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Review Questions: Introduction to the Hydrologic Cycle

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Definitions

1. What is the hydrologic cycle?
2. What is evaporation?
3. What is the saturation curve?
4. What is vapor pressure?
5. What is saturation vapor pressure?
6. What is the mixing ration?
7. What is the saturation mixing ratio?
8. What is relative humidity?
9. What is water vapor content?
10. What is water vapor capacity?
11. What is condensation?
12. What is the dew point temperature?

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Content

1. What are the global patterns to precipitation?
2. What factors affect the rate of evaporation?
3. What are the global patterns to evaporation?
4. How does temperature affect the water vapor content of the air and the water vapor capacity of the air?
5. What happens to the saturation vapor pressure when air temperature increases?
6. Does a change in air temperature cause the saturation mixing ratio to change? Why or why not?
7. Does a change in air temperature cause the actual vapor pressure (the vapor content) to change?
8. How is relative humidity calculated?
9. What two factors cause relative humidity to change from one day to the next?
10. What happens to relative humidity when the the air temperature decreases?
11. Why is the dew point temperature important?
12. How is the dew point temperature determined?
13. Does the dew point temperature change if the air temperature changes?
14. Does the dew point temperature change if the water vapor content of the air changes?
15. What are the global patterns to atmospheric water vapor content (precipitable water) and how does this pattern change on a seasonal basis?
16. What are the two primary mechanisms for cooling the air?
17. How does the collision-coalescence process work?
18. How does the Bergeron ice crystal process work?
19. What are the global patterns to mean annual precipitation? Where is precipitation perennially high and where is it perennially low?
20. What is the geographic pattern to precipitation in the United States?