geography ch.3
Terms
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- humid subtropical
- found on the eastern side of continents where there are warm ocean currents
- monsoon
- a wind system in which winds completly reverse directions and cause seasons of wet and dry
- marine west coast
- found on the west coasts of conitnents in upper middle latitudes
- prevailing
- winds that blow from the same direction most of the time.
- gulf stream
- warm ocean current that moves warm tropical water northward along eastern North America
- typhoons
- powerful rotating storms in the western pacific.
- permafrost
- soil that remains frozen year-round
- savanna
- area of tropical grassland
- climate
- the weather conditions in a geographic area over a long period of time.
- coniferous
- trees that remain green all year long
- rain shadow
- the drier, leeward side of a mt.
- semiarid
- transition zone b/w arid climate and more humid climates
- greenhouse effect
- earth's atmosphere that traps heat in this process.
- temperature
- the measurement of heat
- leeward
- mountain side facing away from the wind and drier.
- ecosystem
- a community of living and nonliving organisms.
- arid
- centered about 30 degrees north & south of the equator, dry
- front
- the meeting of 2 air masses of widely diff. temp. of moisture levels.
- decidous
- trees that lose their leaves
- humidity
- the amount of water vapor in the air.
- tropical humid
- found in areas close to the equator
- highland
- can have varying climated because of changes in elevation
- mediteranean
- found along coastal areas of southern europe and along the west coast of continents w/ cool ocean currents.
- global warming
- the increasing temp. of earth over the last few decades.
- tundra
- produces permafrost
- subarctic
- located generally above 50 degrees north latitude
- tropical wet and dry
- sometimes called the tropical savanna climate
- windward
- mounainside facing the wind that is wetter
- cyclone
- and center of low pressure
- ice cap
- found in earth's polar region
- humid continental
- has most changeable weather conditions