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In meteorology, what defines a prevailing wind?
Answer: False
Explanation: A prevailing wind is defined not by its highest recorded speed, but rather as the wind in a specific region that blows predominantly from a particular direction over time.
Global patterns of atmospheric circulation are the fundamental cause of prevailing and dominant winds.
Answer: True
Explanation: The prevailing and dominant winds in any given region are the result of global patterns of movement within the Earth's atmosphere. These large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns dictate the general wind trends.
Synoptic and mesoscale weather phenomena, like fronts and pressure systems, do not influence wind direction.
Answer: False
Explanation: Wind direction at any given time is influenced by synoptic-scale and mesoscale weather phenomena. These include pressure systems, such as high and low-pressure areas, and weather fronts, which are boundaries between different air masses.
Microscale features such as buildings have no impact on local wind direction.
Answer: False
Explanation: Local wind direction can also be influenced by microscale features. For example, buildings and other structures in an urban environment can alter wind patterns on a very small scale.
Dominant winds are defined by their predominant direction, regardless of speed.
Answer: False
Explanation: Dominant winds are defined by their highest speed over time, whereas prevailing winds are defined by their predominant direction.
According to meteorology, what defines a prevailing wind?
Answer: A surface wind in a region that predominantly blows from a specific direction.
Explanation: In meteorology, a prevailing wind is defined as a surface wind in a specific region of the Earth's surface that blows predominantly from a particular direction, indicating the most common wind direction for that area.
What is the fundamental reason for the existence of prevailing and dominant winds on Earth?
Answer: Global patterns of movement within the Earth's atmosphere.
Explanation: The prevailing and dominant winds in any given region are the result of global patterns of movement within the Earth's atmosphere. These large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns dictate the general wind trends.
What types of weather phenomena influence wind direction on synoptic and mesoscale levels?
Answer: Pressure systems (high/low) and weather fronts.
Explanation: Wind direction at any given time is influenced by synoptic-scale and mesoscale weather phenomena, including pressure systems (high/low) and weather fronts, which are boundaries between different air masses.
Globally, winds at low latitudes predominantly blow from west to east.
Answer: False
Explanation: Globally, winds at low latitudes predominantly blow from east to west, a pattern known as the trade winds.
Westerly winds are dominant in the high latitudes, influenced by the polar cyclone.
Answer: False
Explanation: Westerly winds are dominant in the mid-latitudes, influenced by the polar cyclone. In high latitudes, polar easterlies prevail.
Trade winds are characterized by blowing from the west in tropical regions.
Answer: False
Explanation: Trade winds are characterized by blowing from the east in tropical regions.
In the Northern Hemisphere, trade winds blow predominantly from the southeast.
Answer: False
Explanation: In the Northern Hemisphere, trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast.
Trade winds are responsible for steering tropical cyclones westward across oceans.
Answer: True
Explanation: Trade winds act as the steering flow for tropical cyclones that form over the world's oceans, guiding their westward path.
The westerlies are found near the equator.
Answer: False
Explanation: The westerlies are dominant in the middle latitudes, typically between 35 and 65 degrees latitude, not near the equator.
Westerly winds in the Northern Hemisphere predominantly blow from the southwest.
Answer: True
Explanation: In the Northern Hemisphere, the westerlies predominantly blow from the southwest, blowing towards the northeast.
Westerly winds are typically strongest during the summer months.
Answer: False
Explanation: Westerly winds are typically strongest during the winter months when the polar cyclone is stronger, and weakest during the summer months when the polar cyclone weakens.
The historical sailing routes across the Atlantic were primarily facilitated by the polar easterlies.
Answer: False
Explanation: Historical sailing routes across oceans were facilitated by the combined influence of trade winds and westerlies, not polar easterlies.
Westerly winds are often weaker in the Southern Hemisphere due to extensive landmasses.
Answer: False
Explanation: Westerly winds are often stronger in the Southern Hemisphere due to the lack of significant landmasses to disrupt the atmospheric flow pattern compared to the Northern Hemisphere.
The Roaring Forties refer to weak easterly winds found north of 40 degrees latitude.
Answer: False
Explanation: The Roaring Forties refer to strong westerly winds found between 40 and 50 degrees south latitude within the Southern Hemisphere.
The westerlies contribute to bringing warm equatorial waters towards the western coasts of continents.
Answer: True
Explanation: The westerlies play a significant role in carrying warm, equatorial waters and winds towards the western coasts of continents, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere due to its vast oceanic expanse.
Polar easterlies originate from high-pressure areas near the poles and blow towards the equator.
Answer: True
Explanation: The polar easterlies are dry, cold prevailing winds that originate from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles and blow towards the lower-pressure areas found within the westerlies at high latitudes.
Polar easterlies blow consistently from east to west.
Answer: False
Explanation: Polar easterlies blow from the east towards the west, but these winds are often weak and irregular in their patterns.
The horse latitudes are associated with low-pressure systems near the mid-latitudes.
Answer: False
Explanation: The horse latitudes are associated with high-pressure systems near the subtropics, located equatorward of the westerlies.
Westerly winds steer extra-tropical cyclones.
Answer: True
Explanation: The westerlies are found in the middle latitudes and play a role in steering extra-tropical cyclones.
The strength of westerly winds increases during the summer due to increased solar heating.
Answer: False
Explanation: The strength of westerly winds decreases during the summer and increases during the winter.
Which statement accurately describes wind patterns at low latitudes globally?
Answer: Winds are predominantly easterly, blowing from east to west.
Explanation: Globally, winds are predominantly easterly at low latitudes, a pattern known as the trade winds, meaning they tend to blow from east to west.
In the mid-latitudes, which type of wind is dominant, and what influences its strength?
Answer: Westerly winds, influenced by the polar cyclone.
Explanation: In the mid-latitudes, westerly winds are dominant, blowing from west to east. The strength of these westerly winds is largely determined by the polar cyclone, a significant atmospheric feature in polar regions.
What is the meteorological term for the prevailing easterly surface winds found in the tropics?
Answer: Trade winds
Explanation: Trade winds are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, located equatorward of the subtropical ridge.
In the Southern Hemisphere, from which direction do the trade winds predominantly blow?
Answer: Southeast
Explanation: The trade winds blow predominantly from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere, and from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere.
What significant role do trade winds play concerning tropical cyclones?
Answer: They act as the steering flow guiding their westward path.
Explanation: Trade winds act as the steering flow for tropical cyclones that form over the world's oceans, guiding their westward path across the ocean basins.
The 'westerlies' are the dominant winds found in which latitude band?
Answer: Middle latitudes (35-65 degrees)
Explanation: The westerlies, or prevailing westerlies, are the dominant winds found in the middle latitudes, typically between 35 and 65 degrees latitude, blowing from west to east.
Which atmospheric features are located poleward of the horse latitudes and are associated with the westerlies?
Answer: Subtropical high-pressure zones
Explanation: The westerlies are found poleward of the high-pressure areas known as the horse latitudes, which are part of the subtropical ridge system.
Why are westerly winds often particularly strong in the Southern Hemisphere?
Answer: Due to the lack of significant landmass to disrupt the flow.
Explanation: Westerly winds are often particularly strong in the Southern Hemisphere because there is less landmass at middle latitudes to disrupt and slow down the atmospheric flow pattern compared to the Northern Hemisphere.
What are the polar easterlies?
Answer: Cold, dry prevailing winds originating from polar high-pressure areas.
Explanation: The polar easterlies are dry, cold prevailing winds that originate from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles and blow towards the lower-pressure areas found within the westerlies at high latitudes.
The sea breeze-land breeze cycle is the primary cause of prevailing winds in areas with very strong overall wind flow.
Answer: False
Explanation: The sea breeze-land breeze cycle is a significant driver of prevailing winds primarily in areas where overall wind flow is relatively light, not in regions with very strong prevailing winds.
Mountain and valley breezes are the main drivers of prevailing winds in regions with consistent, flat terrain.
Answer: False
Explanation: Mountain and valley breezes are the primary drivers of prevailing winds in regions characterized by variable terrain, not consistent, flat terrain.
A sea breeze occurs at night, blowing from land to sea.
Answer: False
Explanation: A sea breeze occurs during the day, blowing from sea to land, driven by differential heating of land and sea.
Land breezes occur when land cools faster than the sea after sunset.
Answer: True
Explanation: Land breezes occur at night when land cools down more quickly than the ocean, leading to higher pressure over land and drawing air towards the relatively warmer, lower-pressure sea surface.
The strength of a sea breeze is unrelated to the temperature difference between land and sea.
Answer: False
Explanation: The strength of a sea breeze is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the land mass and the sea; a significant temperature difference leads to a stronger sea breeze.
A strong existing off-shore wind can prevent a sea breeze from developing.
Answer: True
Explanation: A sea breeze is unlikely to develop if there is already an existing off-shore wind of significant strength, as such winds can oppose and prevent its formation.
A valley breeze, or anabatic wind, occurs during the day as air flows uphill.
Answer: True
Explanation: An anabatic wind, also known as a valley breeze, occurs during the day in mountainous regions, caused by the warming of slopes which makes air less dense and causes it to flow uphill.
A mountain breeze is caused by air flowing downhill into the valley at night due to cooling slopes.
Answer: True
Explanation: A mountain breeze is a localized wind that occurs at night in mountainous areas, caused by the cooling of slopes, which makes the air denser and causes it to flow downhill into the valley.
The diagram of sea and land breezes illustrates daytime airflow from land to sea.
Answer: False
Explanation: The diagram illustrates daytime airflow from sea to land (sea breeze) and nighttime airflow from land to sea (land breeze).
A sea breeze develops because the land heats up slower than the sea during the day.
Answer: False
Explanation: A sea breeze develops because the land heats up faster than the sea during the day, creating lower pressure over land.
What typically causes the prevailing wind in areas where the overall wind flow is generally light?
Answer: The sea breeze-land breeze cycle.
Explanation: In regions where the overall wind flow is light, the prevailing wind is most often caused by the sea breeze-land breeze cycle, driven by the differential heating and cooling of the sea and land surfaces.
Which phenomenon is identified as the primary cause of prevailing wind in areas with variable terrain?
Answer: Mountain and valley breezes
Explanation: In areas characterized by variable terrain, mountain and valley breezes become the most important cause of the prevailing wind, driven by localized heating and cooling effects related to elevation and slope.
What causes a sea breeze?
Answer: The land heating faster than the sea during the day.
Explanation: A sea breeze is a wind that blows from the sea towards the land during the day, caused by the differential heating of land and sea; the land heats up faster than the sea, warming the air above it, causing it to rise and creating lower pressure over land, which draws cooler air from the sea.
What is a land breeze?
Answer: A wind blowing from land to sea, typically occurring at night.
Explanation: A land breeze is a wind that blows from the land towards the sea, typically occurring at night, because the land cools down more quickly than the ocean after sunset.
Under which condition might a sea breeze fail to develop?
Answer: If there is a strong existing off-shore wind.
Explanation: A sea breeze is unlikely to develop if there is already an existing off-shore wind of significant strength, as such winds can oppose and prevent the formation of the sea breeze.
What is an anabatic wind, also known as a valley breeze?
Answer: A daytime wind flowing uphill along mountain slopes.
Explanation: An anabatic wind, also known as a valley breeze, occurs during the day in mountainous regions, caused by the warming of slopes which makes air less dense and causes it to flow uphill.
A thermal low induced by highly elevated surfaces can strengthen local wind flow.
Answer: True
Explanation: Highly elevated surfaces, such as mountains, can induce a thermal low. This localized area of lower atmospheric pressure can then augment and influence the environmental wind flow in the region.
Orographic precipitation occurs on the leeward side of mountain ranges.
Answer: False
Explanation: Orographic precipitation occurs on the windward side of mountain ranges, where moist air is forced to rise, cool, and condense.
A rain shadow is an area that receives abundant rainfall due to air rising over mountains.
Answer: False
Explanation: A rain shadow is an area that receives significantly less precipitation, located on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range.
The Andes and Sierra Nevada mountains contribute to desert formation by blocking moist winds.
Answer: True
Explanation: Mountain ranges such as the Andes and Sierra Nevada act as barriers to moisture-laden winds, contributing to desert formation on their leeward sides by removing moisture through orographic precipitation.
Rugged topography generally simplifies airflow patterns.
Answer: False
Explanation: Rugged topography generally complicates airflow patterns, leading to unpredictable patterns and turbulence, including phenomena like rotors, strong updrafts, downdrafts, and eddies as air moves over hills and through valleys.
Barrier jets form parallel to topographical obstructions when environmental wind flow is interrupted.
Answer: True
Explanation: A barrier jet is a phenomenon where wind changes direction and accelerates parallel to a significant topographical obstruction, such as a mountain range, when the environmental wind flow is interrupted.
Lenticular clouds can form at the peaks of mountain waves.
Answer: True
Explanation: The schematic of a mountain wave illustrates how wind flowing towards a mountain can create oscillating waves in the airflow downwind, and these waves can lead to the formation of lenticular clouds at their peaks.
The image labeled Orographic precipitation shows rain occurring on the downwind side of a mountain.
Answer: False
Explanation: The image labeled Orographic precipitation visually represents the process where moist air rises over a mountain range, leading to precipitation on the upwind (windward) side, while the leeward side remains drier.
How can elevated surfaces like mountains affect local wind patterns?
Answer: By inducing a thermal low that can augment environmental wind flow.
Explanation: Over elevated surfaces like mountains, the ground heats up more intensely than the surrounding air, creating a thermal low over the terrain. This can enhance existing low-pressure areas and alter the region's wind circulation.
Orographic precipitation is directly caused by:
Answer: Moist air being forced to rise over a mountain range.
Explanation: Orographic precipitation is rainfall or snowfall that occurs on the windward side of mountains, caused by moist air being forced to rise over the mountain ridge, leading to adiabatic cooling, condensation, and precipitation.
What is a 'rain shadow'?
Answer: An area on the leeward side of a mountain with significantly less precipitation.
Explanation: A rain shadow is an area on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain range that receives significantly less precipitation, because moisture is removed from the air as it rises and precipitates on the windward side.
Which of the following describes the influence of rugged topography on airflow?
Answer: It can distort airflow, leading to turbulence and unpredictable patterns.
Explanation: Rugged topography can severely distort airflow, leading to unpredictable patterns and turbulence, including phenomena like rotors, strong updrafts, downdrafts, and eddies as air moves over hills and through valleys.
What does the schematic of a mountain wave illustrate?
Answer: How wind creates oscillating waves in the airflow downwind of a mountain.
Explanation: The schematic of a mountain wave illustrates how wind flowing towards a mountain can create oscillating waves in the airflow downwind, showing how these waves can lead to the formation of lenticular clouds at their peaks.
The image labeled 'Orographic precipitation' visually represents:
Answer: Moist air rising over mountains, leading to precipitation on the upwind side.
Explanation: The image labeled Orographic precipitation visually represents the process where moist air is forced to rise over a mountain range, leading to cooling, condensation, and precipitation on the upwind (windward) side.
A wind rose is a tool used to predict future wind speeds.
Answer: False
Explanation: A wind rose is a tool used to display historical wind patterns, not to predict future speeds.
Concentric circles on a wind rose represent different wind speed ranges.
Answer: False
Explanation: Concentric circles on a wind rose typically represent different proportions of wind occurrence, increasing outwards from zero at the center. Spokes are segmented by speed.
Wind roses commonly display 16 cardinal directions, but can be subdivided further.
Answer: True
Explanation: Wind roses typically display 8 or 16 cardinal directions, such as north (N), northeast (NE), and east (E). However, these can be further subdivided into as many as 32 directions for greater detail.
What is a wind rose primarily used for in meteorology?
Answer: To display the history of wind direction and intensity at a location.
Explanation: A wind rose is a graphic tool used by meteorologists to display the history of wind direction and intensity at a particular location, providing a succinct view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed over time.
How is information typically represented on a wind rose plot?
Answer: On a polar coordinate grid with spokes indicating direction frequency.
Explanation: A wind rose is presented on a polar coordinate grid, where the length of each spoke extending from the center represents the proportion of time that the wind blows from that specific direction. Concentric circles typically represent frequency, increasing outwards.
Understanding prevailing winds is irrelevant for preventing wind erosion.
Answer: False
Explanation: Understanding prevailing winds is crucial for developing effective strategies to prevent wind erosion of agricultural land.
Sand dunes always form parallel to the direction of the prevailing wind.
Answer: False
Explanation: Sand dunes can form either parallel (longitudinal dunes) or perpendicular (transverse dunes) to the direction of the prevailing wind, depending on the specific conditions and dune type.
Bird flight is primarily determined by prevailing wind direction.
Answer: False
Explanation: While insects are often swept along by prevailing winds, bird flight is less dependent, as birds possess greater control over their direction and speed.
Wind erosion in the Great Plains is combated using wind barrier strips like crop rows or trees.
Answer: True
Explanation: In the Great Plains, measures such as wind barrier strips (e.g., crop rows or trees) are employed to reduce wind erosion of agricultural land by acting as windbreaks.
Insects primarily control their own movement regardless of wind conditions.
Answer: False
Explanation: Insects are often swept along by prevailing winds, meaning their dispersal and movement can be significantly influenced by wind patterns, unlike birds which have more control.
The Kelso Dunes image demonstrates how prevailing winds shape desert landscapes by moving sand.
Answer: True
Explanation: The image of sand blowing off a crest in the Kelso Dunes illustrates the effect of prevailing winds in shaping desert landscapes by moving sand to form dunes.
African dust transported by trade winds can affect air quality in the southeastern United States.
Answer: True
Explanation: Trade winds play a role in transporting African dust westward across the Atlantic Ocean, which can influence air quality in the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.
Which of the following is a practical application of knowing the prevailing wind direction?
Answer: Designing effective wind erosion prevention strategies.
Explanation: Knowledge of the prevailing wind is crucial for practical applications, such as developing prevention strategies for wind erosion of agricultural land.
How do sand dunes typically orient themselves in relation to prevailing winds?
Answer: Both A and B are possible depending on the dune type.
Explanation: In areas with minimal vegetation, sand dunes align themselves with the prevailing wind direction. Transverse dunes form perpendicular to the wind, while longitudinal dunes form parallel to it.
How do prevailing winds influence insect movement according to the source?
Answer: Insects are often swept along by prevailing winds, influencing their dispersal.
Explanation: Insects are often swept along by prevailing winds, meaning their dispersal and movement can be significantly influenced by wind patterns.
What is the primary function of wind barrier strips used in the Great Plains?
Answer: To reduce wind erosion of agricultural land.
Explanation: In the Great Plains, measures like wind barrier strips (e.g., crop rows or trees) are employed to reduce wind erosion of agricultural land by acting as windbreaks.