Weather and Climate, Practice Quiz: Chapter 08

. If an unsaturated air parcel at the surface has a temperature of 26°C, what will be the temperature of the air parcel at a height of 2000 m?

16°C

20°C

6°C

22°C

. As unsaturated air rises, what happens to its potential temperature?

It increases.

It decreases.

It remains constant.

It is impossible to determine.

. Which term refers to the point at which water vapour in air rising from the surface begins to condense?

The wet-bulb potential temperature

The lifting condensation level

The inversion cap

The level of free convection

. On a thermodynamic diagram, which of the following are lines of constant atmospheric moisture?

Isotherms

Isohumes

Isobars

Isentropes

. What are chinooks?

Cool, wet winds descending the leeward side of mountains

Warm, dry winds descending the leeward side of mountains

Warm, dry winds ascending the windward side of mountains

Cool, wet winds ascending the windward side of mountains

. When will air have the same temperature and moisture content on the leeward side of a mountain as it did on the windward side?

When no precipitation falls from the cloud on the windward side

When all precipitation falls from the cloud on the windward side

When some precipitation falls from the cloud on the windward side

When a strong chinook develops on the leeward side

. If the ELR is greater than the DALR, what is the state of the air?

It will be conditionally unstable.

It will be absolutely stable.

It will be conditionally stable.

It will be absolutely unstable.

. Which of the following is NOT a process that can destabilize an air layer?

Radiative heating of the surface

Advection of warm air below cold air

Passage of air over a cooler surface

Radiative cooling of cloud tops

. Which type of inversion commonly forms in areas of high pressure?

Frontal

Subsidence

Radiation

Residual

. Under clear-sky conditions, when does a surface radiation inversion generally reach its maximum depth?

Noon

Mid-afternoon

Just after sunset

Just before sunrise

. The average value of the saturated adiabatic lapse rate is 6°C/km.

TRUE

FALSE

. A layer of air is stable when its potential temperature decreases with height.

TRUE

FALSE

. Cumuliform clouds tend to form when the atmosphere is unstable.

TRUE

FALSE

. Radiative cooling of the surface can stabilize an air layer.

TRUE

FALSE

. In a mixed layer, air temperature remains constant with height.

TRUE

FALSE

Weather and Climate, Practice Quiz: Chapter 08

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