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MYSTERY
CLOUDS: GLOSSARY
Aerosols - small airborne particles or non cloud droplets
Climate Change - an evolution
of the characteristics of the atmosphere over long time scales: years,
decades or longer
Condense - the process
of matter, for instance water, changing from one form to a more dense
form, such as vapor to liquid or solid.
Condensation Nuclei - particles
upon which water vapor condense to form cloud ice crystals
Evaporation - the process
by which liquid water gains enough energy to form vapor
Ozone - an important molecule
in the atmosphere consisting of three oxygen atoms
Mesosphere - the layer
of the atmosphere above the stratosphere
Mesopause - the upper boundary
of the mesosphere
Meteoric Dust - left from passing comets and collected as the Earth travels though their orbits
Nucleation - when a small
particle serves as a "nucleus" or central core around which
ice can grow from either liquid or gaseous water
Pressure - a force per
unit area exerted by a fluid such as air
Saturated - when the air holds as much water vapor as it possibly can for its temperature and pressure
Stratopause - the upper
boundary of the stratosphere
Stratosphere - the layer
of the atmosphere above the troposphere
Thermosphere- the layer of the atmosphere above the mesosphere
Tropopause - the upper
boundary of the troposphere
Troposphere - the lowermost
layer of the atmosphere
Water Vapor - water molecules
in the gas phase
Weather - see Weather
and Climate |
