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Test is Thursday 9/22
Test #2 Review- The Earth and Climates (Chapters 2 & 3)
Please complete on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Define the following terms:
a. Climate – average weather conditions over a long period of time
b. Weather – atmospheric conditions over a short period of time
c. Leeward – dry, warm side of a mountain due to rain shadow effect
d. El Nino – change in atmospheric pressure in the Pacific Ocean that brings cool, wet
conditions to the Americas, dry, hot conditions to S.E. Asia and Australia
e. Doldrums – windless band of air located along the equator
2. How does elevation affect climate? – temperature drops 3.5 degrees every 1000 ft, the
atmosphere becomes thinner with increases in elevation allowing for more sunlight, but
trapping less heat on earth’s surface
3. Describe the climate and vegetation in each of the following latitude zones:
a. Low Latitudes – generally hot, wet and with tropical vegetation
b. Mid Latitudes – moderate temperatures but drastic changes in temperature, deciduous
and coniferous forests
c. High Latitudes – cold to covered in ice, coniferous forests
4. In what latitude zone do the polar areas lie? High
5. What is the difference in leeward and windward? Windward – wet, cool, fertile; leeward – hot,
dry deserts
6. What is the natural vegetation of a desert? Cacti and scrub
7. What are the different types of tropical climates? Tropical Rainforest – rainy year-round;
Tropical Savanna – has a wet and dry season; both warm to hot year round
8. Describe the following climate regions:
a. Mediterranean – coastal areas (Mediterranean Sea in southern Europe!) mild winters,
hot summers, chaparral vegetation
b. Humid Sub-Tropical – Houston! High humidity, hot, long summers, grasslands and
mixed forests
9. Which climate region has the widest temperature range? subarctic
10. Define and describe the atmosphere. Atmosphere – layer of gases surrounding earth, helps to
regulate temperatures on earth by trapping in some heat from the sun
11. How is the atmosphere affected by elevation? Becomes thinner when there is an increase in
elevation allowing for more sunlight but less heat to be radiated back onto earth’s surface
12. What are wind patterns? How do they affect climate? Cool air rushes in to replace warm air that
is rising. Wind patterns help to distribute heat from the sun. Named by the direction they come
from.
13. Define the following type of winds:
a. Trade Winds – wind patterns located in the low latitudes/along the equator
14. Draw the 6 plate boundary interactions and describe them. Convergent Continental-Continental
– tall mnts.; Divergent Continental-Continental – valleys and seas; Convergent ContinentalOceanic – coastal mnts. and volcanos; Convergent Oceanic-Oceanic – volcanic islands; Divergent
Oceanic-Oceanic – ridge lines on the ocean floor; Transform – sliding past each other
earthquakes, faults (cracks in the earh); Hot Spot - magma pooling leads to volcanic islands *not
at a plate boundary
15. Where does precipitation increase due to El Nino? South America, parts of North America
16. What is a climograph? Be sure you know how to read a climograph. Shows average temperature
(line graph) and precipitation (bar graph) by month for a city
17. Describe the difference between erosion and weathering. Weathering is the breaking down,
erosion wears away and carries away
18. Understand the stages of the water cycle. Evaporation – heated water turns to gas and rises,
Condensation – gas vapor cools and comes together to form clouds, Precipitation – water is
returned back to earth in the form of rain, sleet, hail or snow
19. What is an equinox and what is a solstice? How does sunlight affect temperature and seasons?
Fall/Spring Equinox – the sun’s direct rays are along the equator – equal amounts of day light
and night time; Summer/Winter solstice – longest and shortest day of the year; opposite for
northern and southern hemispheres; the sun’s direct rays on one of the tropic lines depending
on the time of year (USA’s summer solstice – on the Tropic of Cancer) the amount of
direct/indirect sunlight is the number 1 thing affecting climate
20. What are greenhouse gases? How do they affect the environment? Atmospheric gases that help
to trap heat on earth, without them, everything would freeze, too much of them would cause
everything to burn up
21. Describe each layer of the earth. – core – inner – solid, super hot; outer – liquid, super hot;
mantle – convection currents of magma (melted rock); crust – solid rocky surface including the
ocean floor, plates move due to the currents in the mantle
22. Define continental drift and plate tectonics. C.D. - continents become separate over millions of
years; P.T. – the interactions between plates as they move
23. What is desalination? Why don’t people use this process on a regular basis? What countries
would be interested in using this process? Removing salt from salt water; requires lots of energy
which makes it expensive; the Middle East, Northern Africa
24. What are some short term and long term affects that some believe are associated with the
theory of global warming? Short term – rising temperatures, melting ice caps, Long Term –
flooding coastal areas, loss of fresh water supply
25. What are the two types of glaciers? How can each cause erosion? Sheet glaciers – grinding along
coast lines, breaking over coast lines; Mountain glaciers – carrying debris, trees, and dirt down
the mountain side, can cause moraines