Science Final
Terms
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- air mass modification
- the exchange of heat or moisture with the surface over which an air mass travels
- global warming
- the rise in global temperatures
- meteorology
- the stody of atmoshperic phenomena
- downburst
- violent downdrafts that are concentrated in a local area
- Maunder minimum
- period of low sunspot activity
- Temperature
- measurement of how rapidly or slowly molecules move around
- front
- narrow region seperating two air masses of different densities
- fujita tornado intensity scale
- ranks tornados according to their path of destruction, wind speed, and duration
- evaporation
- the process of water changing from a liquid to a gas
- sea level
- the level of the oceans' surfaces
- Dew Point
- the temperature to which air must be colled at constant pressure to reach saturation
- supercells
- self sustaining, extremely powerful storms
- seasons
- short term periods of climatic change caused by regular variations in daylight, temperature, and weather patterns
- ceilometer
- measufes heigh of cloud layers and estimates the amount of sky coverd by clouds
- eye
- calm center of the storm
- thermometer
- a device used to measure temperature
- doppler effect
- the change in wave frequency that occurs in energy
- Jet streams
- narrow bands of fast, high altitude, westerly winds
- tide
- periodic rise and fall of sea level
- temperature zone
- lies between 23.5 degrees and 66.6 degrees north and south of the equator
- El Nino
- a warm ocean current that occasionally develops off the western coast of south america
- breakers
- collapsing waves
- Transform Boundary
- a place where two plates slide horizontally past each other
- polar easterlies
- lies between 60 degrees latitude and the poles. similar to the trade windsflow from northeast to the southwest in the N hem(reverse in southern hem)
- water cycle
- the constant movement of water between the atmoshpere and earth's surface
- density current
- cause by differences in the temperature and salinity of ocean water
- polar zones
- located from 66.5 north and south of the equator to the poles
- coalescence
- When cloud droplets collide, they join together and form a larger droplet
- coriolis effect
- moving nparticles such as air are deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemishpere
- surface current
- affect mainly the upper few hundred meters of the ocean, can move up to 100 km per day
- tropical cyclone
- large rotating low pressure storms
- Magnetic reversal
- CHange in earth's magnetic fields
- normal
- standard values for a location
- Paleomagnetism
- the study of magnetic record
- subduction
- one of the two plates is descending beneath the other
- thermosphere
- layer of earths atmoshpere that is located above teh mesopause and contains only a minute portion of the atmospheres mass
- latent heat
- the energy stored in the water vapor and will not be release into the air until condensation occurs
- thermocline
- characterized by rapidly decreasing temperatures with depth
- Barometer
- measure air pressure
- temperature profile
- plots changing water temperatures with depth
- Heat
- the transfer of energy that occurs because of a difference in temperature between substances
- tropics
- north of the equator recieves the most solar radiation becasue of suns rays strike that area from almost directly overhead
- microclimate
- a localized climate that differs from the main regional climate
- radiosonde
- gathering upper level data is a balloon borne package of sensors
- side scan sonar
- a technique that directs sound waves to the seafloor at an angle so that the sides of under water hills and other topographic features can be mapped
- Radiation
- energy transfer through space by visible light, ultraviolet radiation, and other forms of electromagnetic waves
- contenental drift
- propes that earths continetns had once joined as a single land mass
- Salinity
- measure of the amount of dissolved salts in seawater
- heat islands
- prescense of many concrete wherein the climate is warmer than in surrounding rural areas
- tornado
- violent, whirling column of air in contact with the ground
- prevailing westerlies
- flows between 30 and 60 degrees north and south latitude in a circulation patter opposite that of trade winds
- Oceanography
- the study of earths oceans
- High temp
- more molecules or fast molecules
- Temperature inversion
- an increase in temperature with height in an atmospheric layer
- trade winds
- occurs at 30 degrees north and south latitude
- hygrometer
- used to measure relative humidity
- relative humidity
- the ratio of water vapor in a volume of air relative to how much water vapor that volume of air is capable of holding
- air mass
- large body of air that takes on the characteristics of the area over which it forms
- mesosphere
- layere of earths atmosphere above the tropopause
- crest
- the highest point of the wave
- digital forecast
- relies on numerical data
- eyewall
- the strongest windis in a hurricane are usually concentrated in band immediately surrounding the eye
- Theory of Plate Tectonics
- states that earths crust and rigid upper mantle are broken into enormous slabs called plates
- storm surge
- occurs when hurricane force winds driva a mound of ocean water toward coastal areas, where it washes over the land
- frontal thunderstorm
- produced by advancing cold fronts and, more rarely,warm fronts
- Convection
- transfer of energy by the flow of a heated substance
- air mass thunderstorm
- air rose because of unequal heating of earths surface within one air mass
- stability
- the ability of an air mass to resist rising
- greenhouse affect
- caused by the retention of heat by the atmoshpere
- Precipitation
- includes all forms of water, liquid and solid, that fall from clouds
- Condensation
- Occurs when matter changes state from a gas to a liquid
- upwelling
- the upward motion of ocean water
- Pangea
- Supercontent where all landmass connected
- isopleths
- lines that connect points of equal or constant values
- seafloor spreading
- states that new ocean crust is formed at ocean ridges and destroyed at deep sea trenches
- stratoshpere
- layer of earth's atmoshpere that is located above the troppopause and is made up primarily of concentrated ozone
- ice age
- periods of extential glacial coverage
- Orographic lifting
- When wind encounters a mountain and the air has no place to go but up. The effect is the same as with any rising air it expands and cools
- climate
- long term variations in iweather for a particular area
- trough
- the lowest point of the wave
- Anemeter
- used to measure wind speed
- Convergent boundaries
- places where two tectonic plates are moving toward each other
- weather
- the current state of atmosphere
- Condensation Nuclei
- small particals in the atmosphere around which cloud droplets can form
- wave
- rhythmic movement that carries energy through space or matter
- Low Temp
- Fewer molecules slow molecules
- exosphere
- outermost layer of earths atmosphere that is located above the thermosshpere and contains light gases such as helium and hydrogen
- Conduction
- Energy transfer that occurs when molecules collide;takes place only when substances are in contact with each other
- climatology
- the study of earths climate and the factors that affect past, present, and future, climatic changes
- magenometer
- device that can detect small changes in magnetic fields
- Station model
- record of weather data for a particular site at a particular tiem
- Koeppen classification system
- system for climates, uses both temperature and amount of precipitation
- divergent boundaries
- places where two tectonic plates are moving apart
- sea breeze thunderstorm
- local air mass thunderstorms caused in part by extreme temp differences between the air over land and air over water
- humidity
- the amount of water vapor in the air
- Ozone
- A gas, formed by the addition of a third oxygen atom to an oxygen molecule, that exists in a layer in the atmosphere and absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun;the major chem in smog
- analog forecast
- invloves comparing current weather patterns to patterns that look place in the past
- isochron
- a line on a map that connects points that have the same age
- lifted condensation level
- the height at which condensation occurs
- saffir simpson hurricane scale
- classifies hurricanes acording to wind speed, air pressure in the center, and potential for property damage
- Trophosphere
- closest to earths surface, most mass of atmosphere found, weather takes place, air polution collects