| Term | Definition |
|---|
| hydrologic cycle | Global circulation of H2O from the environment to living organisms and back to the environment |
| transpiration | the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants |
| runoff | movement of water from land to bodies of water such as lakes and eventually to the ocean |
| watershed | area of land drained by a runoff |
| Fixed Nitrogen | nitrogen that's chemically combined with hydrogen, oxygen or carbon |
| photochemical smog | a mixture of air pollutants caused by nitrogen oxides. These pollutants hurt plant tissues and irritate humans' eyes and throats |
| nitrogen oxides | cause photochemical smog |
| Aerosols | tiny particles of air pollution made up chiefly of sulfates, nitrates, carbon and mineral dusts. Produced from burning of fossil fuel and forests. These particles further the scattering and absorbtion of sunlight and create brighter clouds, resulting in a warmer atmosphere. |
| albedo | The proportional reflectance of solar energy from Earth's surface, expressed as a percentage. |
| troposphere | Atmosphere layer nearest the Earth's surface |
| stratosphere | atmosphere layer above troposhere. There is a steady wind here, but no turbulence |
| mesosphere | directly above stratosphere. Contains the atmosphere's lowest temperature (as low as -138 degrees Celsius) |
| thermosphere | Part of atmosphere that absorbs X-rays and short-wave ultraviolet radiation. Very hot. The aurora is caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with oxygen and nitrogen molecules in this layer of the atmosphere. |
| Exosphere | Outer layer of atmosphere |
| winds | "horizontal movements" in the atmosphere caused by differences in atmospheric pressure and also the Earth's rotation |
| Coriolis Effect | The influence of the Earth's rotation, which tends to turn fluids (air and water) toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. |
| Prevailing winds | Major surface winds that blow more or less continually. Includes polar easterlies, westerlies, and trade winds |
| polar easterlies | one of three kinds of prevailing winds, these winds come from the northeast (near the North Pole) and the southeast, near the South Pole |
| Westerlies | These prevailing winds come from the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere and northwest in the Southern Hemisphere |
| Trade winds | Tropical winds coming from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. These are one of the three kinds of prevailing winds |
| gyres | Large, circular ocean current systems that often encompass an entire ocean basin |
| Ocean Conveyor Belt | The circulation of shallow and deep currents |
| El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) | A cycling of alternating warming and cooling of surface waters of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean that affects both ocian and atmospheric circulation patterns. Every 3 to 7 years, the trade winds weaken, causing there to be a wider spread of warm waters for a few years. |
| upwelling | This is what it is called when deeper ocean water comes to the surface |
| La Nina | The eastern Pacific Ocean's surface water temperature becomes unusually cool and westbound trade winds get unusually strong. This event often occurs after El Nino |
| climate | the average weather conditions that occur in an area over a period of years |
| Wladimir Koppen | German botanist & climatologist. Developed the most widely used climate-classifying system |
| Rain Shadow | dry conditions, often on a regional scale, that occur on the side of a mountain barrier towards which the wind blows; the passage of moist air across the mountains removes most of the moisture |
| Tropical Cyclones | "giant, rotating tropical storms" winds are 119+ km/hr. Aka hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones |
| Plate Tectonics | the study of the dynamics of Earth's lithosphere and the movement of its seven plates |
| Asthenosphere | the region of the mantle of the lithosphere where rocks become hot and soft |
| lithosphere | Earth's rigid outer rock layer |
| seismic waves | vibrations that spread through the lithosphere's rocks rapidly in all directions |
| focus | site where an earthquake begins |
| epicenter | spot on Earth's surface, directly above an earthquake's focus |
| Charles Richter | The seismologist who invented the Richter scale in 1935 |
| Richter Scale | A way to measure the magnitude of energy released by an earthquake. Invented by Charles Richter in 1935. |
| tsunami | giant sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake |
| landslide | avalanche of rock, soil & debris that slides down a mountain. Often the result of an earthquake |
| hot spot | 1. A rising plume of magma that flows from deep within the Earth's surface, occuring at a weak point in a tectonic plate rather than where two tectonic plates meet 2. An area of great species diversity that is at risk of destruction by human activities |
| Nitrogen fixation | first stage of Nitrogen cycle. gaseous nitrogen is converted to ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4) by certain kinds of bacteria, such as cyanobacteria |
| Nitrification | second step of nitrogen cycle. ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4) is converted to nitrate by bacteria in the soil. |
| Assimilation | Third step in Nitrogen Cycle. Nitrate (NO3), ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4) is absorbed by plant roots, which incorporate the nitrogen into plant proteins and nucleic acids. Animals then eat the plants and take in the nitrogen compounds (amino acids) and convert them to animal compounds (proteins) |
| Ammonification | Fourth step in the Nitrogen Cycle. Biological nitrogen compounts change into ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4). Animals will often form waste containing nitrogen, called "urea" or "uric acid." |
| Denitrification | The fifth and last step of the Nitrogen Cycle. Nitrate (NO3) is reduced to gaseous nitrogen |
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