| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Melting | Substance solid transforms to liquid. A cooling process |
| Cooling process | Is melting a heating or cooling process? |
| Freezing | liquid transforms to solid. A heating process. |
| Heating process | Is freezing a heating or cooling process? |
| Evaporation | liquid transforms to vapour. A cooling process |
| Condensation | Vapour transforms to liquid. A heating process. |
| Sublimation | A solid transforms to a gas, skipping the liquid phase. A cooling process. |
| Deposition | A gas transforms to a solid. A heating process. |
| Humidity | the amount of water vapor in air. |
| Higher | When temperature is higher, the amount of water vapor air can hold is _______ |
| Lower | When temperature is lower, the amount of water vapor air can hold is _______. |
| Unsaturated | When a given parcel of air is holding less water than it can actually hold it is___________. |
| Saturated | When a given parcel of air is holding all the water vapor it can hold, it is _________. |
| Mixing ratio | specific humidity |
| Specific humidity | Ratio of the amount of water vapour in air by weight, compared to the mass of air it is in. Not affected by temperature. |
| Absolute humidity | Ratio of the amount of water vapour in air by volume, compared to the volume of air it is in. Not affected by temperature. |
| Relative humidity | Ratio of the amount of water vapour in air compared to the amount needed to saturate the air at the same temperature. Given as a percentage. Is strongly affected by temperature. |
| Relative humidity | how much water the air is holding relative to the amount is can potentially hold, its capacity. Is strongly affected by temperature. |
| Increases | What happens to relative humidity when temperature increases? |
| Decreases | What happens to the capacity of air to hold water vapour when temperature decreases? |
| Increases | What happens to relative humidity when the water vapour content of the air stays the same, but the temperature drops? |
| Dew point | The temperature that a parcel of unsaturated air would have to fall to, in order to become saturated. Given as a temperature. |
| Hygrometer | A device to measure humidity |
| Sling psychrometer | a type of hygrometer. |
| Adiabatic temperature change | When a gas changes temperature because of a pressure change (either expansion or compression). |
| Orographic lifting | When air is forced up and over mountains |
| Frontal wedging | weather process where a body of cold air meets hot air, and the hot air is forced up and over the cold air, it expands, cools, condensation occurs and clouds form. |
| Convective lifting | weather process where the sun heats the land surface, which heats the adjacent air, and then the heated air rises. |
| Thermal | another name for convective lifting. |
| Convergence | weather process where wind (with air of similar temperatures) from two directions meet and the only way for the air to go is up. |
| Cirrus | Cloud that is high level and wispy or light and patchy in form, made of ice crystals and is always up high. |
| Cumulus | Form of cloud that is puff balls, often with a flat base (but can lose flat base due to air circulation). |
| Stratus | Form of cloud in sheets or layers, that may cover the whole sky, and doesn't have separate clouds. |
| Cirrocumulus | Form of cloud that is high in level and puff ball in form. |
| Cirrocumulus | High level puffy ball clouds. |
| Cirrostratus | high level, very light layers of cloud. |
| Alto | general term for clouds that are at mid level |
| Altocumulus | mid-level puffball clouds. |
| Altocumulus | clouds that are mid-level, and bigger and denser than cirrocumulus. |
| Altostratus | clouds at mid-level that form a light sheet that lets the sun or moon show as a bright spot. |
| stratus | general term for clouds that are low level |
| stratus | low level layers of cloud that often cover much of the sky |
| stratocumulus | clouds that are low-level layers of cumulus clouds, that begin to touch each other and fuse. |
| Nimbostratus | clouds that are low-level, uniform layer, usually very dark, that bring strong precipitation. |
| Nimbus | general term for clouds that means rainy in Latin. |
| Cumulonimbus | Clouds that are the product of growth of cumulus which can form huge thunderheads. |
| Fog | a cloud that forms at or near the ground. |
| Mist | precipitation that reaches the surface in liquid drops of the smallest size. 0.005-0.05mm diameter. |
| Drizzle | precipitation that reaches the surface in liquid form, drops 0.05-0.5mm diameter. |
| Rain | precipitation that reaches the surface in liquid form, drops 0.5-5mm diameter. |
| Snow | precipitation that reaches the surface in form of ice crystals or aggregates of crystals |
| Sleet | precipitation that reaches the surface in form of small ice particles. Often falls as rain but then passes through a cold layer that freezes the drops. |
| Hail | precipitation that reaches the surface in form of larger pieces of ice. Formed in cumulonimbus clouds in updrafts of up to 100mph. |
| Glaze | forms when rain freezes as it hits a freezing surface, forming a thin coating of ice. Eg black ice. |
| Rime | deposit of ice crystals that forms directly on cold surfaces from fog. |
| Graupel | Soft hail, which forms when rime coats snowflakes on their way down. |
| Bergeron Process | formation of precipitation, where water condenses, and freezes, then falls frozen or melted as rain. |
| Collision-coalescence process | formation of precipitation, where tiny droplets accumulate, fall, and collide with other small droplets until rain drops form and fall. |
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