Glaciers
Large bodies of ice that slowly move across the earth's surface
Water Cycle
The movement of water from ocean to air to ground and back to ocean
Evaporation
Changing of liquid into vapor
Condensation
Changing of excess water vapor into liquid water when warm air cools
Precipitation
Moisture released by clouds
Groundwater
Freshwater that lies beneath the earth's surface
Aquifer
An underground porous rock layer often saturated with water
Water Vapor
Water in the form of gas.
Collection
Streams and Rivers both above and below the ground carry the water back to the oceans
Weather
Refers to the unpredictable changes in air that take place over a short period of time
Climate
Refers to the predictable change in air that takes place over a long period of time
Tropics
Lie between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn, the areas near the equator
Monsoons
Tremendous seasonal winds that blow over continents for months at a time
Tornadoes
Funnel shaped wind storms that sometimes form during severe thunderstorms
Hurricanes
Violent tropical storm systems, form over the warm Atlantic Ocean
Typhoons
Hurricanes in Asia
Drought
A long period of extreme dryness
El Nino
They result from the combination of temperature, wind, and water effects in the Pacific Ocean
La Nina
Spanish for girl, Winds from the East become very strong cooling more of the Pacific
Currents
Moving streams of water
Local winds
Patterns of winds caused by landforms in a particular area
Rain shadow
A dry area on the side of the mountains facing away from the wind
Greenhouse effect
The gases prevent the warm air from rising and escaping the atmosphere
Rain forest
Along the equator you can see dense forest that receives high amounts of rain each year
Canopy
Top layer of the forest
Savannas
Broad grasslands with few trees
Marine West Coast climate
Winters are rainy and mild and summers are cool, strong growth of deciduous trees that lose leaves in the fall. Some of these area receive heavy rain
Mediterranean climate
Mild rainy winter, hot dry summers, vegetation is shrubs and short trees, some are evergreens but others lose their leaves in the dry season
Humid Continental climate
Winters can be long cold and snowy, summers are short but may be very hot, deciduous trees grow in forests and vast grasslands flourish in some areas
Humid Subtropical climate
Rainfall falls throughout the year but are heaviest during the hot and humid summer months. Winters are genuinely short and mild, trees like oak, magnolia and palms grow in the summer
Subarctic
Cold and bitter winters, temperatures do rise above freezing in the summer months. Huge evergreen forests called taiga grow in the subarctic region especially in North Russia
Tundra
Vast rolling plain without trees
Permafrost
The lower layer of soil in the tundra and subarctic regions
Steppes
Partly dry grasslands and prairies surrounding many deserts
Timerline
The elevation above which no trees grow