Term
| What produces a variety of weather? |
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Definition
| the combination of earths motions and energy from the sun produce a variety of weather |
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Term
| What is climate based on? |
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Definition
| observations of weather that have been collected over many years |
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Term
| What is air a mixtures of? |
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Definition
| air is a mixture of different gases and particles each with its own physical properties |
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Term
| What two gases make up 99 percent of dry air? |
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Definition
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Term
| What gas plays a significant role in heating the atmosphere? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the source of all clouds and percipitation? |
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Definition
| like carbon dioxide dioxide, water vapor absorbs heat given off by earth. it also absorbs some solar energy |
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Term
| What are some particles that remain suspended for long periods of time? |
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Definition
| sea salts from breaking waves, fine soil blown into the air, smoke and soot from fires, pollen & microorganisms lifted by wind, & ash & dust from volcanic eruptions |
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Term
| When do oxygen atoms split into single atoms of oxygen? |
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Definition
| they split into single atoms of oxygen |
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Term
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Definition
| ozone absorbs harmful UV radiation from the sun.our planet would uninhabitable for many living organisms if ozone wasn't there |
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Term
| What accounts for nearly half the primary pollutants by weight? |
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Definition
| emissions from transportation vehicles |
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Term
| What are secondary pollutants? |
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Definition
| they are not emited directly into the air.they form in the atmosphere when reactions take place among primary pollutants and other substances |
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Term
| What are photochemical reactions? |
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Definition
| reactions triggered by strong light |
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Term
| What is atmosphere pressure? |
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Definition
| atmospheric pressure is simply the weight of the air above |
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Term
| How many layers is the atmosphere divided into? |
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Definition
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Term
| In what layer do most weather phenomena occur? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where does most energy that drives weather and climate come from? |
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Definition
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Term
| What creates winds and dives the oceans currents? |
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Definition
| it is the unequal heating of earth that creates winds and drives the ocean currents.these movements transport heat from the tropics toward the poles in an attempt to balance energy differences. the results of these processes are the phenomena we call weather |
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Term
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Definition
| the spinning of earth about its axis. the axis is an imaginary line running through the north and south poles. our planet rotates once every 24 hours producing the daily cycle of daylight and darkness |
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Term
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Definition
| revolution is the movement of earth in its orbit around the sun. earth travels at nearly 113,00 kilometers per hour in an elliptical orbit about the sun |
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Term
| What are the degrees the earth is tilted? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the length of daylight determined by? |
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Definition
| it is determined by earths position in orbit |
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Term
| What are three mechanisms for energy transfer? |
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Definition
| conduction, convection & radiation |
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Term
| What can radiant energy travel through? |
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Definition
| radiant energy can travel through the vacuum of space |
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Term
| Do hot or cold objects radiate more energy? |
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Definition
| hotter objects radiate more total energy per unit area than colder objects do |
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Term
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Definition
| reflection occurs when light bounces off an object. about 30% of the solar energy reaching the outer atmosphere is reflected back to space |
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Term
| Does land or water heat higher temperature faster? |
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Definition
| land heats more rapidly and to higher temperatures than water. land also cools more rapidly and to lower temperatures than water.temperature variations, therefore, are considerably greater over land than over water |
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Term
| What is a coast called in which winds blow from the ocean onto the shore |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| albedo is the fraction of the total radiation that is reflected by any surface.many clouds have a high albedo and therefore reflect a significant portion of the sunlight that strikes them back to space |
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Term
| What does the extent of cloud cover influence? |
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Definition
| by reducing the amount of incoming solar radiation, the maximum temperatures on a cloud covered day will be lower than on a day when the clouds are absent and the sky is clear.at night clouds have the opposite effect.clouds act as a blanket by absorbing outgoing radiation emitted by earth and reradiating a portion of it back to the surface. thus cloudy nighttime air temperatures do nit drop as low as they would on a clear night.the effect of cloud cover is to reduce the daily temperature range by lowering the daytime maximum and raising the nighttime minimum |
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Term
| What type of lines connects points of the same temperature? |
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Definition
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