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Geography 345
Ch.2 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Weather | The condition of the bottom layer of the earths atmosphere in one place over a short period of time |
Climate | The term used for the weather patterns that an area typically experiences over 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 every 365 1/2 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 a year (springs and fall) when day and night are nearby equal length everywhere on earth |
Precipitation | All the forms of water that fall to earth from the atmosphere, including rain and snow |
Front | The boundary between two masses of air that differ in density or temperature |
Continental Climate | The type of 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 shrub |
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 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 earths surface that stays permanently frozen |