Review Questions: Pressure and Wind

Chapter 3

  1. What activities can space weather influence or impact?

  2. What is a sunspot?

  3. How many years are associated with the quasi-periodic variation of sunspot activity?

  4. What are explosive outbursts of plasma from the Sun’s corona called?

  5. What atmospheric parameters always decrease with altitude?

  6. Why is sea-level pressure used on weather maps instead of surface pressure?

  7. What does the close spacing of isobars on a sea-level pressure map indicate?

  8. How is a moving object in Earth’s atmosphere deflected as a result of Earth’s rotation?

  9. What causes the Coriolis force?

  10. Which direction would a plane be deflected if flying from the west to east coasts of the United States?

  11. Where does the wind move when influenced by the pressure gradient force?

  12. What are enclosed areas of high pressure (circular isobars) at the surface called?

  13. What is a geostrophic wind?

  14. What is a gradient wind?

  15. What is an area of low pressure aloft called?

  16. What forces are balanced in winds aloft?

  17. What forces are balanced in surface winds?

  18. What type of surface pressure can cause ascending or vertically rising air?

  19. What is a boundary layer?

  20. What type of vertical motion is associated with an anticyclone?

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