MET CPAER STUDY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

is the earth's surface heated evenly and why or why not - no due to rotation of the earth land and oceans as well as the seasons what creates low pressure areas - rising air from the equator where does wind flow from and to - from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure what is deflection with regards to wind - wind does not flow directly to the low because of the earth's rotation and terrain when do clouds form - when water vapour is released clouds form gasses in the atmosphere - 78 percent nitrogen 21 percent oxygen 1 percent trapped gasses major layers of the atmosphere in order from lowest to highest - troposphere stratosphere mesosphere thermosphere exosphere where is the troposphere and what takes place in it - the closest atmospheric layer to earth and the majority of weather takes place in this area what is the standard lapse rate - 1.98 degrees celsius per 1000what is pressure - the force per unit area exerted against a surface by the weight of the air above the surface what is station pressure - is the actual weight of the column of air expanding upwards of the station what is mean sea level pressure - station pressure reduced to sea level using the average temp of the past 12 hours what is pressure gradient - change of pressure over a given distance what do close isobars represent - strong winds and steep pressure gradient high pressure centers and what are they also known as - sinking air air flows outwards and clockwise in northern hemisphere also called an anticyclone what causes high pressure systems - drop in temperature what weather is associated with high pressure - fewer cloud good vis and light wind low pressure centers and what is also called - rising air counter clockwise with inward flow in northern hemisphere also called a cyclone what causes low pressure systems - convergence or air coming into a region being forced to rise weather associated with a low pressure system - cloudy and precipitation what is a trough what is it likely to bring - and elongated area of low pressure likely to bring wind shift at the surfacewhat are ridges, what weather - elongated area of high pressure with a low on each side- good weather what is a col, what weather - a neutral region between two highs and two lows likely to bring fog in the winter and thunderstorms in the summer what temperature of air has a higher true altitude - warmer air how is mean sea level pressure found - average temp from the last 12 hours high pressure to low pressure altimeter will - read too high low pressure to high pressure altimeter will - read too low what is true altitude - exact height above sea level from hot to cold altimeter will - read too high when must indicated altitude be corrected - when operating at 0 degrees celsius or less what are the two main ways the earth is heated - radiation and conduction what is radiation heating - incoming shortwave tangent radiation are absorbed by the earth then it is re radiated at a longer wavelength into the atmosphere conduction heating - layers of air on direct contact with the earth's surface are heated through conductionwhich direction is the atmopahpere heated from - from the earth's surface upwards/ from bottom to top diurnal variations cause wind to what during the day - veer and increase diurnal variations cause wind to do what at nig