Climate Flashcards
Weather
Atmospheric conditions that change over short period of time
Climate
Weather patterns in a region over long periods of time
Climate zones
-Discovered in early 1900s
-Includes temp., precipitation, plant communities, etc.
-13 worldwide
Ecoregions/zones
-Climate of region/landforms/soil/plants
-Can include human factors
-867 worldwide
Factors that create climate zones
-Distance from equator
-Presence of large bodies of water
-Presence of ocean/air currents
-Land formation
-Height above sea level (Altitude)
Proxi records
Stores info. that can be measured to give clues about past climate
Albedo
Measure of how much of the sun’s radiation is reflected by a surface
Albedo effect
Positive feedback loop in which an increase in Earth’s temp. causes ice to melt, causing more radiation to be absorbed by Earth’s surface, leading to more increase of Earth’s temp.
El Nino
Recurring change in the pacific winds and ocean currents that brings moist air to west coast of South America
Interglacial period
Time between ice ages where Earth warms up
Plate tectonics
Theory explaining slow movement of large plates of Earth’s crust
Continental drift
Theory that all of Earth’s continents used to be one supercontinent called Pangea
Ice age
Time in history when Earth was colder/mostly covered in ice
Thermohaline Circulation
Continuous flow of water around world’s oceans driven by difference of water’s temp./salinity
Convection current
Circular current in air/other fluids caused by rising of warm fluids as cold sinks
Heat sink
Reservoir that absorbs/stores thermal energy
Feedback loops
Process where result affects process
Carbon sink
Reservoir that absorbs CO2 from atmo./stores carbon in diff. form
Greenhouse gas
Any gas in atmo. that absorb lower energy infrared radiattion
Greenhouse effect
Natural process whereby gases/clouds absorb infrared radiation emitted by Earth’s surface and radiate it, heating earth’s surface/atmo.
