Meteorology

The envelope of gases that surround the planet and are held to it by the planet's gravitational attraction. The earths atmosphere is mainly nitrogen and oxygen.

A colorless and odorless gas that occupys about 78 percent of the earths atmosphere

A colorless and odorless gas that occupies about 21 percent of dry air in the lower atmosphere.

carbon dixode and water combined. Extremely important to our atmosphere.

A colorless and ordorless gas whose concentration is about 0.037 in a volume of air near sea level. It is selective absorber of infraded radiation and, consequently, it is important to the earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect.

An almost colorless gaseous form of oxygen with and odor similar to to weak chlorine. The highest natural concentration is found in the stratosphere where it is known as stratospheric ozone. It also forms in polluted air near the surface where it is the main ingredient of photochemical smog. Here it is called trophospheric ozone.

Tiny suspended solid particles or liquid droplets that enter the atmosphere from either natural or human sources, such as the burning of fossil fuelws. Sulfur-containing fossil fuels, such as as coal, produce fossil aerosals

Any gaseous, chemical or organic matter that contaminates the atmosphere, soil, or water

The release of gases dissolved in hot molten rock.

The ratio of the mass of a substance to the volume occupied by it. Air denstiy is usually expressed as g/cm3

The pressure exerted by the mass of air above a given point, usually expressed in millibars.

The rate at which an atmospheric variable decreases with height

An increase in air temperature with height often simply called an inversion

A balloon-borne instrument that measures and transmits pressure, temperature and humidity ti a ground-based receiving station

The layer of the atmosphere extending from the the earth's surface up to the tropopause

The layer of the atmosphere above the troposphere and below the mesosphere, generally characterized by an increase in temperature with height

The boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere

The atmospheric layer between the stratosphere and the thermosphere. Located at an average eleveation between 5o and 80 km above the earth's surface

The atmospheric layer above the mesosphere wher the temperature increases rapidly with height

An electrified region of the upper atmosphere where fairly large concentrations of ion and free electrons exist.

The condition of the atmosphere at any particular time and place

The elements of air temperature, air pressure, humidity, clouds, precipitation, visibility, and wind that deterimine the present state of the atmosphere, the weather

The accumulation of daily and seasonal events over a long period of time.

The region of the world typically described as being between 30 and 50 latitdude

A cyclonic storm that most oftens forms along a front in middle and high latitudes. It is not a tropical storm or a hurricane

A tropical cyclone having winds in excess of 64 knots

A local storm produced by cumulonimbus clouds. Always accompaniesd by lighting and thunder.

An intense, rotating column of aif that often protrudes from a cumulonimbus cloud in the shape of a funnel or a rope whose circulation is present on the ground.

Air in motion relative to the earth's surface.

The direction from which the wind is blowing

The transition zone between two distinct air masses

THe study of the atmosphere and the atmospheric phenomena as well as the atmosphere's interaction with the earth's surface, oceans and life in general