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 a 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 freshwater 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 man made canals, tunnels, and pipelines that transport freshwater into highly populated areas that do not have enough fresh water.

Greenhouse Effect: Global warming caused by a buildup of atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide that 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 thing organisms and 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 stage 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 made of three oxygen atoms found in the stratosphere that absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Photosynthesis: The biological process by which living organisms take carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and combine it with sunlight and water to produce glucose (sugar C6H12O6) then release oxygen (O2)

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 above the earth’s surface containing the ozone layer

Mesosphere: The fourth layer of atmosphere directly above the mesosphere extending from 80 km to 480 km above the earth’s surface; temperatures reach 1000°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 air above it

Respiration: The biological process by which living organisms take oxygen (O2) from the atmosphere to produce energy and release carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) into the atmosphere as waste products

Gyre: A 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 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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