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Natural Disasters
Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
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wind | The perceptible natural movement of the air,especially in the form of a current of air blowing from a particular direction |
air pressure | air pressure is the force exerted onto a surface by the weight of the air |
high pressure system | A high pressure system is a whirling mass of cool,dry air that generally brings fair weather and light winds |
low pressure system | A low pressure system is a whirling mass of warm, moist air that generally brings stormy weather with strong winds |
westerlies | A wind blowing from the west |
easterlies | A wind blowing from the east |
trade winds | A wind steadily toward the equator |
global winds | wind patterns |
doldrums | sudden storms |
energy | mental activity |
coriolis effect | an effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating |
sea breeze | a breeze blowing toward land |
land breeze | a breeze blowing toward sea |
jet stream | a narrow westerly air current |
hurricane | a storm with a violent wind |
tornado | a mobile, destructive vortex of wind |
vortex | a mass of whirling air |
focus | the center of interest or activity |
tectonic plates | two sub-s that move |
normal fault | occur where two blocks of rock are pulled apart |
reverse fault | occur where two blocks of rock are forced together |
strike-slip fault | a fault in which strata are mainly in a horizontal direction |
p-waves | a longitudinal earthquake wave |
s-wave | a motion in a solid medium where the medium moves perpendicular to a direction of a travel of a wave |
Richter scale | a numerical scale for expressing the magnitude of an earthquake on the basis of seismograph oscillations |
epicenter | the point on the earth's surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake. |