Fundamentals of Meteorology Final Exam
Course Introduction
Fundamentals of Meteorology introduces students to the scientific principles governing Earths atmosphere and weather systems. The course covers atmospheric structure and composition, solar and terrestrial energy balances, cloud formation, precipitation processes, wind systems, and the interpretation of weather maps. Emphasis is placed on understanding the dynamic interactions between atmospheric variables, including temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind, as well as an introduction to forecasting techniques and severe weather phenomena. This foundational knowledge equips students with the tools to analyze and interpret meteorological data, laying the groundwork for advanced study in atmospheric sciences.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding Weather and ClSMate 7th Edition by Edward Aguado
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Chapter 1: Energy and Mass
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Q1) Wind direction is properly referred to as
A)the direction the wind is blowing toward.
B)the direction the wind is blowing from.
Answer: B
Q2) Describe the various processes by which gases can be exchanged between the atmosphere and the earth's surface.Use examples where appropriate.
Answer: Via the hydrologic cycle (water vapor),precipitation (carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides),photosynthesis (carbon dioxide),plant respiration (carbon dioxide,water vapor)
Q3) Nitrogen:
A)is a variable gas.
B)has a short residence time.
C)is a relatively unstable gas.
D)has little effect on climate.
Answer: D
Q4) List six elements of weather.
Answer: temperature; humidity; wind; amount and type of cloud cover,precipitation
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3
Chapter 2: Solar Radiation and the Seasons
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Q1) Electromagnetic radiation provides energy for A)the movement of the atmosphere.
B)the growth of plants.
C)the evaporation of water.
D)all of the above
Answer: D
Q2) Energy is traditionally defined as the ability to A)do work.
B)create movement.
C)cause acceleration.
D)none of the above
Answer: A
Q3) The visible light spectrum is bounded by these two types of radiation:
A)x-ray and thermal infrared.
B)x-ray and radio wave.
C)microwave and gamma ray.
D)ultraviolet and near infrared.
Answer: D
Q4) The ________ is the upper part of the Sun's atmosphere.
Answer: Corona
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Chapter 3: Energy Balance and Temperature
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Sample Questions
Q1) Free convection is the mixing process related to:
A)buoyancy.
B)conduction.
C)subsidence.
D)drying.
Answer: A
Q2) Summer days are longest in which city?
A)Houston, TX
B)Chicago, IL
C)Los Angeles, CA
D)Atlanta, GA
Answer: B
Q3) On average,the atmosphere absorbs roughly this percentage of the solar radiation that reaches the top of the atmosphere:
A)5 percent.
B)14 percent.
C)25 percent.
D)50 percent.
Answer: C
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Atmospheric Pressure and Wind
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Q1) Cyclones:
A)experience Coriolis effects that deflect air to the right in the Southern Hemisphere.
B)are associated with low-pressure systems.
C)are associated with supergeostrophic winds.
D)are typically regions of fair weather.
Q2) Which of the following is a correct approximation of average sea-level atmospheric pressure?
A)1013.2 millibars
B)31 inches of mercury
C)99 kilopascals
D)20 pounds per square inch
Q3) Geostrophic flow:
A)undergoes a constant, or near constant, acceleration.
B)occurs when the pressure gradient force equals the Coriolis force.
C)occurs in atmospheric levels with substantial friction.
D)can occur in all levels of the atmosphere.
Q4) An elongated zone of low pressure is known as a ________.
Q5) Describe the nature and importance of horizontal and vertical pressure gradients.
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Atmospheric Moisture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Adiabatic processes:
A)are relatively uncommon in the atmosphere.
B)often involve changes both in temperature and pressure.
C)occur with the addition or loss of energy.
D)are usually not reversible.
Q2) According to the First Law of Thermodynamics,what should happen to a rising air parcel?
A)it should get warmer and expand.
B)it should cool and expand.
C)it should cool and shrink.
D)it should get warmer and shrink.
Q3) Radiation fog:
A)occurs most often on cloudless nights.
B)does not form if there is any wind.
C)disappears through "lifting."
D)is the type of fog that envelops San Francisco in the summer.
Q4) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)cites ________ as one of the reasons global atmospheric water vapor content is increasing.
Q5) To calculate relative humidity,you need to know the specific humidity and the ________.
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Chapter 6: Cloud Development and Forms
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Sample Questions
Q1) Inversions are detrimental to developing storm systems because:
A)they encourage instability.
B)they cap convective development
C)they increase entrainment.
D)they seriously alter the horizontal moisture profile of the atmosphere.
Q2) Sometimes,horizontal transition zones exist in which great temperature differences occur across relatively short distances.These transition zones are called:
A)fronts.
B)jet streams.
C)anti-cyclones.
D)inversions.
Q3) What are the important ways in which unstable air can be prevented from rising indefinitely?
Q4) As a layer of moves vertically and forms a subsidence inversion,
A)the top of the layer descends a greater distance than the bottom of the layer
B)the top of the layer descends a smaller distance than the bottom of the layer
C)the top of the layer rises a greater distance than the bottom of the layer
D)the top of the layer rises a smaller distance than the bottom of the layer
Q5) Compare and contrast static and potential stability.
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Chapter 7: Precipitation Processes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The effect of forces on a mass's acceleration is described by ________.
Q2) Rain is not totally wet.Explain this apparent contradiction.
Q3) Snow results from all of the following processes,except:
A)riming.
B)deposition.
C)coalescence.
D)aggregation.
Q4) Cloud droplet growth by condensation is very rapid for:
A)large cloud droplets.
B)supercooled water droplets.
C)ice crystals.
D)small cloud droplets.
E)none of the above
Q5) Saturated soil increases the risk of flooding because
A)liquid water in the soil readily evaporates, increasing the relative humidity
B)evaporating water from the soil produces condensation nuclei, increasing the chance of additional rainfall
C)falling rain cannot penetrate the soil and must flow horizontally
D)liquid water within the soil flows horizontally into rivers and streams
Q6) What are the factors that can affect the size and shape of snow crystals?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Atmospheric Circulation and Pressure
Distributions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Sea breezes:
A)occur when the temperature at the seashore is higher than that inland.
B)require a surface region of high pressure inland.
C)result from the fact that water both warms and cools more slowly than land.
D)are usually less intense than land breezes.
Q2) Semi-permanent pressure cells:
A)have no impact on major weather patterns.
B)can change substantially from summer to winter.
C)stay in one place.
D)maintain the same intensity year-round.
Q3) A ________ aloft is associated with ________ air; a ________ aloft is associated with ________ air.
A)Ridge/cold; trough/warm
B)Ridge/warm; trough/cold
C)Low/sinking; high/rising
D)none of the above
Q4) In what ways does the three-cell model agree with scientific observations of weather,climate,wind speed and direction,pressure values,and atmospheric circulation? In what ways does it disagree?
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Q5) When mountains cool rapidly at night,air flows into valleys,creating a ________.
Chapter 9: Air Masses and Fronts
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Sample Questions
Q1) A "dryline"
A)is colored blue on a weather map.
B)frequently triggers severe storms.
C)is seldom found in the United States great plains.
D)means that there is little moisture present in the atmosphere.
Q2) Northeasters
A)are associated with anticyclones.
B)are associated with warm winds.
C)are rarest in winter and early spring.
D)often bring heavy snowfall.
Q3) Describe the structure and properties of the typical warm front and explain what usually happens when it meets a cold front.
Q4) mT air masses
A)typically develop over moderately cool waters.
B)are stable at their surfaces.
C)do not affect the southwestern United States.
D)often spawn thunderstorms.
Q5) Air masses are classified according to the ________ and ________ characteristics of their source regions.
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Q6) Describe the process meteorologists use to locate fronts.
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Chapter 10: Midlatitude Cyclones
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe how changes in vorticity in the upper troposphere can lead to changes in surface pressure.
Q2) Vilhelm Bjerknes
A)helped discredit the Norwegian cyclone model.
B)founded the Norwegian Geophysical Institute.
C)developed the polar front theory in order to explain the occurrence of hurricanes.
D)was a tragic victim of the fighting in World War I.
Q3) The two sources of relative vorticity are ________ and ________.
Q4) The horizontal transport of warm air is known as A)a short wave.
B)vorticity.
C)warm air advection.
D)diffluence.
Q5) The warm sector between the warm and cold fronts is generally characterized by A)southeasterly winds.
B)squall lines immediately to the west of the warm front.
C)clear conditions.
D)declining dew points.
Q6) In a mid-latitude cyclone,________ clouds form just ahead of the cold front.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Lightning, thunder, and Tornadoes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The death toll from lightning in the United States has ________ since the 1920s.
Q2) What is the Enhanced Fujita scale? Into what category do most tornadoes fall?
Q3) Which of these can be characteristics of severe thunderstorms?
A)wind speeds in excess of 58 mph
B)hailstones one inch or larger in diameter
C)tornadoes
D)all of these
Q4) The fair-weather electric field
A)results in only a small voltage difference between the ionosphere and the surface.
B)is maintained in large part through lightning.
C)distributes much electricity to the ground because air is a good conductor.
D)has its negative portion in the ionosphere.
Q5) Explain how the aviation industry safeguards modern aircraft against lightning.
Q6) In the United States,tornadoes are most likely to occur in this month:
A)May.
B)July.
C)August.
D)October.
Q7) Since 1950,the number of tornadoes documented in the United States has ________.
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Chapter 12: Tropical Storms and Hurricanes
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Q1) Meteorological researchers believe that the recent increase in the number of hurricanes impacting the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast
A)will certainly persist into the near future.
B)will not persist into the near future.
C)may or may not persist into the near future.
Q2) Choose the answer that places the hurricane at its proper position with respect to overall storm size.
A)tornado, mid-latitude cyclone, hurricane, thunderstorm
B)thunderstorm, mid-latitude cyclone, hurricane, tornado
C)hurricane, mid-latitude cyclone, tornado, thunderstorm
D)mid-latitude cyclone, hurricane, thunderstorm, tornado
Q3) Air ________ inside the eye of a hurricane.
A)rises and cools adiabatically
B)rises and warms adiabatically
C)sinks and cools adiabatically
D)sinks and warms adiabatically
Q4) Identify the different names for extremely strong tropical storms and indicate in which regions these names are used.
Q5) In the far western Pacific,extremely strong tropical storms are called ________.
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Chapter 13: Weather Forecasting and Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) Computer-based weather forecasts
A)are completely automated and require no intervention by human forecasters.
B)are mostly unreliable and are little-used by human forecasters.
C)provide important guidance to human forecasters.
D)are only used in specific, hurricane-prone areas.
Q2) A ________ forecast relies entirely on current conditions with no reference to climatology.
A)climatological
B)dynamic
C)persistence
D)numerical
Q3) Explain how weather forecasting blends art and science.
Q4) The running of sequential calculations is part of the ________ phase of forecasting.
Q5) What is the main difference in operation between the current NEXRAD Doppler radar and the dual-polarization radars of the future?
Q6) Short-term forecasts are typically for periods of ________ hours or less.
Q7) List two methods used by scientists at the Climate Prediction Center as they prepare long-range forecasts.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Human Effects on the Atmosphere
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Sample Questions
Q1) The responsibility for complying with US federal air quality standards lies with A)individuals.
B)individual states.
C)tri-state regions.
D)the federal government.
Q2) Near Los Angeles,the sea breeze front
A)separates marine air from polluted air.
B)moves farther off-shore as the day progresses.
C)leads to lowering pollution in the eastern portion of the Los Angeles basin in the late afternoon.
D)does not affect the concentrations of photochemically generated smog components.
Q3) Air pollutants can take the form of A)gasses.
B)particulates.
C)liquids.
D)all the above
Q4) Explain the historical significance of the Donora,Pennsylvania pollution episode.
Q5) This city typically has the worst pollution in the United States: ________.
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Chapter 15: Earths Climates
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Q1) Climate is
A)a statistical rendering of the earth's atmosphere.
B)a historical agglomeration of weather data.
C)dependent on daily observations.
D)all of these
Q2) The main distinguishing factor between the three tropical climate types is
A)latitude.
B)elevation.
C)temperature.
D)seasonal behavior of rainfall.
Q3) A dry climate is based on the amount of ________ and the amount of ________.
A)winds; cloudiness
B)rainfall; winds
C)fog; solar radiation
D)rainfall; potential evapotranspiration
Q4) Koeppen had this many primary climates in his classification system.
A)six
B)five
C)four
D)three
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Climate Changes: Past and Future
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Sample Questions
Q1) The geologic column
A)was constructed by looking at evidence of major climate change.
B)is a hierarchical system dividing time into five categories.
C)is based in part on fossil evidence.
D)assigns equal time values to each era.
Q2) The Cretaceous period was in this era
A)Cenozoic.
B)Mesozoic.
C)Paleozoic.
D)Precambrian.
Q3) How many ice ages occurred in the first 2 billion years of Earth's history?
A)0
B)1
C)2
D)5
Q4) This isotope of oxygen is the least common: ________.
Q5) The Milankovitch cycles deal with these changing characteristics of Earth: ________,________,and ________.
Q6) The ________ led to decreases in agricultural productivity in Renaissance Europe.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Atmospheric Optics Online Only in
Masteringmeteorology
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Sample Questions
Q1) What types of clouds help produce halo when the sun shines through them?
A)cumulonimbus
B)cirrostratus
C)altocumulus
D)stratus
Q2) A superior image
A)forms when images are displaced upward.
B)forms when there is one largest image in a group of images.
C)forms when one image is an exact replica of a true feature.
D)all of these
Q3) In its path from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of the earth,radiation undergoes which of the following?
A)refraction
B)reflection
C)scattering
D)all of these
Q4) Explain how,where,and when the green flash occurs.
Q5) What is a sundog and how is it formed?
Q7) Are halos frequently associated with stratus clouds? Explain your answer. Page 19
Q6) Describe the atmospheric conditions under which a superior mirage would form.
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