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SALT
SALT - 9th Science - Chp 3 & 4
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Weather | the state of the earths atmosphere at a given time and place |
| Climate | the year-round weather typical of a certain place |
| Meteorology | the study of the atmosphere or weather |
| Meteorologist | a scientist who studies the weather |
| Evaporation | the process by which a molecule of a liquid becomes a gas |
| Heat of vaporization | the heat required to change a liquid into a gas without changing its temperature |
| Condensation | the process by which a gas becomes a liquid |
| Heat of condensation | the heat released when a gas changes into a liquid |
| Saturated | describing water that cannot hold any more water vapor |
| Dew | droplets of water on grass and soil formed from the condensation of water vapor |
| Dew point | the temperature at which water vapor in the air begins to condense |
| Frost | a light feathery deposit of ice crystals on exposed surfaces, such as grass or soil, resulting from the sublimation of super cooled water vapor in the air |
| Frost point | the temperature at which frost begins to form |
| 4 basic cloud families | cirrus, stratus, cumulus, lenticular |
| alto- | prefix meaning high / added to show higher altitude than normal |
| nimbo- / -nimbus | added to show the cloud produces precipitation |
| cumulus | a white, billowy cloud that resembles a pile of cotton puffs in the sky |
| cumulonimbus | thunder clouds/storm clouds |
| altocumulus | cumulus clouds at unusually high altitudes |
| stratus | heavy clouds that form a flat, gray layer not far above the ground |
| nimbostratus | status rain clouds |
| cirrus | a high, thin, delicate cloud consisting of ice crystals |
| lenticular | lens-shaped clouds that generally form over mountains |
| stratocumulus | low, heavy layer of puffy gray clouds |
| cirrostratus | thin translucent clouds spread like a sheet in the upper troposphere |
| cirrocumulus | look like tiny puffs of cotton in the upper troposphere |
| fog | a stratus cloud at the surface of the earth, formed when water vapor condenses in a layer of air near the ground |
| smog | a combination of smoke and fog |
| photochemical smog | a thick brownish haze that results from complex organic molecules being broken down by sunlight into ozone and other noxious chemicals |
| air mass | a large body of air with relativity uniform temperature, humidity, and pressure |
| maritime tropical (mT) air mass | a moist air mass that forms over the warm oceans of the tropics, bringing warm, humid weather |
| continental tropical (cT) air mass | a dry air mass that forms over a desert or tropical land area, bringing hot, dry weather |
| maritime polar (mP) air mass | a moist air mass that forms over the cold oceans of the Arctic regions, bringing cool, wet weather |
| continental polar (cP) air mass | dry air mass that forms over cold land areas such as northern Canada or Alaska, bringing cold, dry weather |
| arctic (A) air mass | an extremely cold and dry air mass that forms over snow- and ice-covered portions of the arctic, bringing bitterly cold weather as it moves |
| fronts | a boundary between two air masses |
| cold front | type of front that occurs when a mass of cold air moves into territory occupied by a mass of warmer air |
| warm front | type of front that occurs when a mass of warm air moves into territory occupied by a cold air mass |
| stationary front | type of front that occurs when two air masses meet and become stationary, neither displacing the other |
| occluded front | type of front that occurs when a cold air mass slides under a warm air mass and lifts it of the ground |
| precipitation | the release of water from the atmosphere in the form of drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, or hail |
| water cycle | the movement of water from the sea into the air and back again to the sea |
| rain | drops of liquid water falling to the earth from clouds |
| drizzle | precipitation that consists of water droplets smaller than 0.5 mm across that drift slowly downward through the air |
| sleet | a type of precipitation consisting of solid ice pellets that form when raindrops fall through a cold layer of air |
| freezing rain | precipitation consisting of supercooled raindrops that freeze almost instantly when they hit the ground |
| hail | a destructive form of precipitation consisting of layered balls of ice that form in strong thunderstorms |
| snow | a form of precipitation consisting of clumps of feathery, six-sided ice crystals |
| snowflakes | a clump of ice crystals that falls as snow |
| blizzard | winter storm that produces a great deal of snow |
| storms | an atmospheric disturbance characterized by strong winds, heavy precipitation, or lightning |
| thunderstorms | a localized storm involving lightning, thunder, turbulent winds, heavy rain, and sometimes hail |
| squall lines | a long line of thunderstorms along a cold front |
| updraft | a current of rising air in a thunderstorm |
| downbursts | a concentrated blast of cool wind, formed from a localized downdraft in a thunderstorm, that may blow downward at 130 mph or more; spreads out in strong gusts when it reaches the ground |
| cell | a single updraft system in a thunderstorm |
| supercell | a fierce, single updraft thunderstorm that may spread 5 to 10 miles in diameter, tower up to 65,000 feet in the air, and spawn microbursts, hail and one tornado after another; the most powerful type of thunderstorm |
| lightning | an abrupt discharge of electricity through the air |
| stepped leader | in a lightning bolt, the barely visible stream of electrons that precedes the return stroke |
| return stroke | the visible stage of a lightning bolt, in which a large electric current begins to flow |
| thunder | a shock wave produced when the air in the vicinity of a lightning bolt expands explosively due to the heat |
| superbolt | a rare form of positive cloud-to-ground lightning that often strikes a considerable distance from the cloud base; the most powerful type of lightning |
| tornado | a narrow funnel of powerful, rapidly whirling winds, usually created by a severe thunderstorm |
| waterspout | a slightly weaker form of tornado that forms over water |
| dust devil | a small whirlwind formed by localized temperature differences, capable of stirring up dust and light debris |
| hurricane development | tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, hurricane |
| tropical disturbance | the earliest stage of a hurricane, having winds of less than 23 mph |
| tropical depression | a rotating storm, formed by tropical disturbance, with sustained winds between 23 and 39 mph |
| tropical storm | a rotating storm, formed by tropical depression, with sustained winds between 39 and 74 mph |
| hurricane | a giant whirling storm accompanied by destructive winds of 74 to 200 mph, torrential rain, and high waves and tides; also called tropical cyclones |
| eye | in meteorology, the center of a hurricane, consisting of a region of very low pressure a few miles wide about which the storm rotates, in which weather is clear and winds are calm |
| eye wall | in meteorology, the cylinder of thick whirling clouds and rain that surround the eye of a hurricane |
| rain bands | long lines of thunderstorms in a hurricane that slowly spiral inward as the hurricane rotates |
| storm surge | elevated water levels produced by a hurricane |
| forecast | in meteorology, a prediction of changes in weather |
| thermometer | an instrument used to measure temperature |
| barometer | an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure |
| relative humidity | a percentage of the amount of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount it could hold under the same conditions |
| hygrometer | an instrument used to measure relative humidity |
| wind vane | a simple meteorological device that points in the direction of the wind |
| anemometer | an instrument used to measure wind speeds near the earth’s surface |
| knots | speed measured in water equal to 1 1/7 mph |
| Beaufort scale | a scale of wind force which estimates the speed of the wind by analyzing its effect on objects in its path |
| rain gauge | meteorological instrument used to measure rainfall |
| radar | a device that uses radio waves to direct objects to measure their distance |
| oceanography | the study of the earth’s oceans, seas, and their basins |
| sodium chloride (table salt) | the most common substance dissolved in the sea |
| salinity | the measure of the quantity of dissolved solids in seawater |
| thermocline | the boundary in the ocean where cold, deep ocean water meets the sun-warmed water nearer the surface |
| glacier | thick sheet of ice on land that slowly flows under its own weight |
| icebergs | – huge chunks of floating glacial ice |
| ice shelf | the outer edge of a glacier, floating over the surface of the ocean |
| Arctic icebergs | tend to be peaked and jagged, resembling floating white mountains |
| Antarctic iceberg | flat-topped and straight-sided because they detach from ice shelves |
| How deeply in the water do icebergs float? | only top 10% is exposed |
| ocean currents | large streams of ocean water that flow as a unit at or below the surface |
| Gulf Stream | well-known ocean current that flows up the coast of North America and then sweeps across the Atlantic toward Europe |
| density current | a subsurface ocean current resulting from differences in density |
| turbidity current | a type of density current formed when seawater mixes with silt or mud and flows down undersea slopes |
| upwelling | a mass of cool, deep water that comes to the surface as a result of a prevailing land breeze that blows surface water away from a coast |
| counter current | flows in the opposite direction of a surface current |
| waves | rhythmic back-and-forth motions of water that transfer energy through the water |
| ocean swells | gentle, rolling waves that appear in the ocean even though the weather is calm |
| breaker | a wave in the process of toppling over as it nears the shore |
| surf | a pounding mass of foaming water that washes up onto a beach after a wave breaks |
| rip currents | dangerous surface currents which carry large volumes of water back to the sea |
| tsunamis | gigantic sea waves formed by earthquakes, volcanic explosions, or undersea landslides |
| tides | regular and predictable movements of ocean water caused primarily by the moon |
| spring tides | produces higher and lower than normal tides, when the moon and sun line up with the earth (during new moon and full moon) |
| neap tides | weaker-than-normal tides produced when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other |
| continental shelf | a sandy, gently sloping underwater plain bordering the coast of a continent |
| continental slope | region where the sea floor slopes steeply downward to about 2000 meters beneath the surface |
| continental rise | thick, gently sloping layer of sediments that border the deep ocean floor |
| abyssal plain | a huge plain of the deep ocean floor |
| seamounts | underwater mountains that rise more than 900m above the sea floor |
| guyot | unusual flat-topped seamounts |
| mid-oceanic ridge | underwater mountain range |
| Mid-Atlantic Ridge | the most widely known underwater mountain chain, extends down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean |
| oceanic deep | an area of the sea exceeding 6000m (19,685 ft) in depth |
| trench | huge muddy valleys that cut through portions of the abyssal plains |
| Challenger Deep | the deepest known point in the sea, located in the Marianas Trench near Guam |
| oceanographic research ship | provides a working platform and mobile research laboratory of oceanographic scientists. |
| oceanic buoys | floating observation station that automatically takes measurements and transmits the data to oceanographers |
| scuba | Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, first called aqualung |
| submersibles | a small research submarine which allows oceanographers to visit regions of the sea too deep for scuba diving |
| sonar | (sound navigation and ranging) a device that used sound waves to detect underwater objects |
| rosette | device consisting of a cluster of insulated bottles that are opened and closed, taking samples of water at predetermined depths |
Created by:
kbtarheelgirl
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