1. On what starts as a sunny day in the Rocky mountains, you notice that small clouds form above the ridges by mid-morning, and by early afternoon these clouds are much taller and threaten rain. Describe the development of the clouds in terms of energy transfer mechanisms.

2. At the scale of the Earth and it's atmosphere, what are the main components in the Earth's Energy Balance?  Hint: Start by considering the energy balance at the top of the atmosphere in (i) the tropics, (ii) the polar regions, and (iii) in the global average".

3. Why do we have seasons?

4. Do you expect the seasonal cycle in the northern hemisphere to be smaller/the same/larger than that in the southern hemisphere? Explain.

5. What causes the wind to blow?  Describe the most important forces acting on moving air:
a) near the Earth's surface
b) in the middle troposphere (near the 500mb pressure level).

6. What is the jet stream? Where is it? Why is it there? Describe the force balance that maintains this jet (draw a picture).

7. In the midlatitudes, storms propagate from west to east around the globe.  These storms are most intense and frequent in the wintertime, passing any single location every few days or so.

If we could temporarily suppress these storms, would the tropical/polar temperature change? If not, why not. If so, how and why?

If you expect the temperatures to change, how would the storminess be affected?

8.  Sketch a satellite view (a side view from space) of the main global wind systems you'd expect to find on a planet that's just like earth in every way, yet it rotates in the opposite direction.

9. Your friend, who has never been on a wind-surfer, takes a summer holiday to Coco Beach Florida to learn how to windsurf.  Would you recommend early morning or mid-afternoon practice times (assuming you want to see your friend again)? Explain why.

10. List the factors that make the climate of Miami, Florida, distinct from the climate of Denver, Colorado.

11.  Draw a sketch of a coastal upwelling system in the Northern Hemisphere.

12. Along the equator in the Pacific Ocean, the sea surface temperature is lower (colder water) in the eastern side of the Ocean than in the western side. Why?

If the Earth were rotating in the opposite direction, what would the temperature along the equator look like? Explain?

13. Meteorologists sometimes claim that El Nino-Southern Oscillation events (El Nino and La Nina) are caused by changes in ocean temperatures. Oceanographers sometimes claim that ENSO events are caused by changes in tropical winds.  Reconcile this apparent contradiction in viewpoints.

14. An island archipelago (like Hawaii) springs up on the equator to form a north-to-south wall, about halfway between Indonesia and the Date Line.  Will this affect the duration or frequency of El Nino/ENSO events? Explain.

15. What is the TOGA program? Why do climate scientists make a big deal out of it?

16.  Very briefly, describe the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and its impacts on Northwest climate in the second half of the 20th century.

17. What are the main climatological wind/pressure systems over the North Pacific in the warm (April-September) and cool (October-March) seasons?  What's the signicance of these pressure/wind systems for coastal marine ecosystems?

18.  Why can we predict changes in the ENSO cycle as much as one year in advance, while we know that weather predictions will never be accurate beyond 14 days into the future?

19. How can ENSO events impact the coastal ocean off the west coast of North America?  Describe the physical environmental changes that take place off the coast of Washington State during an El Nino year, and how those changes tend to impact coastal marine ecosystems.

20. Changnon (1999), citing the USA TODAY, states there was a 30% drop in tourism in the winter of 1997-98 in Florida and California due to El Nino.  Describe the data you require, and the statistical tools that you would employ, if you wanted to make this statement AND make sure it was true.

21. In a statistical sense, what sort of events are likely to cause significant "climate impacts"?  Based on your answer, would you expect more or less "climate impacts" in a year with a relatively large or small standard deviation in daily maximum temperature? Explain your answer.