Weather Terminology

Question 1

Atmospheric air pressure

Answer 1

The force exerted on the Earth’s surface by the weight of the air, measured in millibars.

Question 2

Climate change

Answer 2

Changes in the long-term temperature and precipitation patterns that can either be natural or linked to human activities.

Question 3

Climate zone

Answer 3

Divisions of the Earth’s climates into belts, or zones, according to average temperatures and average rainfall. The three major zones are polar, temperate and tropical.

Question 4

Condensation

Answer 4

The process whereby rising water vapour becomes a liquid.

Question 5

Coriolis effect

Answer 5

The result of Earth’s rotation on weather patterns and ocean currents, making storms swirl clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere

Question 6

Drought

Answer 6

a prolonged period of time with unusually low rainfall: droughts occur when there is not enough rainfall to support people or crops.

Question 7

El Nino

Answer 7

Climatic changes affecting the Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterised by the appearance of unusually warm water around northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December; the effets of El Nino include the reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific, causing drought in Australasia, and unseasonal heavy rain in South America.

Question 8

Enhanced greenhouse effect

Answer 8

The exaggerated warming of the atmosphere caused by the emission of gases from human activities resulting in the natural greenhouse effect becoming more effective.

Question 9

Front

Answer 9

A boundary separating two masses of air with different densities, usually heavier cold air and lighter warm air.

Question 10

Glacial periods

Answer 10

Historic cold periods associated with the build-up of snow and ice and the growth of ice sheets and glaciers.

Question 11

Global warming

Answer 11

A trend associated with climate change involving a warming trend (0.85 degrees C since 1880)

Question 12

Greenhouse effect

Answer 12

Natural warming of the atmosphere as heat given-off from the Earth is absorbed by liquids and gases, such as carbon dioxide.

Question 13

Hemisphere

Answer 13

A half of the earth, usually as divided into northern and southern halves by the Equator

Question 14

High pressure

Answer 14

When there is more air pressing down on the ground, caused by air sinking; air descends as it cools, leading to high pressure at the surface.

Question 15

Inter-glacial periods

Answer 15

Historic warm periods in-between glacial periods where conditions were much the same as they are today.

Question 16

Intertropical convergence zone

Answer 16

A low-pressure belt that encircles the globe around the Equator; it is where the trade winds from the northeast and southeast meet; the Earth is tilted on its orbit around the Sun, causing the ITCZ to migrate between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn with the seasons.

Question 17

Katabatic winds

Answer 17

Movements of cold dense air that flow downhill and along valley floors; in Antartica, most winds blow towards the coast from the centre.

Question 18

Latitude

Answer 18

the imaginary lines that surround the Earth ranging from 0 degree at the Equator to 90 degree at the poles.

Question 19

Low Pressure

Answer 19

Caused when the air is rising, so less air is pressing down on the ground; air rises as it warms, leading to low pressure at the surface.

Question 20

Monsoon

Answer 20

Heavy rainfall that arrives as a result of a seasonal wind, notably in southern Asia and India between May and September

Question 21

Precipitation

Answer 21

The collective term for moisture that falls from the atmosphere; this could be in the form of rain, sleet, snow or hail.

Question 22

Prevailing wind

Answer 22

The most frequent, or common wind direction.

Question 23

Quaternary geological period

Answer 23

The most recent geological period covering the last 2.6million years, during which time there were several cold and warm periods.

Question 24

Rain shadow

Answer 24

An area or region behind a hill that has little rainfall because it is sheltered from rain-bearing winds

Question 25

Thermocline

Answer 25

The point at which the temperature changes from warmer surface waters to deeper, colder water

Question 26

Trade Winds

Answer 26

the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower section of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Question 27

Tropical storm (hurricane, cyclone, typhoon)

Answer 27

An area of low pressure with winds moving in a spiral around the calm central point called the ‘eye’ of the storm. Winds are powerful and rainfall is heavy.

Question 28

Troposphere

Answer 28

An area of the atmosphere, from the Earth’s surface to a height of 10-15km, in which the weather takes place

Question 29

Volcanic Winter

Answer 29

Cooling trend caused by volcanic particles in the atmosphere blocking out some of the Sun’s radiation.