Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the “Submit my answers” button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

Which of the following is NOT a factor that determines a planet’s temperature?
a) Emissivity
b) Distance from the sun
c) Greenhouse effect
d) Solar output

Question 2:

What happens to the majority of solar radiation that impacts the Earth-atmosphere system?
a) It is absorbed by the atmosphere.
b) It is reflected or scattered by the atmosphere.
c) It is reflected by the surface.
d) It is absorbed by the surface.

Question 3:

The majority of convective heat transfer to the atmosphere is transferred as what type of heat?
a) Specific
b) Latent
c) Thermal
d) Sensible

Question 4:

Which of the following statements about clouds is true?
a) Low, thick clouds better reflect solar radiation than absorb longwave radiation.
b) High thin clouds reflect little solar radiation.
c) Clouds cause a net loss of shortwave radiation and a net gain of longwave radiation.
d) On an annual basis clouds warm the planet.

Question 5:

Which latitude has an energy deficit in its annual net radiation budget?
a) 50° N
b) 25° N
c) 0°
d) 10° S

Question 6:

Heat flow in the oceans is driven by differences in what?
a) Pressure
b) Density
c) Transparency
d) Ice content

Question 7:

What is happening to the temperature gradient between the poles and the equator?
a) It is increasing.
b) It is decreasing.
c) It is remaining steady.
d) It is impossible to determine.

Question 8:

Which of the following typically varies the most over the course of a day?
a) Longwave radiation from the atmosphere
b) Longwave radiation leaving the surface
c) Incoming shortwave radiation
d) Reflected shortwave radiation

Question 9:

What process do plants use to control the latent heat flux?
a) Photosynthesis
b) Evaporation
c) Respiration
d) Transpiration

Question 10:

Which of the following is NOT a reason why deserts get very hot during the day?
a) Dry sand is a poor conductor of heat.
b) The land has a low specific heat.
c) There is little convective transport of sensible heat into the atmosphere.
d) There is little evaporation.

Question 11:

Advection transports heat from the warmer equatorial regions to the cooler polar regions.
a) True
b) False

Question 12:

There is a net convective heat flow of 29 units from the atmosphere to Earth’s surface on an annual basis.
a) True
b) False

Question 13:

The oceans are responsible for more latitudinal transfer of heat than the atmosphere.
a) True
b) False

Question 14:

The existence of urban heat islands depends on regional climate types.
a) True
b) False

Question 15:

Flux divergence is the result when the input of energy to a volume exceeds the output of energy from that volume, producing a temperature increase.
a) True
b) False

Higher Education

Weather and Climate: Chapter 6