Term | Definition |
Atmosphere | A mixture of gases that surounds a planet or moon. |
Stratosphere | The layer of the atmosphere that is above the troposphere. |
Troposphere | The lowest layer of the atmosphere, in which temperature decreases at a constant rate as altitude increases. |
Thermosphere | The region of the atmosphere above the mesosphere and below the height at which the atmosphere ceases to have the properties of a continuous medium. The thermosphere is characterized throughout by an increase in temp. with height. |
Air Pressure | The measure of the force with which air molecules push on a surface. |
Radiation | Physics the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, esp. high-energy particles that cause ionization. |
Thermal Conduction | The rate at which heat passes through a specified material, expressed as the amount of heat that flows per unit time through a unit area with a temp. gradient of one degree per unit distance. |
Convection | The unit caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and therefor less dense material to rise, and cooler denser material to sink under the influence of gravity which consequently results in transfer of heat. |
Global Warning | A gradual increase in the overall temp. of the Earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide,chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. |
Greenhouse Affect | The trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere due to greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface. |
Wind | The perceptible natural movement of the air, esp. in the form of of a current of air blowing from a particular direction. |
Coriolis Effect | An effect whereby a mass moving in a rotation system experiences a force the Coriolis Force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. |
Westerlies | Wind blowing from the west. |
Trade Winds | Prevailing winds that blow northeast from 30 north latitude to the equator and that blow southeast from 30 south latitude to the equator. |
Polar Easterlies | Prevailing winds that blow from east to west between 60 and 90 latitude in both hemispheres. |
Jet Streams | A narrow, variable band of very strong, predominantly westerly currents encircling the glide several miles above the Earth. |
Air Pollution | The containment of the atmosphere by the introduction of pollutants from human and natural resources. |
Acid Precipitation | Rain,sleet, or snow that contains a high concentration of acids. |