global hazards

• The albedo effect is the amount a surface reflects the Sun's rays back into space.
• An anemometer is the instrument used to measure wind speed.
• The Beaufort Scale measures wind speed, ranging from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane).
• Climate is the average weather recorded over at least 30 years.
• A climate zone is an area with a distinctive precipitation and prevailing wind patterns.
• Condensation is when gas turns to liquid.
• The Coriolis effect is the way the spinning of the Earth makes winds veer to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
• Drought is a period when the is much less precipitation over a specific time than is usual for an area, leading to water shortages.
• El niño is an event that occurs when weak trade winds blowing east to west allow surface temperatures to increase.
• Environmental consequence impacts that affect natural environments.
• Evaporation is liquid turning to gas.
• Evapotranspiration is the evaporation of water from plants and soil.
• A flash flood is flooding that appears very quickly as a result of heavy rain.
• Front is the boundary at which warm air and cool air meet.
• G.I.S. is a computer system that stores, analyses and presents different types of geographical data in map form.
• The Global Circulation System is the movement of air around the world.
• The Hadley cell is the largest section of the global circulation model, found above the tropics and caused by heating and cooling of the Earth's atmosphere.
• Hazards are extreme events that pose a threat to people's lives and property.
• High pressure is cold air mass pressing down on Earth.
• A hurricane is a term given to a tropical storm in the USA or Caribbean.
• Infrastructure is a country's transport and communication networks and essential services, such as train routes, water supply and hospitals.
• Insolation is the radiatoion from the sun that reaches the Earth.
• Jet stream is a strong wind high in the atmosphere.
• Katabatic winds are caused by air flowing downhill.
• La niña is an event that occurs when strong trade winds blowing east to west reduce surface temperatures.
• Long term aid helps the given to repair and rebuild after a disaster.
• Low pressure is warm air mass rising up from the Earth.
• Mitigation is action taken to make something less severe.
• NGO

  • Non Governmental Organisations.
• An example of an NGO.

  Oxfam
• Precipitation is water vapour that is released from clouds and falls to Earth as rain, sleet, snow or hail.
• Prevailing winds are from the most common direction in any given place.
• Primary effects are direct impacts from an event, such as strong winds in storm damaging buildings.
• Radiation is light and heat energy.
• Rain shadow is the leeward side of mountains, there's little rain.
• Safirr-Simpson scale is the measure of wind speed in tropical storms ranging from Category 1 (118-153km/h) to Category 5 (249km/h +).
• What is Category 1 on the Safirr-Simpson scale?

  118-153km/h
• What is Category 5 on the Safirr-Simpson scale?

  249km/h +
• Secondary effects are impacts from an event that occur in the days and weeks after, such as blocked roads or no clean water supply.
• Trade winds blow from high to low pressure belts.