Introduction to Meteorology
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Course Introduction
Introduction to Meteorology provides students with a comprehensive overview of the Earth's atmosphere and the fundamental principles governing weather and climate. The course explores atmospheric structure, composition, and dynamics, including topics such as air pressure, temperature, humidity, cloud formation, and precipitation. Students also examine larger-scale phenomena such as wind systems, storms, and global climate patterns. Through lectures, practical exercises, and data analysis, the course equips students with the skills to interpret meteorological maps, understand weather forecasting techniques, and appreciate the roles of meteorology in everyday life and environmental science.
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Meteorology Today An Introduction to Weather Climate and the Environment 10th Edition by C.
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Chapter 1: Earth and Its Atmosphere
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Q1) The temperature of the tropopause
A) is close to the temperature at the earth's surface.
B) is much colder than the temperature at the earth's surface.
C) has never been measured.
D) is much warmer than the temperature at the earth's surface.
E) is nearly the same as the sun's temperature.
Answer: B
Q2) Water vapor
A) is invisible.
B) colors the sky blue.
C) makes clouds white.
D) is very small drops of liquid water.
Answer: A
Q3) The planet with a strong greenhouse effect,whose surface temperature averages 480°C (900°F)is
A) Earth.
B) Venus.
C) Mars.
D) Pluto.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Energy: Warming the Earth and the Atmosphere
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Q1) Which of the following provides a measure of the average speed of air molecules?
A) pressure
B) temperature
C) density
D) heat
Answer: B
Q2) The horizontal transport of any atmospheric property by the wind is called A) advection.
B) radiation.
C) conduction.
D) latent heat.
E) reflection.
Answer: A
Q3) Energy of motion is also known as A) dynamic energy.
B) kinetic energy.
C) sensible heat energy.
D) static energy.
E) latent heat energy.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Seasonal and Daily Temperatures
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Q1) For maximum winter warmth,in the Northern Hemisphere,large windows in a house should face
A) north.
B) south.
C) east.
D) west.
Answer: B
Q2) In a hilly region,the best place to plant crops that are sensitive to low temperatures is
A) on the valley floor.
B) along the hillsides.
C) on the top of the highest hill.
D) in any dry location.
Answer: B
Q3) Considering each hemisphere as a whole,seasonal temperature variation in the Southern Hemisphere is ____ that in the Northern Hemisphere.
A) greater than
B) about the same as
C) less than
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Atmospheric Humidity
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Q1) The temperature to which air must be cooled in order to become saturated is the A) minimum temperature.
B) dew point temperature.
C) wet-bulb temperature.
D) freezing point.
Q2) Explain why,at temperatures below freezing,the saturation vapor pressure over water is greater than the saturation vapor pressure over ice.
Q3) The ratio of the mass of water vapor in a given volume (parcel)of air to the mass of the remaining dry air describes the A) absolute humidity.
B) mixing ratio.
C) relative humidity.
D) dew point.
Q4) When the air temperature is below freezing,the saturation vapor pressure over water is
A) equal to zero.
B) less than the saturation vapor pressure over ice.
C) greater than the saturation vapor pressure over ice.
D) equal to the saturation vapor pressure over ice.
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Chapter 5: Condensation: Dew, Fog, and Clouds
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Q1) Would it be possible for rising air to remain cloud-free? If not,why not? If so,how?
Q2) Describe,with the aid of a figure,the orbital paths followed by geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites.
Q3) The cloud with the greatest vertical growth is
A) cumulus congestus.
B) cumulus humilis.
C) cumulonimbus.
D) cirrocumulus.
Q4) Which of the following associations is not correct?
A) altostratus - middle cloud
B) cirrus - high cloud
C) stratocumulus - cloud of vertical development
D) cirrocumulus - high cloud
E) cumulonimbus - cloud of vertical development
Q5) Satellite images taken of clouds at night use
A) reflected visible light.
B) reflected infrared light.
C) emitted infrared light.
D) microwave radiation.
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Chapter 6: Stability and Cloud Development
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Q1) Which of the following sets of conditions would produce a cumulus cloud with the lowest base?
A) air temperature 90 F,dew point temperature 50 F
B) air temperature 90 F,dew point temperature 40 F
C) air temperature 90 F,dew point temperature 60 F
D) air temperature 90 F,dew point temperature 20 F
Q2) In a sky filled with scattered cumulus humilis clouds,rising motions are found ____ the clouds and sinking motions are found ____ the clouds.
A) between,under
B) under,between
C) under,under
D) between,between
Q3) ____ are found beneath fair-weather cumulus (cumulus humilis)clouds,whereas ____ are found between the clouds.
A) downdrafts,updrafts
B) updrafts,downdrafts
C) downdrafts,only horizontal motions
D) updrafts,only horizontal motions
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Chapter 7: Precipitation
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Q1) Which statement below best describes the curvature effect?
A) Large cloud droplets fall faster than small droplets.
B) Small droplets evaporate more quickly than large droplets.
C) Small droplets collide and coalesce more easily than larger droplets.
D) It explains the six-sided shape of ice crystals.
Q2) Which is NOT a correct association?
A) snow grains - hail
B) ground blizzard - drifting and blowing snow
C) snow squall - intense snow shower
D) sleet - ice pellet
E) freezing rain - glaze
Q3) How is precipitation measured using Doppler radar?
Q4) What shape does a large raindrop have? What forces determine this shape?
Q5) The lightest form of rain is
A) shower.
B) cloudburst.
C) virga.
D) drizzle.
Q6) Given that precipitation can be accurately measured at surface weather stations,explain why it is desirable to measure rainfall from space.
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Chapter 8: Air Pressure and Winds
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Q1) Which statement below is not correct concerning the Coriolis force?
A) It causes the winds to deflect to the right in the Northern Hemisphere.
B) It is strongest at the equator.
C) It can cause winds to change direction,but not to increase or decrease in speed.
D) It deflects winds in opposite directions in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Q2) The Coriolis force is the force that causes the wind to blow.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A station at an altitude of 900 m (about 3,000 feet)above sea level measures an air pressure of 930 mb.Under normal conditions,which of the values below do you think would be the most realistic sea level pressure for this station?
A) 840 mb
B) 930 mb
C) 1,020 mb
D) 1,830 mb
Q4) Under what conditions might a station pressure of 750 mb be observed?
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Chapter 9: Wind: Small Scale and Local Systems
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Q1) Would you expect a well-developed sea breeze circulation to cause clouds to form over the land or over the ocean?
Q2) The nighttime counterpart of the sea breeze circulation is called a A) chinook.
B) Santa Ana.
C) land breeze.
D) night breeze.
E) foehn.
Q3) Suppose the wind speed increased from 5 mph to 10 mph.We can conclude that the force exerted by the wind increased by a factor of
A)2
B)4
C)5
D)25
Q4) When a sea breeze moving north meets a sea breeze moving south,they form a A) land breeze.
B) sea breeze convergence zone.
C) katabatic wind.
D) valley breeze.
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Chapter 10: Wind: Global Systems
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Q1) What is the polar jet stream and where is it found?
Q2) Which below is not an assumption of the single-cell model of the general circulation of the atmosphere?
A) The earth's surface is covered with water.
B) The earth rotates once in 24 hours.
C) The sun is always overhead at the equator.
D) none of the above
Q3) The reversal of the positions of surface high and low pressure at opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean is called
A) El Niño.
B) the Southern Oscillation.
C) upwelling.
D) La Niña.
Q4) Because clouds often block their view,instruments onboard satellite cannot regularly make observations of surface winds.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What changes might you expect to see in the earth's general circulation if the earth's rotation were in the opposite direction?
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Chapter 11: Air Masses and Fronts
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Q1) What type of air mass would be responsible for daily afternoon thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast?
A) mP
B) mT
C) cP
D) cT
Q2) What type of weather front would be responsible for the following weather forecast? "Increasing high cloudiness and cold this morning.Clouds increasing and lowering this afternoon with a chance of snow or rain tonight.Precipitation ending tomorrow morning.Turning much warmer.Winds light easterly today becoming southeasterly tonight and southwesterly tomorrow."
A) cold front
B) warm front
C) stationary front
D) warm-type occluded front
Q3) The designation for a cool,moist air mass is
A) mT.
B) mP.
C) cT.
D) cP.
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Chapter 12: Middle-Latitude Cyclones
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Q1) The warm sector is located
A) ahead of the warm front and behind the cold front.
B) ahead of the cold front and behind the warm front.
C) below the occluded front and above the cold front.
Q2) Draw a sketch of a 500 mb chart that clearly shows a trough and a ridge.Where would you expect to find the maximum and minimum values of absolute vorticity? Where would you expect to find converging and diverging wind motions?
Q3) Describe some of the ways in which the upper-level wind flow pattern can influence the development and movement of a middle latitude storm system.
Q4) The piling up of air above a region is called
A) thickening.
B) divergence.
C) cyclogenesis.
D) convergence.
Q5) Which of the following is not associated with rising air motions?
A) overrunning
B) convergence of air at the surface
C) convergence of air aloft
D) divergence of air aloft
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Chapter 13: Weather Forecasting
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Q1) Refer to Exhibit 13-1.At which of the 4 positions would you expect to hear the following 12-hour forecast: "Partly cloudy and continued warm through this afternoon and evening"?
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
Q2) The principle that "surface weather systems tend to move in the same direction and at approximately the same speed as they have been moving" forms the basis of which type of forecasting method?
A) persistence forecast
B) analogue method
C) steady-state forecast
D) ensemble forecast
Q3) List some of the ways that you can predict the future movement of surface middle latitude storms.
Q4) Explain how observed teleconnection patterns can help in the preparation of a seasonal weather forecast.
Q5) Describe the relationship between dew point and minimum temperatures.
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Chapter 14: Thunderstorms and Tornadoes
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Q1) What makes a tornado-producing thunderstorm different from other thunderstorms?
Q2) Do invisible tornadoes exist? Why or why not?
Q3) An ordinary thunderstorm is a
A) thunderstorm that does not produce lightning or thunder.
B) thunderstorm that has a tilted updraft and downdraft.
C) scattered or isolated storm that is not severe.
D) thunderstorm that does not produce hail.
Q4) What is wind shear? Why does wind shear represent a hazard to aviation?
Q5) In the United States,tornadoes are most frequent during the ____,and least frequent during the ____.
A) summer,fall
B) spring,winter
C) spring,fall
D) summer,winter
E) winter,fall
Q6) Ordinary thunderstorms only last about one hour and begin to dissipate when
A) lightning neutralizes all the electrical charge in the cloud.
B) when all the precipitation particles in the cloud turn to ice.
C) when the downdraft spreads throughout the cloud and cuts off the updraft.
D) when solar heating at the ground begins to decrease.
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Chapter 15: Hurricanes
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Q1) A hurricane warning
A) gives the exact location where a hurricane will make landfall.
B) is usually issued several days ahead of a hurricane's arrival.
C) gives the percent chance of a hurricane's center passing within 65 miles of a community.
D) is issued when a hurricane approaches to within 500 miles of the U.S.mainland.
E) is issued whenever surface wind speeds exceed 74 mi/hr.
Q2) Surface winds in hurricanes typically reach a maximum in the A) eye.
B) eyewall.
C) anvils.
Q3) Why can't hurricanes form in the mid-latitudes?
Q4) As a northward-moving hurricane passes to the east of an area,surface winds should change from
A) NW to N to NE.
B) W to SW to S.
C) NE to N to NW.
D) S to SW to W.
E) SE to S to SW.
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Chapter 16: Earths Changing Climate
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Q1) Describe some of the techniques used to infer past climates.About how far into the past are these different methods able to reconstruct past climatic conditions?
Q2) A high concentration of oxygen 16 found in the ice caves of Antarctica and Greenland would indicate ____ at the time the ice was formed.
A) cold air temperatures
B) mild winters
C) intense ultraviolet radiation
D) the caves were under the ocean
Q3) Does deforestation act to increase or decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations?
Q4) Which of the conditions below would most likely produce warming at the earth's surface?
A) increase the amount of low-level global cloudiness
B) increase the amount of sulfur-rich particles in the stratosphere
C) decrease the energy output of the sun
D) increase the amount of global snow cover
E) increase the amount of high-level global cloud cover
Q5) Describe the role of clouds in climate change.
Q6) What are some of the possible consequences of global warming?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Global Climate
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Q1) The tropical wet-and-dry climate is influenced mainly by the A) polar front and the subtropical highs.
B) polar front and the ITCZ.
C) subtropical highs and polar front.
D) ITCZ and subtropical highs.
E) subtropical highs and polar lows.
Q2) The global distribution of precipitation is closely associated with A) latitude.
B) distribution of mountain ranges and high plateaus.
C) the general circulation of the atmosphere.
D) all of the above
Q3) Which of the following is not considered a climatic control?
A) altitude
B) mountain barriers
C) ocean currents
D) insolation
E) none of the above
Q4) Describe the differences in climate that would be experienced by cities located upwind and downwind of a large,north-south oriented mountain range.
Q5) Which climate type(s)would be affected most by global warming? Why?
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Chapter 18: Air Pollution
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Q1) Which of the following statements is not true of carbon monoxide (CO)?
A) It replaces oxygen in the blood's hemoglobin.
B) It is removed slowly from the atmosphere.
C) It is produced by the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels.
D) Roughly half of the CO in the atmosphere is produced by automobiles.
Q2) Sunshine in a city is typically less intense than in surrounding rural areas because
A) of the higher pollution levels in cities.
B) of the air temperature in cities.
C) tall structures in cities block our view of the horizon.
D) cement and asphalt in cities absorb a larger percentage of the incident sunshine.
Q3) A looping shape exhibited by a smokestack plume is indicative of ____ conditions.
A) inversion
B) stable
C) neutral
D) unstable
E) both inversion and stable
Q4) Why doesn't an acidified lake look polluted?
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Chapter 19: Light, Color, and Atmospheric Optics
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Q1) To see a sundog,you should look about 22 degrees
A) to the right or left of the sun.
B) above the sun.
C) below the sun.
D) all of the above
Q2) An atmospheric phenomenon that causes objects to appear inverted is called
A) a superior mirage.
B) an inferior mirage.
C) scintillation.
D) dispersion.
Q3) Sun pillars are most commonly seen
A) in very cold weather.
B) in very hot weather.
C) when it's raining.
D) in the tropics.
Q4) On the average,as a cloud grows thicker (taller),which below does not occur?
A) More sunlight is reflected from the cloud.
B) Less sunlight is transmitted through the cloud.
C) Less sunlight is absorbed by the cloud.
D) More light is scattered by the cloud.
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