Weather and Climate ✅ Flashcards
(36 cards)
What is weather?
Day to day changes in the atmosphere at a given time and place. It is measured by temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, cloud cover and air quality
What is climate?
The long term weather pattern of an area (total of average weather conditions recorded over 30 years.) It is measured by temperature, precipitation and wind
Why does weather happen?
- The sun heats the earth unevenly
- The earth warms the air which rises
- Rising air leads to wind because the colder air flow under to replace it
- The sun’s heat also causes water to evaporate making water vapour
- The air cools as it rises which makes the water cycle and then rain/snow/hail/etc
What are the layers of the atmosphere?
(From bottom to top)
Troposphere (0-10km), stratosphere (10-45km), mesosphere (45-80km),
thermosphere (80-700km),
exosphere (700-10,000km)
Where do the northern lights happen?
The thermosphere
Where does 99% of weather happen?
The troposphere cause that is where all the clouds are
What are the air masses?
Polar air mass
Tropical air mass
Maratime air mass
Continental air mass
What is the prevailing (most common)wind?
Warm ocean current
What do warming ocean currents do?
They transfer heat around the world which brings warm water from the Caribbean, which makes west coast areas warmer
How many days a year does it rain in Great Britain?
199 days a year
Where does most of our rain come from?
The Atlantic Ocean
Where is the rainiest city in the UK?
SwanSEA
Clues in the name 😜😂
Does the water cycle ever end?
NOOOOOOOO
the water cycle is never-ending, between sea, air and land.
It is also a closed system. That means no water is added or removed, so the amount of water in the cycle stays the same
What is a flow/ transfer?
Movement in the water cycle system
How do clouds form?
When the water evaporates, water vapour rises and condense around a nucleus, which the vapour sticks to. This forms a cloud, which gradually falls down and rains
What are the 3 main types of rain?
Frontal rainfall
Orographic/ Relief rainfall
Convection rainfall
What is Orographic rainfall?
When air forms clouds and rains.
Air is forced over the mountains which cools, condenses, makes clouds, and rains. Air descends then warms, which means there is less rainfall overall, so the clouds go and the rain stops. It’s called rain shadow
What is convection rainfall?
Unstable atmosphere, cauliflower clouds, smaller range.
Sun heats up the ground, so air rises fast through convection currents. As it rises, it cools quickly, so large clouds form, which are unable to hold all the water. This makes torrential rain and thunderstorms
What is frontal rainfall?
When 2 air masses meet.
Warm and cold air masses meet, so the warm air rises, making clouds, and is forced up so it rains
What is air pressure?
The weight of air pressing down on the earth’s surface.
What is the average air pressure?
1000mB
What are depressions and anticyclones?
The air molecules pack together, push down, and make higher air pressure so the weather gets warmer and makes and anticyclone. A depression is when it gets colder
What is an isobar?
Lines to join together points of the same pressure
What is low pressure a sign of?
Unsettled weather, stormy, cloudy, wet, windy
