Environment

Climate is the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time. Convection is the transfer of heat through a fluid (liquid or gas) caused by molecular motion. Monsoons are any wind that changes direction with the seasons. Succulent plants are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climate or soil conditions. Prairies have moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Arctic Tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. Permafrost is ground that is permanently frozen. Deciduous refers to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally. Coniferous is of or relating to or part of trees or shrubs bearing cones and evergreen leaves. Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current that flows from the Gulf of Mexico northward through the Atlantic Ocean. Greenhouse Effect is warming that results when solar radiation is trapped by the atmosphere. Rain Shadow Effect is an area of land that has suffered desertification from proximity to mountain ranges. Savannas are a tropical grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced. Temperate grasslands is a biome whose predominant vegetation consists of grasses and/or shrubs. Chaparral is dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes. Boreal Forest relates to the forest areas of the northern North Temperate Zone, dominated by coniferous trees such as spruce, fir, and pine. Taiga is a biome characterized by conifer forests. Weather is right now, whereas climate is overtime. Five factors that determine the temperature of the earth are solar radiation, which can be prevented by changing the incoming solar radiation, by changing the fraction of solar radiation that is reflected, and by altering the long wave radiation from Earth back towards space. Volcanic eruption, because the dust blocks the sunlight from coming in. Carbon Dioxide, which in access will heat up the earth. eccentricity, controls the shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Lastly, the Earth rotates on its polar axis, it wobbles like a spinning top changing the orbital timing of the equinoxes and solstices Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. The major four are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The rain shadow effect occurs when a mountain or a large hill blocks the rain from one side leaving a desert on one side and fertile land on the other. The seven major biomes are the Tundra which is very difficult to have human life due to the extreme cold weather, Tropical Forest which is the most species rich of all, Grasslands which are much like swamp, Taiga are characterized by conifer forests, Savannah are characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced, Desert is very dry and hot, and Temperate Forest grow in regions with moderate temperatures, found north and south of tropical forests. Temperate grasslands are classified with temperate savannas and shrub lands. Polar grasslands are when tundra’s have grass, but due to the high moisture levels in the soil there is not a lot of grass. Tropical grasslands are temperate grasslands often located in Savannah. If the permafrost melts, I believe that eventually the creatures that depend on the cold may migrate or die off. Also, when all the glaciers melt, they could possibly flood over part of the dry land in Antarctica and cause an underwater world like Atlantis. The melted permafrost could soften the dirt and cause the edges to be unstable. The rainforest helps the greenhouse effect, because it traps the gases in the rainforest instead of in the atmosphere. However, when they are destroyed by humans, mainly, the gases are released. Mountains regulate the earth’s climate, by acting as a blockade, so that all areas around the mountain do not get the same weather.