| A | B |
|---|
| El Nino | sequence of changes in the ocean and atmospheric circulation across the Pacific Ocean, hot water around the equator (every 2-7 years), trade winds blow east to west across the equatorial lattitudes piling warm water into the western Pacific, a huge mass of heavy thunderstorms forms in the area producing vast currents of rising air that displace heat poleward. This helps create the strong mid latitude jet streams. disrupts the world's climate patterns by this massive cluster of thunderstorms in a new location |
| Air masses | moving toward or away from the earth's surface are air currents |
| wind | air moving parallel to earth's surface |
| Three major wind belts | 1) trade winds 2) prevailing westerlies and 3) polar easterlies. - formed by differences in air pressures that develop in the doldrums the horse latitudes and the polar regions |
| Doldrums | surround the equator- heat rises straight up into earth's atmosphere |
| Horse latitudes | high ba4ometric pressure with calm and light winds |
| Polar regions | contain cold dense air that sinks to the earth's surface |
| Sea breezes | unequal heating of the land and an adjacent large body of water, land heats faster than water, blow from mid morning to sunset |
| land breeze | a breeze that blows fromthe land to the ocean or a large lake |
| Monsoons | huge wind systems that cover large geographic areas and that reverse direction seasonally, alternate wet and dry seasons |
| Cirrus clouds | white and feathery high in sky |
| cumulus clouds | thick, white, fluffy |
| stratus clouds | layers of clouds cover most of the sky |
| nimbus clouds | heavy, dark clouds that represent thunderstorm clouds |
| Combination clouds | cumulo-nimbus and stato-nimbus |
| dew point | air temperature at which water vapor begins to condense |
| relative humidity | actual amount of water vapor in a certain volume of air compared to the maximum amount of water vapor this air could hold at a given temperature |
| thunderstorm | brief, local storm produced by the rapid upward movement of warm, moist air withing a cumulo=nimbus cloud, always produce thunder and lightning, strong wind gusts and heavy rain or hail |
| tornado | severe storm with swirling winds, known also as a twister, large cumulo-nimbus clouds, narrow storms that leave a narrow path of destruction on the ground |
| waterspout | a swirling, funnel-shaped cloud that extends downward and touches a body of water |
| hurricanes | storms taht develop when warm, moist air carried by trade winds rotates around a low pressure eye. In the Pacific is is know as a typhoon. |
| blizzard | storm with stong winds, blowing snow and frigid temperatures |
| ice storm | falling rain that freezes when it strikes the ground, layer of ice |
| tropical rain forests | 6 % of the earth's land, found in South America, Africa, New Guinea, Malaysia, Burma and Indonesia, 50% of all species found here, hot humid, a jungle, ony 1% of light reaches the ground |
| desert biome | hot but litte moisture, sand is 15%, bare rock or pebbles and gravel areas, landform requires no moisture |
| taiga | mild climate, not hot or cold, lumber, mosses, lichens and ferns, rivers and streams, |
| tundra | extremely cold, moss and lichens exist in ice, Indians Aleuts and Eskimos had little effect on the tundra's ecosystem |
| grasslands | prairies or steppes, or savannas, deep root systems, mild climate, rich top soil, farming has converted grasses to crops 11% of earth |
| precipitation | water that falls to earth in the form of rain and snow |
| water cycle | process that water evaporates condensates into clouds, and precipitates back to earth |
| Altitude increases | climate is drier and colder, solar radiation more sever |
| Latitude changes | colder and drier, |
| sinkholes | funnel shaped depressions created by siddolved limestone, many started in limestone cavern, erosion weakens the cavern roof causing it to collapse and to form a sinkhole |
| stactite/stalagmite | groundwater containing dissolved minerals drips through the roof/or on the cave floor and evaporates - leaving behind calcium carbonate |
| water table | gravity causes groundwater to move through interconnected pored rock formatins from higher to lower elevations, this upper surface of the zone saturated with groundwater is the water table |
| Swamp | an area where the water table is at the surface |
| spring | groundwater that flows out from underground onto the surface |
| lakes, ponds, or streams | area where the land dips below the water table and fill with water |
| aquifers | permeable rocks filled with water, formed when permeable rock is trapped between two layers of impermeable rock, limestone |
| reservoirs | collection of groundwater providing drinking water to 53% of earth's population |
| current problems related to water resources | impurities of the water filtered by rocks and soil, many groundwaters are being contaminated, septic tanks, broken pipes, agriculture fertilizers, garbage dumps, runoff, underground tanks leaking, toxic chemicals, salt water into fresh water |
| Pollutants | impurities in air and water that may be harmful to life |
| acid rain | acidic substances from factory and car exhaust dissolve in rain water, the acids can react with metallic compounds and gradualy wear stones away |
| radioactivity | breaking down of atomic nuclei by releasing particles or electomagnetic radiation. |
| Alpha particles | Alpha particles are positively charged particles, slowest form of radiation, can be stopped by paper, 2 protons, 2 neutrons |
| Beta particles | are electrons, stopped by aluminum |
| Gamma rays | electromagnetic waves with extremely short wavelengths, mo mass, no charge, travel at speed of light, thick block of lead to stop |
| uranium | is the source of radiation and therefore radioactive |
| Radium and polonium | discovered by Marie Curie, they give off mored radiation than uranium |
| major concern with radiation | case of a nuclear disaster, also medical misuse, can kill cancer cells can cause illness or death, gamma rays can penetrate the body and damage cells, nuclear energy uses fuel like uranium 235 |
