Weather and Climate Test Review Sheet (6th Grade)

  • Clouds begin to form when water vapor in the air reaches the correct altitude, dew point, and temperature.
  • Atmosphere layers are distinguished by their composition, temperature, and altitude.
  • Troposphere: layer of Earth’s atmosphere that is closest to Earth’s surface.
  • In the thermosphere, temperatures can increase up to 1,700°C.
  • When water in lakes and rivers evaporates, it changes to water vapor.
  • Temperature is a measure of how fast air molecules are moving.
  • Factors that can have an effect on weather include temperature, cloud cover, wind speed, humidity, air pressure, and wind direction.
  • Changes in temperature and pressure can cause winds to occur.
  • Drops of water or ice that become too large to be suspended in clouds are called precipitation.
  • During an occluded front a fast moving cold front overtakes a slower moving warm front.
  • A hurricane is a storm with winds over 120 km/h that can last several weeks.
  • Earth’s oceans cover nearly ¾ (75%) of Earth’s surface.
  • Water for Earth’s oceans originally came from water vapor from volcanoes.
  • Photosynthesis is a process that needs sunlight as a source of energy to make food.
  • The thermocline is the layer in the ocean where temperature varies with depth.
  • You are on the western coast of the Untied States. If the ocean currents stopped flowing, the temperature would most likely increase (less wind).
  • Erosion caused by waves can destroy shorelines and beaches.
  • When deep cold water with nutrients rises to the surface, upwelling occurs.
  • When discussing waves, the horizontal distance between the highest or lowest points of two successive waves is referred to as wavelength.
  • When the top of a wave moves faster than the bottom of a wave, the wave collapses, forming a breaker.
  • Tides are caused by gravitational pull.
  • Ecosystems include organisms and any nonliving factors, such as water or sunlight.
  • In bodies of water, most plankton drift, rather than swim.
  • When organisms excrete waste or die and decompose, their nutrients do not disappear or change. They are merely recycled.
  • Out of all of the marine organisms, plankton are some of the more common organisms that contain chlorophyll.

Additional Information to Study

  • Know at least six factors of weather.
  • Be able to explain how the ocean can have an effect on your life, even though there is not an ocean anywhere near us.