click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
World Geography P.5
Chapter 2 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
1. Weather | The condition of the bottom layer of the earth's atmosphere 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 of motion of the earth, like a top on the axis, as it travels through space. |
4. Revolution | One complete orbit of the earth around the sun. The earth completes one 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 atmosphere, including rain and snow. |
8. Front | The boundary between two masses of air that differ in density or temperature. |
9. Continental Climate | The type of climate found in the great central areas of continents in the Northern Hemisphere; characterized by cold,snowy, winters and warm or hot summers. |
Ecosystem | The interaction of plant life, animal life, and the physical environment in which they live. |
Biome | The term used to describe a major type of ecosystem that can be found in various regions throughout the world. |
Deciduous | Leaf-shedding; a type of tree that sheds its leaves during one season. |
Coniferous | cone-bearing; a type of tree able to survive long, cold winters, with long, thin needles rather than leaves. |
Chaparral | A type of natural vegetation that is adapted to Mediterranean climates; small evergreen trees and low bushes, or scrub. |
Savanna | A tropical grassland with scattered trees, located in the warm lands near the Equator. |
Herbivore | A plant-eating animal. |
Carnivore | A meat-eating animal. |
Prairie | A temperature grassland characterized by a great variety of grasses. |
Tundra | A dry, treeless plain where temperatures are always cool or cold and only specialized plants can grow. |
Permafrost | A layer of soil just below the earth's surface that stays permanently frozen. |