Ch9 Test Bank + Answers External Energy Fuels Weather And

Natural Disasters, 11e (Abbott)

Chapter 9 External Energy Fuels Weather and Climate

1) During the course of a year, the equatorial regions of Earth receive about ________ times as much solar energy as the polar regions.

A) 0.7

B) 18

C) 2.4

D) 36

E) 81

2) The fraction of solar energy reflected back to space due to Earth's cloudiness or snow and ice cover is known as ________.

A) the reflection index

B) albedo

C) the refraction index

D) the Maxwell Number

E) Snell's Number

3) Short-wavelength radiation from the Sun passes through a planet's atmosphere but some of the outgoing long-wavelength energy is absorbed and radiated again; this process is known as________.

A) global cooling

B) the Bose-Einstein Effect 

C) the greenhouse effect

D) convection

E) the Walker Cycle

4) The greenhouse effect results in ________.

A) cooling

B) warming

C) an increase in surface albedo

D) Milankovitch Cycles

5) The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a sample of water is referred to as the ________heat.

A) greenhouse 

B) latent 

C) specific 

D) condensation heat

6) When the relative humidity reaches 100%, excess water vapor condenses and forms liquid water; this temperature is the ________ temperature of the air mass. 

A) condensation

B) liquidus 

C) maximum humidity

D) dew point 

7) The process of changing from a solid to a gas is referred to as ________.

A) evaporation

B) gasification

C) sublimation

D) condensation

8) A sloping surface separating air masses that differ in temperature and moisture content is called a ________.

A) front

B) jet stream

C) Hadley cell

D) trade wind

9) Ascending air at the equator and descending air around 30°N and S latitudes create semicircular air circulation routes known as ________.

A) the semi-troposphere

B) the trade winds

C) westerly winds (westerlies)

D) the Subtropical High Pressure Zone

E) Hadley cells

10) The ________ are the two main jet streams in each hemisphere.

A) polar jet and subtropical jet

B) temperate jet and tropical jet

C) polar jet and temperate jet

D) slow jet and fast jet

E) eastward jet and westward jet

11) A polar jet is a belt of winds about 600 miles wide, flowing as fast as ________ in its central "core."

A) 40 km/hr

B) 400 km/hr

C) 4,000 km/hr

D) 4 km/hr

E) half of the speed of light

12) The polar jet stream flows from west to east, under the influence of the Earth's rotation, in ________.

A) only the Southern Hemisphere

B) only the Northern Hemisphere

C) both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

D) neither hemisphere

E) one hemisphere in summer and the other in winter

13) Deep-ocean waters flow in an overturning circulation called ________.

A) up welling

B) down welling

C) bottom flow

D) thermohaline flow

E) Coriolis flow

14) Because of the Coriolis effect, if you are in an airplane at the geographic north pole and point it toward Chicago and fly in a straight line at 500 miles per hour, you will ________.

A) fly directly over Chicago

B) pass to the east of Chicago

C) pass to the west of Chicago

D) fly directly over China

E) fly directly over India

15) The rapid rotation of the Earth results in all large moving air masses in the Northern Hemisphere sidling off toward their ________ -hand side, when viewed along the direction of movement, and all moving bodies of air in the Southern Hemisphere veering toward their ________.

A) left; right

B) right; left

C) right; right

D) left; left

16) Glass is rather opaque to ________ radiation. 

A) long-wavelength

B) short-wavelength

C) all wavelengths

D) only intermediate-wavelength

17) Greenhouse gases include ________.

A) CO2

B) water vapor

C) methane (CH4)

D) ozone

E) All of these choices are correct.

18) Which of the following has the lowest heat capacity?

A) water

B) granite

C) quartz

D) air

19) When water vapor condenses it ________. 

A) releases latent heat

B) absorbs latent heat

C) converts kinetic energy

D) absorbs kinetic energy

20)  ________ are low-pressure air zones enclosed by somewhat circular isobars.

A) Cyclones

B) Jets

C) Fronts

D) Ferrel cells

21) The altitude where 100% humidity is reached is the ________ level.

A) falling condensation

B) lifting condensation

C) lifting lapse

D) differential lapse

22) The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is located where ________.

A) trade winds from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres meet

B) westerlies from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres diverge

C) the Ferrel and Hadley cells meet

D) high- and low-pressure systems coverage

23) The intertropical convergence zone's (ITCZ) location ________.

A) is always within one degree of latitude from the equator

B) varies with the seasons

C) varies with the lunar cycle

D) flips between one of two possible locations

24) What causes winds to blow across isobars rather than parallel to them?

A) adiabatic heating and cooling

B) the Coriolis effect

C) the pressure gradient force

D) surface friction

25) An anticyclone is a ________.

A) cyclone in the Southern Hemisphere

B) high-pressure air zone enclosed by roughly circular isobars

C) low-pressure system moving against the prevailing winds

D) low-pressure system with air rising in its core

26) Within the Ferrel cell, surface air flows ________.

A) poleward

B) toward the equator

C) to the west

D) parallel to the pressure gradient force

27) The Southern Hemisphere season change is not as great as in the Northern Hemisphere because ________.

A) a greater proportion of the surface area is covered by water in the Southern Hemisphere

B) Earth is tilted to a lesser degree in the Southern Hemisphere

C) the Southern Hemisphere's Hadley cells are only weakly developed

D) the Southern Hemisphere lacks a polar jet

28) Why are rain and clouds common in a low-pressure system?

A) Rising air warms that increases the rate of evaporation putting more moisture in the air.

B) Rising air cools causing condensation.

C) Falling air warms that increases the rate of evaporation putting more moisture in the air.

D) Falling air warms causing condensation.

29) The absorption and release of ________ as water evaporates and condenses transfers solar energy around Earth's surface and atmosphere.

A) sensible heat

B) latent heat

C) insolation

D) electrons

30) Water has the highest heat capacity of all solids and liquids, except liquid ammonia.

31) Polar latitudes show a net cooling because the heat radiated to space is less than the amount gained from the Sun.

32) The transport of energy in moving air masses is often experienced as severe storms.

33) The process of expanding air causes cooling, an adiabatic process where temperature changes without loss of heat. 

34) A cooling air mass aloft sinks and compresses, becoming denser and warmer as it sinks.

35) Adiabatic effects include expansional cooling and compressional warming.

36) The vertical movement of air is large compared to its horizontal motion.

37) The Coriolis effect is greater at higher latitudes.

38) Atmospheric jets are relatively narrow bands of high-velocity winds that flow from west to east at high altitudes.

39) The Southern Hemisphere's polar jet flows the fastest during the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

40) Sublimation describes the same process as evaporation.

41) The dew point temperature is the temperature at which air reaches 100% relative humidity and excess water vapor condenses to liquid water.

42) The energy released by condensing a given mass of water is the same as that absorbed by evaporating the same mass of water.

43) Energy is absorbed by water when it condenses from vapor.

44) The Sun's energy heats all parts of Earth equally.

45) The oceans hold a much greater volume of heat than the atmosphere even though the atmosphere has a much larger volume.

46) Northern Europe is warmer than it otherwise would be because surface currents in the Atlantic Ocean transfer heat from lower latitudes.

47) Climate is the long-term average of the weather in a given area.

48) Reducing the global amount of surface area covered by snow and ice would increase Earth's average surface albedo.

49) Salts are excluded from ice as seawater freezes at the surface of the ocean.

50) The greenhouse effect makes Earth's average surface temperature warmer than it otherwise would be.

51) Water has such a tremendous capacity to either absorb or release heat that it acts as a powerful control or buffer on global climate.

52) The weather in the United States is dominated by air masses that form over the Arctic Ocean.

53) Conduction transfers heat by mass motions in the atmosphere.

54) The horizontal convection that transfers heat towards the poles is known as ________.

A) convection

B) conduction

C) advection

D) adduction

55) Conduction is the direct transfer of heat from one substance to another that is in contact with it.

56) ________ occurs when air is forced to rise and move over mountainous topography.

A) Convectional lifting

B) Frontal lifting

C) Isostatic lifting

D) Orographic lifting

57) When air masses of different densities collide, the less dense air mass is forced to rise through frontal lifting.