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M&M Awesome Atmos.
Chapter 11 Space Earth Sceince- Vocab
Question | Answer |
---|---|
a large body of air covering hundreds or thousands of square kilometers that has a relatively uniform temperature, pressure, and humidity | air mass |
in meterology, a region with relatively uniform temperature and humidity over which air masses form | source region |
an air mass that is warmer than the surface over which it moves | warm air mass |
an air mass that is colder than the surface over which it moves | cold air mass |
a zone of contact between two dissimilar air masses where neither is advancing. it usually results in no change in the weather for several days. | stationary front |
the advancing surface of a warm air mass as it pushes against and over a cooler air mass | warm front |
the advancing surface of a cold air mass as it moves under a warm air mass | cold front |
a line of violent thunderstorms that sometimes accompanies an advancing cold front | squall line |
a front formed when a cool air mass and a rapidly moving cold air mass trap a warm air mass between them | occluded front |
a regional wind system that reverses periodically, alternately bringing wet and dry seasons | monsoon |
the horizontal force exerted on a mass of air that has a higher pressure on one side than on the other | pressure gradient front |
a high-altitude wind that is controlled by the relative influence of the pressure gradient force and the Coriolis effect | geostrophic wind |
a weather system centered on a low-pressure area surrounded by a wind circulation pattern spiraling counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Sourthern Hemisphere. A hurrican in the Southwestern Pacific and Indian Ocean | cyclone |
an area of relatively higher atmospheric pressure. It typically contains a clockwise-rotating wind system in the Northern Hemisphere | anticyclone |
a high-speed meandering wind current, usually flowing from west to east at altitudes of 15 to 25 km (10 to 15 mi). Its speed often exceeds 400 km /h (250 mi/h) | jet stream |
a breeze that blows onshore from the ocean, usually during the daytime | sea breeze |
a breeze that blows from shore to sea, usually at night | land breeze |
a breeze that blows up the mountainside from the valley when air high on the mountain heats and rises. Usually occurs late in the day | valley breeze |
a breeze that flows down the mountain into the valley at night that is caused by cooling air at higher elevations | mountain breeze |
consistent winds extending from the subtropical highs toward the equator, turned by the Coriolis effect into easterlies. They were formerly used by sailing ships to go from Europe to North and South America | trade winds |
winds blowing consistently from southwest to northeast between 30 degrees and 60 degrees north and south latitudes | prevailing westerlies |
winds blowing consistently from northeast | polar easterlies |
a permanent low pressure belt of usually windless air near the equator caused by the vertical rising of warm air | doldrums |
bands of nearly permanent high pressure at approx 30 deg north or south latitude caused by descending cold air | horse latitudes |
the prevailing low-pressure belt at approx 60 deg north or south latitude | subpolar low |
an area of high atmospheric pressure at either pole caused by subsiding cold air | polar high |
a rain storm that includes lightning and thunder | thunderstorms |
a towering cumulonimbus that builds rapidly to high altitudes and usually brings heavy rain, lightening, thunder and sometimes hail | thunderhead |
an electrical discharge that occurs either between clouds or between a cloud and the ground | lightening |
prior to a lightning stroke, a zigzag column of highly ionized air that establishes the channel for subsequent lightning discharges and return stroke | stepped leader |
a lightning discharge from the ground up to a cloud along the ionized path taken by the original strike from the cloud to the ground | return stroke |
lightening consisting of branches connected to the main stroke | forked lightening |
a violent, narrow, rotating, funnel-shaped local windstorm containing the highest wind speeds measured, extending down from a cumulonimbus cloud | tornado |
a tornado that occurs at sea | waterspout |
in the Atlantic and eastern pacific oceans, a strong, large-area cyclonic storm with winds speeds exceeding 117km/h | hurricane |
what hurricanes are called in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions | typhoon |
in general, a weather system centered on a low-pressure area surrounded by a wind circulation pattern | cyclone (hurricane) |
the circular center of low pressure in a hurricane that is characterized by few clouds, relatively calm, and vertical air movement | eye |
the larger-than-normal surface waves that proceed outward from a slow-moving hurricane | storm swell |
high winds pile water up against the land, often causing catastrophic flooding and and erosion | storm surge |
a metal rod attached to the highest point of a building that prevents damage to the building from a lightning stike by conducting the electrical dicharge through cables to the ground | lightning rod |