- Industry: Weather
- Number of terms: 60695
- Number of blossaries: 0
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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 measure of the absorption coefficient, with units of inverse length.
Industry:Weather
A measure of strength of the middle-latitude westerlies, usually expressed as the horizontal pressure difference between 35° and 55°N latitude, or as the corresponding geostrophic wind. See circulation index, high index, low index; Compare polar-easterlies index, subtropical- easterlies index, temperate-westerlies index.
Industry:Weather
A means of representing wind direction in the plotting of a synoptic chart; a straight line drawn directly upwind from the station location. The wind arrow is completed by adding the wind-speed barbs and pennants to the outer end of the shaft.
Industry:Weather
A mathematical model of the atmosphere that simulates variations of concentration with two spatial coordinates (usually vertical and latitudinal) as a function of time. Since the prevailing winds tend to move zonally (around circles of latitude), variations in chemical concentrations tend to be less pronounced in that coordinate, and the simplification resulting from using a zonally averaged model leads to a considerable saving in computation time.
Industry:Weather
A mathematical construct representing a certain combination of temperature and salinity and possibly nutrient and oxygen values, used in numerical water mass analysis to describe water masses. Antarctic Bottom Water, for example, can be represented by the water type of temperature 0. 3°C and salinity 34. 7 psu, even though it may not always have exactly those properties.
Industry:Weather
A maritime air mass that develops over or near tropical regions, typically equatorward of 30° latitude.
Industry:Weather
A major division of C. W. Thornthwaite's 1931 schemes of climatic classification, determined as a function of the temperature-efficiency index or the potential evapotranspiration. In the 1931 system, six main temperature provinces (climates) are distinguished: 1) tropical; 2) mesothermal; 3) microthermal; 4) taiga; 5) tundra; and 6) frost. In the 1948 system they are 1) megathermal; 2) mesothermal; 3) microthermal; 4) tundra; and 5) frost. Compare climatic province; see humidity province.
Industry:Weather
A major category (the ''A'' climates) in W. Köppen's 1936 climatic classification; in order to be so classified, a climate must have these two characteristics: 1) the mean temperature of the coldest month must be 18°C (64. 4°F) or higher, separating it from temperate rainy climates; 2) the annual precipitation must be in excess of a certain amount to distinguish it from dry climates (see formulas under steppe climate). The three principal types of climate included in this category are the tropical rain forest climate, tropical savanna climate, and tropical monsoon climate.
Industry:Weather
A low, flat marshland traversed by interlacing channels and tidal sloughs, and usually inundated by tides.
Industry:Weather
