Atmosphere Vocabulary Part 2

1.) Air Pressure – The force exerted by the weight of a column of air above a given point 2.) Pressure Gradient – the spacing of isobars that indicated the amount of pressure changes that occur over a given distance.

3.) Coriolis Effect – describes how the Earth’s rotation affects moving objects. 4.) Jet Stream – fast-moving rivers of air 5.) Cyclone – a low pressure center characterized by a counterclockwise flow of air in the Northern Hemisphere

6.) Anticyclone – a high pressure center characterized by a clockwise flow of air in the Northern Hemisphere 7.) Trade Winds – two belts of wind that blow almost constantly from easterly directions.

8.) Westerlies – travels towards the poles, and generate these prevailing winds. 9.) Monsoon – Seasonal changes in wind direction 10.) Prevailing Wind – when the wind constantly blows more often from one direction than from any other

11.) El Nino – The name given to the periodic warming of the ocean that occurs in the central and eastern Pacific, can cause extreme weather in many parts of the world.

Part 3

1.) Air Mass – an immense body of air that is characterized by similar temperatures and amounts of moisture at any given altitude. 2.) Front – When two air masses meet, a boundary that separates two air masses

3.) Warm Front – forms when warm air moves into an area formerly covered by cooler air 4.) Cold Front – forms when cold, dense air moves into a region occupied by warmer air 5.) Stationary Front – the surface position of the front does not moves

6.) Occluded Front – when an active cold front overtakes a warm front. 7.) Thunderstorm – a storm that generates lightning and thunder. 8.) Tornado – violent windstorms that take the form of a rotating column of air called a vortex.

9.) Hurricane – Whirling tropical cyclones that produce winds. 10.) Storm Surge – a dome of water that sweeps across the coast where a hurricane’s eye moves onto land. 11.) Global Warming – A result of increases in carbon dioxide levels.