FOS Weather
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38 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 atmosphere | layer of gases that surrond the earth. |
| atmospheric pressure | force exerted by the weight of a column of air on a surface |
| barometer | instrument used to measure air pressure |
| Low Pressure | Pressure center where the pressure has been measured to be the lowest relative to its surrondings. |
| High Pressure | Pressure center where the pressure has been measured to be the highest relative to its surrondings. |
| troposphere | Layer closest to Earth, where almost all weather occurs; the thinnest layer |
| stratosphere | Layer of the atmosphere that lies between the troposphere and the mesosphere and in which temperature increases as altitude increases; contains the ozone layer |
| Mesosphere | the layer of the atmosphere between the stratosphere and the thermosphere and in which temperature decreases as altitude increases:air moves at high rate of speed. Meteors burn here. |
| thermosphere | outermost layer and hottest layer of the atmosphere |
| ionosphere | Not a true layer of the atmosphere - an extension of the thermosphere that contains regions of charged particles |
| weather | condition of the atmosphere at a particular place at a particular time |
| Meterology | Study of Earth's atmosphere |
| Meterologist | Scientist who studies earth's atmosphere |
| air mass | a huge body of air that has similar temperature, humidity, and air pressure at any given altitude |
| warm front | warm air mass overtakes a cold air mass, usually causing rain, moves slowly |
| cold front | cold, dense air overtakes a warm air mass, forcing warm moist air up, usually resulting in a thunderstorm, moves fast |
| front | boundary formed when two different air masses meet |
| occluded front | a front where a warm air mass is caught between two colder air masses and brings cool temperatures and large amounts of rain and snow |
| stationary front | a boundary between air masses that don't move possibly causing rain for several days |
| maritime tropical air mass | formed over a body of water in an area that is warm; warm, moist unstable air |
| maritime polar air mass | formed over body of water in an area that is cold; cool,moist, unstable air |
| continental tropical air mass | formed over land in an area that is warm; hot, dry, stable air |
| continental polar air mass | formed over land in an area that is cold; cold, dry, stable air |
| water vapor | invisible gas in the air responsible for moisture in the air |
| specific humidity | actual amount of water vapor in the air; depends on temperature of the air. |
| relative humidity | the ratio of the amount of water in the air at a give temperature to the maximum amount it could hold at that temperature |
| dew point | the temperature at which the water vapor in the air becomes saturated and condensation begins |
| relative humidity formula | actual amount of water vapor in the air/ amount of water vapor the air can hold (saturation) X 100 |
| lightning | a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. |
| thunder | a booming or crashing noise caused by air expanding along the path of a bolt of lightning |
| tornado | a rapidly whirling, funnel-shaped cloud that reaches down from a storm cloud to touch earth's surface |
| tornado watch | This is an alert issued when weather conditions are right for a tornado. |
| tornado warning | a tornado has actually been spotted or detected by radar- seek shelter |
| Fujita scale | A scale that tells how severe a tornado is based on wind speed and the damage being caused. |
| hurricane | a storm that forms over warm, tropical ocean waters with winds of at least 119 km/hr |
| eyewall | a ring of thunderstorm clouds that produce heavy rain and very strong winds. It borders the eye of a hurricane. |
| eye of a hurricane | point of lowest pressure within the hurricane with clear weather and calm winds. |
| isobars | lines joining places on the map that have the same air pressure |
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