Unit 6 Flashcards
Composition & Structure of Atmosphere, Energy Transfer in the Atmosphere, Properties of the Atmosphere, The Water Cycle, Clouds and Precipitation, Air Masses, Climate Systems, and Severe Weather.
The study of Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteorology
Conditions in the atmosphere, including humidity, cloud cover, temperature, wind, and precipitation.
Weather
The general pattern of weather in a particular part of the world over a long period of time.
Climate
Layers of air surrounding Earth.
Atmosphere
Form of oxygen that has three atoms in one molecule.
Ozone
Display of light in sky, usually at high latitudes; formed where particles from the sun enter Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field.
Auroras
Effect that Earth’s rotation has on the path of air and water moving at or above its surface, causing the fluid’s path to curve.
Coriolis Effect
Narrow stream of high speed wind high in the atmosphere, generally moving west to east in the Northern Hemisphere.
Jet Stream
A large body of air that has about the same temperature and humidity throughout it.
Air Mass
An instrument used to measure changes in air pressure.
Barometer
Instrument used to measure wind speed.
Anemometer
Sinking air moves away from the system’s center when it reaches Earth’s surface.
High Pressure System
Air rises when air from outside the system replaces the rising air, this air spirals inward toward the center and then upward.
Low Pressure System
Place where two air masses of different temperatures and pressures meet.
Front (Weather)
Cycle in which water moves through the environment, through the process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Water Cycle
Water falling from clouds in any form, such as snow, ice , raindrops, or drizzle.
Precipitation
The use of reflected radio waves to determine the distance of an object and the direction it’s moving.
Radar
Change of matter from a liquid state to a gaseous state.
Evaporation
Small particle in the atmosphere around which cloud droplets can form.
Condensation Nucleus
Loss of water through a plant’s leaves.
Transpiration
Movement of the air caused by differences in air pressure.
Wind
A sudden spark, or energy discharge, caused when electrical charges jump between parts of a cloud between a cloud and the group.
Lightning
Amount of water vapor in the air.
Humidity
Amount of water vapor in the air compares to the amount in saturated air at the same temperature, reported as a percent.
Relative Humidity
Air temperature at which dew will form under certain conditions.
Dew Point
Water vapor from the atmosphere that has condensed into liquid water droplets on a surface.
Dew
Unusually warm ocean current that occurs in the eastern Pacific near the equator, and shifts ocean current patterns.
El Nino (Weather Event)
Ocean water temperatures in this same part of the Pacific are cooler than normal.
La Nina (Weather Event)
An area on low pressure.
Vacuum
An instrument used to measure precipitation.
Rain Gauge
