The total area drained by a river and its tributaries. Same as river basin.

A mercury barometer designed for use aboard ship. The instrument is of the fixed-cistern type (see Kew barometer). The mercury tube is constructed with a wide bore for its upper portion and with a capillary bore for its lower portion. This is done to incr ...

An increase in the central pressure of a pressure system; opposite of a deepening. More commonly applied to a low rather than a high.

A graphical device used for the determination of the speed of the geostrophic wind from the isobar or contour-line spacing on a synoptic chart.

A vector term which includes both wind speed and wind direction.

A unit of power equal to one joule per second or 10' ergs per second.

The part of a measuring instrument which responds directly to changes in the environment.

A wave resulting from the action of wind on a water surface.

Electromagnetic radiation lying within the wavelength interval to which the human eye is sensitive, the spectral interval from approximately 0.4 to 0.7 microns (4000 to 7000 angstroms). Bounded on the short-wavelength end by ultraviolet radiation and on t ...

An old nautical term for mercury barometer.

Nested Grid Model generated every 12 hours by NCEP.

A scale with the ice point at zero degrees and the boiling point of water at 80 degrees, with pressure of one atmosphere.

The condition of the atmosphere when the amount of water vapor present is the maximum possible at the existing temperature.

A measure of the attenuation due to scattering, of light as it traverses a medium containing scattering particles.

In thermodynamics, the integrating factor of the differential equation referred to as the first law of thermodynamics, In statistical mechanics, a measure of translational molecular kinetic energy (with three degrees of freedom). In general, the degree of ...

An estimate of the temperature of an incandescent body, determined by observing the wavelength at which it is emitting with peak intensity (its color) and using that wavelength in Wien's law.

A white disk 12" or more in diameter which is lowered into the sea to estimate transparency of the water. The depths are noted at which it first disappears when lowered and reappears when raised.

A radiosonde whose carrier wave is switched on and off in such a manner that the interval of time between the transmission of signals if a function of the magnitude of the meteorological elements being measured.

The gravity flow of water within soil.

In general, any object that reflects incident energy. Usually it is a device designed for specific reflection characteristics.