Atmospheric Composition
The gas that is most abundant in the atmosphere
What is nitrogen?
The transfer of thermal energy by electromagnetic waves
What is radiation?
What is the troposphere?
When a warm air mass rises, cools adiabatically, and condenses
What is the cloud formation process?
A large volume of air that has the same characteristics, such as humidity and temperature, as its source region
What is an air mass?
The gas that is second most abundant in the atmosphere
What is oxygen?
The transfer of thermal energy between objects when their molecules collide
What is conduction?
The layer that contains the ozone layer and ends at the stratopause
What is the stratosphere?
The cloud classes that could contain ice crystals
What are middle, high, and vertical development?
The study of the physics, chemistry, and dynamics of atmospheric phenomena
What is meteorology?
Three solid particles found in the atmosphere
What are salt, dust, and ice?
The transfer of thermal energy by the movement of heated material from one place to another
What is convection?
The outermost layer that has no clear endpoint and blends into outer space
The small particles in the atmosphere around which water droplets condense
What are condensation nuclei?
Winds found between 30 and 60 degrees north and 30 and 60 degrees south latitude
What are the prevailing westerlies?
Trace gases found in the atmosphere
What are methane, argon, water vapor, ozone, etc.?
The freezing point of water on the Celsius scale
What is 0 degrees?
The movement of cooler, denser, higher-pressure air to an area of warmer, less dense, lower-pressure air
The prefix cirro-
What is a cloud prefix meaning high altitudes?
Two reasons for Earth’s uneven surface heating
What are the tilt of Earth on its axis and the albedo of surface materials?
The layers of Earth’s atmosphere in order from closest to farthest from Earth
What are the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere?
The boiling point of water on the Fahrenheit scale
What is 212 degrees?
A cycle in which air is warmed near Earth’s surface, causing it to rise, then cooled higher in the atmosphere, causing it to sink
What is a convection current?
The basis for cloud shape
What is altitude of formation?
The type of air mass formed over an ocean at 14 degrees south latitude
What is a maritime tropical air mass?