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Midterm Practice Questions
AOSC200
Spring 2016
Chapters 1 and 2:
Lectures: “Atmospheric Basics” and “Composition, Temperature, and Radiation” and “Energy,
Radiation, the Sun, and the Seasons”
1) What is the difference between weather and climate?
2) What is the chemical composition of the atmosphere (the big three)?
3) What are the main greenhouse gases and what are some sources and sinks for each of
them (note: for a few of them we actually did not discuss sources and sinks)?
4) Know how temperature changes with height within the troposphere, tropopause, and
stratosphere.
5) What is latent heat?
6) Which phase change is a cooling process and which one is a warming process (hint: latent
heat)?
7) What is specific heat? What does this tell us about the ocean’s role as a thermal regulator?
8) What are the different types of energy transfer and where are they important (i.e., close to
the surface, the air, etc.)?
9) What is a front? What are the different types of fronts and how do you draw each of them?
10) Is incoming solar radiation shortwave or longwave? In which part of the electromagnetic
spectrum does it peak?
11) Is outgoing terrestrial radiation shortwave or longwave? In which part of the
electromagnetic spectrum does it peak?
12) What is the atmospheric window (the definition and the wavelength range)? Does the
atmospheric window affect solar radiation, terrestrial radiation, or both?
13) What is the greenhouse effect? Which type of radiation is being “trapped”: outgoing
shortwave radiation, incoming shortwave radiation, outgoing longwave radiation, or
incoming longwave radiation?
14)What is the most important greenhouse gas? What is the most important greenhouse gas
that is directly affected by human activity?
15) What is albedo and how does it influence temperature of a surface?
16) What is the reason for the seasons?
17) What time of day is the solar zenith angle at its minimum? At its maximum? Hint: your
zenith is the point directly above your head.
18) Where is there a surplus of energy and where is there a deficit of energy on the globe?
19) Know what equinoxes and solstices are and what it means for radiation hitting Earth
Chapter 3:
Lectures: “Radiation, Season, Temperature” and “Temperature continued,” and “Finish Chapter
3”
1) What is a temperature inversion?
2) Approximately what time of day do minimum and maximum daily temperatures occur?
Given this, as well as the fact that thunderstorm formation depends on convection, what
time of day do you think thunderstorms are most likely to form?
3) How do clouds affect the daily temperature range?
4) How does latitude generally affect annual temperature range?
5) How does altitude affect temperature?
6) How does surface type affect temperature?
7) How does proximity to a body of water affect annual temperature range?
Chapter 4:
Lectures: “Observations” and “Water in the Atmosphere” and “Clouds”
1) What does an anemometer measure?
2) What does a barometer measure?
3) What does a dew point hygrometer measure?
4) What do we use to measure rainfall?
5) What is vapor pressure?
6) What is saturation vapor pressure? How about relative humidity?
7) What are the two ways get water vapor to condense?
8) What is the dew point? How does it relate to relative humidity and cloud/fog formation?
9) How are temperature and relative humidity correlated?
10)Can warm air or cold air hold more water vapor?
AOSC200
Spring 2016
11) What are the different types of fog and how do they happen? On last year’s midterm he
asked for very specific details on how each one forms.
12) Know the general pre-fixes we use for high, middle, and low clouds.
13) Which clouds are called clouds of vertical development?
14) What clouds are associated with rain?
15) What is the difference between cirrostratus clouds and altostratus clouds? What does the
Sun look like to us if we’re trying to gaze through each of these clouds?
16) Rainbows are formed because water droplets act like ________________.
Chapter 5:
Lectures: “Stability” and “Precipitation”
1) What is the dry adiabatic lapse rate (value and definition)? What does adiabatic mean?
When the parcel has cooled enough to form a cloud, are we still cooling at this lapse rate
as we continue upward?
2) What is the definition of the environmental lapse rate?
3) In an unstable atmosphere, how does the environmental temperature compare to the
parcel’s temperature? How about for a stable atmosphere?
4) What is the saturated adiabatic lapse rate? Why is the saturated adiabatic lapse rate
smaller than the dry adiabatic lapse rate? Note: this is also called the moist or wet
adiabatic lapse rate.
5) Define and explain the four different lifting mechanisms that can lead to cloud formation.
Which one of these will not happen in a stable atmosphere?
6) When clouds form due to orographic lifting, on which side of the mountain does the
precipitation occur: the windward side or the leeward side? Which side of the mountain is
warmer and why is this the case?
7) What is a conditionally unstable atmosphere? What lifting mechanisms are important in
this situation?
8) What is the role of aerosols in cloud formation? What’s the specific name for these
aerosols?
9) Name and describe the two processes by which precipitation forms. Which process is
more likely to happen where we are (mid-latitudes)?
10) When there are ice crystals and water droplets present in the same cloud, which one
grows at the expense of the other?
11) What are the four main types of precipitation and how do they relate to the temperature
profile of the atmosphere? You should be able to look at diagrams of different
temperature profiles and label each one with the precipitation type.
12) Circle the correct terms: Freezing rain has a (shallow/deep) freezing layer, while sleet
has a (shallow/deep) freezing layer.
13) If you feel a strong downdraft, what kind of weather is usually on its way to you?
14) What do we use radar for and what is a basic definition of how it works?
15) What information do we get from Doppler radar that we can’t get from regular radar?
16) What is Tim’s favorite word?
Chapter 6:
Lectures: “Pressure and Forces” and “Forces and Winds”
1) What direction is the wind coming from if we say it is an easterly wind?
2) Does air travel from high to low pressure or from low to high pressure?
3) Consider two air columns. One air column is not being heated much by the Sun and we
call it our “cold column.” The other air column is being heated at the surface by the Sun
and we call it our “warm column.” At the surface, which column will have lower surface
pressure? In which column will air rise upward?
4) Based on your answer to the previous question, in which air column would you now
expect an upper level high to form?
5) Based on the two previous questions, you should be able to look at Figures 6.2 and 6.3 (in
the textbook and in Tim’s slides) and draw the direction of the winds.
6) What are the 5 main forces that control wind?
7) What is the pressure gradient force?
8) Since pressure decreases as we go up in altitude and air travels from high to low pressure,
why isn’t there a strong wind rushing from the surface to the upper atmosphere?
9) What is an isobar? How do the closeness of isobars relate to the strength of the pressure
gradient force and the wind speed?
10)What is the Coriolis force? Is it a real force? Why do we need it? You should understand
this in the context of the rotating platform example from class and from lecture slides.
AOSC200
Spring 2016
11) To which direction are moving objects deflected in the Northern Hemisphere? In the
Southern Hemisphere?
12) Where is the Coriolis force at its maximum and where is it at its minimum (in terms of
latitude)?
13) What is hydrostatic balance?
14) Explain the geostrophic wind and the balance of forces that make it possible. How must
the isobars be for the geostrophic wind to exist? Is the geostrophic wind something that
happens at the surface or aloft (hint: is friction a player or not)?
15) What is the gradient wind? Include the forces that need to balance to make this possible,
as well as how the isobars must be for it to exist. Does it occur at the surface or aloft?
16) What is cyclonic flow? Anticyclonic flow? Note that the definitions do not change between
northern and southern hemispheres.
17) In the Northern Hemisphere, do cyclones rotate counterclockwise or clockwise? How
about in the Southern Hemisphere? Answer the same question in regards to anticyclones.
18) How does friction play a role in winds at the surface? Winds aloft?
19) How does friction affect the Coriolis force? How does this new force balance influence the
way winds act around a low or high pressure system (in comparison to the gradient
wind)? Note: he asked students on multiple exams last semester to draw the winds
around surface highs and lows. You must be very specific to receive credit.
20) What does convergence mean and what does divergence mean in terms of wind?
21) Circle the correct terms:
A surface low-pressure system will lead to lower level (convergence/divergence),
which forces the air (up/down). This then leads to upper level (convergence/divergence).
Upper level (convergence/divergence) forces the air (up/down), leading to a
surface high-pressure system. This in turn creates lower level (convergence/divergence).