Term
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Definition
| The average surface conditions and their variation during these cycles of solar forcing. |
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Term
| Which are the parts of the climate system? |
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Definition
| It includes all parts of the Earth system and all the interactions needed to explain how climate behaves in space and time. The main components of the climate system are the atmosphere, hyrdosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. |
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Term
| What are the layers of the Atmosphere? |
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Definition
| Troposphere, the lowest layer with an average thickness of 11 km and convects vigorously owing to surface heating by the Sun. The above layer is the stratosphere a colder, dryer layer that extends to an altitude of about 50 km. |
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Term
| Percentages of salt water and fresh water |
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Definition
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Term
| What is Thermohaline Circulation? And how is it driven? |
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Definition
| A three-dimensional pattern of ocean circulation driven by differences in temperature and salinity that is an important componentof the ocean-atmosphere climate system. |
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Term
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Definition
| Atmospheric changes with short time scales of few weeks. |
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Term
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Definition
| molecular nitrogen (78vol%) oxygen (21vol%) other gases (argon, carbon, dioxide, water vapor, ozone, methane, etc.) |
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Term
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Definition
| The ice component of the climate system that consists of ice caps, glaciers, floatingice, sea ice, and frozen lakes and river. |
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Term
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Definition
| The land surface is the most important to the climate system, makes up 30 percent of Earth's total area. |
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Term
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Definition
| Comprises all organisms living near Earth's surface: plants, animals, and microbes, both marine and terrestrial. |
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Term
| what effects does the lithosphere have on the climate? |
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Definition
| Absorbs solar energy, emits thermal radiation, topography affects wind and rain patterns, volcanism affects atmospheric dust level, weathering effects atmospheric composition. |
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Term
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Definition
| The reflectivity of solar radiation at a surface. |
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Term
| What is the greenhouse effect? |
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Definition
| A global warming effect in which the planet with an atmosphere containing greenhouse gases radiates solar energy back into space less efficiently than it would without an atmosphere. |
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Term
| What was the last ice age? |
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Definition
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Term
| What was the name of the last glaciation? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| What are the Milankovitch cycles? |
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Definition
| Astronomical cycles that cause periodic variations in the amount of heat Earth receives from the Sun. Such cycles include the eccentricity of Earth's orbit; the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation; and precession, Earth's wobble about its axis of rotation. |
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