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Definition
| abnormally acidic rain, snow, or fog resulting from high levels of oxides of sulfur and nitrogen that exist as industrial pollutants in the air |
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| • Actual evapotranspiration |
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Definition
| amount of water that can be lost to the atmosphere from a land surface with any particular soil moisture conditions |
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Definition
| very large parcel of air in the boundary layer of the troposphere, which possesses relatively uniform qualities of density, temp, and humidity in the horizontal direction. Bound together as an organized whole, a vital cohesion because air masses routinely migrate for hundreds of kilos as distinct entities |
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| broadest justifiable subdivision of the plant and animal world, an assemblage and association of plants and animals, which forms a regional ecological unit of subcontinental division |
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| long term conditions of aggregate weather (30+ yrs.) over a region, summarized by averages and measures of variability; a synthesis of the succession of weather events we have learned to expect at any given location |
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| produced when an advancing cold air mass hugs the surface displaces all other air as it wedges itself beneath the preexisting warm air mass. Cold fronts have much steeper slopes than warm fronts and thus produce more abrupt cooling and condensation and more intense precipitation |
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Definition
| process by which a substance is formed from the gaseous to liquid state |
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Definition
| small airborne particles around which liquid droplets can form when water vapor condenses; almost always present in the atmosphere in the form of dust and salt particles |
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Definition
| spontaneous vertical air movement in the atmosphere |
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Term
| • Convectional precipitation |
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Definition
| occurs through the condensation of the upward moving air |
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Term
| • Convergent-lifting precipitation |
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Definition
| precipitation produced by the forced lifting of warm, moist air where the low level windflows converge. Most pronounced in the equatorial latitudes, where the Northeast and Southeast trades come together in the the ICTZ, especially over the oceans |
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Term
| • Deforestation (tropical) |
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Definition
| – clearing and destruction of tropical rainforests to make way for expanding settlement frontiers and the exploitation of new economic opportunities |
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Definition
| process of desert expansion into neighboring steppe lands as a result of human degradation of fragile semiarid enivros |
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Definition
| temp at which air becomes saturated and below which condensation occurs |
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Definition
| – below-average availability of water in a given area over a period lasting several months |
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Definition
| wavelike perturbation in the constant easterly flow of the northeast and southeast trades, which produces this type of distinctive weather system. Westward moving air is forced to rise on the upwind side and descend on the fair-weather downwind side of the low pressure wave trough |
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Definition
| periodic, large-scale, abnormal warming of the sea surface in the low latitudes of the eastern pacific that produces a temporary reversal of surface ocean currents and airflows through the equatorial pacific. These regional events have global implications, disturbing normal weather in parts of the world |
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Term
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Definition
| acronym for el niño southern oscillation, the reversal of the flow of ocean currents and prevailing winds in the equatorial pacific ocean that disturbs global weather patterns |
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Term
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Definition
| process by which water chages from liquid into gas. It takes 597 cal of heat energy to change the state of 1g of water at 0 c to gas |
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Definition
| combined processes by which water (1)evaporates from the land surface (2) passes into the atmosphere through the leaf pores of plants |
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Definition
| – open vertical tube that marks the center of a hurricane, often reaching an altitude of 10 mi |
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Term
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Definition
| - rim of the eye or open vertical tube that marks the center of a well-developed hurricane. The tropical cyclones strongest winds and heaviest rain occur here |
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Definition
| process by which a substance is transformed from a liquid into a solid |
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Term
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Definition
| – surface that bounds an air mass, along which contact occurs with a neighboring air mass possessing different qualities. This narrow boundary zone usually marks an abrupt transition in air density, temp, and humidity. A moving front is the leading edge of the air mass built up behind it |
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Term
| • Frontal (cyclonic) precipitation |
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Definition
| precipitation that results from the movement of fronts whereby warm air is lifted, cooled, and condensed |
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Term
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Definition
| call like circulation of surface currents that often encompasses an entire ocean basin. Ex. The subtropical gyre of the north Atlantic ocean consists of the huge loop formed by four individual, continuous legs – the north equatorial, gulf stream, north Atlantic drift, and canaries currents |
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Term
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Definition
| tropical cyclone capable of inflicting great damage. A tightly organized, moving low pressure system, normally originating at sea in the warm moist air of the tropical atmosphere, exhibiting winds in excess of 74 mi/h. as with all cyclonic storms, it has a distinctly circular wind and pressure field. |
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Definition
| complex system of exchange involving water in its various forms as it continually circulates around the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and biosphere |
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Definition
| – earths landmasses generalized into a single, idealized, shield shaped continent of uniform low elevation; fig 16.2 |
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| period of warmer global temps between the most recent deglaciation and the onset of the next glaciation |
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| • Koppen climate classification system |
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Definition
| – provides us with a balanced approach, offering descriptive classification of world climates that brilliantly negotiates the tightrope between simplicity and complexity |
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Term
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Definition
| lull or cool ebb in low-latitude pacific ocean surface temps that occurs between el niño peaks of anomalous sea-surface warming |
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Term
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Definition
| – heat energy involved in melting, the transformation of a solid into a liquid. A similar amount of heat is given off when a liquid freezes into a solid |
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Term
| • Latent heat of vaporization |
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Definition
| heat energy involved in the transformation of a liquid into a gas or vice versa |
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Term
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Definition
| – a change from a solid state to the liquid state. At 0 c it takes 80 cal of heat energy to change 1 g of water from a solid to a liquid |
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Term
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Definition
| surface boundary between cold and cool air in a mature midlatitude cyclone; caused by the cold front undercutting and lifting the warm air entirely off the ground |
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Term
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Definition
| large scale movements of water, that form the oceanic counterpart to the atmospheric system of wind belts and semipermanent pressure cells |
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Term
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Definition
| – early maturity stage in the development of a midlatitude cyclone. Surface cyclonic air motion transforms the original kink on the stationary front into an open wave, around which cold and warm air interact in the distinct ways shown in fig 14.10B |
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Term
| • Orographic precipitation |
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Definition
| – rainfall and sometimes snowfall produced by moist air parcels that are forced to rise over a mountain range or other highland zone. Such air parcels move in this manner because they are propelled by both steering winds and the push of other air parcels piling up behind them |
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Term
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Definition
| upper atmosphere jet stream located above the subpolar latitudes, specifically the Polar Front; at its strongest during the half year centered on winter |
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Definition
| when prevailing winds exceed 8 mi/h, dust domes begin to detach themselves from the cities over which they are centered. As fig 21.9 shows, the polluted air streams out as a plume above the downwind countryside |
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Term
| • Potential evapotranspiration |
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Definition
| maximum amount of water that can be lost to the atmosphere from a land surface with abundant available water |
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Term
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Definition
| – any liquid water or ice that falls to the earth’s surface through the atmosphere (rain, snow, sleet and hail) |
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Definition
| dry conditions – often at a regional scale as in the U.S. interior west – which occur on the leeward side of a mountain barrier that experiences orographic pressure. The passage of moist air across that barrier wrests most of the moisture from the air, whose adiabatic warming as it plunges downslope sharply lowers the dew point and precipitation possibilities |
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Term
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Definition
| proportion of water vapor present in a parcel of air relative to the maximum amount of water vapor that air could hold at the same temperature |
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Term
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Definition
| – removal – as overland flow via the network of streams and rivers – at the land surface of the surplus precipitation that does not infiltrate the soil or accumulate on the ground through surface detention |
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Term
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Definition
| – periodic, anomalous reversal of the pressure zones in the atmosphere overlying the equatorial pacific; associated with the occurrence of the el niño phenomenon. As the sea surface temperatures change and water currents reverse, corresponding shifts occur in the windflows above |
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Term
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Definition
| process whereby a solid can change directly into a gas. The reverse process is also sublimation or deposition. The heat required to produce these transformations is the sum of the latent heats of fusion and vaporization |
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Definition
| – circulates around the subtropical high that is located above the center of the ocean basin (fig 10.3). dominates the oceanic circulation of both hemispheres, flowing clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern |
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Term
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Definition
| relationships involving long-distance linkages between weather patterns that occur in widely separated parts of the world; el niño is a classic example |
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Term
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Definition
| relationships involving long-distance linkages between weather patterns that occur in widely separated parts of the world; el niño is a classic example |
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Term
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Definition
| rising of cold water from the ocean depths to the surface; affects the local climatic environment because cold water lowers air temperatures and the rate of evaporation |
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Term
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Definition
| vicous interior shell of the earth which encloses the solid lower mantle. The uppermost part of the upper mantle, however, is solid, and this zone, together with the crust that lies directly above it, is called the lithosphere |
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Definition
| form taken by an isotherm representation of the heat distribution within an urban region. The central city appears as a “highland” or “island” of higher temperatures on a surrounding “plain” of more uniform lower temperatures |
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Term
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Definition
| – produced when an advancing warm air mass infringes on a preexisting cooler one. When they meet, the lighter warmer air overrides the cooler air mass, forming the gently upward sloping warm front (producing far more moderate precipitation than that associated with steeply sloped cold fronts) |
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Term
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Definition
| – invisible gaseous form of water; the most widely distributed variable gas of the atmosphere |
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