A fixed-length group of bits representing the large data element handled as a unit by a computer. Word length is determined by the capacity of the CPU registers.

In Jeffreys' classification, a wind for which the pressure force exactly balances the viscous force, in which the vertical transfers of momentum predominate.

An instrument which indicates the presence of dust particles in the atmosphere. Also spelled coniscope.

Area of a computer or other device where various logic and control elements are interconnected. Often a printed circuit board into which other circuit boards plug at right angles.

A unit of pressure equal to 10' dyne per cm-' (101 barye), 1000 millibars. 29.53 inches of mercury.

A unit of pressure used principally in oceanography. One decibar (10' dynes/cm2) equals 0.1 bar. In the ocean, hydrostatic pressure in decibars very nearly equals the corresponding depth in meters.

A method of streamflow routing which assumes that storage is a linear function of the weighted flow in the reach and is adaptable to a simple mathematical solution.

The range through which the input may be varied without initiating a response. Usually expressed as a percentage of full-scale range.

Same as luminous intensity.

See river basin.

The group of bits which a computer processes as a unit; often, 8 bits.

A hygrometer in which the sensitive element is a strand or strands of human hair, the length of which is a function of the relative humidity of the air.

A medium-sized instrument shelter. It is a white louvered box with a flat double to of and is mounted four feet above the ground on a four-legged stand.

A counterclockwise change in wind direction. Backing winds with height are indicative of cold air advection (CAA).

A rain gauge which indicates but does not record the amount of precipitation captured.

Same as atmospheric pressure.

A special form of the aspiration psychrometer. developed by Assmann, in which the thermometric elements are well shielded from radiation. Psychrometric measurements may be taken with the instrument in the presence of direct solar radiation.

An instrument for rapidly obtaining samples of airborne dust; a type of dust counter. Particles pass through a cylindrical chamber, are drawn at high velocity through a narrow slit, and then impinge upon a microscope cover glass located a short distance f ...

A river gauge in which a weight suspended on a wire is lowered to the water surface from a bridge or other overhead structure to measure the distance from a point of known elevation to the water surface.

The record of a barograph.