All terms in this list:
salinity: A measure of the amount of dissolved salt in water
altitude: Height above sea level
humidity: The amount of water vapor in the air
hydrogen fusion: The process by which the sun produces energy by fusing together hydrogen atoms to produce helium releasing heat in the form of solar radiation
climate zone: A geographic zone of the earth that is classified according to its latitude and prevailing climate
Drainage Basin: A land area where the fresh water is drained to the ocean by a major river and its tributary streams
Reservoir: A natural or manmade area where a large amount of something is stored or reserved
Aqueduct: A system of manmade canals, tunnels, and pipelines that transport freshwater into highly populated areas that do not have enough freshwater
Greenhouse effect: Global warming caused by a buildup of atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide that trap solar radiation in the form of heat that is radiated back from the warmed surface of the earth
Precipitation: Water in the form of rain, sleet, snow, or hail that falls from the atmosphere to the earth’s surface
Atmosphere: All of the layers of gas that surround the earth
Hydrosphere: All forms of water found on earth including saltwater and freshwater
Biosphere: All of the earth’s living organisms and the environments they live in
Lithosphere: The hard rocky outer shell of the earth which includes the crust and the solid portion of the upper mantle
Climate: The average weather associated with a region of the earth over a long extended period of time; it is what you expect
Weather: The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place; it is what you get
Evaporation: The process of adding heat to change a liquid into a gas
Condensation: The process of removing heat to change a gas into a liquid
Ozone: A gas molecule found in the stratosphere made of three oxygen atoms that absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun
Front: The moving boundary line between two separate air masses
Troposphere: The first layer of atmosphere from the earth’s surface up to 16 km above the earth’s surface; referred to as the layer of weather
Stratosphere: The second layer of atmosphere directly above the troposphere extending from 16 km to 50 km above the earth’s surface containing the ozone layer
Mesosphere: The third layer of atmosphere directly above the stratosphere extending from 50 km to 80 km above the earth’s surface
Thermosphere: The fourth layer of atmosphere directly above the mesosphere extending from 80 km to 480 km above the earth’s surface; temperatures reach 1000o C
Air mass: A large section of atmosphere with the same temperature and humidity conditions throughout
Wind cell: Large convection currents in the earth’s atmosphere that move warm moist air from the equator towards the poles while moving cold dry air from the poles towards the equator
Temperature inversion: An abnormal atmospheric condition in which the temperature of the troposphere increases with altitude when a layer of cool air at the earth’s surface is trapped by a layer of warmer above it
Respiration: he biological process of removing oxygen(02) from the atmosphere and releasing carbon dioxide(CO2) back into the atmosphere
Gyre: A closed current system in the oceans that move warm water from the equator to the poles and cold water from the poles to the equator
Rain Shadow: An area of the earth that receives little precipitation due to the effect of a mountain range, that causes the prevailing winds to lose their moisture on the windward side of the mountain, causing the leeward side to be dry and desert like
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