Environmental Science
Pre-Test Questions
Course Introduction
Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary field that explores the complex interactions between the natural world and human society, focusing on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that shape our environment. This course examines fundamental ecological principles, energy flow, the cycling of matter, and the impact of human activities on air, water, and soil. Students will analyze current environmental issues such as climate change, resource depletion, pollution, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development. Emphasis is placed on scientific inquiry, critical thinking, and the development of practical solutions to environmental challenges, preparing students to make informed decisions and participate in environmental stewardship.
Recommended Textbook
Meteorology Today An Introduction to Weather Climate and the Environment 2nd Edition by C.
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Chapter 1: Earth and Its Atmosphere
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Q1) Which of the following statements accurately compares how air density and air pressure decrease as atmospheric altitude increases?
A)Air density decreases much less than air pressure decreases.
B)Air density decreases much more than air pressure decreases.
C)Air density decreases in much the same way as air pressure decreases.
D)Air density decreases in a completely different way than air pressure decreases.
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following statements applies to stratospheric ozone?
A)It is one of the main ingredients of photochemical smog
B)It is a health hazard for people with respiratory illnesses
C)It protects life from harmful ultraviolet radiation
D)It is originally formed in the troposphere
Answer: C
Q3) Which of the following conditions occurs during a temperature inversion?
A)Air temperature increases with increasing height.
B)Air temperature remains constant with increasing height.
C)Air temperature decreases with increasing height.
D)Air temperature is warmer at night than during the day.
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Energy: Warming Earth and the Atmosphere
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Q1) Which of the following regions of the spectrum represent the Earth's atmospheric window?
A)infrared region
B)polar regions
C)visible region
D)ultraviolet region
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following describes what the average Earth surface temperature would be without the atmospheric greenhouse effect?
A)higher than it is now
B)the same as it is now
C)much more variable than it is now
D)lower than at it is now
Answer: D
Q3) At which time does sunlight pass through a thicker portion of the atmosphere?
A)sunrise and sunset
B)sunset and night
C)noon and night
D)sunrise and noon
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Seasonal and Daily Temperatures
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the Northern Hemisphere, which of the following days has the fewest hours of daylight?
A)autumnal equinox
B)summer solstice
C)winter solstice
D)vernal equinox
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following statements gives an important reason for the large daily temperature range over deserts?
A)Free convection cells are unable to form above the hot desert ground.
B)Dry air is a very poor heat conductor.
C)There is little water vapour in the air to absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation.
D)The light coloured sand radiates heat very rapidly at night.
Answer: C
Q3) Explain why it is possible for the night-time minimum to occur as much as 30 minutes after the sun has risen.
Answer: Answers may vary.
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Chapter 4: Atmospheric Humidity
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Q1) Which of the following is the BEST indicator of the actual amount of water vapour in the air?
A)saturation vapour pressure
B)dew point temperature
C)relative humidity
D)air temperature
Q2) Explain why the temperature overnight seldom drops below the afternoon dew point.
Q3) Which of the following is the name for the lowest temperature that can be attained by evaporating water into the air?
A)frost point
B)heat index
C)minimum temperature
D)wet-bulb temperature
Q4) Which city has the highest saturation vapour pressure?
A)City A
B)City B
C)City C
D)City D
Q5) How can you heat air without decreasing its relative humidity?
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Chapter 5: Condensation: Dew, Fog, and Clouds
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Q1) Which of the following pairs of cloud types could be very similar in appearance?
A)cirrocumulus and cumulonimbus
B)cirrostratus and stratus
C)cumulus and cirrus
D)altocumulus and cirrocumulus
Q2) Which of the following processes causes salty potato chips left outside in an uncovered bowl to turn soggy on a humid day?
A)the attraction of water by hygroscopic condensation nuclei
B)the repelling of water by hydrophobic condensation nuclei
C)the attraction of water by hydrophobic condensation nuclei
D)the repelling of water by hygroscopic condensation nuclei
Q3) Which of the following statements describes the path of geostationary satellites?
A)They orbit the Earth twice each day.
B)They remain above a fixed spot above the equator.
C)They are placed in lower orbits than most polar orbiting satellites.
D)They monitor a specific region at varying time intervals.
Q4) Suppose the sky is covered with stratus clouds. How might you determine whether middle or high clouds are also present?
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Chapter 6: Stability and Cloud Development
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Q1) Which of the following surface conditions produces a convective cumulus cloud with the highest base?
A)air temperature 25°C and dew point 10°C
B)air temperature 35°C and dew point 10°C
C)air temperature 40°C and dew point 30°C
D)air temperature 45°C and dew point 25°C
Q2) Which of the following pr°Cesses changes a moist layer of stable air into a deck of low strat°Cumulus clouds?
A)mixing
B)heating the top of the layer
C)lifting
D)cooling the surface
Q3) Which of the following cloud types are commonly found downwind of a mountain?
A)mammatus clouds
B)anvil clouds
C)lenticular clouds
D)contrails
Q4) Explain why clouds form in rising air. Would it be possible for rising air to remain cloud-free?
Q5) Explain why a rising parcel of air expands and cools.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Precipitation
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Q1) Which of the following statements explains why large cloud droplets fall faster than small cloud droplets?
A)The ratio of the drop's surface area to its weight is smaller.
B)The ratio of the drop's surface area to its weight is larger.
C)Gravity acts more strongly on larger droplets.
D)Gravity acts less strongly on larger droplets.
Q2) Which of the following defines contact nucleation?
A)the joining of many nuclei to form an ice nucleus
B)the freezing of supercooled droplets by contact with a nucleus
C)the sticking together of ice crystals to make a snowflake
D)the freezing of supercooled droplets when they make contact with a supercooled surface
Q3) Large quantities of which of the following substances are injected into a thunderstorm as the primary method for preventing the growth of large, destructive hailstones?
A)silver iodide
B)hydrophobic nuclei
C)ice crystals
D)dry ice
Q4) Explain why the curvature effect acts to inhibit the growth of small droplets.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Air Pressure and Winds
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Q1) Which of the following is an accurate statement about the frictional force?
A)It accelerates winds near the surface.
B)It is zero at the equator.
C)It varies depending on the nature of the Earth's surface.
D)It is roughly the same up to an altitude of 5 km.
Q2) Which of the following describes the relation on an upper-level chart between air temperature and pressure?
A)Warm air aloft is associated with constant pressure surfaces that are found at higher altitude than normal and lower than normal atmospheric pressure aloft.
B)Warm air aloft is associated with constant pressure surfaces that are found at lower altitude than normal and lower than normal atmospheric pressure aloft.lower; lower
C)Warm air aloft is associated with constant pressure surfaces that are found at higher altitude than normal and higher than normal atmospheric pressure aloft.
D)Warm air aloft is associated with constant pressure surfaces that are found at lower altitude than normal and higher than normal atmospheric pressure aloft.
Q3) Explain the formation of a geostrophic wind.
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Chapter 9: Wind: Small-Scale and Local Systems
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Q1) Which of the following results from strong winds blowing over vegetation?
A)slow water loss
B)increased photosynthesis
C)decreased crop productivity
D)physically undamaged plants
Q2) Which of the following features defines a chinook wall cloud?
A)a bank of clouds that forms over the mountains and signals the possible onset of a chinook
B)a row of intense thunderstorms that bring heavy rain to eastern Alberta
C)a sandstorm that marks the leading edge of the chinook
D)a cloud of smoke that marks the advancing edge of the chinook
Q3) Which of the following conditions represents a serious hazard to aircraft?
A)molecular viscosity
B)clear-air turbulence
C)longwaves in the westerlies
D)laminar flow
Q4) You are hiking on a mountain trail at sunrise when you smell the smoke from cooking bacon. You can't see where the smoke is coming from. Would the camp likely be above you or below you on the mountain? Explain.
Q5) Will a valley breeze or a mountain breeze produce clouds? Explain.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Wind: Global Systems
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Q1) In which of the following directions does the jet stream flow?
A)directly from west to east
B)directly from east to west
C)from the equator towards the poles
D)in a wavy pattern from west to east
Q2) During which season are the average winds aloft strongest?
A)fall
B)winter
C)summer
D)spring
Q3) Which of the following terms describes the large semipermanent surface anticyclone that is normally positioned over the ocean west of British Columbia?
A)Aleutian high
B)Hawaiian high
C)California high
D)Pacific high
Q4) Explain why upwelling occurs along the California coast.
Q5) What changes might occur in the Earth's general circulation if the Earth's rotation were in the opposite direction?
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Chapter 11: Air Masses and Fronts
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Q1) Which of the following terms refers to the rising of warm air up and over cold air?
A)overrunning
B)frontolysis
C)occlusion
D)frontogenesis
Q2) Thunderstorms most likely form along which of the following weather fronts in winter?
A)occluded fronts
B)cold fronts
C)stationary fronts
D)warm fronts
Q3) Which of the following types of air masses has the highest actual water vapour content?
A)cP
B)mP
C)mT
D)cT
Q4) Explain why the observation of a halo around the moon or sun could forewarn of the arrival of a warm front.
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Chapter 12: Middle-Latitude Cyclones
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Q1) Assume that the absolute vorticity of flowing air is conserved. If air is moving northeastward, which of the following statements is correct?
A)Air will bend anticyclonically to compensate for an increase in the Earth's vorticity.
B)Air will bend cyclonically to compensate for a decrease in the Earth's vorticity.
C)Air will bend anticyclonically to compensate for a decrease in the Earth's vorticity.
D)Air will bend cyclonically to compensate for an increase in the Earth's vorticity.
Q2) On a surface weather map that shows an open wave cyclone, where can the warm sector be observed?
A)ahead of an advancing cold-occluded front
B)behind an advancing cold front
C)behind an advancing cold-occluded front
D)ahead of an advancing cold front
Q3) What are diffluence and speed divergence? How do these differ from confluence and speed convergence?
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Chapter 13: Weather Forecasting
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Q1) In which of the following directions do most tornadoes move?
A)northwest to southwest
B)southwest to northeast
C)southeast to northwest
D)south to north
Q2) Which of the following is involved in the electrification of a cumulonimbus cloud?
A)snow
B)sleet
C)warm cloud droplets
D)ice crystals
Q3) Which of the following describes the electrical charge of electrons?
A)negative charge
B)either positive or negative charge
C)no charge
D)positive charge
Q4) The fact that thunder sometimes sounds like a loud crash, and other times sounds like a dull rumble, has nothing to do with the intensity of the lightning strike that produced the thunder. Explain why.
Q5) Do invisible tornadoes exist? Explain.
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Chapter 14: Thunderstorms
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Q1) Assume a hurricane in the North Atlantic is travelling toward the northwest at 30 km/h and its average wind speed is 215 km/h. In this scenario, what is the wind speed on the southwestern side of the hurricane?
A)155 km/h
B)185 km/h
C)215 km/h
D)245 km/h
Q2) Which of the following describes the vertical structure of a hurricane?
A)There is an upper-level inflow of air and a surface outflow of air.
B)There is an upper-level inflow of air and a surface inflow of air.
C)There is an upper-level outflow of air and a surface inflow of air.
D)There is an upper-level outflow of air and a surface outflow of air.
Q3) Based on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which of the following would correspond to the highest possible intensity of a hurricane?
A)Category 2
B)Category 3
C)Category 4
D)Category 5
Q4) What is a storm surge? How does a storm surge form?
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Chapter 15: Tornadoes
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Q1) In which of the following locations is warm advection most likely to occur?
A)from the surface up to the 500 hPa level in front of a warm front
B)in the centre of a cut-off low
C)from the surface up to the 500 hPa level behind a cold front
D)where the winds back with height
The following questions refer to the above illustration of a middle-latitude cyclone.The dashed lines show the positions of the fronts six hours ago.
Q2) Which of the following forecast methods would be used to determine the probability of a white Christmas?
A)persistence
B)climatological
C)ensemble
D)analogue
Q3) Explain the relationship between dew point and minimum temperatures.
Q4) Describe the data and tools that a meteorologist assembles prior to making a weather forecast.
Q5) Explain how observed teleconnection patterns can help in the preparation of a seasonal weather forecast.
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Chapter 16: Hurricanes
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Q1) Make a rough sketch of North America and indicate approximately where the following climatic types would be found:
tropical moist climates
moist subtropical climates
dry climates
moist continental climates
polar climates
highland climates
List the principal characteristics of each climate type, and describe the climatic controls that influence the location of each climatic region shown on your map.
Q2) Compare the following places: Dallol, Ethiopia; Death Valley, California; and El Azizia, Libya. Which of the following statements describes a climatic condition they have in common?
A)They are three of the sunniest places on Earth.
B)They are three of the wettest places on Earth.
C)They are three of the coldest places on the Earth.
D)They are three of the hottest places on the Earth.
Q3) Describe the climate of your neighbourhood and the microclimatic variations within it.
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Chapter 17: Earths Changing Climate
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Q1) Which of the following describes the apparent change in the average global temperatures over the past 100 years or so?
A)They have increased slightly.
B)They have fluctuated widely but shown no overall change.
C)They have decreased slightly.
D)They have remained constant.
Q2) In which of the following periods did the Viking colony in Greenland perish?
A)climatic optimum
B)Pleistocene epoch
C)Mt.Pinatubo explosion
D)Little Ice Age
Q3) Referring to the much studied temperature record of the past 140 years, significantly more observations were made of which of the following temperature records?
A)ocean bottom waters temperatures
B)air temperatures over the oceans
C)air temperatures
D)freshwater lakes temperatures
Q4) In what ways might climate change benefit the planet?
Q5) What are some of the possible consequences of climate change?
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Chapter 18: Global Climate
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Q1) Which of the following describes the direction that a country breeze blows?
A)from the city toward the country at night
B)from the country toward the city during the day
C)from the country toward the city at night
D)from the city toward the country during the day
Q2) Describe some of the measures that are being taken to reduce the problem of acid precipitation.
Q3) Is the ozone that is found near the Earth's surface a primary or a secondary pollutant? When during the day do you expect to find the peak concentrations of ozone? What are some of the environmental concerns associated with ozone?
Q4) An important natural source of which of the following chemicals comes from volcanoes?
A)ozone
B)benzene
C)carbon monoxide
D)sulphur dioxide
Q5) Describe the formation of a subsidence inversion and explain how this influences air pollution.
Q6) What atmospheric conditions are associated with a major air pollution episode?
Page 20
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Chapter 19: Air Pollution
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Q1) Suppose the temperature is constant in the lowest 1000 metres of the atmosphere. How good would the conditions be for viewing a mirage?
A)poor
B)average
C)good
D)excellent
Q2) Which of the following statements describes the atmospheric condition when the sky begins to turn milky white?
A)Small particles such as dust and salt become suspended in the air.
B)The daytime temperature is oppressively hot.
C)The relative humidity decreases below about 10 percent.
D)The concentration of ozone begins to reach dangerous levels.
Q3) Two people are looking at a rain shower. Which person will see a rainbow?
A)person A
B)person B
Q4) Sketch a rainbow. Show the correct positions of the primary and secondary bow and the proper order of colours in each. Where is the sun in your picture?
Q5) Why does adding particles to the atmosphere affect visibility?
Q6) Why do distant mountains appear blue?
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