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WorldGeographyy003
Chapter 2 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Weather | The Condition of the bottom layer of the Earth's atmosphere in one place over a short period of time. |
Climate | the term used for the weather patterns that an area typically experiences over a long period of time |
Rotation | the spinning motion of the earth, like a top on its axis, as it travels through space |
Revolution | one complete orbit of the earth around the sun. the earth completes one revolution ever 365 1/4 days or one year |
Solstice | either of the two times a year when the sun appears directly overhead at the tropics of cancer and capricorn |
Equinox | either of the two times each year spring and fall when day and night are of nearly equal length everywhere on earth |
Precipitation | all the forms of water that fall to earth from atmosphere including rain and snow |
Front | the boundary between two masses of air that differ in density or temperature |
Continental Climate | the type of climate found in the great central areas of continents in the northern hemisphere: characterized by cold snowy winter and warmer hot weather |
Ecosystem | The interaction of plant life, animal life, and 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 temperate grssland characterized by a great variety of grasses |
Tundra | a dry, treeless plain where temperatures are always cool or cold and only specialized plants can gro |
Permafrost | a layer of soil just below the earths surface that stays permanently frozen |