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57 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the characteristics of weather?
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Precipitation, wind, temperature, air pressure, fronts, currents, location, pollution, clouds, humidity
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What are some examples of weather?
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Rain, snow, tornado, hurricaine, blizzard, cyclone, flood, thunder, lightning, drought
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What are NOT examples of weather?
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tsunami, ice age, global warming
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What are low pressure systems associated with?
How do they rotate? |
Storms- cold, rainy, windy
Counterclockwise |
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What are high pressure systems associated with?
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Nice weather
Clockwise |
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What does wind cause?
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1. Unequal heating of earths surface
2. Rotation of the earth |
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What direction do the westerlies go?
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West to East
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What are tradewinds?
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Easterlies and Westerlies
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What causes unequal heating?
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Different surface conditions
Clouds, snow, weather COLOR (of surface) |
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What is albeto?
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How reflective it is
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What's a jetstream?
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boudary between warm and cold air
Constant powerful wind thats always there |
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How fast are jetstreams?
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500 km/hour
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What do jetstreams control?
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Storm development
Storm (pressure) systems |
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Nitrogen makes up what % of the air?
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78%
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Oxygen makes up what % of the air?
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21%
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What makes up 1% of the air?
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Trace gasses
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What produces trace gasses?
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Living organisms
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What is the troposphere?
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12 km high
Where weather happens Where most life is |
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What is the stratosphere?
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12-45 km high
Very thin Contains the ozone layer |
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What is the mesosphere?
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45-80 km high
"middle" Stuff burns here |
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What is the thermosphere?
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80-500 km high
VERY HOT LAYER where oxygen helps absorb UV rays |
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What is the ionosphere?
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500 km to outerspace
(a.k.a.) Exosphere |
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What is the greenhouse effect?
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Re-emission of infared radiation back to the earth surface
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What is latent heat?
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Heat energy released/absorbed during the phases of the water cycle
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What are the types of air masses?
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Cold (polar)
Warm (tropical) Continental (land) Maritime (sea) |
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What is the Ozone layer?
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The layer in the stratosphere that absorbs the suns dangerous waves!
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What is a thundderstorm?
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Contain up and down drafts
Heavy rain & hail Stronger udpraft-bigger hail |
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What is a down draft?
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Sinking current of cold air assiciated with storms
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Whats a squall?
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Series of windy gusts created by downdrafts
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Whats a downburst?
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When cold air descends from a thunderstorm and bursts outward
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Whats a tornado?
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Intense, short lived storm
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Whats the Fujita scale?
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measures wind speed of the funnel of a tornado
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Whats biosphere?
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Everything organic
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Whats hydrosphere?
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Liquid water in oceans/lakes/rivers
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Whats criosphere?
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Ice/glaciers
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Whats the lithosphere?
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Mantle/crust
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Whats the atmosphere?
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Contains air
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What is El Nino?
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Climatic event that involves the atmosphere & oceans
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What is La Nina?
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Occurs when tradewinds in the pacific are strong and equitorial oceanic surface temps are colder then normal.
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What causes climate change?
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seasonal/longterm changes, and human factors
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Seasonal changes occur as...
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earth completes rovolution around the sun
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Tongterm changes occur as...
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cycles of glaciers represent long term changes
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Human factors of climate change:
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Carbon cycle
Trace gasses global warming ozone hole landsurface |
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Carbon cycle...
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exchange of carbon between ocean, land, and atmosphere
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What is carbon the basis of?
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All organic matter
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Trace gasses have....?
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Increased
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Whats global warming?
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Increase in average global temp of the earth
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Whats the ozone hole?
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Getting less protection from solar UV rays
Scientists think: caused by supersonic aircraft & cfc's |
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How have humans effected the land surface?
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Draining swamps
Plowing fields Building cities |
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Whats continental climate?
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Areas with little direct ocean influence
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Whats maritime climate?
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Area with strong ocean influence
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Whats the Lee Rain Shadow
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forms on the opposide of a mntn when wind blows perpendicular
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Whats seabreeze?
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Blows from water to land (in afternoon) when land is warmer then water
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Whats subtropical high?
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Reletively stable belts of high pressure near latitudes of 30 degrees
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Whats temp inversion
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Temp increases with height
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Whats the weather front?
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Place where air masses interact
Assosiated w/ low pressure systems |
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What are the westerlies
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W to E
Middle near equater |
