Front and weather system Questions

Pg. 282 #5

1. Moist maritime reigions are moist, and humid. This is opposite to the usual continental areas that are dry and have extreme temperastures that can be hot or cold.

2. Equatorial zones have no air masses usually because they are centered right in the middle of land, usually close to the equator. There is very low atmospheric pressure here, so fronts colliding is rare.

3. See above map for diagram. Front collisions would mostly occur alnog coastlines, because it is usually the middle between two different fronts. The wind would force maritme fronts inland, and continental fronts toward the coast, so confrontation is very common. It is also a known fact that coastal areas recieve more rain than any other area. Rain is an outcome of front collision.

Homework: kinetic energy terms, Q 5,6

Three kinetic Energy terms:

A. Thermal- This is the total amount of energy created by heat

B. Electromagnetic- Radiant energy emitted by all matter whose temperature is greater than absolute zero

C. Gravitational- This is energy created by a gravitational field, which is the power that stabilizes the earth.

Questions

5. A)

• North is at 66.5 degrees and south is at 113.5 degrees
• This line is the Equator which runs acrosse the centre of the earths surface
• The Arctic experiences one day of 24 hour sunlight
• The antarctic experiences on day of 24 hour darkness

6) A) When the earth is rotating, the side that is exposed against the sun will have light, and the side turned away will be covered in darkness because the light can not reach it.

B) When the earth is tilted, one part will be more exposed to light. This causes longer periods of light than usual.

C) These ae significant, because they are the most affected. When the earth is tilted, drastic changes in the amount of light occur. Depending on the tilt, these circles can experience 24 hour sunlight, or 24 hour darkness.

D) The earths rotation is what time is based on. It takes 24 hours for the earth to rotate completley, thus causing a 24 hour time period. This 24 hours are influenced by light or darkness depending on the position of the earth while rotating.

E) Well the earth ot only rotates, but it also revolves around the sun. While it revolves, the degree of tilt changes. This change can cause not only a difference in temperature and light, but also can have a long term affect. The effects are split up into four quarters, and the weather reacts accordingly.

Weather and Climate Questions (1,2)

1. A) Climate- A broad and general forecast as to the usual annual weaather over a period of time.
Weather- The term that describes energy, temperatures, and percipitation rates on a daily basis. Weather can change very quickly and occasionally differ from that expected because of a climate.

They are different because climate is usually measured throughout a period of time, while weather is based on a day-day basis. They are similar because they are both caused by events in the troposphere.

B) There are many places where this can occur. The most obvious would be the international ice age. Deserts that are currently saturated in sunlight with temperatures above 40 degrees celsius were dark, cold, and covered in ice.

C) Austrailia is an example of this. Austailias climate is that of a very hot dry island. This is uaully true, but there is an exception. Occasionally a very large cloud can float over (the biggest in the world) and cover the island, creating a cold and damp environment.

2. A) Insolation- Amount of solar radiation determined by amount of daylight, and angle of sun rays.

Elevation- Pressure and temperature will drop when elevation increases.

Proximity of Water Bodies- Amount of water adjacent to area, that can become water vapor and rain down.

Ocean Currents- Movement of heat energy throughout large bodies of water.

Reflection

This is my reflection on Unit 4. Unit 4 was mainly about the atmosphere, and the differences within it. We covered alot concerning the different levels and their purposes. The most interesting was the pressure zones within the atmosphere. The two experiments really did explain the topic well, and caught my interest.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere consista of four different levels. These are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesoshpere, and thermosphere (ionosphere). All occcuring wether that we feel on the earhts surface forms in the troposphere. Wind and heat can mix in different ways to produce many different types of weather. Aproximately 99% of gasses in the atmosphere are in the troposphere. The stratospherre is where the the ozone layer is. The ozone layer is a sphere of oxygen (O3) and protects the earth by reflecting/deflecting solar radiation from touching the earths surface. The ozone layer also helps absorb heat, so the the earth doesn't freeze when it is turned away from the sun. The next layer is the mesosphere. This layer is the coldst layer in the atmosphere. This layer is meant to hold out meteriods from crashing into the earths surface. There is no pressure in this layer. The final layer is the thermosphere. It is also referred to as the ionosphere, because the only purpose is to keep out ultraviolet rays that can cause damage to the earth, and its other layers.