Unit 8 Vocabulary

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Deep Ocean Currents: Deep ocean currents are driven by density and temperature gradients. Thermohaline circulation, also known as the ocean's conveyor belt, refers to the deep ocean density-driven ocean basin currents. The ocean becoming colder the farther down you swim.
Weather Front: A weather front is a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities, and is the principal cause of meteorological phenomena. The space between very warm and cold air.
Prevailing Winds: A wind from the direction that is predominant at a particular place or season. Stronger winds facing near Alaska.
La Niña: A cooling of the water in the equatorial Pacific that occurs at irregular intervals and is associated with widespread changes in weather patterns complementary to those of El Niño, but less extensive and damaging in their effects. Water decreasing in temperature in the Pacific.
Air Pressure: Air pressure is the force exerted on you by the weight of tiny particles of air (air molecules). Although air molecules are invisible, they still have weight and take up space. The air pressure in a balloon.
Coriolis Effect: An effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force (the Coriolis force ) acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems. Ocean currents pushed by wind.
Anemometer: An instrument for measuring the speed of the wind, or of any current of gas. An anemometer used to check windspeed before golfing.
Humidity: A quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or a gas. The water on a foggy morning.
Psychrometer: A hygrometer consisting of a wet-bulb and a dry-bulb thermometer, the difference in the two thermometer readings being used to determine atmospheric humidity. A psychrometer used to find the humidity of an animal enclosure.
Jet Stream: A narrow, variable band of very strong, predominantly westerly air currents encircling the globe several miles above the earth. There are typically two or three jet streams in each of the northern and southern hemispheres. Planes experiencing slower flight as they fight a jet stream.
El Niño: An irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December. Water heating up near Peru.
Air Mass: A body of air with horizontally uniform temperature, humidity, and pressure. The air mass in a car.
Convection Current: A current in a fluid that results from convection. The currents in the asthenosphere that move tectonic plates.
Atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet. The gasses that surround Mars.