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Weather Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Atmosphere | The mixture of gases that surrounds Earth. |
| Air Pressure | The measurement of the force with which particles in the air push on a surface. |
| Troposphere | The lowest layer in the atmosphere where temperature decreases at a constant rate. |
| Stratosphere | The second layer in the atmosphere |
| Ionosphere | The fourth layer in the atmosphere |
| Exosphere | The last layer in the atmosphere |
| Thermosphere | The second to last layer in the atmosphere |
| Ozone Layer | The layer that protects Earth by absorbing large amounts of harmful UV rays |
| Greenhouse Effect | The process when atmospheric gases absorb and give off infrared radiation |
| Temperature | A measure of how hot or cold something is. Average kinetic energy of particles |
| Thermal energy | The total kinetic energy of particles. |
| Thermal expansion | An increase in the size of a substance in response to an increase in the temperature of the substance |
| Heat | The energy that is transferred between objects that are different temperatures |
| Radiation | The transfer of energy as electromagnetic waves |
| Convection | The transfer of energy due to the movement of matter. |
| Conduction | The transfer of energy from one object to another object from direct contact. |
| Wind | The movement of air caused by differences in air pressures |
| Coriolis Effect | The curving of a path of a moving object from otherwise a straight path. |
| Jet Stream | Narrow belts of high speed winds that blow from west to east. |
| Local wind | The movement of air over short distances that move in any direction |
| Sea Breeze | The water is colder than the land: causing air to be pushed to the land (happens during the day) |
| Land breeze | The land in now cold, causing high pressure. The water has low pressure. (happens at night) |
| Mountain Breeze | At night the slopes of mountains are cooled causing low pressure in the valley and high pressure in the mountain peeks. |
| valley breeze | A mountain's local wind where low pressure is near the mountaintops and high pressure near the valleys. This causes breezes that go up the mountain. |
| Global wind | The movement of air over Earth's Surface in Patterns that are worldwide. |
| Trade winds | Winds that blow between 30 degrees and the equator. Sailors relied on them to sail from Europe to the Americas |
| Westerlies | The winds that blow between 30 degrees and 60 degrees. They curve to the East. Carries moist air which causes rain/snow |
| Polar Easterlies | Winds that blow between the poles and 60 degrees. They curve to the west. Carries cold air over most of U.S. -causes snow/freezing weather. |
| Doldrums | Trade winds of both hemispheres that meet in a calm area around the equator. Not much wind- warm, less dense air results in an area of low pressure. |
| Horse Latitudes | Where air stops moving and sinks. |
| Weather | The condition of the atmosphere at one time. Includes temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind ,and visibility. |
| Humidity | The amount of water vapor in the air. |
| Relative humidity | The amount of water vapor in the air compared to the amount of water vapor needed for saturation |
| Dew point | The temperature at which more condensation than evaporation occurs |
| Precipitation | Any form of water that falls to Earth's surface from the clouds. |
| cirrus | A cloud that appears feathery or wispy. Made of ice crystals. Form when wind is strong. |
| Cumulus | Means fair weather, but if becomes taller they produce thunder storms |
| Stratus | Spread out clouds that form in layers. They are low. Dark stratus clouds can block out the sun and produce rain. |
| Air pressure | The force of air molecules pushing on an area |
| high pressure system | Areas where air sinks and moves outward. Makes clear skies and calm air or gentle breezes. |
| low pressure system | rainy weather producing. Have lower pressure than the surrounding areas. |
| Air mass | A large body of air throughout which temperature and moisture contents are similar |
| front | A boundary that forms between air masses |
| Warm front | Forms when a warm cold air mass. Warm air condenses into clouds. Brings drizzly rain- followed by warm clear weather |
| cold front | A fast moving cold air mass pushes up warm air mass. Cooler weather follows a cold front |
| Stationary front | When there is not much wind so both air masses stay in one place - bring unchanging weather |
| Occluded | The force of a cold front pushing the cold front up |
| Evaporation | The change of state from a liquid to a gas |
| Condensation | The change of state from a gas to a liquid |
| runoff | The flow of water that occurs when excess waters flow over Earth's surface. |
Created by:
evanrad
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