Weather & Climate: Review
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Created by:
lilah4ever on January 13, 2011
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Description:
Science: Mr. Bettoncourt - Unit: Weather and Climate - Test: 1.14.11 for A/B/C/D.
*NOTE: I added a few extra terms, just incase we need to know them.
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57 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Earth's atmosphere | the layer of gases that surrounds our planet |
| thermometer | an instrument used to measure temperature, consisting of a thin, glass tube with a bulb on one end that contains a liquid (usually mercury or alcohol) |
| barometer | an instrument that is used to measure changes in air pressure (2 kinds) |
| troposphere | where Earth's weather occurs (0 to 12 km) |
| stratosphere | the ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet radiation (12 to 50 km) |
| mesosphere | -90 degrees C, meteoroids burn up and produce meteor trails (50 to 80 km) |
| thermosphere | 1,800 degrees C, very thin air and has no definite outer limit (above 80 km) |
| exosphere | the outer layer of the atmosphere, satellites are located here |
| ionosphere | the aurora borealis occurs here (80 to 550 km) |
| ozone layer | absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere |
| greenhouse effect | the process by which gases in the atmosphere that trap heat |
| temperature | the average amount of energy of motion in the molecules of a substance |
| thermal energy | the total amount of energy of motion in the molecules of a substance |
| radiation | the direct transfer of energy by electromagnetic waves (heat traveling to your hands from a campfire) |
| convection | the transfer of heat by movement of a fluid (drying boots over a hot air vent even though the furnace is in another room) |
| conduction | the direct transfer of heat from one substance to another substance that it is touching (hot sand under cold feet) |
| wind | the horizontal movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of lower pressure |
| local winds | winds that blow over short distance |
| global winds | winds that blow steadily from specific directions over long distances |
| sea breeze | the flow of air from an ocean or lake to land |
| land breeze | the flow of air from land to a body of water |
| humidity | a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air |
| relative humidity | percentage of water vapor that is actually in the air compared to the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold at a particular temperature |
| how do clouds form | when water vapor in the air condenses to form liquid water or ice crystals |
| cumulonimbus clouds | form tornadoes and hurricanes when warm air is forced upward at a cold front |
| cirrus clouds | clouds that form at above about 6 kilometers where temperatures are very low and are therefore made of ice crystals |
| precipitation | any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface |
| evaporation | the process by which water molecules in liquid water escape into the air as water vapor |
| condensation | the process by which molecules of water vapor in the air become liquid water |
| heating of the troposphere | convection currents happen when cold air is more dense than warm air |
| anemometer | an instrument used to measure wind speed |
| Coriolis effect | the way Earth's rotation makes winds in the Northern Hemisphere curve to the right and winds in the Southern Hemisphere curve to the left |
| polar air mass | cold air mass with low air pressure |
| tropical air mass | warm air mass with high air pressure |
| maritime air mass | air mass that forms over the oceans |
| continental air mass | air mass that forms over the continents |
| weather associated with low pressure | stormy and cloudy |
| cold front | when a rapidly moving cold air mass runs into a slowly moving warm air mass, and the denser colder air slides under the lighter warmer air |
| warm front | when a rapidly moving warm air mass collides with a slowly moving cold air mass, and the lighter warmer air moves over the denser colder air |
| hurricane | a tropical cyclone that has winds of 119 kilometers per hour or higher |
| tornado | a rapidly whirling, funnel-shaped cloud that reaches down from a storm cloud to touch Earth's surface |
| cyclone | a swirling center of low air pressure where winds spiral inwards, counterclockwise |
| meteorologist | a scientist that studies the causes of weather and tries to predict it |
| isobars | lines joining places on the map that have the same air pressure |
| isotherms | lines joining places on the map that have the same temperature |
| El Niño | an event that occurs every two to seven years in the Pacific Ocean, during which winds shift and push warm surface water toward the coast of South America, and that can cause dramatic climate changes |
| density | the amount of mass in a given volume of air |
| two factors that determine weather | precipitation and prevailing winds |
| winter | the south end of Earth's axis is tilted toward the sun, and the Southern Hemisphere receives more energy from the sun - it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere |
| fall | neither end of Earth's axis is tilted toward the sun, so both hemispheres receive the same amount of energy |
| spring | neither end of Earth's axis is tilted toward the sun, so both hemispheres receive the same amount of energy |
| summer | the north end of Earth's axis is tilted toward the sun, and the Northern Hemisphere receives more energy from the sun - it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere |
| seasons | the results of Earth's tilted axis - they change as the amount of energy each hemisphere receives from the sun changes |
| four factors that determine climate | latitude, altitude, distance from bodies of water, and ocean currents |
| Global warming | a gradual increase in the temperature of Earth's atmosphere |
| What are causes for different temperatures in different areas? | Latitude, altitude, distance from bodies of water and ocean currents affect the different temperature in different climates, and prevailing winds and the presence of mountains affect the precipitation in different climates. |
| Explain winds. | Winds are the horizontal movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of lower pressure. There are two types of winds: local winds (blow over a small area) and global winds (blow over a larger area). |
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