Climate and Climate Change Review

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core climate, atmospheric circulation, global wind patterns, climate history proxies, and greenhouse effect concepts from Chapter 21.

Industrial Greenhouse Gases

The four main industrial gases that trap heat in the atmosphere: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases.

Three-Cell Model

A model of global wind patterns that deciphers three convection cells in each hemisphere bordered by alternating bands of high and low pressure.

Subtropical Jet Stream

A jet stream that flows in high altitude between the trade winds and the westerlies.

Polar Jet Stream

A jet stream that flows in high altitude along the polar front.

Coriolis Effect

The force that deflects high-altitude air at boundaries between climate cells, causing jet streams to form.

Horse Latitudes

The region located around $30^\text{o}\text{ N/S}$ latitude where global winds are calm or very weak, historically named because Spanish ships became stranded in calm waters and horses were thrown overboard.

Tree Ring Indicators

Annual growth rings in trees that become smaller and thinner during cool, dry years.

Atmosphere Warming (Past 50 Years)

The observed global temperature increase of $0.8^\text{o}\text{C}$ in the atmosphere over the past 50 years.

Plankton Temperature Proxies

Microscopic organisms used to determine past water temperatures based on species survival preferences in warm versus cold water and their oxygen isotope ratios.

Factors Driving Planetary Climate

The three fundamental energy factors that determine heat available for climate and weather: energy input, energy absorbed, and energy reflected.

Trade Winds

Global wind belts located between the equator and $30^\text{o}$ latitude that blow toward the equator from the northeast and southeast.

Prevailing Westerlies

Global wind belts located between $30^\text{o}$ and $60^\text{o}$ latitude marks.

Polar Easterlies

Global wind belts located between $60^\text{o}$ latitude and the North/South Poles, where cold air sinks at the poles and deflects from the east.

Polar Front

The latitude line around $60^\text{o}\text{ N/S}$ where the prevailing westerlies and polar easterlies converge.

Ancient Sea Sediment Fossils

The most useful geological method for determining Earth's temperatures up to one billion years ago.

Oxygen-16 ($^{16}\text{O}$)

The lighter isotope of oxygen that evaporates more easily than oxygen-18 ($^{18}\text{O}$).

Oxygen Isotope Ratio ($^{16}\text{O}/^{18}\text{O}$)

A ratio measured in glacial ice and calcium carbonate organisms to determine past mean ocean temperatures.

Subtropical Deserts

Large deserts situated around $30^\text{o}$ latitude created because dry air is sinking and warming.

Urban Heat Island Effect

A phenomenon where cities are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas due to trapped air pollutants, low-pressure systems, and rising warm air.

Faint Young Sun

The condition early in Earth's history when the sun was approximately $30\text{\%}$ fainter than it is today.

Holocene Climate

The climate of the past $10{,}000\text{ years}$, which has been mild compared to the previous $100{,}000\text{ years}$.

Antarctic Coal Deposits

Geological evidence indicating that the climate in Antarctica was warm and wet in the past.

Albedo

The measure of reflectivity of surfaces like glaciers and snowfields, which cools climate by reflecting solar energy back into space.

Carbonic Acid

The acid formed when carbon dioxide gas dissolves in seawater.

Doldrums

An equatorial ocean region characterized by calm or very light winds.

Methane Release from Permafrost

The release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, caused by the thawing and melting of permafrost.

Human-Induced Carbon Emissions Share

The statistic that nearly $80\text{\%}$ of human-induced carbon emissions occur through industry and agriculture.

Non-Linear Climate Feedback

The property of the climate system where relationships are non-linear, meaning small changes can produce substantially larger consequences.