Global Climate Change - Middle School

You'll be in hot water if you don't review this list of terms related to global climate change. Study climatology as you explore the four major Earth systems — atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere — and consider human impacts on global warming.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. acidification
    the process of shifting toward the lower end of the pH scale
  2. aerosol
    a cloud of solid or liquid particles in a gas
  3. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  4. atmosphere
    the mass of air surrounding the Earth
  5. biomass
    the total amount of living matter in a given unit area
  6. biosphere
    the regions of the Earth where living organisms exist
  7. carbon cycle
    the organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again
  8. carbon dioxide
    a colorless, odorless greenhouse gas essential for photosynthesis
  9. chlorofluorocarbon
    a fluorocarbon with chlorine
  10. climate
    the weather in some location averaged over a period of time
  11. climate change
    a shift in the world's average weather and temperature
  12. climatology
    meteorology of climates and their phenomena
  13. combustion
    a reaction of a substance with oxygen to give heat and light
  14. conduction
    the transmission of heat or electricity or sound
  15. convection
    movement of heat by massive motion within the atmosphere
  16. coral reef
    a reef consisting of coral consolidated into limestone
  17. desertification
    a gradual transformation into arid, uninhabitable land
  18. earth
    the solid part of the earth's surface
  19. emission
    a substance that is released
  20. fossil fuel
    energy-producing substance derived from preserved organisms
  21. geosphere
    the solid part of the Earth
  22. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  23. global warming
    a rise in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere
  24. greenhouse effect
    warming due to solar radiation trapped by the atmosphere
  25. greenhouse gas
    a substance in the air that warms a planet by trapping heat
  26. hydrosphere
    the watery layer of the earth's surface
  27. ice cap
    a mass of ice and snow that permanently covers a large area of land (e.g., the polar regions or a mountain peak)
  28. impact
    a forceful consequence; a strong effect
  29. methane
    a colorless, odorless gas used as a fuel
  30. population
    a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting an area
  31. precipitation
    the falling to earth of any form of water
  32. radiation
    energy transmitted in the form of rays or waves or particles
  33. sea level
    level of the ocean's surface
  34. solar radiation
    radiation from the sun
  35. temperature
    the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment
  36. volcano
    a fissure in the earth's crust through which gases erupt
  37. weather
    atmospheric conditions such as temperature and precipitation
Created on Thu Jan 26 16:03:20 EST 2017 (updated Wed Apr 12 13:31:58 EDT 2017)

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