Weather and Climate
What are marine climates?
Marine climates have warm winters and cool summers.
What is photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use the energy of sunlight to change carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen.
What is global warming?
A gradual increase in the temperature of Earth's atmosphere.
What is a microclimate?
A microclimate is a small area with specific climate conditions different from surrounding areas.
What is the difference of a thick or thin ring inside a tree?
A thin ring says that an area was cool or dry, and a thick ring means that the area was hot and damp.
What do chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, do?
CFCs can last for decades and rise all the way to the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, ultraviolet radiation breaks down the CFC molecules into atoms, including chlorine. The chlorine atoms then break ozone down into oxygen atoms.
What is the difference between climate and weather?
Climate is the average, year after year conditions of temperature, precipitation, winds, and clouds in an area. Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular place and time.
How does El Nino affect ocean and climate changes?
El Nino has warm surface water, which disrupts the cold ocean current along the western coast of South America and changes weather patterns there. But El Nino also causes shifts in weather patterns around the world, bringing unusual and severe conditions to different areas.
How often does El Nino occur?
El Nino occurs for one to two years before the usual winds and currents return.
What are greenhouse gases?
Gases in the atmosphere that trap solar energy.
What happened during an ice age?
Huge sheets of ice called glaciers covered large parts of earths surface.
What is the important principle that scientists follow while studying ancient climates?
If plants or animals today need certain conditions to live, then similar plants and animals in the past alos required those conditions.
What is ozone and the ozone layer?
Ozone is a form of oxygen that has three oxygen atoms in each molecule instead of the usual two. The ozone layer is a region nearly 30 kilometers above Earth's surface where ozone is concentrated.
In the past two million years, how many ice ages do scientists predict there have been?
Scientists predict that there have been four major ice ages, all lasting about 100,000 years each.
What are seasons caused by?
Seasons are caused by the tilt of Earths axis as Earth travels around the sun.
What period do scientists think that we are living in right now?
Some scientists think that we are in a warm period right now, in between ice ages.
What are sunspots?
Sunspots are dark, cooler regions on the surface of the sun.
What is the carbon cycle?
The carbon cycle is where carbon is transferred from earths interior to the atmosphere, oceans, crust, and to living things, provided energy by the sun and the heat of earths interior.
What is the difference between leeward and windward?
The land on the leeward, or downward side of the mountains is a rain shadow and the land on the windward, or the side the oncoming wind hits is where rain or snow falls.
What are the main factors that affect precipitation?
The main factors that affect precipitation are prevailing winds, and the presence of mountains or mountain ranges.
What are the main factors affecting temperature?
The main factors that affect temperature are latitude, altitude, distance from large bodies of water and ocean currents.
What are the three temperature zones of Earths surface and where are they?
The tropical zone is near the equator. (Between 23.5 degrees north latitude and 23.5 degrees south latitude.) Climates are warm there with direct sunlight. The polar zones are near the North and South Poles and have cold climates. (Between 66.5 to 90 degrees north and 66.5 to 90 degrees south latitude.) The temperate zones are between the tropical and polar zones. (Between 23.5 to 66.5 degrees north and 23.5 to 66.5 degrees south latitudes.)
What causes climate to change?
Variations in the position of Earth relative to the sun, changes in the suns energy output, and the movement of the continents.
What are continental climates?
Continental climates have warm summers and cold winters - the opposite of marine climates.
What is latitude?
Latitude is the distance from the equator that is measured in degrees.