click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Geography 83
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 motion of the earth, like a top on its 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.Solistice | 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 a 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 |
10.Ecosystem | The interaction of plant life, animal life, and the physical environment in which they live |
11.Biome | The term used to describe a major type of ecosystem that can be found in various regions throughout the world |
12.Deciduous | 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.Prarie | 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 |