Take-home Quiz #1 KEY

1. [6 pts] The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere that is heated from below by the Earth’s surface. The mesosphere has a similar vertical temperature trend.
   
   
2. [6 pts] Argon, oxygen, and nitrogen are the three most abundant permanent or fixed gases, in order from least to most abundant.
   
   
3. [3 pts] While climate ordinarily concerns the average of weather conditions taken over a period of time, we also consider the extremes, which include highest/lowest temperatures, rainfall, winds, storm severity, etc.
   
   
4. [5 pts] The Mercator projection is the common map view we will use that flattens the Earth out onto a rectangular grid. It has the unfortunate characteristic of exaggerating the amount of area in the polar regions of Earth.
   
   
5. [6 pts] There are three possible outcomes for radiation that illuminates an object: transmission, where the radiation passes through without being absorbed; absorption, where the radiation becomes incorporated into the object (usually, raising the object’s temperature as a result); and reflection, where the radiation bounces off the object’s surface without being absorbed.
   
   
6. [6 pts] Conduction and convection of heat from the Earth’s surface into the atmosphere above is known as sensible heat transfer. When water vapor, evaporated from the Earth’s surface, is carried up by these convective currents and the water vapor condenses out, latent heat transfer has taken place.
   
   
7. [6 pts] Albedo refers to how much visible light is reflected by an object. If the albedo goes up, the temperature of the object tends to go down.
   
   
8. [3 pts] Infrared radiation from the atmosphere adds to the solar radiation received by the Earth’s surface. This increases the surface temperature, and is the cornerstone of the Greenhouse Effect.
   
   
9. [6 pts] At the time of a(n) solstice, the daily insolation at some point in either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere is at a maximum or a minimum. At the time of a(n) equinox, there are twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of night during one 24-hour day everywhere on Earth (except at either pole).
   
   
10. [3 pts] The maximum temperature of the day occurs in the mid-afternoon, if we consider only the transfer of radiation. [some specific part of a day, not a specific time]