1. Born on May 27, 1855, Francis ____ was an Irish hydrographer (studies water bodies). He became interested in making accurate charts for sailors after he was shipwrecked at the age of 15 due to a faulty nautical chart. During his many travels around the globe he carefully noted down weather measurements in his journal using codes he borrowed from musical notations. This was developed into a scale for measuring what entity and what is its name?
2. Meteorology means ‘the study of things in the air’ in Greek and was the title of a book written by legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle in 350 BC. It is believed to be the first ever treatise on weather phenomena. In it, the author describes something he had discovered to be a continuous process and not three separate events as earlier thought. What milestone discovery did Aristotle make?
3. Although we think of weather as something that happens in the atmosphere, most of it technically happens only in the lowest layer. This is because it contains 99% of all the mass of water. This layer is about 17km thick and the lowest part is known as the ‘planetary boundary layer’, where the rotation of the Earth influences air flow. This is what gives the name to the layer from the Greek word for ‘turn, turn toward’. What is the layer?
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4. These phenomena are some of the most devastating weather systems known. Every year they cause billions of dollars of damage wherever they occur. And they are also known by different names because of where they occur. When they happen around North America they are known as X, when they happen in the Northwest Pacific they are known as Y (Urdu etymology), and when in the Indian Ocean they are known as Z (meaning, coil of a snake as it appears). What are X, Y and Z?
5. Gryllidae are insects, which being cold-blooded have body functions that depend on the temperature of the surroundings. The Arrhenius’ equation describes the exact nature of this relationship. The males of these insects are known as ‘singers’ because of the chirping noise they make. If you count the number of chirps they make in 15 seconds and add ‘37’ to it, you will get an approximation of the temperature in Fahrenheit. What insects are these whose name is more popular in India under a different context?
6. UFOs or Unidentified Flying Objects are reports of strange objects that people see in the air and usually think they are alien spacecraft. More often than not these are examples of a helium-filled device that is released into the air for meteorological studies. Léon de Bort was one of the first scientists to use such devices. Once seen clearly what are these identified as?
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7. This is a violently rotating column of air which gets its name from the Latin word for thunder. In the U.S. it has a common name because of the vortex that is formed. When formed in the Northern Hemisphere the vortex rotates anti-clockwise and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. They have been known to happen with fire (fire whirl) and water (water spout) as well. What are these known as?
8. These things are usually depicted in a particular shape which also gives it a name by which it is referenced in many songs. But in reality they are formed as spheres and then are formed into a burger-bun shape due to air pressure and surface tension when falling. The biggest of these are about 4mm in radius and it only feels bigger because of the speed at which they hit you. What are these?
9. Mohamed Nasheed was the President of a country which could become the first one to turn all its citizens into environmental refugees due to climate change. To ensure that they have some place to go to, he started a fund to acquire land in India, Sri Lanka and Australia to re-settle them since nothing else could be done. Which country is this that is on the threshold of becoming uninhabitable?
10. This phrase is often used when something good happens, such as winning the lottery, but it is not true. In reality during one of these events this can happen multiple times in the same place. In fact, given enough time, it is actually inevitable that it will happen again in the same place. What phrase is this which is completely untrue (and hence dangerous advice to someone caught in a storm?)
Answers
1. Beaufort scale used to measure wind speed
2. The water cycle — evaporation, condensation, precipitation
3. Troposphere (Tropos means ‘turn’)
4. X-Hurricane, Y-Typhoon and Z-Cyclone
5. Crickets
6. Weather balloons
7. Tornado or Twister
8. Raindrops (which are not drop shaped!)
9. Maldives
10. ‘Lightning never strikes the same place twice’
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley