Natural History And Climate Flashcards
Natural history
Study of organisms in their natural environment through direct observation
Resource
Environmental factors that an animal uses directly
Abiotic vs biotic
Non living vs living
Climate
Where animals live, the resources available, variety of population
What you expect
How the atmosphere behaves over a long period of time and space, average regional weather pattern over decades
Weather
What you get
Conditions of the atmosphere over a short period of time and can change within minutes or hours
Conduction
Kinetic energy, transferred by molecules in direct contact with one another
Convection
Energy transfer by movements of air or water currents
Sensible heat flux
Energy transfer from warm air at surface to cool air in atmosphere by conduction and convention
Latent heat flux
Heat loss due to evaporation
Albedo
Amount of solar radiation a surface reflects
Urban heat island
Phenomena where urban environments have a tendency to be warmer than surrounding rural environments
E.g. darker surfaces (concrete)
Hadley cells
Large scale circulation patterns resultant of tropical uplift
Subsidence
Air descends as it cools
-forms high pressure zone
Prevailing winds
Global wind patterns driven by circulation cells
Heat capacity
Energy needed to change 1kg of something by 1 degree C
