Tentative NATS 101 Quiz 1 Study Guide

You will be tested on material on the Practice Quiz Study Guide together with the following new material:

Ideal gas law applications.  If you heat or cool a parcel of air in the atmosphere, the density (volume) will change in such a way that the air pressure inside the parcel remains constant (remains the same as the pressure of the air surrounding the parcel).

Upward and downward forces act on air parcels (the strength of one of the forces depends on the air inside the parcel, the other on the air outside the parcel). These two forces are usually in balance. What happens to the balance when you warm or cool a parcel of air?  Basically you should be able to explain why a balloon of hot low density air rises and a balloon of cold high density air sinks.

Sample question: Quiz 1: 16
*** Chap. 12 (pps 325-327, 330) ***
Stratospheric Ozone and the Ozone Hole. Natural production and destruction of ozone. Importance of the ozone layer. Manmade destruction of ozone. What part of a CFC molecule destroys ozone? Ozone hole: what, where, when, and how does it form?

Sample questions:    Final: 13, 15

*** Chap. 1 (pps 13-18), Chap. 6 (pps 141-149), Appendix C (pps 431-432) ***
Station model notation. Cloud cover, temperature, dew point temperature (typical values for Tucson), wind direction and speed, common weather symbols (rain, snow, fog, rain shower, thunderstorm, tropical storm and hurricane), pressure. Units. After pressure is measured, what important adjustment is made before the pressure is plotted on the surface map? Why is that necessary? Average value and typical range of sea-level pressures.

Surface weather maps. Surface observations are made and a new map is prepared hourly. What time zone or time reference is used? 24-hour clock (what time is it when it is 17:30 in Tucson). Isobars and isotherms. Small horizontal differences in pressure cause the wind to blow. Air motions around high and low pressure centers (northern hemisphere). Strong and weak pressure gradients. Convergence and divergence. Rising and sinking air motions. How do wind motions around highs and low affect the temperature pattern? Cold fronts and warm fronts.

Sample questions:   Practice Quiz: 3, 4, 7, 15, 16        Quiz 1: 1, 15, EC1.        Final: 7, 49, 51




Upper level charts (see pps 115-119 in the photocopied notes).
Ridges (warm air below) and troughs (cold air below). Winds blow parallel to contour lines and from west to east. Would upper-level convergence cause surface pressure to increase or decrease?

Pressure decreases with increasing altitude in the atmosphere. Does pressure decrease more quickly in warm or cold air,
in high or low density air? Why? Are upper level conditions normally displayed on constant altitude or constant pressure charts?

What do the numbers on the contour lines on the constant pressure (isobaric) map above at left represent? Is the coldest air found in the north or south?  Is the air below Point A warmer or colder than the air below Point B.  Is Point A in a ridge or a trough?  Is this a northern or a southern hemisphere chart?   Is the pressure at Point A on the map higher, lower, or the same as the pressure at Point B? How do the altitudes at the two points compare?

How does the pressure at point A in the crossectional figure above at right compare with the pressure at Point B?  Is the coldest air found on the right or left hand side of the figure?  Is pressure decreasing most rapidly with increasing altitude on the right or left side of the figure?

Sample questions:   Quiz 3: 1, 11.

<<< It is not clear how much of the following material will be covered before Quiz 1 >>>

Chapter 2 (pps 26-30)
Energy, temperature and heat.
Kinetic energy - energy of motion.  Temperature (which scale?) provides a measure of the average kinetic energy of the atoms or molecules in a substance.  Heat energy is the total kinetic energy of all the atoms or molecules in a material. Energy units: calories.  What is the relationship between energy added to (or removed from) an object, (delta)E, and the temperature change, (delta)T, that results?  Specific heat or thermal capacity. Water has a relatively high specific heat.

Temperature scales. Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin (absolute) scales. You should know the temperatures of the boiling point of water at sea level and the melting point of ice on all three scales. The global average surface temperature of the earth is about what temperature on the Kelvin scale?

Sample questions: Quiz 1: 4, 10?, 18
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 Chavez (Econ) 301
Chavez (Econ) 301
Chavez (Econ) 301