click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Definitions
Ch. 2 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
1.Weather | The condition of the bottom layer of the earths atomosphere in one place over a short period of time. |
2.Climate | The term used for the weather patterns that an area typically experiences over a long period of time. |
3.Rotation | The spinning motion of the earth, like a toop on its axis, as it travels through space. |
4.Revolution | One complete orbit of the eaarth around the sun. The earth completes on revolution every 365 1/4 days, or one year. |
5.Solstice | Either of the two times a year when the sun appears directly overhead at the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. |
6.Equinox | Either of the two times each year (spring and fall) when day and night are of nearly equal length everywhere on earth. |
7.Precipitation | All the forms of water that fall to earth from the atomsphere, including rain and snow. |
8.Front | The boundry between two masses of air that differ in density or tempeture. |
9.Continental Climate | The type of climate found in the great central areas of continents in Northern Hemishere; characterized by cold, snowy, winters and warm or hot summers. |
10.ecosystem | The interaction of plant life, animal life, and the physical enviorment in which they live. |
11.biome | The term used to describe in a major type of ecosystem that can be found in various regions throughout the world. |
12.dediduous | Leaf-shedding; a type of tree that sheds its leaves during one season. |
13.coniferous | Cone-bearing; a type of tree able to survive long, cold winters, with long, thin needles rather than leaves. |
14.chaparral | A type of natural vegetation that is adapted to Mediterranean climates; small evergreen trees and low bushes, or scrub. |
15.savanna | A tropical grassland with scattered trees, located in the warm lands near the equator |
16.herbivore | A plant-eating animal. |
17.carnivore | A meat-eating animal. |
18.prairie | A temperate grassland characterized by a great variety of grasses. |
19.tundra | A dry, treeless plain where temperatures are always cool or cold and only specialized plants can grow. |
20.permafrost | A layer of soil just below the earth's surface that stays permanently frozen. |