Air
This is a huge volume of air that has the same temperature and moisture levels throughout.
What is an Air Mass?
Wind always moves from ___________ to _____________.
What is from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure?
Scientists use this technology, which uses sound waves, to map the features of the dark ocean floor.
What is Sonar?
While "weather" is what is happening right now, this term describes the average weather conditions over a long period.
What is Climate?
This "engine" at the center of the Earth provides the initial energy that keeps our air and ocean currents moving.
What is the Sun?
This term describes the specific area where an air mass forms, like the Gulf of Mexico or the Arctic.
What is a source region?
Because the Earth rotates, the winds on earth will...
What is curve?
What is the Coriolis Effect?
Debris from flight MH370 was found on the coast of Africa, thousands of miles from the crash site, because of these.
What are ocean currents?
What are surface currents?
While "climate" describes the average weather conditions over a long period, this term refers to what is happening right now in the atmosphere.
What is weather?
If a "trough" or big dip in the Jet Stream moves south over New Mexico, our weather will likely do this.
It would get colder.
This type of front occurs when a cold air mass pushes under a warm air mass, often causing heavy rain or thunderstorms.
What is a cold front?
These are narrow belts of high-speed winds found in the upper atmosphere that pilots use to travel faster from West to East.
What are the Jet Streams?
This is the vast, flat area of the deep ocean floor where debris might settle and stay still.
What is the Abyssal Plain?
In general, as your distance from the Equator (latitude) increases, the average temperature does this.
What is decreases/gets colder?
What happens to the atoms/molecules of an object as they get warmer?
They move faster
An air mass labeled "mP" (Maritime Polar) would be described as having these two characteristics.
What is cold and moist/wet?
This specific type of breeze happens at night when cold, dense air flows from mountain slopes down into a valley
What is a mountain breeze?
While wind pushes surface currents, these two factors (which change water density) "push and pull" deep-sea currents.
What is temperature/heat and salt/salinity?
What are some factors that can influence the amount of precipitation (rain/snow/etc) an area gets, and therefore its climate?
What are bodies of water, mountains, latitude, and wind patterns
Based upon what we've learned this year, what is the "overall pattern" that is happening to Earth’s energy
What is the Earth is gaining/trapping more energy/warming up?
This is the reason why warm air always rises over cold air when two air masses meet.
What is density / Warm Air is less dense
New Mexico is located at roughly 35°N latitude, meaning we are primarily influenced by this global wind belt.
What are the Westerlies?
This is the name of the "global conveyor belt" in the Atlantic that moves heat toward Europe.
What is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (The AMOC)?
Kate says you can look at the weather outside and know the climate of the area. How is Kate wrong?
Kate is wrong because climate requires: seeing patterns over a long period of time.
Explain how a melting ice sheet in the North Atlantic could eventually lead to a drought in the African Saharan Desert
Melting ice adds freshwater -> lowers salinity -> weakens the AMOC conveyor belt -> changes precipitation patterns and shifts the tropical rain belt southward.