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catastrophic events
EWG Catastrophic Events
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| after shock | an earthquake wave that follows the main shock on an earthquake |
| air pressure | the weight of air |
| atmosphere | The thin blanket of gases that surrounds the earth |
| cyclone | A massive, rotating storm that forms in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of Australia. It is equivalent to a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, eastern Pacific Ocean, or Caribbean |
| earthquake | Vibrations in the earth caused by the sudden release of energy, usually as a result of the movement of rocks along a fault/ |
| epicenter | The point on the surface of the earth directly above the focus of an earthquake. |
| global winds | Giant convection currents that circulate within the Northern and Sourthen Hemispheres of the earth. |
| Gulf Stream | A warm-water ocean current that flows north alon the East Coast of the United States. |
| hurricane | a massive rotating storm that forms north of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean, eastern Pacific Ocean, or Caribbean Sea when warm air rises over tropical waters. Has wind speeds of 119 kilometers per hour or more. |
| intensity | A measure of the damage done by an earthquake. Determined on the basis of the earthquake's effect on people, structures, and the natural environment. |
| jet stream | A long, narrow current of very strong winds in the upper troposphere. |
| magnitude | A measure of the total amount of energy released at the source of the earthquake. |
| meteorologist | A scientist who studies the earth's atmosphere and who monitors, studies, and forecasts weather |
| natural catastrophic event | A powerful and often dramatic force of nature that changes the earth's surface and atmosphere; includes eartquakes, volcanoes, and intense storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes. |
| plate | A large, mobile segment of the earth's lithosphere |
| plate boundary | A place where pieces of the broken lithosphere meet. Boundary types include sliding, colliding , and spreading. |
| plate tectonics | A theory that the lithosphere is broken into floating segments on the asthenosphere and interactions among these plates are associated with earthquakes and volcanic activity and form mid-ocean ridges, trenches, mountains, and chains of volcanic islands. |
| P-wave | A primary earthquake wave that travels through the body of the earth; named becasue it is the first wave to reach a seismograph station during an earthquake. |
| Ring of FIre | A zone of intense earthquake and volcanic activityy that encircles the Pacific Ocean basin; also called the Circum-Pacific Belt. |
| surface wave | An earthquake wave that travels on or near the surface of the earth. |
| S-Wave | A secondary earthquake wave; named because it travels slower than a primary wave and is the 2nd wave to reach the seismograph station after an earthquake. It travels through the body of the earth as a series of crests and troughs. |
| thunderstorm | A distrubance in the earth's atmosphere that involves lightning, thunder, and sometimes gusty surface winds with heavy rain and hail. |
| tornado | A violent windstorm that spirals around a rotating column of air(the vortex) and moves in a narrow path over land. |
| tsunami | A huge sea wave caused by underwater earthquakes or, more rarely, by volcanoes. |
| typhoon | A massive rotating storm that forms north of the equator in the western Pacific Ocean. It is equivalent to a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, eastern Pacific Ocean, or Caribbean Sea. |
| volcano | A landform, usually cone-shaped, produced by a collection of erupted material around a vent, or opening, in the surgace of the earth and through which gas and eruped material pass. |
| water cycle | The movement and exchange of water between the earth's land, atmosphere, and oceans. |
| waterspout | A rotating column of air over a large body of water |
Created by:
lisa_ross
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