| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Weather | a description of physical conditions of the atmosphere |
| Climate | a description of the long term weather pattern in a particular area |
| Troposphere | Ranges in depth from 18 KM over the equator to 8.0 KM over the poles, All weather occurs here, Composition is relatively uniform, Air temperature drops rapidly with increasing altitude |
| Tropopause | transition boundary that limits mixing between the troposphere and upper zones |
| Stratosphere | Extends from troposphere to about 50 KM, Air temperature is stable or increase with altitude, Has almost no water vapor and ozone is 1000x more than in the troposphere, Relatively calm |
| Mesophere | middle layer |
| Thermosphere | beings at 80 KM, ionized gases and high temperatures, aurora burealis (northern lights) |
| Coriolis Effect | As air warms at the equator, rises, and moves northward, it sinks and rises in several intermediate bands, forming circulation cells |
| Jet Streams | large scale upper air flows |
| Monsoons | seasonal reversal of wind patterns caused by differential heating and cooling rates of oceans and continents |
| Cold Front | boundary formed when cooler air displaces warmer air |
| Warm Front | boundary formed when warm air displaces cooler air |
| Tornadoes | swirling funnel clouds |
| Spinning | rolling vortex tubes |
| Downbursts | disorganized supercells |
| Milankovitch Cycles | periodic shifts in earth's orbits and tilt, Change distribution and intensity of sunlight reaching the earth, (Ice cores show drastic changes may have occurred over short periods of time (decades) |
| Pacific decadal oscillation | very large pool of warm water moving back and forth across the North Pacific every 30 years |
| El Nino | the northern jet stream pulls moist air from the Pacific over the U.S. |
| La Nina | hot dry weather is often present |
| Carbon Dioxide | Fossil fuel burning, Atmospheric levels increasing steadily |
| Methane | ruminants, coal mines, Absorbs more infrared than carbon dioxide |
| Chlorofluorocarboons | CFCs, refrigerants, Declined in recent years |
| Nitrous Oxide | burning organic material |
Combine with other sets
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