Geography 370: CLIMATOLOGY

Fall 2005

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

STUDY SESSION FOR FINAL EXAM
Sunday, 5 to 7 p.m., STV 3036

THIS STUDY GUIDE HAS BEEN EDITED TO REFLECT 2005 CLASS

Final Exam will be Monday, Dec. 15, 2-30:30 p.m. STV 3036

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The final exam will be 50% covering the material since the last midterm. Exam will include Chapter 11 beginning at p. 300, Atmosphere-Ocean Interactions, Chapters 12 through 19, (skipping Ch. 14, Forecasting, and Ch. 17 Air Pollution), and 50% a comprehensive test of all the material covered since the beginning of the class. The portion on Chapter 19, Climate Change, will simply reflect the concepts that were covered throughout the course and in the video, "Cracking the Ice Age". It would be useful for you to review that chapter, however. This exam is worth 30% of your final grade.

For the Comprehensive section, check your study guides for the midterms, and look at the questions on your midterm exams. Be sure you know the right answers to the questions you missed, and why they're right. The comprehensive section will include questions that emphasize the synthesis of concepts from different sections of the course. Treatment of concepts in the comprehensive section will be more general than on the midterms.

I recommend that you review the text materials, especially Chapters12-18, since some of this material not covered in lecture may be on the exam.

Topics and Concepts for Chapters 12-19:

Local and Regional Winds

Eddies, thermal and mechanical turbulence, causes
Air pockets

Land and Sea Breezes
Monsoon circulation, seasonal, where? effects?
Mountain and Valley Breezes
Katabatic winds, Chinook winds, Santa Ana winds
Desert winds -- Haboob, Sirocco
Dust devils

Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions

Major ocean currents, locations, temperatures, why do they occur where they do, directions of flow?
Subtropical gyres; role in heat transport to high latitudes
Cold water upwelling, Why? Where? When? Causes and effects? Ekman Spiral (Fig. 11.18, p. 303)

El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO), La Niña

Walker circulation

Symptoms and Effects of El Niño versus "Normal" pattern

Normal East Pacific: high pressure, easterly winds, cold water upwelling, dry climate (versus Western Pacific, low pressure, high water temperature, rainy); thermocline variations, directions of ocean currents

El Niño, E. Pacific: low pressure, westerly equatorial winds, warm water, precip., effects on fish, birds, agriculture; W. Pacific, high pressure, weakened monsoons, drought, effects on forests, agriculture, etc.

Teleconnections -- long distance & time -- where in the world are El Niño effects detected or suspected? Effects on hurricane seasons

La Niña -- enhanced normal, effects, where?

ENSO cycles, frequency, magnitude

Pacific Decadal Oscillation, warm and cold phases, effects on weather, El Niño

North Atlantic Oscillation, warm and cold phases, effects on weather, where?

Air Masses

Formation, sources, classification, seasonal movement, know letters cP, aP, cT, mP, mT
Which are stable, unstable, atmospheric pressure, types of associated weather, seasonal differences
Effects on weather, polar outbreaks, heat waves, convective storms
Lake effect snows (p. 316)

Fronts

Stationary,Warm, Cold, Occluded (cold and warm)
Associated clouds, weather, shifting wind direction, temperature changes

Midlatitude Circulation

Rossby waves in the Westerly winds
Long waves in Westerlies, migrate slowly west to east
Zonal flow; meridional flow
Upper level Ridges (higher pressure aloft, warmer air equatorward of polar front)
and troughs (lower pressure aloft, colder air, polarward of polar front)
Jet stream, jet streaks

Midlatitude Cyclones

Formation of wave cyclones, along polar front
Life cycle, from open wave through occlusion
Factors that intensify cyclone development

upper level support, divergence aloft on east side of upper level trough (No. Hemisphere),
divergence aloft greater than convergence at surface -- deepens surface low
convergence aloft on west side of upper level trough, supporting high pressure at surface

Midlatitude cyclones travel embedded in westerlies, west to east

Thunderstorms

Be familiar with general formation of cumulonimbus clouds and life cycle.

Thunderstorms and Tornadoes, Severe Weather

Be familiar with general formation of cumulonimbus clouds and major hazards associated with severe thunderstorms, including hail, lightning, downbursts, intense precipitation and flash floods, and tornadoes

Hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons -- where they are common

How and why they form, where, when (seasons)

Damage -- winds, storm surges, flooding, tornadoes

Climate Classification

Empirical Systems -- based on what data?

Koppen -- know classification system to second letters

e.g. Af, BW, Cs, Dw, EF, ET also temperature categories k and h for deserts (e.g. BWh, BSk)

What are the temperature and seasonal precipitation boundaries for these climate types (in general, not specific numbers) What is the significance of the Tropical and Polar boundaries?

In general, how are B climates differentiated from A, C, and D climates?

Be familiar with how to read climographs, study specific climographs for each climate type in text

Be familiar with vegetation, soils, and agricultural types associated with specific climate types

Examine Map, Figure18-5, page 498 in Great Detail -- know general locations of all types of climates. Study climographs in Ch. 18, and know the names and locations of these climates.

Climate types

Tropical Climates: General characteristics -- dominated by Hadley cell circulation, ITCZ

seasonal migration of Hadley cell circulation
temperature variations -- diurnal versus seasonal
precipitation
variability, intensity, convective, tropical waves
diurnal and seasonal
monsoons

Vegetation, soils, human activities, hazards associated with each climate type

Tropical Climates: Tropical Wet (Af), Tropical Monsoon (Am), Tropical Wet and Dry, Savanna (Aw), Semi-arid steppe, short grass (BSh), Desert (BWh)

What are controls on each of these in terms of seasonality and amount of precipitation, also temperature variability (if any)?

Midlatitude Deserts (BWk, BSk) -- Continentality, rainshadow effect, elevation, some precip from Westerlies, monsoons

Midlatitude Humid Climates (C and D) General Characteristics:

Seasonally dominated by different General Atmospheric Circulation patterns -- Hadley Cell, Westerlies, Polar (ET, EF), Arctic and Antarctic
Influence of Mountain Ranges, Topography, Water bodies, Air Masses, Classified by seasonality of Precipitation, seasonality of Temperature

Vegetation, soils, human activities, hazards associated

Humid subtropical (Cfa), Marine West Coast (Cfb, Cfc), Mediterranean (Cs), Humid Continental (Dfa, Dfb), Subpolar (Dfc, Dfd), Subpolar Dry Winter (Dw)

Polar Climates (ET and EF) General Characteristics:

Geographic distribution of land and water at North and South Poles
Long summer days, long winter nights
Seasonality of temperature and precipitation
Locations of Energy Surplus versus Energy Deficit
Polar wet and dry -- why is summer wet?
Influence of Arctic Ocean, sea ice distribution
Winds, Storms
Continentality of Antarctica, highlands

For Review though not covered specifically:
North American climates
Moist east versus dry west, significance of 100th meridian
Air masses, cyclonic storm tracks
Seasonality of temperature and precipitation
Droughts, floods, heat waves, arctic outbreaks
Effect of western mountains, Great Lakes
Soils, agriculture, irrigation related to climate

INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ONLY AS IT RELATES TO MATERIAL COVERED THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER

Past Climates

Likely Causes of Climate Change: Plate tectonics, mountain building, carbon cycle (weathering), Milankovich orbital parameters, sun spots (?), interdecadal ocean oscillations, ENSO, volcanic eruptions
Evidence: proxy indicators from vegetation (tree rings, pollen, plant macrofossils), ice cores, marine cores (oxygen isotope ratios); also instrumental records, historical records (journals, paintings, etc.)
In general, how has climate varied in the past 100,000 years, 10,000 years, 1,000 years, 100 years?
(Pleistocene, Holocene, Climatic Optimum, Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age, etc.)

Future Climates

Are humans causing change in global climate?
What are some of the potential changes?
What, if anything, can be done to mitigate these changes?

Global Warming, potential results

Sea level rise -- flooding of coastal cities
Effects on Agriculture
Effects on Natural Vegetation
Drop in Biodiversity
Effects on Water Resources
Increased range of tropical diseases
Halt in the North Atlantic Deep Water circulation, effects

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Revised 12/9//05