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 sun produces energy by fusing together hydrogen atoms to produce helium releasing heat in the form of solar radiation.

climate zone: A geographic zone on the earth that is classified according to latitude and prevailing climate.

drainage basin: A land area where fresh water is drained to ocean by major river and 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 buildup of atmosphere gasses such as carbon dioxide that trap solar radiation in form of heat that radiated back from warmed surface of earth

precipitation: -Water in form of rain, sleet , snow, or hail that falls from atmosphere to earth’s surface.

atmosphere: All of layers of gas that surround earth.

Hydrosphere: All forms of water found on earth including saltwater and freshwater.

Biosphere: all of the earth’s living organisms and environments they live in

Lithosphere: the hard rocky outer shell of earth which includes crust and solid portion of the upper mantle.

Climate: the average weather associated with a region of earth over long extended period of time.

weather: The state of atmosphere at given time and place; it is what you get.

evaporation: the process of adding heat to change liquid into a gas

condensation: The process of removing heat to change a gas into a liquid

ozone: A gas molecule made of 3 oxygen atoms found in stratosphere that absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

photosythesis: The biological process by which organisms take carbon dioxide (CO2) from atmosphere and combine it with sunlight and water to produce glucose then release oxygen (02) back into atmosphere as a waste product.

Troposphere: The first layer of atmosphere from earth’s surface up to 16 km above earth’s surface ; referred to as the layer of weather.

Stratosphere: The second layer of atmosphere directly above troposphere extending from 16 km to 50 km above earth’s surface containing the ozone layer

Mesosphere: The 3rd layer of atmosphere directly above stratosphere extending from 50 km to 80 km above earth’s surface

Thermosphere: The 4th layer of atmosphere directly above mesosphere extending from 80 km to 480 km above earth’s surface; temperatures reach 1000c

Air mass: A large section of atmosphere with same temperature and humidity conditions throughout.

Wind Cel: Large convection currents in earths atmosphere that move warm moist air from 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 air above it.

respiration: The biological process by which organisms take oxygen(02) from the atmosphere to produce energy and release carbon dioxide(CO2) and water (H2O) back into atmosphere as waste products

Gyre: closed current system in the oceans that moves warm water from the equator to the poles and cold water from the poles to the equator.

Rain Shadow: An area of the earth’s surface that receives little precipitation due to effect of mountain range that causes prevailing winds to lose their moisture on the windward side of the mountain causing the leeward side to be dry and desert like