PSC 504 THEATMOSPHERE

WORKSHEET 1

Unit 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE ATMOSPHERE

Answer the following questions:

1. Refer to the graph in Figure 1–7. Which year had the greatest number of billion-
dollar weather disasters? How many events occurred that year? In which year
was the damage amount greatest?
 2. Answer the following questions by examining the graph in Figure 1–25:

a. In which one of the three regions (tropics, middle latitudes, poles) is the
surface temperature lowest?
b. In which region is the tropopause encountered at the lowest altitude? The
highest? What are the altitudes and temperatures of the tropopause in those regions?
3. What are CFCs and what is their connection to the ozone depletion?

4. The accompanying photo provides an example of interactions among different

parts of the Earth system. It is a view of a mudflow that was triggered by
extraordinary rains. Which of Earth’s four “spheres” were involved in this natural
disaster that buried a small town on the Philippine island of Leyte? Describe how
each contributed to the mudflow.