Module 3: Weather - Vocabulary

2. wind patterns that circulate air throughout the globe due to warm air rising at the equator and cold air sinking at the poles.
4. an instrument used to measure wind speed.
5. water that is pulled by gravity across land’s surface, it is unabsorbed water from rain, snowmelt, irrigation or other sources
6. a front that forms where warm air moves over cold, denser air.
8. a large body of air where there is the same temperature and moisture content throughout.
11. the amount of water vapor in the air.
13. how much salt is dissolved in a liquid
14. a front that forms where cold air moves under warm air, which is less dense, and pushes the warm air up.
16. forms when a cold air mass meets a warm air mass.
17. any form of water that falls to the Earth’s surface.
19. the movement of air caused by differences in air pressure.
23. a mixture of gasses that surrounds a planet or moon.
24. the curving of the path of a moving object due to Earth’s rotation.
25. how much the air above you weighs.
27. the ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air to the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold at a temperature.
28. an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure.
29. the change of state from a gas to a liquid.

1. the transfer of energy as heat through a material or from one material to another through direct contact.
3. the increased cooling that a wind can cause
7. the temperature at which water vapor condenses due to saturation.
9. occurs because the atmosphere allows more sunlight in than it lets heat escape.
10. a front that forms when a warm air mass is caught between two colder air masses.
12. the continuous process by which water moves from Earth’s surface to the atmosphere and back, driven by energy from the sun and gravity; also called the water cycle
15. wind patterns determined by unequal heating of geographical features
18. an instrument that measures and indicates temperature.
20. a gradual increase in average global temperature due to an increase in certain atmospheric gasses.
21. the relationship between the mass of the substance and how much space it takes up (volume)
22. a horizontal movement of ocean water caused by wind and occurs at, or near, the ocean’s surface.
24. the transfer of thermal energy by the circulation or movement of a liquid or gas.
26. the transfer of energy as electromagnetic waves.