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Jet Stream
A fast-flowing, narrow air current in the upper atmosphere.
What is the primary cause of the water cycle?
Thermal Energy from the Sun
What is Atmospheric Pressure?
It is the force caused by the weight of air pushed down on a surface.
What do we call the measurement for water vapor in the air around us?
Humidity
What causes deep ocean currents?
Density of the water from temperature and salinity.
Air Mass
A huge volume of air that has consistent temperature and moisture.
What causes the Coriolis Effect?
Earth's Rotation
What causes surface ocean currents?
Temperature, winds, and Earth's rotation.
Does air pressure increase or decrease with altitude?
Decrease
Do denser waters from the polar regions move toward the less dense water of the tropics?
Yes
Relative Humidity
Amount of water vapor in the air compared to the maximum it could hold.
What type of air mass would form over land near the equator?
Continental Tropical
What are the conditions for a Maritime Polar air mass?
Cool, Moist
What type of storm always forms over a large body of warm water?
Hurricane
What causes ocean current to move in a curved pattern?
Earth's Rotation
Coriolis Effect
Apparent deflection of moving objects on a rotating planet, making them seem to curve from a straight path due to the Earth's spin.
What is the boundary between air masses called?
A Front
What is the causation of flooding?
Short periods of heavy rainfall.
What process keeps Earth warm?
Greenhouse Effect
In what typical direction does the weather move in Oakland, MD?
A mobile, destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system.
Tornado
What is the difference between a stationary and occluding front?
Stationary fronts are when warm and cold fronts meet but are not moving, Occluded fronts are when 2 cold air masses sandwich a warm front causing the warm front to rise and cold fronts then mix together.
What causes local winds?
Temperature, and ocean currents.
How do ocean currents affect the weather?
They can affect the air temperatures around them.
How does conduction work?
Conduction happens when thermal energy is passed through matter by touch.