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1 | |
In what two important processes does the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have an essential role? |
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2 | |
Suppose you are climbing in an airplane that has no altimeter. How could you tell when you are approaching the top of the troposphere? |
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3 | |
The tropopause, stratopause, and mesopause are respectively the upper boundaries of the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. What is characteristic of the air temperature at each of these boundaries? |
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4 | |
What would happen if ozone were to disappear from the upper atmosphere? From the lower atmosphere? |
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5 | |
Why are chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases, which are widely used in refrigeration and in foam plastics, harmful when released into the atmosphere? |
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6 | |
What causes ionization to occur in the upper atmosphere? |
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7 | |
What does Fig. 13-3 tell us about the relative amounts of freshwater present on or near the earth's surface as groundwater, in lakes and rivers, in ice caps and glaciers, and as moisture in the atmosphere? How does the total amount of freshwater compare with the amount of seawater? |
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8 | |
What does it mean to say that a certain volume of air has a relative humidity of 50 percent? Of 100 percent? |
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9 | |
The air in a closed container is saturated with water vapor at 20°C. (a) What is the relative humidity? (b) What happens to the relative humidity if the temperature is reduced to 10°C? (c) If the temperature is increased to 30°C? |
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10 | |
Why does the air in a heated room tend to be dry? |
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11 | |
Why does dew form on the ground during clear, calm summer nights? |
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12 | |
What do high-altitude clouds consist of? Low-altitude clouds? |
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13 | |
Cumulus clouds form when warm air rises vertically by convection, and stratus clouds form when a warm air mass moving horizontally encounters a cooler mass and is forced upward on top of the cooler mass. Which kind of clouds would you expect to be characteristic of a warm front? |
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14 | |
Under what circumstances, if any, can saturated air take up more water? Under what circumstances, if any, can some of the water content of saturated air condense out? |
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15 | |
From time to time a gigantic volcanic explosion sends a large amount of dust into the atmosphere, where it may remain for some years. How many consequences of such an event can you think of? |
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16 | |
What is insolation? How does it affect the atmosphere? |
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17 | |
What is the greenhouse effect and how is it related to the absorption of solar energy by the earth's atmosphere? |
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18 | |
Why do you think temperatures in the troposphere decrease with temperature? Why do you think they increase with altitude in the stratosphere? |
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19 | |
What is the chief source of atmospheric heat? |
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20 | |
Why does the average air temperature decrease going from the equator to the poles? |
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21 | |
What are the two mechanisms by which energy of solar origin is transported around the earth? Which is more important? |
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22 | |
Account for the abrupt changes in temperature between day and night in desert regions. |
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23 | |
In the northern hemisphere, the longest day is in June and the shortest day is in December, but the warmest weather occurs in July and August and the coldest weather in January and February. What is the reason for these time lags? |
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24 | |
If the earth's axis were tilted more than it is now, in what way, if any, would the seasons be affected? |
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25 | |
The Tropic of Cancer is the most northerly latitude in the northern hemisphere at which the sun is ever directly overhead at noon. The Tropic of Capricorn is the corresponding latitude in the southern hemisphere. What are the latitudes of these tropics? |
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26 | |
What is the basic cause of winds? |
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27 | |
Where in the atmosphere do the jet streams occur? What is their general direction? |
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28 | |
A crew is planning to sail from the United States to England and later to sail home. What routes should they follow across the Atlantic on the trips out and back in order to have their course downwind as much of the time as possible? |
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29 | |
An airplane flies at the same speed relative to the air at a high altitude from Chicago to London and then back to Chicago. How do the flight times for each leg compare? |
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30 | |
A wind in the northern hemisphere starts to blow toward the equator. Toward what direction is the wind deflected by the coriolis effect? What about a wind in the southern hemisphere also starting to blow toward the equator? |
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31 | |
(a) What is the name of weather systems centered about regions of high pressure? (b) In what direction do winds in the northern hemisphere spiral around such a region? (c) In the southern hemisphere? |
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32 | |
What is the name of weather systems centered about regions of low pressure? In what direction do winds in the northern hemisphere spiral around such a region? In the southern hemisphere? |
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33 | |
How does the weather associated with a cyclone differ from that associated with an anticyclone? |
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34 | |
Why are clouds and rain more likely to be associated with a cyclone than with an anticyclone? |
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35 | |
When you face a wind associated with a cyclone in the northern hemisphere, in what approximate direction will the center of low pressure be? In what direction will the center of low pressure be if you do this in the southern hemisphere? |
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36 | |
What is the approximate sequence of wind directions when the center of a cyclone passes south of an observer in the hemisphere? |
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37 | |
What is the approximate sequence of wind directions when the center of an anticyclone passes south of an observer in the northern hemisphere? |
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38 | |
What is the difference between the rainfall that accompanies the passage of a warm front and that which accompanies the passage of a cold front? |
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39 | |
The salinity of seawater varies with location, but the relative proportions of the various ions in solution are almost exactly the same everywhere regardless of local circumstances. What is the significance of the latter observation? |
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40 | |
How does the average depth of the ocean basins below sea level compare with the average height of the continents above sea level? |
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41 | |
A wind begins to blow over the surface of a calm body of deep water. What factors govern the height of the waves that are produced? |
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42 | |
The giant whirls of the oceans involve clockwise flows in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise flows in the southern. Why? |
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43 | |
(a) If you were planning to drift in a raft across the North Atlantic from the United States to Europe by making use of ocean currents, what would your route be? (b) If you were planning to drift from Europe to the United States, what would your route be? |
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44 | |
England and Labrador are at about the same latitude on either side of the North Atlantic Ocean, but England is considerably warmer than Labrador on the average. Why? |
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45 | |
The California Current along the California coast is cooler than the ocean to the west. How does this fact explain the numerous fogs on this coast? |
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46 | |
The island of Oahu (one of the Hawaiian Islands) is at latitude 21°N and is crossed by a mountain range trending roughly northwest to southeast. Account for the more abundant rainfall on the northeastern side of the range. |
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47 | |
The northeast and southeast trade winds meet in a belt called the doldrums. What is the characteristic climate of the doldrums and why does it occur? |
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48 | |
Why are most of the world's deserts found in the horse latitudes, which separate the trade winds from the prevailing westerlies in both hemispheres? |
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49 | |
The Milankovitch theory of ice ages relates them to variations in the tilt of the earth's axis, the shape of its orbit, and the time of year when the earth is closest to the sun. However, these variations affect the total amount of solar energy reaching the earth by no more than 0.3 percent. How did Milankovitch account for this apparent contradiction? |
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50 | |
Water vapor is the most important "greenhouse gas" in the atmosphere, yet more attention is paid in this respect to carbon dioxide. Why do you think this is so? |
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51 | |
What has kept certain regions of the earth from sharing fully in global warming? |
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52 | |
Why is it believed that seawater has always been salty? |
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53 | |
Why does the equatorial current flow westward? |
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54 | |
In what two ways do the oceans influence climates on land? |
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