| A | B |
|---|
| weather | The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place, with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity, and barometric pressure. |
| greenhouse effect | The phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation, caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface. |
| revolution | Orbital motion about a point, especially as distinguished from axial rotation: the planetary revolution about the sun. |
| Tropic of Cancer | The parallel of latitude 23°27 north of the equator, the northern boundary of the Torrid Zone, and the most northerly latitude at which the sun can shine directly overhead. |
| Spring/ fall equinoxes | During spring or fall, the axial tilt doesn't alter the quantity of sunlight and darkness received |
| precipitation | A deposit on the earth of hail, mist, rain, sleet, or snow; also, the quantity of water deposited. Raining. |
| Orographical precipitation | When cold, wet air rises above a mountain it precipitates. |
| Evaporation | To convert or change liquid into a vapor |
| atmosphere | The gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body, especially the one surrounding the earth, and retained by the celestial body's gravitational field. |
| rotation | The act or process of turning around a center or an axis: the axial rotation of the earth. |
| length of year | 365 1/4 days |
| Tropic of capricorn | The parallel of latitude 23°27 south of the equator, the southern boundary of the Torrid Zone, and the most southerly latitude at which the sun can shine directly overhead. |
| climate zones | The different zones with differing temprates and climate depending on how much sun is focused on them. |
| water cycle | The cycle of evaporation and condensation that controls the distribution of the earth's water as it evaporates from bodies of water, condenses, precipitates, and returns to those bodies of water. Also called hydrologic cycle. |
| frontal precipitation | When to air masses collide and the cool air rises up and cools down, causing precipitation. |
| 3 influences on climate | temperature, elevation, nearby landforms |
| climate | The meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind, that characteristically prevail in a particular region. |
| axis | A straight line about which a body or geometric object rotates or may be conceived to rotate |
| leap year | Bissextile; a year containing 366 days; every fourth year which leaps over a day more than a common year, giving to February twenty-nine days. |
| summer/winter solstice | when the earth tilts its northern hemisphere to the sun |
| convectional precipitation | when hot and cool air rises and precipitates |
| fronts | The interface between air masses of different temperatures or densities |
