Chapter 4 Study Guide Flashcards
What does weather mean?
Day-to-day condition of Earth’s atmosphere in a particular place and time.
What is climate?
Year-to-year condition of temperature and precipitation in a particular region.
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
The natural situation where heat is retained by layers of greenhouse gasses.
What happens because the Earth is rotated on its axis?
Solar radiation varies throughout the year.
Where is the sun at the equator?
Overhead all year long.
What are Earth’s three main climate zones?
Polar, Temperate, and Tropical.
What is the polar zone?
A cold area that receives radiation at low angles.
What is the temperate zone?
An area where the climate ranges from hot to cold, depending on the season.
What is the tropical zone?
An area that receives direct or nearly direct radiation year-round, meaning the climate is always warm.
What drives Earth’s ocean and wind currents?
Unequal heating of Earth’s surface.
What do currents transport?
Heat.
Why does wind form?
Warm air rises and cold air sinks.
Why do ocean currents form?
Cold water near the poles sinks while warm water near the equator rises.
What can surface water be moved by?
Wind.
By transporting heat energy within the biosphere, what does the ocean do?
Moderates heat.
What interferes with air movement?
Land masses.
What is an example of a land mass that interferes with air movement?
Mountains.
What do mountain ranges do?
Cause moist air to form, which can eventually form rain on one side of the mountain, leaving the other side a desert.
What are rain shadows?
An area with a dry climate on the far side of the mountain.
How are rain shadows formed?
When mountain ranges form moist air and then form rain on the near side of the mountain.
What are biotic factors?
Living factors.
