What Causes Climate?
The average, year-after-year conditions of temperature and precipitation in an area
What is climate?
A temporary warm-water event in the Pacific Ocean
What is El Niño?
A small area with climate conditions different from those around it
What is a microclimate?
The gases that trap heat in the atmosphere
What are greenhouse gases?
The 4 main factors that influence temperature.
What are latitude, altitude, distance from large bodies of water, and ocean currents?
The motion of the ocean that brings up tiny organisms, minerals, and other nutrients from the deepest layers of the water
What is Upwelling?
California's Mojave Desert is an example of this climate
What is arid?
True or false: Deserts of the arid region get less than 25 centimeters of rain per year
What is true?
The gradual increase in Earth's average temperature
What is global warming?
True or false: The leeward side of the mountain gets the most rainfall?
What is false? (That's the windward side)
The current that helps keep California coastal climates mild in winter
What is the Davidson Current?
What is arid or semiarid?
The term for permanently frozen soil in the polar region
What is permafrost?
The measurement of how much carbon dioxide each person adds to the atmosphere
What is Carbon Footprint?
The cause of the seasons.
This term describes the level of salt in water.
What is salinity?
True or false: As altitude increases, temperature increases.
What is false? (As altitude increases, temperature decreases)
This climate always has temperatures that are at or below freezing
What is Ice Cap?
The major cause of ozone depletion
What are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)?
Breezes over a large region that change direction with the seasons
What are monsoons (seasonal winds)?
Deep currents are caused by differences in the density of ocean water. Deep currents move and mix water around the world. They carry cold water from ___________ toward the equator.
What are the poles in the Polar Zone?
This part of Earth has seasons that are opposite to those of the Northern Hemisphere.
What is the Southern Hemisphere?
The climate of northeastern United States
What is Humid Continental?
The cold, glacial periods in Earth's history are called this
What are the Ice Ages?