AOSC 200: and ­ Discussion Quiz 2 Review

Chapter 7: Atmospheric Circulations Lecture: “Winds” and “Global Winds”

1) What is the thermal circulation (thermal wind), how does it form, and what does it imply for the height of the isobars in different areas? 2) What causes the sea breeze and land breeze? 3) Describe the mountain breeze and valley breeze. 4) What is a Katabatic wind? 5) What are the chinook winds? What is the main reason they are warm? 6) What type of winds are the Santa Ana winds? 7) What is a ? How does the Indian Monsoon relate to the ITCZ? What are the lifting mechanisms that play a role in the Indian Monsoon? 8) What is the Three Cell Model and what does it assume? Does it perfectly represent the real world? 9) Does the tropopause height increase or decrease as we move from the equator to the north pole? Based on this answer, does the pressure gradient force generally want to push air aloft from south to ​ ​ north or from north to south? 10) Where do jet streams form? What are the names and latitudinal locations of the two jet streams in the Northern Hemisphere? 11) Here in the U.S.A and much of Canada, our prevailing winds are called ______and they move in the ______direction. While these winds prevail, are we ALWAYS going to have surface winds blowing that way or will surface lows and highs sometimes spice things up? 12) What is the underlying cause of the general atmospheric circulation we see on Earth? 13) Where are the trade winds and in what direction do they blow? Between what latitudes do they exist? 14) Do we have surface lows at the pole or at the equator, based on our atmospheric circulation model? 15) What are the doldrums and what kind of weather usually happens there? How does this weather drive the Hadley cell? 16) Why is 30 N called the horse latitudes? (great bar trivia question) 17) What is the polar front? The subpolar low? What weather happens here? 18) Be able to locate the three circulation cells on a figure of the globe. Know their names and the latitudes at which each starts and stops, as well as the jetstreams between them. 19) Where are the semipermanent highs and lows in the northern hemisphere? 20) What is the Intertropical Convergence Zone? How/why does its position change seasonally? Know where the highs and lows are in the and . 21) What is a gyre? What are they driven by? What way do they circulate in the Northern Hemisphere? 22) Describe Ekman transport and the Ekman spiral 23) How do ocean pressures, wind strength/direction, and the direction of the transport of water change during El Nino? What effect does this have? 24) What is the Northern Atlantic Oscillation? 25) What is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation?

Chapter 8 Lectures: “Air Masses” and “Fronts” and “Cyclogenesis”

1) What is an ? 2) What are the two main surface categories for air mass source? 3) What are the three main location categories for air mass source? 4) Which air mass do we sometimes call “The Siberian Express?” 5) Be able to list the characteristics of different air masses. Which ones tend to affect North America and where would they come from/hit us (be specific)? 6) What is the dry line? 7) What is the process behind Lake Effect and where do we see this in the USA? 8) Can air masses be modified? 9) A front is a transition between density, temperature, or both? 10) What is the frontal zone? 11) Be able to draw/identify all the types of fronts. Know the air masses associated with each front. 12) What is a stationary front? 13) Why does a warm air mass flow over a cold air mass when they meet? 14) How do the weather and differ between cold fronts and warm fronts? 15) How do temperatures, pressures, and wind directions change before, during, and after a warm front passes through? How about for a ? 16) What are occluded fronts and how do they happen? Describe the difference between warm type occlusion and cold type occlusion 17) What is a midlatitude ? Are they the same thing as hurricanes? 18) Where do midlatitude usually form? 19) For a cold front, where would you expect the clouds to be? 20) For a warm front where would you expect the clouds to be? 21) Comma clouds: what do they represent? What is the dry slot? 22) In what direction do cyclones rotate? What type of pressure system is this indicative of? 23) What are the different stages of cyclogenesis? Be able to describe at each stage what each front is doing 24) What do you need for cyclogenesis? 25) In what regions do cyclones occur? What are their characteristics? 26) How does the jetstream affect cyclogenesis? 27) What is zonal flow? What is meridional flow? (In terms of movement)