UCA Earth Systems Science exam 2 QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
SOLUTIONS
All the water on or surrounding the surface of the earth - ✔✔Hydroshpere the movement of
water through the biosphere closed system complete loop - ✔✔hydrologic cycle total
amount of water stays the same - ✔✔water budget it releases energy - ✔✔as water
condenses expands and cools - ✔✔rising air compresses and warms - ✔✔descending air
lower capacity - ✔✔cooler air capacity for humidity higher capacity - ✔✔warmer air
capacity for humidity if the temp is lowered, the more saturated - ✔✔saturation curve
Static- adding water vapor Cooling air to dew point - ✔✔Two methods for reaching
saturation (volume of water vapor/ 30 g/m^3)*100 - ✔✔relative humidity equation Liquid to
gas - ✔✔Evaporation rain, snow, sleet, hail - ✔✔Forms of precipitation
convection/cyclonic frontal orographic - ✔✔Uplift Mechanisms air is forced upward in a
rising warm air (low pressure system) - ✔✔cyclonic precipitation Warm air is pushed
upward by a cooler air mass - ✔✔frontal precipitation Warm air is forced upward as it
passes over hills or mountains - ✔✔orographic precipitation Continental (c) Maritime (m) -
✔✔moisture regime Equatorial (E) Tropical (T) Polar (P) Arctic (A) - ✔✔source region
equatorial oceans, high temperature and high humidity - ✔✔Maritime Equatorial (mE)
tropical and subtropical, high temps, high humidity - ✔✔Martime Tropical (mT) dry, high
temps, low humidity - ✔✔Continental Tropical (cT) oceans 40°c - 60°c N&S, mild temps,
high humidity - ✔✔Maritime Polar (mP) sub-polar and polar regions, cool to cold temps,
low humidity - ✔✔Continental Polar (cP) Antarctica, very cold, low humidity -
✔✔Continental Artic (cA) cold air moves under warm air forcing warm air up - ✔✔Cold
fronts warm air mass moving into cold air mass - ✔✔Warm fronts warm and cold air meet
but neither can move - ✔✔Stationary fronts a front where a warm air mass is caught
between two colder air masses and brings cool temperatures and large amounts of rain
and snow - ✔✔occluded front low pressure systems move w/ jet streams/westerlies
converging, rising air Fronts Rain Counter clockwise - ✔✔mid-latitude cyclone high
pressure systems Move w/ westerlies Diverging air Dry, fair weather - ✔✔anticyclone low
and mid latitudes cover a small area - ✔✔thunderstorm intense discharge of electricity -
✔✔lightening Sonic boom created by the expansion of air around the lightning bolt. -
✔✔Thunder Convective Orographic Frontal - ✔✔Three types of thunderstorms small,
intense, cyclonic storm of low pressure, violent winds and converging air - ✔✔Tornados
Warm water moist air Coriolis force - ✔✔Hurricanes 1. Tropical disturbance 2. Tropical
, depression 3. Tropical Storm (gets named) 4. Hurricane (scaled) - ✔✔Stages of
development: hurricanes study of past climates - ✔✔Paleoclimatology 800,000 yr record -
✔✔Ice cores tree ring dating 1,000 yr record - ✔✔Dendrochronology thousands of years -
✔✔pollen analysis 200 million year record - ✔✔ocean sediments orbital variations
atmospheric changes- volcano Ocean changes Landmass changes- continental drift
Impact events - ✔✔Causes of past climate change 18,ooo yrs ago continental ice sheets -
✔✔Wisconsinan Glaciation coolest period since the end of the last glaciation 1600 to 1850
CE - ✔✔Little Ice Age Ice core data shows correlation between CO2 and temp - ✔✔Vostok
groups of scientists - ✔✔IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) classifies
based on moisture - ✔✔Thornwaite system based temps and precip - ✔✔Koppen System -
easy to measure -variables measured most often - ✔✔Advantages of Koppen System only
avg monthly temps and precip ignores winds, clouds, intensity, of precip -
✔✔Disadvantages of Koppen System Tropical Humid -High temp year round -Near equator
to 30⁰ N or S Latitude -No winter season (average temp of coldest month above 18°C -
✔✔Koppen System: Climate A Dry -0°to 50° latitude, and rain shadows -Year round
moisture deficiency -most common at 25 to 30 degrees lat. at the subtropical high -
✔✔Koppen System: Climate B Mild mid-latitude -Moderate temperatures -
Seasonality(long summers and short winters) -1 month below average temp 18°C (64.4°F) -
1 month above 10°C(50°F) -30°to 65°N/S - ✔✔Koppen System: Climate C Severe Mid-
latitude -Usually year round precipitation -Shorter summers and colder winters than "C" -
Found only in Northern Hemisphere -Between 35°and 70° - ✔✔Koppen System: Climate D
Polar -60° and above N/S -No month averages above 10°C -No summer -No trees -Large
annual net loss of radiation - ✔✔Koppen System: Climate E Highland -cant be graphed -
mountain barriers can increase and decrease precipitation, cloud cover, and temp. -
✔✔Koppen System: Climate H plots the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a
region - ✔✔Climograph tropical rainforest -tropical wet -no dry season - ✔✔Af tropical
monsoon -along coast with tropical monsoon -monsoonal, short dry season - ✔✔Am
tropical wet and dry -dry winter tropical savannah -winter dry season - ✔✔Aw Subtropical
Steppe -low lat. semi arid or dry - ✔✔BSh Subtropical desert -low lat arid or dry - ✔✔BWh
Mid-latitude Steppe -mid lat. semi arid or dry - ✔✔BSk Mid-Latitude Desert -mid lat. arid or
dry - ✔✔BWk Humid Subtropical -wet year round -no dry season, warm summer -wet year
round -southeast U.S. and eastern side of continents - ✔✔Cfa Marine West Coast -wet
year round -summers cooler than Cfa -no dry season, warm and cool summer - ✔✔Cfb
Mediterranean Climate -dry hot summer -wet winter - ✔✔Cs Humid Continental -no dry
season -severe winter -hot summer - ✔✔Dfa & Dwa Humid continental -mild summer -
SOLUTIONS
All the water on or surrounding the surface of the earth - ✔✔Hydroshpere the movement of
water through the biosphere closed system complete loop - ✔✔hydrologic cycle total
amount of water stays the same - ✔✔water budget it releases energy - ✔✔as water
condenses expands and cools - ✔✔rising air compresses and warms - ✔✔descending air
lower capacity - ✔✔cooler air capacity for humidity higher capacity - ✔✔warmer air
capacity for humidity if the temp is lowered, the more saturated - ✔✔saturation curve
Static- adding water vapor Cooling air to dew point - ✔✔Two methods for reaching
saturation (volume of water vapor/ 30 g/m^3)*100 - ✔✔relative humidity equation Liquid to
gas - ✔✔Evaporation rain, snow, sleet, hail - ✔✔Forms of precipitation
convection/cyclonic frontal orographic - ✔✔Uplift Mechanisms air is forced upward in a
rising warm air (low pressure system) - ✔✔cyclonic precipitation Warm air is pushed
upward by a cooler air mass - ✔✔frontal precipitation Warm air is forced upward as it
passes over hills or mountains - ✔✔orographic precipitation Continental (c) Maritime (m) -
✔✔moisture regime Equatorial (E) Tropical (T) Polar (P) Arctic (A) - ✔✔source region
equatorial oceans, high temperature and high humidity - ✔✔Maritime Equatorial (mE)
tropical and subtropical, high temps, high humidity - ✔✔Martime Tropical (mT) dry, high
temps, low humidity - ✔✔Continental Tropical (cT) oceans 40°c - 60°c N&S, mild temps,
high humidity - ✔✔Maritime Polar (mP) sub-polar and polar regions, cool to cold temps,
low humidity - ✔✔Continental Polar (cP) Antarctica, very cold, low humidity -
✔✔Continental Artic (cA) cold air moves under warm air forcing warm air up - ✔✔Cold
fronts warm air mass moving into cold air mass - ✔✔Warm fronts warm and cold air meet
but neither can move - ✔✔Stationary fronts a front where a warm air mass is caught
between two colder air masses and brings cool temperatures and large amounts of rain
and snow - ✔✔occluded front low pressure systems move w/ jet streams/westerlies
converging, rising air Fronts Rain Counter clockwise - ✔✔mid-latitude cyclone high
pressure systems Move w/ westerlies Diverging air Dry, fair weather - ✔✔anticyclone low
and mid latitudes cover a small area - ✔✔thunderstorm intense discharge of electricity -
✔✔lightening Sonic boom created by the expansion of air around the lightning bolt. -
✔✔Thunder Convective Orographic Frontal - ✔✔Three types of thunderstorms small,
intense, cyclonic storm of low pressure, violent winds and converging air - ✔✔Tornados
Warm water moist air Coriolis force - ✔✔Hurricanes 1. Tropical disturbance 2. Tropical
, depression 3. Tropical Storm (gets named) 4. Hurricane (scaled) - ✔✔Stages of
development: hurricanes study of past climates - ✔✔Paleoclimatology 800,000 yr record -
✔✔Ice cores tree ring dating 1,000 yr record - ✔✔Dendrochronology thousands of years -
✔✔pollen analysis 200 million year record - ✔✔ocean sediments orbital variations
atmospheric changes- volcano Ocean changes Landmass changes- continental drift
Impact events - ✔✔Causes of past climate change 18,ooo yrs ago continental ice sheets -
✔✔Wisconsinan Glaciation coolest period since the end of the last glaciation 1600 to 1850
CE - ✔✔Little Ice Age Ice core data shows correlation between CO2 and temp - ✔✔Vostok
groups of scientists - ✔✔IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) classifies
based on moisture - ✔✔Thornwaite system based temps and precip - ✔✔Koppen System -
easy to measure -variables measured most often - ✔✔Advantages of Koppen System only
avg monthly temps and precip ignores winds, clouds, intensity, of precip -
✔✔Disadvantages of Koppen System Tropical Humid -High temp year round -Near equator
to 30⁰ N or S Latitude -No winter season (average temp of coldest month above 18°C -
✔✔Koppen System: Climate A Dry -0°to 50° latitude, and rain shadows -Year round
moisture deficiency -most common at 25 to 30 degrees lat. at the subtropical high -
✔✔Koppen System: Climate B Mild mid-latitude -Moderate temperatures -
Seasonality(long summers and short winters) -1 month below average temp 18°C (64.4°F) -
1 month above 10°C(50°F) -30°to 65°N/S - ✔✔Koppen System: Climate C Severe Mid-
latitude -Usually year round precipitation -Shorter summers and colder winters than "C" -
Found only in Northern Hemisphere -Between 35°and 70° - ✔✔Koppen System: Climate D
Polar -60° and above N/S -No month averages above 10°C -No summer -No trees -Large
annual net loss of radiation - ✔✔Koppen System: Climate E Highland -cant be graphed -
mountain barriers can increase and decrease precipitation, cloud cover, and temp. -
✔✔Koppen System: Climate H plots the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a
region - ✔✔Climograph tropical rainforest -tropical wet -no dry season - ✔✔Af tropical
monsoon -along coast with tropical monsoon -monsoonal, short dry season - ✔✔Am
tropical wet and dry -dry winter tropical savannah -winter dry season - ✔✔Aw Subtropical
Steppe -low lat. semi arid or dry - ✔✔BSh Subtropical desert -low lat arid or dry - ✔✔BWh
Mid-latitude Steppe -mid lat. semi arid or dry - ✔✔BSk Mid-Latitude Desert -mid lat. arid or
dry - ✔✔BWk Humid Subtropical -wet year round -no dry season, warm summer -wet year
round -southeast U.S. and eastern side of continents - ✔✔Cfa Marine West Coast -wet
year round -summers cooler than Cfa -no dry season, warm and cool summer - ✔✔Cfb
Mediterranean Climate -dry hot summer -wet winter - ✔✔Cs Humid Continental -no dry
season -severe winter -hot summer - ✔✔Dfa & Dwa Humid continental -mild summer -
