A plastic molding component formed by the reaction of phenol and formaldehyde. It can be heavily reinforced or "filled" with glass fibers or other materials. Phenolics are known for their high impact strength, excellent wear characteristics, and dimension ...

Abbreviation for mean sea level.

A instrument designed to study small fluctuations of some quantity. The microbarograph is an example of a recording pressure variometer.

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

Downward scattered and reflected solar radiation, coming from the whole hemisphere with the exception of the solid angle of the sun's disc on a surface perpendicular to the axis of this cone.

Fine dust or salt particles dispersed through a portion of the atmosphere; a type of lithometer. The particles are so small they cannot be felt or seen with the naked eye. Many haze formations are caused by the presence of an abundance of condensation nuc ...

A rainbow seen in the spray of the ocean. It is optically the same phenomenon as the ordinary rainbow.

The level at which ice crystals and snowflakes melt as they descend through the atmosphere.

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

Same as windsock.

A unit of mass numerically equal to the molecular weight of the substance. The gram-mote or gram-molecule is the mass in grams numerically equal to the molecular weight, i.e. a gram-mole of oxygen is 32 grams.

For a given locality and month, an empirical expression devised for the purpose of classifying climates numerically on the basis of precipitation and evaporation.

A numbering system using a base number of 16 and including the ten decimal digits (0 to 9) along with six alpha digits (A to F). Thus. a digit is available to represent each of the possible values of a 4-bit binary digit.

modulated radiosonde-A radiosonde which transmits the indications of the meteorological sensing elements in the form of pulses spaced in time. The meteorological data are evaluated from the intervals between the pulses. Also called timeinterval radiosonde ...

A definite portion of a stream channel, commonly taken between two gauging stations, but may be taken between any two specified points.

Any twelve-month period, usually selected to begin and end during a relative dry season. Used a basis for processing streamflow and other hydrologic data. The period from October 1 to September 30 is widely used in the U.S.

An instrument for measuring the intensity of light or the relative intensity of a pair of lights. Also called an illuminometer. If the instrument is designed to measure the intensity of light as a function of wavelength, it is called a spectrophotometer. ...

An area of low atmospheric pressure which has a closed circulation that is cyclonic (counterclockwise in northern hemisphere and clockwise in southern hemisphere).

A common type of terrestrial scintillation; shimmering over a hot surface (such as a roadway) on a quiet, cloudless. summer day.

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 ...