Atmospheric pressure and wind Review Questions: 1.What generally happens to atmo
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Atmospheric pressure and wind Review Questions:
1.What generally happens to atmospheric pressure with increasing altitude?
2.When referring to air pressure, what is a ridge and what is a trough?
3.Why don’t winds simply flow down a pressure gradient?
4.What is a cyclone? An anticyclone?
5.Describe the relationship between the “steepness” of a pressure gradient and the speed of the wind along that pressure gradient: describe the general wind speed associated with a gentle (gradual) pressure gradient and a steep (abrupt) pressure gradient.
6.Describe the general location and characteristics of the following atmospheric circulation components:
• intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)
• trade winds• subtropical highs
• westerlies
7.Describe and explain the South Asian monsoon
.
8.Explain the origin of land–sea breezes.
9.Contrast the oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean basin during an El Niñoevent with those of a normal pattern.
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Atmospheric Moisture Review Questions:
1.Why is evaporation a “cooling” process? Why is condensation a “warming” process?
2.Describe and explain what is meant when we say that the relative humidity of the air is 50 percent.
3.What happensto the relative humidity of a parcel of air when the temperature decreases? Why?
4.What is the dew point temperature?
5.Describe the three main forms of clouds.
6.Describe the four principal types of fogs.
7.Describe the four main lifting mechanisms of air.
8.Using the maps of average January and July precipitation (Figure 6-35), contrast and explain the seasonal rainfall patterns in central Africa.
Explanation / Answer
1. Atmospheric pressure is the result of the weight of overlying airmass. As we move up at higher altitudes the weight of overlying airmass decreases as a result of which the atmospheric pressure decreases.
2. When referring to atmospheric pressure, a ridge is an elongated region of relatively higher pressure and a trough is an elongated region of relatively lower atmospheric pressure.
3. Winds flow down the pressure gradient but there are several other factors that affect the movement of wind. The most prominent among them is the coriollis force due to rotation of the earth.
4. A cyclone is a gust of wind moving very fastly in a circular pattern around a central low pressure zone. An anticyclone is conversely having a central high pressure zone surrounded by low pressure zones.
5. Wind speed is directly related to the steepness of the pressure gradient. Steep pressure gradient results in strong and fastly moving winds while gentle pressure gradient results in slow breezes.
6. ITCZ stands for inter tropical convergence zone located near equator, is the narrow linear belt where the trade winds coming from both the hemispheres converge. It slightly shifts according to the season.
Trade winds are the tropical winds coming from the tropic of cancer and the tropic of Capricorn and converge at ITCZ. The bend towards west due to coriollis effect.
Subtropical highs are the location about 30° in both hemisphere where the cool air descends resulting in high pressure.
Westerlies are the winds blowing from the west. The generally are located between 30°-60°in both hemispheres.
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