ATS 350 Exam 1 Questions Answered Correctly Latest Version 2025-2026
The most abundant gas in earth's atmosphere is what? - Answers Nitrogen
If you're standing on top of Long's Peak, about what percentage of air do you have to breathe
compared to someone at sea level? - Answers 60% because the person at sea level has 100%.
A typical value of atmospheric pressure in Los Angeles (elevation 46 meters or 151 ft above sea
level) would be what? - Answers 1000 millibars
Imagine that the temperature in Fort Collins is equal to that in Greeley. Fort Collins is about 300
feet higher in elevation than Greeley. Which of the follow is true? - Answers Both the pressure
and density at Fort Collins are lower than at Greeley.
Which layer of the atmosphere do we live in? - Answers Troposphere
In the stratosphere, the air temperature generally what? - Answers Increases with increasing
height
The fact that the air on higher floors of a building tends to be warmer than on lower floors is
primarily a result of what? - Answers Convection
The set of instruments attached to a weather balloon and launched twice per day to measure
the atmosphere is known as a what? - Answers Radiosonde
If you doubled the temperature of an object, how many times stronger is the radiation? -
Answers 16 (if you double the temperature, there's 16 times more radiation, because the Stefan-
Boltzmann law states that the intensity of radiation is proportional to temperature to the 4th
power, so 2^4= 16.
If, by some process, the sun got much hotter, the wavelength of the radiation it emitted would
be? - Answers Shorter
The gases in the atmosphere that are primarily responsible for absorbing outgoing longwave
radiation are? - Answers Water vapor and carbon dioxide
Latent heat gets released into the environment when these processes occur. - Answers
Condensation and freezing (and deposition)
The tropics (low latitudes) receive more radiation than the poles (high latitudes). The main
reason the tropics don't keep getting hotter and the poles getting colder is due to what? -
Answers Cyclones and ocean currents transport heat towards the poles
Why do we have seasons? - Answers The earth is tilted on its axis (and earth rotates around the
sun, so the areas tilted away/ toward the sun change as the earth orbits)
If Earth's tilt decreased (became less tilted), what would we expect in the mid-latitudes? -
, Answers Cooler summers and warmer winters (lesser range of temperatures)
On June 21, which of these latitudes has the fewest hours of sunlight? - Answers 60 degrees
South (the furthest degree south is darkest because it is the summer solstice
In Fort Collins, the warmest month (in the long-term average) is? - Answers July
On June 21 (summer solstice), Fairbanks, Alaska sees almost 22 hours of daylight, whereas
Fort Collins sees just over 15 hours. Yet the normal high at Fairbanks is 70 degrees F and at Fort
Collins 82 degrees F. Why is the location with shorter days warmer? - Answers The sun is more
directly overhead at Fort Collins so the sunlight is more intense than at the lower angle in
Fairbanks. The flashlight example.
Consider two cities at the same latitude: one in the middle of a continent, and one on an island
in the ocean. Which would you expect to have a greater annual range of temperature? - Answers
City in the middle of a continent because a body of water acts as a temperature stabilizer near
coastal regions.
On average, which hemisphere has the greater annual range of temperature? - Answers
Northern hemisphere because there are more land masses that can change temperature more
efficiently than large slow-to-heat oceans.
At which of these locations would you expect to observe the greatest daily range in temperature?
- Answers At the ground (on land) because water has a much greater heat capacity than land, so
it's harder to heat or cool the ocean surface. Also the ground radiates heat upward more
efficiently than air (which radiates both up and down), so the surface heats and cools faster
than the air above.
A strong radiation inversion is most likely to develop under which of these conditions? -
Answers Clear, calm night because clouds absorb heat and radiate downward, so it tends to
stay warmer at the ground. Also the winds mix up the air so that the temperature is more
uniform with height at low level (less chance of inversion).
Is the air heavier on a humid day? - Answers No, because of the molecular weight of H2O is less
than the molecular weight of dry air constituents.
Then why does it feel so uncomfortable on a humid day? - Answers Because it is harder for
evaporative cooling to happen on your skin when the outside air is wetter. On a dry day,
evaporative cooling can remove the heat.
On a calm, clear night the dewpoint temperature of the air near the surface ____ while the
relative humidity of the air near the surface ____. - Answers Remains about the same/increase.
Remember the temperature is decreasing as night falls.
Consider the typical conditions in Tucson, Arizona, and Duluth, Minnesota, in January. Which of
The most abundant gas in earth's atmosphere is what? - Answers Nitrogen
If you're standing on top of Long's Peak, about what percentage of air do you have to breathe
compared to someone at sea level? - Answers 60% because the person at sea level has 100%.
A typical value of atmospheric pressure in Los Angeles (elevation 46 meters or 151 ft above sea
level) would be what? - Answers 1000 millibars
Imagine that the temperature in Fort Collins is equal to that in Greeley. Fort Collins is about 300
feet higher in elevation than Greeley. Which of the follow is true? - Answers Both the pressure
and density at Fort Collins are lower than at Greeley.
Which layer of the atmosphere do we live in? - Answers Troposphere
In the stratosphere, the air temperature generally what? - Answers Increases with increasing
height
The fact that the air on higher floors of a building tends to be warmer than on lower floors is
primarily a result of what? - Answers Convection
The set of instruments attached to a weather balloon and launched twice per day to measure
the atmosphere is known as a what? - Answers Radiosonde
If you doubled the temperature of an object, how many times stronger is the radiation? -
Answers 16 (if you double the temperature, there's 16 times more radiation, because the Stefan-
Boltzmann law states that the intensity of radiation is proportional to temperature to the 4th
power, so 2^4= 16.
If, by some process, the sun got much hotter, the wavelength of the radiation it emitted would
be? - Answers Shorter
The gases in the atmosphere that are primarily responsible for absorbing outgoing longwave
radiation are? - Answers Water vapor and carbon dioxide
Latent heat gets released into the environment when these processes occur. - Answers
Condensation and freezing (and deposition)
The tropics (low latitudes) receive more radiation than the poles (high latitudes). The main
reason the tropics don't keep getting hotter and the poles getting colder is due to what? -
Answers Cyclones and ocean currents transport heat towards the poles
Why do we have seasons? - Answers The earth is tilted on its axis (and earth rotates around the
sun, so the areas tilted away/ toward the sun change as the earth orbits)
If Earth's tilt decreased (became less tilted), what would we expect in the mid-latitudes? -
, Answers Cooler summers and warmer winters (lesser range of temperatures)
On June 21, which of these latitudes has the fewest hours of sunlight? - Answers 60 degrees
South (the furthest degree south is darkest because it is the summer solstice
In Fort Collins, the warmest month (in the long-term average) is? - Answers July
On June 21 (summer solstice), Fairbanks, Alaska sees almost 22 hours of daylight, whereas
Fort Collins sees just over 15 hours. Yet the normal high at Fairbanks is 70 degrees F and at Fort
Collins 82 degrees F. Why is the location with shorter days warmer? - Answers The sun is more
directly overhead at Fort Collins so the sunlight is more intense than at the lower angle in
Fairbanks. The flashlight example.
Consider two cities at the same latitude: one in the middle of a continent, and one on an island
in the ocean. Which would you expect to have a greater annual range of temperature? - Answers
City in the middle of a continent because a body of water acts as a temperature stabilizer near
coastal regions.
On average, which hemisphere has the greater annual range of temperature? - Answers
Northern hemisphere because there are more land masses that can change temperature more
efficiently than large slow-to-heat oceans.
At which of these locations would you expect to observe the greatest daily range in temperature?
- Answers At the ground (on land) because water has a much greater heat capacity than land, so
it's harder to heat or cool the ocean surface. Also the ground radiates heat upward more
efficiently than air (which radiates both up and down), so the surface heats and cools faster
than the air above.
A strong radiation inversion is most likely to develop under which of these conditions? -
Answers Clear, calm night because clouds absorb heat and radiate downward, so it tends to
stay warmer at the ground. Also the winds mix up the air so that the temperature is more
uniform with height at low level (less chance of inversion).
Is the air heavier on a humid day? - Answers No, because of the molecular weight of H2O is less
than the molecular weight of dry air constituents.
Then why does it feel so uncomfortable on a humid day? - Answers Because it is harder for
evaporative cooling to happen on your skin when the outside air is wetter. On a dry day,
evaporative cooling can remove the heat.
On a calm, clear night the dewpoint temperature of the air near the surface ____ while the
relative humidity of the air near the surface ____. - Answers Remains about the same/increase.
Remember the temperature is decreasing as night falls.
Consider the typical conditions in Tucson, Arizona, and Duluth, Minnesota, in January. Which of
