The temperature at which a solid substance undergoes fusion, i.e. melts, changes from solid to liquid form. All substances have their characteristic melting points. For very pure substances the temperature range over which the process of fusion occurs is ...

The process by which small particles suspended in a medium of a different refractive index diffuse a portion of the incident radiation in all directions. In scattering no energy transformation results, only a change in the spatial distribution of the radi ...

A unit of luminance (or brightness) equal to 1/6 candles per square centimeter.

The humidity transducinu element in a Diamond-Hinman radiosonde. Also called electrolytic strip.

A pyranometer developed by M. Robitzsch. Its design utilizes three bimetallic strips which are exposed horizontally at the center of a hemispherical glass bowl. The outer strips are white reflectors and the center strip is a blackened absorber. The bimeta ...

A recording magnetometer.

The volume of liquid water evaporated per unit area in unit time. usually measured as the depth of liquid water lost per unit time from the whole area.

Amount of water, expressed as a depth or as a mass, which would be obtained if all the water vapor in a specified column of the atmosphere were condensed and precipitated.

The stage, on a fixed river gauge, corresponding to the top of the lowest banks within the reach for which the gauge is used as an index. Compare to flood stage.

An aneroid barometer arranged so that the deflection of the aneroid capsule actuates a pen which graphs a record on a rotating drum. Sometimes called aneroidograph.

As used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the departure (in

An optical instrument which consists of a sighting telescope mounted so that it is free to rotate around horizontal and vertical axes, with graduated scales so that the angles of rotation may be measured. Used to observe the motion of a pilot balloon.

An up slope wind due to local surface heating. Opposite of katabatic wind.

The difference between amounts of precipitation and runoff for a given storm. It is that portion of the precipitation that remains in the basin as soil moisture, surface storage, ground water, etc.

A colloquial term in western Australia for a squall, associated with thunder, on the northwest coast in summer.

Anemometer whicb measures wind speed by measuring the degree of cooling of a metal wire heated by an electric current. A type of cooling power anemometer.

See gust and peak gust.

Defect in the action of an aneroid barometer resulting in a sluggish adjustment of the index toward the correct reading when the barometer is subjected to a large and rapid change in pressure.

In folklore, a name for wind.

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 ...