off |
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Solar wind |
Fly off the sun (particles) |
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Why are stony meteorites less commonly collected |
All the above |
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Why are there so many more impact craters on the moon than earth |
Earth has vegetation, weathering, and erosion |
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Ven |
Between mars and Jupiter, inner outer planets |
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All but what which effects of the cretaceous- tertiary boundary impact happen |
Significant ocean cooling |
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Venus air temperature compared to earths |
Warmer |
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The major types of meteorites are either iron or stone |
True |
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Photosynthesis reactions in plants, what is given off as a reaction? |
Oxygen |
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Four inner plants are small, close together, near sun |
True |
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The outer planets lie at that distances from the sun |
True |
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The solar energy stored by plants during their growth does what during a fire |
Returned to atmosphere |
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Grasses have broad surfaces, how does fire react to this |
Fast spreading fires |
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Where do most intense fires happen |
In the woods because shrubs have high oil content |
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During burning, the chemical structure of solid wood breaks apart. What yields |
All the above |
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The spread of fire depends on behavior within the fire itself and what other factors |
Topography, weather, wind speed, type of fuel |
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How does the transfer of heat occur |
Radiation, convection, conduction, change of state |