Thermal Inversions

Areas

100

What kind of area distribution has higher surface & air temperature?

Urban

200

What places are likely to experience a thermal inversion than others?

- Valleys and Basins

- Coastal Regions

- Cold, Snow-Covered Regions

- Cities with Industrial Activity/Heavy Traffic

300

How can you generally spot a thermal inversion?

1. mist, fog, dew or a frost have occurred.
2. smoke or dust hangs in the air and moves sideways, just above the surface.

Terms

100

Urban areas tend to have higher surface & air temperature than surrounding suburban and rural areas

Urban Heat Island Effect

200

A natural phenomenon that involves a change in the normal tendency of the air to cool down with altitude  

Thermal Inversion

300

What phenomenon (often associated with heat) carries pollutants up into the atmosphere?

Convection

Effects

100

Give an environmental effect of thermal inversions

Air pollutants trapped closer to earth: Smog, PM, Ozone, SO2, NOx

200

What about the personal health effects of them?

- asthma flare ups → hospitalization, worsened COPD, emphysema

300

Give an economic effect

Tourism revenue going down