Comprehensive Earth and Weather Systems: Storms, Climate, and Geology

What is a thunderstorm?

A violent short-lived low pressure weather disturbance associated with lightning, thunder, heavy rain, winds, and sometimes tornados.

How are thunderstorms formed?

They form when layers of warm, moist air rise in large, swift updrafts to cooler regions of the atmosphere, causing moisture to condense into clouds.

What are cumulonimbus clouds?

Towering clouds formed from the condensation of moisture in thunderstorm updrafts, often associated with precipitation.

What is Rmax in relation to storms?

Rmax is the distance from the storm's center, or eye, to where the strongest winds are found.

What is a tropical cyclone?

A rotating, low-pressure storm system that forms over warm tropical or subtropical waters, fueled by heat and moisture from the ocean.

What is storm surge?

An abnormal rise in sea level accompanying intense storms, calculated by subtracting the normal high tide from the observed storm tide.

What is the Inverse Barometer Effect?

The rise in sea level resulting from a reduction in atmospheric pressure above the ocean.

What causes Wind Set-Up in storm surges?

It is primarily caused by drag or stress on the sea surface due to wind.

What is Wave Run-Up?

The ultimate height reached by waves after running up the beach and coastal barrier.

What is physical vulnerability?

The potential for physical impact on the built environment and population, reflecting the degree of loss to elements at risk.

What is economic vulnerability?

The potential impacts of hazards on economic assets and processes, including business interruption and secondary effects like increased poverty.

What defines social vulnerability?

The potential impacts of events on groups such as the poor, single-parent households, and the elderly, highlighting characteristics that create potential for loss.

What is environmental vulnerability?

The potential impacts of events on the environment, arising from exposure to dangerous agents and weaknesses in protection.

How does climate differ from weather?

Climate is the long-term average of weather patterns in a region, while weather is the state of the atmosphere at a specific time.

What is climate change?

A change in the pattern of weather and related changes in oceans, land surfaces, and ice sheets, driven primarily by human activities.

What are natural causes of climate change?

Orbital variation, solar output fluctuations, and volcanism.

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

The process by which greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

What is the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change?

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the largest greenhouse gas.

What role does deforestation play in climate change?

Deforestation contributes to climate change by reducing the number of trees that can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

What is geomorphology?

The study of landforms and the processes that shape them, including the creation of mountains.

What is the study of the physical features of the Earth's surface called?

Geography

What layer of the Earth lies between the crust and the outer core?

Asthenosphere

What percentage of Earth's total volume does the asthenosphere make up?

About 84%

What is the consistency of the asthenosphere described as?

Having the consistency of caramel

What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?

A mineral is an inorganic natural compound with a specific chemical formula and crystalline structure, while a rock is an assemblage of minerals or a mass of a single mineral.

What are the three different types of rocks?

Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic

How do igneous rocks form?

They cool and solidify from magma.

What is the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks?

Intrusive rocks cool below the surface slowly, while extrusive rocks cool quickly on the surface.

What process breaks down rocks into fragments called clasts?

Weathering

What are the two classifications of sedimentary rocks?

Clastic and Chemical

What is metamorphic rock formed from?

Igneous or sedimentary rock transformed by high pressure and/or heating.

What is the theory of continental drift?

It proposes that continents have moved over geological time, originally proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912.

What is seafloor spreading?

The process where tectonic plates split apart, causing upwelling of magma.

What is subduction?

The process where denser oceanic crust converges with less dense continental crust and sinks into the mantle.

What are the three types of stress that rocks can experience?

Tension, Compression, and Shear

What is orogenesis?

The process of mountain generation.

What is the focus of an earthquake?

The subsurface area along a fault plane where seismic waves are initiated.

What is the epicenter of an earthquake?

The area at the surface directly above the focus.

What are the three types of volcanoes?

Cinder Cone, Shield, and Composite

What characterizes a cinder cone volcano?

It forms from blobs of congealed lava ejected from a single vent.

What is a shield volcano primarily built from?

Fluid lava flows that create a shield-like shape.

What defines a composite volcano?

It is built of alternating layers of lava flows, volcanic ash, cinders, blocks, and bombs.

What are P Waves in the context of earthquakes?

Primary waves that are the fastest traveling waves and can move through solid, liquid, and gas.