Quiz Format

In-class Quiz #3 will be administered at the beginning of class on Monday, April 9. It will be closed book, closed note, and closed computer (and other electronic devices). You will have around 20 minutes to complete the quiz. Like the other in-class quizzes, it will be worth 3.33% of your course grade (after the worst of your four in-class quizzes is automatically dropped.)

The question(s) will be short answer, short essay, and/or simple meteogram analysis and interpretation. The question(s) might test nothing more than basic factual knowledge, but they might also test conceptual understanding, reasoning ability, and perhaps your ability to communicate your understanding and reasoning.

We will begin covering new material as soon as the quiz is over.

Topic Coverage

Topics eligible for coverage on the quiz consist primarily of topics addressed in lecture, in lab sessions (not including lab activities themselves but including background information provided for them), and in reading assignments. (The mechanics of preparing and submitting forecasts for the ongoing forecasting assignment will not be addressed by this quiz.)

Some topics addressed in lecture and/or lab include (follow links to handouts and supporting materials for details):

• Principle of Conservation of Energy
  • Temperature and energy (including heat) [PDF file]
  • Basic Laws of Radiation
    • Emission spectra (graph) for objects at different temperatures (illustrating several of the laws of radiation; with notes)
    • Example: heating coils on an electric stove (photos)
  • Conservation of energy expressed in terms of a heat budget
    • applied to the daily temperature cycle (see Lab #2, Parts IV, V, and VI)
    • applied to the atmosphere, to the earth's surface, and to the planet as a whole (that is, the atmosphere and surface combined) in the long-term, global average (see below)
      
      
• The Earth's Long-Term, Global Average Temperature and Energy Budget and the Greenhouse Effect (see notes)
  
  
  • Thought Questions on the Earth's Average Temperature [PDF file]
    
    
  • Experiments: radiative absorption by water vapor and by carbon dioxide in a transparent bottle with a 150 Watt bulb shining on it, based on measurements of air temperature inside the bottle
  • Figure: Atmospheric Absorption Spectra [PDF file]
    
    
  • Thought Questions on the Earth's Long-Term, Global Average Energy Budget
    • Figure: The Earth's Long-Term, Global Average Energy Budget
  • Responses to Thought Questions on the Earth's Long-Term, Global Average Energy Budget
    (except the last two questions)
    
    
• Midlatitude cyclones
  • Type of storm
    • responsible for most of the precipitation that California (and much of the U.S., especially on the West Coast) gets
    • located at midlatitudes, travel eastward
    • typically 1-2 thousand miles across
  • Characterized by organized pattern of:
    • temperature (including fronts)
      • fronts (see Reading #5)
        • definition (narrow zone across which temperature varies rapidly from one side to the other, separating regions of relatively warmer and colder air within which temperatures are relatively more uniform)
        • particular types
          • polar front (separates alternating "tongues" of relatively colder and warmer air at midlatitudes)
          • cold fronts, warm fronts, occluded fronts, and stationary fronts (all of which are enhanced or modified parts of the polar front)
            • standard symbols used on weather maps to represent each type of front
    • winds (north, northwest, and west winds on the cold side of fronts; southwest, south, and southeast winds on the warm side of fronts)
    • cloudiness ("comma" shaped pattern on satellite images, aligned along fronts, especially cold and occluded fronts)
    • precipitation (especially along fronts), and
    • atmospheric pressure

Relevant Reading Assignments

• On-line Reading Assignment #4
  • Pre-class Quiz #4 (see iLearn for version with feedback)
• On-line Reading #5
  • Pre-class Quiz #5 (see iLearn for version with feedback)

Relevant Clicker Questions

• Clicker questions: The earth's global, long-term average heat budget
  
• Clicker questions: Radiative absorption experiments (performed in class)
  
• Clicker Questions: Greenhouse gases; the earth's long-term, global average energy budget