Weather Wonder I
This is the name for a scientist who studies the atmosphere and predicts weather.
Who is a meteorologist?
The measurement of the depth of bodies of water and mapping of the ocean floor
What is bathymetry?
While often used interchangeably, this term refers specifically to a *severe* thunderstorm with rotating updrafts, a key ingredient for tornado formation.
What is a supercell?
These are the deepest marine habitat on Earth, and are defined as any environment below 6,000 m
What are hadal zones?
This warm, swift, and well-defined Atlantic current brings tropical waters northward along the eastern coastline of the United States.
What is the Gulf Stream?
These colorful rings of light sometimes appear around the sun or moon, caused by the refraction of light through ice crystals in the atmosphere.
What are halos?
This type of low-altitude, sheet-like cloud often covers the entire sky, resembling a featureless gray blanket.
What are stratus clouds?
A large body of air with horizontally uniform temperature, humidity, and pressure.
What is an air mass?
A process of bringing cold, nutrient-rich waters to the ocean surface
What is upwelling?
This index combines atmospheric instability and wind shear to estimate the potential for severe thunderstorm development, with higher values indicating a greater risk.
What is the CAPE-shear index?
This process, driven by density differences caused by variations in temperature and salinity, plays a critical role in global ocean circulation.
What is thermohaline circulation?
This Pacific Ocean circulation pattern is characterized by unusually warm surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific, impacting global weather patterns.
What is El Niño?
A weather phenomenon in which falling rain or snow evaporates before reaching the ground
What is virga?
These towering vertical clouds can produce thunderstorms, heavy rain, hail, and even tornadoes.
What are cumulonimbus clouds?
A visible funnel-shaped rotation, extending from the base of a cumuliform cloud or thunderstorm
What is a tornado?
The name of the deepest known point in the world's oceans.
What is the Mariana Trench?
Named after a Norwegian meteorologist, this model describes the formation, development, and dissipation of mid-latitude cyclones.
What is the Polar Front Theory (or the Norwegian Cyclone Model)?
These slow-growing, potato-shaped rocks found on the deep ocean floor are rich in valuable metals like manganese, nickel, and copper.
What are manganese nodules?
This large, circular flow of ocean currents is driven by global wind patterns and the Earth's rotation, found in major ocean basins.
What is a gyre?
This rare weather event is caused by ice crystals oriented in a certain direction reflect the sun upward
What are light pillars?
This is the name for the high-altitude, wispy clouds made of ice crystals and often associated with fair weather.
What are cirrus clouds?
The name for lines that connect points of equal atmospheric pressure on a weather map
What are isobars?
A ring-shaped coral reef, island, or chain of islands that forms a lagoon.
What is an atoll?
This phenomenon, caused by ice crystals reflecting sunlight, often appears as bright pillars of light extending above or below the sun.
What are sun pillars?
This is the scientific study of bioluminescent organisms and the biochemical reactions behind them in marine environments.
What is marine photobiology?
This current is a cold, southward-flowing current along the western coast of South America, known for its nutrient-rich waters that support abundant marine life.
What is the Humboldt Current (or the Peru Current)?
This atmospheric optical phenomenon occurs when sunlight is refracted and dispersed in water droplets, creating a spectrum of colors in the sky.
What is a rainbow?
These are the puffy, mid-level clouds sometimes described as "sheep's wool", often appearing in patches or layers.
What are altocumulus clouds?
This scale is used to measure the intensity of tornadoes based on the damage they cause.
What is the Enhanced Fujita Scale?
This is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water.
What is a seiche?
The geostrophic wind is a theoretical wind that results from a balance between these two forces.
What are the pressure gradient force and the Coriolis force?
This geological theory explains the process of the creation of insular landmasses via tectonic or volcanic activity.
What is emergent land?
The movement of ocean water in a vertical direction caused by winds, temperature and salinity differences
What is upwelling or downwelling?
This weather phenomenon is a sudden heavy downfall of rain along a very narrow area.
What is a rain bomb?
This mid-level cloud is composed of ice crystals or water droplets and often appears as a grayish or bluish-gray sheet, sometimes covering the entire sky.
What are altostratus clouds?