Weather & Climate
The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place
Weather
Provide the two principal gases in air
Nitrogen and oxygen
The layer where weather occurs
Troposphere
Earth’s 24-hour motion
Rotation
Energy from motion of atoms or molecules
Heat (thermal energy)
The aggregate of weather observations over many years
Climate
The amount of water vapor in the air
Humidity
The boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere
Tropopause
The tilt of Earth’s axis
Inclination of Earth’s axis
Average kinetic energy of particles
Temperature
Name three elements of weather
Temperature, humidity, cloudiness, precipitation, air pressure, wind
Tiny solid or liquid particles in air
Aerosols
The layer where meteors burn up
Mesosphere
The longest day of the year
Summer solstice
Heat transfer through circulation of a fluid
Convection
The ozone layer protects us from these rays
Ultraviolet (UV)
O₃ is called this
Ozone
The layer with extremely hot but sparse particles
Thermosphere
When day and night are both 12 hours worldwide
Equinox
Fraction of radiation reflected by a surface
Albedo
The atmosphere is divided into layers based on this
Temperature oscillations
What layer contains most ozone?
Stratosphere
What generally happens to pressure as altitude increases?
Pressure decreases with altitude
Earth’s axial tilt causes differential exposure to sunlight throughout the year, which causes these
Seasons
Gases that absorb long wavelengths and trap heat cause this effect
Greenhouse effect