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Climate Vocabulary
Earth Science
Term | Definition |
---|---|
climate | the average weather conditions of an area over a long period of time |
precipitation | can be rain, snow, sleet, and or hail |
evaporation | the change of state from a liquid to a gas |
transpiration | the evaporation of water from plants, especially leaves, but also stems, flowers, and roots |
potential | the ability to do something |
evapotranspiration | the sum of the evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere |
Ep | it's how much water would evaporate and transpirate if there was enough water. the more insolation, the higher this will be |
Ea | it's how much water that actually winds up entering the atmosphere from evaporation and transpiration. limited to the amount of water available. |
porosity | the ratio of the volume of openings to the total volume of the materials |
permeability | a measure of the ability of a material to transmit fluids |
capillarity | the attraction between water molecules and soil. it makes water move against gravity. Think: how a paper towel absorbs water. |
runoff | the flow of water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources over land |