Global Climate Change - High School

You'll be in hot water if you don't review this list of terms related to global climate change. Study climatology as you explore the four major Earth systems — atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere — and consider human impacts on global warming.
38 words 1012 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. acidification
    the process of shifting toward the lower end of the pH scale
  2. aerosol
    a cloud of solid or liquid particles in a gas
  3. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  4. albedo
    the ratio of reflected to incident light
  5. atmosphere
    the mass of air surrounding the Earth
  6. biomass
    the total amount of living matter in a given unit area
  7. biosphere
    the regions of the Earth where living organisms exist
  8. carbon cycle
    the organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again
  9. carbon dioxide
    a colorless, odorless greenhouse gas essential for photosynthesis
  10. chlorofluorocarbon
    a fluorocarbon with chlorine
  11. climate
    the weather in some location averaged over a period of time
  12. climate change
    a shift in the world's average weather and temperature
  13. climatology
    meteorology of climates and their phenomena
  14. combustion
    a reaction of a substance with oxygen to give heat and light
  15. conduction
    the transmission of heat or electricity or sound
  16. convection
    movement of heat by massive motion within the atmosphere
  17. coral reef
    a reef consisting of coral consolidated into limestone
  18. desertification
    a gradual transformation into arid, uninhabitable land
  19. earth
    the solid part of the earth's surface
  20. emission
    a substance that is released
  21. fossil fuel
    energy-producing substance derived from preserved organisms
  22. geosphere
    the solid part of the Earth
  23. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  24. global warming
    a rise in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere
  25. greenhouse effect
    warming due to solar radiation trapped by the atmosphere
  26. greenhouse gas
    a substance in the air that warms a planet by trapping heat
  27. hydrosphere
    the watery layer of the earth's surface
  28. ice cap
    a mass of ice and snow that permanently covers a large area of land (e.g., the polar regions or a mountain peak)
  29. impact
    a forceful consequence; a strong effect
  30. methane
    a colorless, odorless gas used as a fuel
  31. population
    a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting an area
  32. precipitation
    the falling to earth of any form of water
  33. radiation
    energy transmitted in the form of rays or waves or particles
  34. sea level
    level of the ocean's surface
  35. solar radiation
    radiation from the sun
  36. temperature
    the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment
  37. volcano
    a fissure in the earth's crust through which gases erupt
  38. weather
    atmospheric conditions such as temperature and precipitation
Created on Thu Jan 26 15:21:47 EST 2017 (updated Wed Apr 12 13:35:44 EDT 2017)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.