Deck 5: Humidity, Condensation, and Precipitation

Question 1

What cloud type is typically formed by strong convection currents?

A)cirrus
B)lenticular
C)stratus
D)cumulonimbus

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which type of fog occurs when moist air moves over a colder land or water surface?

A)advection fog
B)radiation fog
C)ground fog
D)upslope fog

Answer 2

A

Question 3

If an unsaturated parcel of air is cooled, it will eventually reach a temperature where the air will become saturated.This temperature is known as the ____.

A)environmental load
B)dew point
C)lifting condensation level
D)adiabatic rate

Answer 3

B

Question 4

If a parcel of air is capable of holding 36 grams per cubic meter but it only contains 9 grams per cubic meter, then its relative humidity would be _____ percent.

A)4
B)9
C)25
D)36

Question 5

The temperature at which condensation takes place is the ____.

A)saturation point
B)relative humidity
C)dew point
D)specific humidity

Question 6

What collects on surfaces that are good radiators of heat (such as a car or blades of grass) when large amounts of the heat are lost during the night?

A)hail
B)dew
C)convectional precipitation
D)frontal precipitation

Question 7

As the temperature of a parcel of air increases, its ability to hold water vapor ____.

A)increases
B)decreases
C)remains constant
D)increases then decreases

Question 8

The circulation of water from one part of the general Earth system to another is known as the:

A)condensation cycle
B)hydrologic cycle
C)environmental cycle
D)evaporation cycle

Question 9

Two important factors affect geographic variations in relative humidity: temperature and ____.

A)wet adiabatic lapse rate
B)potential evapotranspiration
C)dew point temperature
D)moisture availability

Question 10

The amount of water vapor in the air at any one time and place is known as ____.

A)capacity
B)saturation deficit
C)humidity
D)precipitation potential

Question 11

What precipitation type is typically caused by mountains or highlands?

A)convectional
B)frontal
C)orographic
D)anticyclonic

Question 12

The world's rainforest regions are found under the ____.

A)subtropical high
B)equatorial low
C)polar high
D)middle latitude low

Question 13

What type of fog has been the source of geographic place names - for example, the Great Smoky Mountains?

A)advection fog
B)radiation fog
C)upslope fog
D)frost fog

Question 14

If an air parcel is warmer than the air at the specified altitude, then the parcel will continue to rise, because warmer air is less dense and therefore buoyant.This condition best describes ____.

A)stability
B)neutrality
C)precipitation
D)instability

Question 15

The process by which plants give up moisture to the air is ____.

A)evaporation
B)transpiration
C)evapotranspiration
D)precipitation

Question 16

When a parcel of air at a given temperature holds all of the water vapor that it possibly can, it is said to be in a state of ____.

A)equilibrium
B)maxima vapory
C)saturation
D)overload

Question 17

Adiabatic cooling acts on:

A)rising air
B)falling air
C)wind
D)air that is stationary

Question 18

The term nimbus, when used in describing clouds, refers to ____.

A)precipitation
B)ice crystals
C)highest
D)lightning and thunder

Question 19

The system in which the total quantity of water remains the same and gains must balance deficits is known as the ____.

A)precipitation load
B)water budget
C)adiabatic process
D)convergence mechanism

Question 20

Which parcel of air is the most humid?

A)temperature 72°F, dew point 70°F
B)temperature 72°F, dew point 68°F
C)temperature 72°F, dew point 65°F
D)temperature 72°F, dew point 60°F

Question 21

What is a high level, rounded cloud?

A)cirrus
B)cirrocumulus
C)cirrostratus
D)cirrocirrus

Question 22

Being in a(n) ____ means that the area does not receive much rain (or other precipitation).

A)uplift mechanism
B)rain shadow
C)upslope fog
D)condensation nucleus

Question 23

The phrase "rain shadow" is associated with which of the following types of precipitation?

A)convectional
B)orographic
C)cyclonic
D)frontal

Question 24

Glaciers represent ____% of the total freshwater on the surface of the Earth.

A)97.1
B)2.24
C)0.306
D)0.009

Question 25

The westerlies are characterized by desert areas in the rain shadows of mountain ranges.Which of the following is the best example of this?

A)Cascades Range
B)Death Valley
C)Arabian Desert
D)Sierra Nevada

Question 26

What type of precipitation develops as warm moisture-laden air collides with cold air and rises above a front?

A)cyclonic
B)orographic
C)convectional
D)frontal

Question 27

The higher the relative humidity, the lower the percentage of water in the air.

Question 28

Sleet is:

A)heavy snow
B)drizzle
C)frozen rain
D)formed with six-sided crystals

Question 29

Which of the following clouds is most likely to produce rain?

A)stratocumulus
B)altostratus
C)cirrocumulus
D)nimbostratus

Question 30

The Midwest's winter precipitation is chiefly attributable to ____.

A)the interaction of contrasting air masses
B)orographic factors
C)friction of the air with rough surfaces
D)sun control of air temperature

Question 31

The most widely held theory for how precipitation develops for warm clouds is the ____.

A)uplift mechanism
B)supercooling mechanism
C)Bergeron process
D)collision-coalescence process

Question 32

Dividing the number of rain days in a year by the total number of days in a year yields the ____.

A)probability of rainfall
B)rain ratio
C)rain deficit
D)rain distribution

Question 33

The total amount of atmospheric water remains nearly constant.

Question 34

Which of the following is measured in terms of grams/kilograms?

A)relative humidity
B)dew point
C)specific humidity
D)absolute humidity

Question 35

A parcel of air at 16°C rises 1,000m at which the temperature of the air is 6°C.This parcel will ____.

A)continue to rise
B)begin to sink
C)turn into a thunderstorm
D)stay at that level

Question 36

The closer the dew point temperature is to the actual air temperature, the lower the relative humidity.

Question 37

Which of the following is considered to be a thunderstorm cloud?

A)nimbostratus
B)cumulonimbus
C)cirrostratus
D)altocumulus

Question 38

The dry adiabatic lapse rate is constant.

Question 39

All rain tends to be slightly acidic.

Question 40

Most of the fresh water on Earth is found in ____.

A)glacial ice
B)lakes
C)the atmosphere
D)rivers

Question 41

________________ are minute particles in the atmosphere that provide a surface upon which condensation can take place.

Question 42

In general, the polar regions have low precipitation.

Question 43

________________ is a measure of the weight of water vapor (grams) in a particular volume of air (cubic meter).

Question 44

Condensation and precipitation are synonymous in that the first invariably results in the latter.

Question 45

Freezing nuclei are a part of the ________________ process.

Question 46

________________ stratus clouds are considered middle-level clouds.

Question 47

Cumulonimbus clouds are thunderstorm clouds.

Question 48

Cloud names generally consist of two parts: the ________________ and the shape.

Question 49

A radiation fog is likely to form during the occurrence of a ground inversion.

Question 50

The normal (environmental) lapse rate is constant at 10°C/1000m.

Question 51

Fogs "burn off" from the ground up.

Question 52

A rain shadow occurs on the leeward side of a mountain.

Question 53

________________ is by far the most common form of precipitation.

Question 54

The hydrologic cycle is the circulation of water from one of Earth's systems to another.

Question 55

Drizzle is rainfall with a drop size of 0.5mm diameter or less.

Question 56

________________ uplift involves the solar heating of Earth's surface.

Question 57

________________ evapotranspiration is a theoretical term used to estimate the maximum loss of moisture through evaporation and transpiration.

Question 58

________________ is condensation that takes place on chemical nuclei and is often corrosive and dangerous to human health.

Question 59

Cirrocumulus clouds are low-level clouds.

Question 60

Water can dissolve so many substances that it has been called the ________________.

Question 61

________________ is moisture added to the atmosphere through plant life.

Question 62

________________ humidity is expressed as a percentage.

Question 63

Why is the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile one of the driest places on Earth?

Question 64

The temperature at which condensation takes place is the _______________ temperature.

Question 65

Clouds take on three distinctive shapes.What are they, and what do they look like?

Question 66

When the air is holding all the moisture it can at a given temperature, it is said to be ________________.

Question 67

A thunderstorm cloud is known as a(n) ________________.