- Industry: Weather
- Number of terms: 60695
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of more than 14,000 professionals, ...
A recording rain gauge in which the weight of water collected is measured as a function of time and converted to rainfall depth. The weight-sensing mechanism is typically mechanical (springs). The output can be a pen trace on a strip chart, voltage from a potentiometer, punched paper tape, or other electronic means. Weighing gauges with continuous output can be used for determining rainfall rate and depth. See Fisher & Porter rain gauge, universal rain gauge.
Industry:Weather
A recording rain gauge in which the water collected continuously drains through a funnel into one of a pair of chambers or buckets that are balanced bistably on a horizontal axis. When a predetermined amount of water has been collected, commonly 0. 25 mm (0. 01 in. ) of rain, the bucket tips, spilling the water and placing the other bucket under the funnel. An electronic switch is excited each time the bucket tips so that both rain rate and accumulation can be determined from the record of tips.
Industry:Weather
A ratio, calculated solely from topographic (terrain elevation) data, of the diurnal temperature amplitude or range in a valley to that at the same altitude over the adjacent plain. The diurnal amplitude is larger (or “amplified”) over the valley than over the plain because the volume of air is less in the valley, but the amount of heating or cooling is approximately the same in both locations. The significance of the temperature differential caused by this amplification is that it produces a horizontal pressure gradient between the valley and the surrounding plains, or along the axis of the valley itself, that reverses twice per day, driving the diurnally varying along- valley wind system, upvalley during the day and downvalley at night. See upvalley wind, downvalley wind.
Industry:Weather
A rainy wind from the southwest to west resulting from a deflection of the southeast trades of the eastern South Pacific onto the Pacific coasts of Central America. Temporales are most frequent in July and August, when they may reach gale force and raise a heavy sea.
Industry:Weather
A rainband associated with upper-level features, but not with any surface- level feature.
Industry:Weather
A radiosonde attached to a fixed or tethered balloon. The balloon is usually larger than a balloon used for upper-air soundings, and the tether usually limits the sounding to the boundary layer. The radiosonde is typically moved up and down the tether to get multiple, high-resolution profiles of the boundary layer.
Industry:Weather
A radioactive isotope of hydrogen, symbol H<sup>3</sup> or T, with a half-life of about 12 years. Tritium is formed by cosmic rays at levels near the tropopause and diffuses slowly into the lower atmosphere. It is also deposited in the atmosphere by nuclear detonations. Its radioactivity and relatively short half-life make it useful in certain geochronologic studies.
Industry:Weather
A radar that is primarily used to automatically track the position of nonmeteorological targets that are usually small relative to the radar pulse volume, for example, an aircraft or balloon.
Industry:Weather
