| A | B |
|---|
| climate | the meteorological conditions - including temperature, precipitation and wind - that characteristically prevail in a particular region of the Earth. |
| convective lifting | air movement that occurs when air heated at the Earth's surface rises in the form of thermal currents. |
| El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) | a warming of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America that occurs every 4 to 12 years. |
| Ferrel cell | a circulating body of air that occurs in the midlatitudes between 30 and 60 degrees north and south latitude. |
| greenhouse effect | the phenomenon whereby the Earth's Atmosphere traps solar radiation, caused by the presence of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the Earth's surface. |
| Hadley cell | a circulating body of air that occurs in, at, and near the equator, between ) and 30 degrees north and south latitude. |
| La Nina | a cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America, occuring periodically every 4 to 12 years. |
| rain shadow effect | a dry air condition that occurs on the leeward side of mountain ranges. |
| weather | the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place, with respect to variables such as temperature,moisture, wind velocity, and barometic pressure. |
| anthropogenic | coming from human activities |
| convection currents | vertical air currents resulting from rising warm air |
