Coverage:  Weather and Climate
Web Learning Modules:  Geography and the Global Ecosystem,  Atmosphere and Earth's Motions,
Solar Radiation,  Temperature Differences,  Pressure and Winds,
Moisture in the Atmosphere,  Air Masses and Storms,  Climate Regions
Textbook:  Tarbuck and Lutgens,

11th Edition:  Chapters 1, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Study Guide:  Review objectives and diagrams in your Study Guide: Weather and Climate

Format:  There will be about 50 multiple-choice questions, a choice of modified true-false questions, diagrams, and some short-answer questions.

Multiple Choice, Modified True-False, and Short-Answer Questions will be selected from the following topics:

The Global Ecosystem (Earth System)

What is the scope of the discipline of geography? What is the role of maps in geography? Explain how the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are interconnected. Name the sources of energy for internal and external processes. Describe the flow of energy and materials in the food chain.

Weather and Climate - Atmospheric Processes

Describe and recognize on a diagram, the position of the earth relative to the sun at the Northern Hemisphere
a) Winter Solstice b) Summer Solstice c) Vernal Equinox d) Autumnal Equinox
What are the physical consequences of the earth’s rotation, revolution, and the tilt of earth’s axis? Identify such important geographical lines as the Prime Meridian, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn on a map.
Why do we have seasons? Why are the Tropics warmer than the Poles? Why are seasons reversed in the Southern Hemisphere compared with the Northern Hemisphere?
What is the relative importance of water vapor, dust, carbon dioxide, and ozone in the atmosphere? Why is the sky blue? How do the wavelengths and intensity of radiation emitted by the sun and the earth differ? Why do they differ? How is insolation intercepted as it passes through the atmosphere?

What is the global radiation balance? How does the earth heat the atmosphere? How does atmospheric pressure vary with elevation above the earth’s surface? What two reasons explain why winter is colder than summer in the middle latitudes? What four differences between water and land cause them to behave differently when they heat and cool? What is the greenhouse effect and what is global warming? Why it is warmer in winter and cooler in summer along the coast than inland locations? How and why do urban climates differ from the surrounding countryside?

What causes winds? What three factors influence the speed and direction of winds? What are the dominant winds across the United States?
What weather do you expect during low pressure (cyclones) and high pressure (anticyclones)? How are isotherms, isohyets, and isobars used on maps? What is the Coriolis Effect? How does it alter the direction of moving air, water, or solids?
Describe the global circulation pattern of winds and pressure belts. What is the location and weather associated with the Trade winds, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the subtropical high pressure, the Westerlies, the polar front, jet streams, and the polar easterlies? What are Monsoons? Where and why do they occur?

What is relative and specific humidity? How does relative humidity vary throughout the day? How does humidity affect people's sense of temperature? What is the latent heat of vaporization and condensation? What is adiabatic temperature change? What are the conditions necessary for the formation of dew, frost, and fog? Why do we have advection fog along the coast in summer and radiation fog in the valleys in winter?
What is the role played by convectional, frontal, convergence, and orographic lifting in cloud formation and precipitation? Describe cumulonimbus, cirrus, and stratus clouds. How do rain shadow areas form?

How are air masses classified? Identify on a map the source regions and moisture and temperature characteristics of the air masses affecting North America. What are the characteristics of warm, cold, occluded, and stationary fronts? How are they shown on weather maps? Be able to recognize the difference between midlatitude cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes, and the atmospheric conditions associated with each storm.

What is the characteristic rainfall pattern in the Mediterranean Climate (California). Why does this pattern occur? Which parts of California are wettest and driest? Why? Compare hurricanes and tornadoes and their impact upon people and property. Why does air cool when it rises? What are four main ways air lifts to form clouds and precipitation? Why do temperatures decrease with altitude above the earth? What weather do you expect when the weather map shows a warm front or a cold front?

What are the five principal climate groups of the Köppen system (A, B, C, D, and E) and what are the criteria used to define each group?

Recognize the location and general characteristics of the principal climates; wet equatorial, tropical wet and dry climates, deserts, moist continental climates, marine west coast climates, Mediterranean, tundra, and moist subtropical climates. Identify the climates of the continents of Africa or North America from a map showing the distribution of their climates.  (See sample Tarbuck Identification Quiz in the Climate Regions Learning Module.)

Some Specific Points to Ponder

Analyze and explain the differences between climographs of cities at various latitudes and maritime versus continental locations. (See simple graph in Temperature Differences Learning Module.)

Challenge common misconceptions regarding global geography. (Class Handout - Hypotheses in Global Geography)

Given a cross-sectional diagram across California, explain how and why the amount of rainfall varies at various elevations on windward and leeward slopes.

Describe the likely impact of global warming upon California.

Analyze a weather map similar to the one we analyzed in class handout.

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Created by Rita D. Haberlin, Geography Professor
rhaberlin@aol.com
Peralta Community College District
333 East Eighth Street
Oakland, CA 94606
www.Peralta.edu