A-level geography: layers of the atmosphere
How many kilometers is the mesosphere?
50 to 80 km
how many kilometers is the exosphere?
700 to 10,000km
how many kilometers is the thermosphere?
80 to 700km
what are trade winds?
Air currents closer to the Earth's surface that blow from east to west near the equator.
What is the jet stream?
Belt of high pressure wind
what is global cooling?
Decrease in Earth's average temperature
what is global warming?
Increase in Earth's average temperature
what is the troposphere?
Lowest layer of the Earth's surface, includes houses and trees
what is the stratosphere?
Second layer of the earths atmosphere Includes ozone layer and where planes fly
What are the layers of the atmosphere, from Lowest to highest ?
Teddy - Troposphere Smacked - Stratosphere Mickey's - Mesosphere Temporal - Thermosphere Earlobe - Exosphere
what is energy budget?
The balance between energy received from the sun and energy radiated back into space
What is the tropopause?
The boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.
what is albedo?
The fraction of light that a surface reflects
what is evaporation?
The process of a water changing from a liquid to a water vapour/gas.
What is atmospheric instability?
a condition where the Earth's atmosphere is generally considered to be unstable.
what is urban heat island?
a metropolitan area that's a lot warmer than the rural areas surrounding it
what are anti-cyclonic conditions?
areas of high pressure
what is hail?
large balls of ice
what are the upper westerlies?
prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude.
what is specific heat capacity?
the amount of heat absorbed or released per unit mass of the substance to change its temperature by one unit.
What is adiabatic cooling?
the cooling of air as it rises due to expansion
What is sublimation?
the process in which a solid changes directly into a gas
What is the greenhouse effect?
the process through which heat is trapped near Earth's surface by substances known as 'greenhouse gases.'
What is the dew point temperature?
the temperature at which saturation occurs
what is advection?
when a large mass of air moves over a cooler surface.
what is reflection?
when light bounces off an object
What is a katabatic wind?
wind blowing down an incline such as a mountain
how many kilometers is the troposphere?
0 to 12 km
how many kilometers is the stratosphere?
12 to 50km
