radians/second
What are the units for vorticity?
the curl of velocity
Vorticity is..?
Parcel at 60 N
In which of the following would a parcel have the greatest amount of planetary vorticity?
is generated in the base of a trough and at the apex of a ridge
Negative vorticity:
is based on observed winds only, includes shear vorticity, includes curvature vorticity, is the curl of the relative vorticity
relative vorticity
East
Given: a wind vector pointed towards the south would have an n-axis to the:
positive
If absolute vorticity decreases downstream ______________ vorticity is said to take place
divergence
From synoptic scale motion, which of the following terms of the vorticity equation are considered significant
vorticity advection increases with height and advection is more important than divergence at this level
Why is the 500 mb chart best for diagnosing vorticity advection
geostrophic advection of vorticity and divergence and convergence
Local relative vorticity can be changed by
all synoptic scale motions are a result of a balance between PGF and coriolis
QG theory assumes that
the spatial distribution of a variable at a given time
Diagnostic equations describe
ageostrophic motion
Synoptic scale divergence is caused by
vorticity and temperature
According to the QG Omega Equation vertical velocity is a function of
decreases, increases
As stability______, the efficiency of the QG forcing _____
warm air advection at the surface, positive vorticity advection aloft
Which of the following conditions, when combined at the same location, would most likely lead upward vertical motion?
700mb
At which atmospheric level is QG forcing most efficient?
PVA aloft and increasing WAA at the surface
According to the Pressure Tendency equation, geopotential height falls are the result of:
500mb
Precipitable water is the amount of water vapor in a column of air from the surface to:
temperature/ thickness advection
the “omega sub-T’ portion of the QG Omega Equation describes:
on the cold side of a warm or cold front
the strongest temp and moisture gradients are found:
the troposphere, 500mb
In theory, a front could be as deep as ____ but in practice the max depth is around ___
divergence term
Which of the following is not a part of the frontogenesis equation?
a. the temp gradient increases/strengthens
b. the thickness gradient increases/strengthens
c. the frontal inversion strengthens
b. the thickness gradient increases/strengthens
c. the frontal inversion strengthens
during frontolysis:
overturning
this type of frontogenesis involves the steepening of isotherm layers due to vertical motion
differential heating
this type of frontogenesis takes place in the vicinity of a thick cloud layer near clear skies
60degrees
at which of the following angles, bw isotherms and axis of deformation, will frontolysis occur?
winds veer sharply, then slow after frontal passage
what is true of anafronts?
skies clear rapidly after passage
what is true of katafronts?
passive
this cold front is driven totally by density differences
Euler’s
This number is used as the base for all natural logarithms.
partial derivitives
The Eulerian frame of reference uses:
secondary
Vorticity would be an example of a ___________ variable.
primary
Temperture is a ____________ variable
scalar
A ________ value is described by magnitude only.
Towards OKC
Given: Amarillo, TX has a pressure of 1012 mb. Oklahoma City, OK has a pressure of 1000mb. If you took the Del operator of the pressure, which way would the resultant vector point?
1 week
Which of the following would indicate an event duration on the synoptic scale?
implies the graph is concave up
A positive Laplacian Operator:
are found bw 0-30 n/s
Hadley cells:
Illinois
Given: a surface low pressure over Missouri. In which of the following states would you expect to find warm air advection (WAA)?
surface convergence and divergence aloft
A low pressure at the surface is associated with:
It causes winds to be ageostrophic
Which of the following statements are true of friction?
On a rocket fired from Los Angeles towards Miami
In which of the following cases will the coriolis effect have the greatest influence?
The Subtropical High and the Equatorial Low
The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) would be found between:
Decreases the coriolis deflection
A decrease in wind speed:
1032mb High over Arkansas; 1002mb low over Colorado
Which of the following scenarios would produce the strongest southerly wind over Oklahoma?
Coriolis deflection
Geostrophic winds are the result of a balance between PGF and ____________.
density
Which of the following variables are part of the momentum equations?
PGF and coriolis are dominant for the phenomena considered
The Rossby number of 0.5 indicates that:
Velocity
This variable is added to the coriolis parameter to determine the coriolis magnitude:
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed
According to the first law of thermodynamics:
Temperature = 300 K, Pressure = 500mb
Which of the following air parcels would have the highest potential temperature?
the hypsometric equation
The thickness of two atmospheric layers is determined by:
Temperature = 300K, mixing ratio = 10 g/kg
in which of the following scenarios will he virtual temperature be highest?
increase
if geopotential height lines show a confluent pattern, wind speeds ___________ downstream.
is generated in meridional flow
Curvature vorticity:
increase with convergence
According to the divergence term of the vorticity equation, absolute vorticity will:
the curl of velocity
Vorticity is expressed mathematically as
parcel at 5dg N
In which of the following scenarios would a parcel have the least amount of planetary vorticity?
stretching a column of air
Local relative vorticity can be changed by:
is cyclonic in the N Hem.
positive vorticity
Decreasing earth vorticity on the west (left) side of the trough
Troughs, in the Northern Hemisphere, are associated with:
Relies on the geostrophic wind to determine advection
The Solenoid method:
north
Given: a wind vector pointed towards the north. The s-axis would be to the:
prognostic
A ____________ equation would deal with the local rate of change of moisture.
precipitable water
to analyze precipitation potential, omega is often combined with:
700mb
This map best represents omega.
vorticity and temp
According to the QG Omega Equation, vertical velocity is a function of:
cold air advection at the surface, negative vorticity advection aloft
Which of the following conditions, when combined at the same location, would most likely lead downward vertical motion?
Implies upward motion
A negative omega value:
synoptic, geostrophic
QG theory assumes that all __________ scale motions are ___________.
NVA aloft and CAA at the surface
According to the Pressure Tendency equation, geopotential height falls are the result of
Kentucky
Given: a warm front stretching from Oklahoma to Tennessee.
In which of the following states would you expect to find the strongest temperature and moisture gradients?
a katafrontal sonding
A troposphere which is saturated in the lower levels, but exhibits significant dry air in the mid and upper levels describes:
the thermal gradient tightens
When the angle between isotherms and the axis of deformation is less than 45 deg
Divergence along the length of the front, Decrease in the thickness gradient
Frontolysis results from:
Closely related to tropopause structure
With regards to upper-tropospheric fronts:
Warm air descends the frontal surface
With regards to a katafront:
500 mb
In general, maximum frontal depth is approximately:
kansas
Given: a cold front stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana.
In which of the following states would you expect to find the strongest temperature and moisture gradients?
Neither WAA nor CAA take place
In a barotropic atmosphere:
fronts, jets, advection, troughs
Which of the following are associated with a baroclinic atmosphere?
500mb
Absolute vorticity is conserved near:
Slows the eastward movement of troughs and ridges by the reduction of relative vorticity
The Beta effect:
Relative vorticity decreases as earth vorticity increases
As a parcel moves poleward:
parcels, waves
In the upper levels, _________ overtake __________.
strenghten
As they travel through longwaves, shortwaves tend to __________
Diagnosing the development and movement of mid- and upper-level waves
The Equivalent Barotropic model is best used for:
Requires too many approximations
Analysis level is fixed at 500mb
Vertical profile is too simple
Analysis level is fixed at 500mb
Vertical profile is too simple
Which of the following are disadvantages of using the Equivalent Barotropic Model?
There is no large-scale divergence over a deep layer
Systems (upper and lower level) in the lower latitudes tend to be decoupled. Why?
steong thermal gradient
Jet streaks are caused by:
Convergence occurs in the exit region
On the right side of a straight jet streak
warm air is forced to sink
n the indirect transverse circulation associated with a straight jet streak:
right exit region, left entrance region
In a low-level jet streak, rising motion is found:
There is cyclonic curvature but anticyclonic shear vorticity present
On the right side of a cyclonically curved jet streak, vorticity is canceled out because:
right entrance region
In a straight jet streak, PVA is found:
january
In which of the following months would a tropopause fold most likely occur?
jet streaks
A tropopause fold is commonly associated with:
moisture advection, frontogenesis, transverse circulations
Which of the following can isentropic analysis be used to identify?
290K
This isentropic surface would likely be used in December.
200
The polar jet stream would be best analyzed on a ____mb map in July.
May become a high alof
Which of the following are true of warm-core barotropic low?
mid-lat cyclone
Which of the following are an example of a baroclinic low?
500mb heights rise, surface pressure decreases
Northeast of the surface low
Axis from Wisconsin to Kansas
Which of the following represents a positively tilted trough?
It is a warm-core barotropic high
Stretch from the surface to the stratosphere
Found aorund 30 N/S
Stretch from the surface to the stratosphere
Found aorund 30 N/S
Which of the following statements are true of the subtropical high?
The lowest thickness values and the 500mb isohypses
A phase lag is found between:
SW of the surface low, north of the surface low
During cyclogenesis, 500mb speed maxes form
north of the surface low
During cyclogenesis, a vorticity minimum forms:
Forms due to adiabatic cooling
The 500mb cold pool which forms during cyclogenesis:
colorado
On an annual basis, in which of the following locations is cyclone development most likely?
Incipient development
The “baroclinic leaf” first appears in this stage of cyclone development.
rise to the east of the warm front, fall to the west of the cold front
In the Open Wave stage of cyclone development, 500mb heights:
mature cyclone
Occlusion of the warm front by the cold front begins in this stage of cyclone development.
reduction in thermal advection
Which of the following factors lead to cyclone decay?
50%
As a general rule, surface cyclones tend to move at ______ the speed of the 500mb winds.
18mb decrease in central pressure over a 12 hour period
Which of the following would be considered “explosive” cyclogenesis?
400km downstream of a 500mb trough
Explosive Cyclogenesis tends to occur:
Are initiated by a pre-existing cyclone
Miller’s “Type B” cyclones:
Exists in a large horizontal air temperature gradient
Which of the following are true of Coastal Fronts?
The system moves horizontally with no change in shape or intensity
The Frozen Wave Approximation states:
Air flow across boundaries at cloud level
The ragged edges of the baroclinic leaf correspond to:
Confluence of rising air and dry air
The sharp western and poleward edges of the baroclinic leaf correspond to:
cold front
The Limiting Streamline is found near the:
In the Gulf of Mexico
The Warm Conveyor Belt originates:
Ascending from the surface as it moves south to north, then east
Which of the following correctly describes the movement of the Warm Conveyor Belt?
North of the warm front
The Cold Conveyor Belt is found:
around the tropopause
The dry air stream originates
Inside the LSW, poleward of the warm front
According to the Conveyor Belt Model, the maximum lifting occurs:
The formation of a closed low at the surface
The formation of the “S-Shaped” cloud indicates:
stage 1
In which stage of the Norwegian model does a stationary front exist?
Forcing due to thermal gradients
Cyclone development is driven by:
surface convergence
Friction can induce rising motion, especially in a conditionally unstable atmosphere, through:
Column stretching leads to an increase in absolute vorticity
Downslope flow leads to cyclogenesis because:
On the SE side of the range
On the NW side of the range
On the NW side of the range
With regards to vorticity in the vicinity of a mountain range, positive vorticity is generated:
Addition of warmth to the warm sector
Diabtic heating contributes to the synoptic scale by:
Partial derivative of a motion equation
An example of numerical parameterization would be:
Shows more detailed information
A model with high resolution:
Run faster than grid point models
Spectral models:
Require interpolation for locations not on a grid point
Grid point models
