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

A unit of signaling speed representing the number of code elements sent per second; often, bits per second.

A unit of distance equal to 5280 feet. It is sometimes referred to as a land mile.

bucket rain gauge-A rain gauge where the precipitation collected by the receiver empties into one side of a chamber which is partioned transversely at its center and is balanced bistably upon a horizontal axis. When a predetermined amount of water has bee ...

A wave disturbance in airflow due to some barrier in the flow. i.e. a hill or mountain.

An old nautical term for mercury barometer.

An instrument for recording ocean waves. Most recorders are designed for recording wind waves, that is waves of periods up to about 25 seconds, but some are designed to record waves of longer periods such as tsunamis or tides.

An instrument, dropped from high attitude and carried by a stable parachute. used to measure the vertical component of turbulence aloft.

The height of the cloud base above the local terrain.

check chamber-A chamber use to check the sensing elements of radiosonde equipment.

pattern barometer-Mercurial barometer with a fixed scale and cistern and which therefore requires only one adjustment before each reading.

The cardinal points of the compass, i.e. north, south, east, west.

A type of climatic diagram whose coordinates are some form of temperature vs. a form of humidity or precipitation.

Lacking a relationship to a time base or clock. In asynchronous communications, individual data characters are sent at an arbitrary rate.

In general, any self-recording instrument carried aloft by any means to obtain meteorological data.

Phase Shift Keying. A form of phase modulation of a data signal performed by a modem for transmission over dedicated wire or phone lines.

The range of operating conditions within which a device is designed to operate and for which operating influences are stated. See operating conditions, reference operating conditions.

The minimum temperature shown by a minimum thermometer exposed in an open situation with its bulb at the level of the tops of the grass blades of short turf.

Temperature based on an absolute scale.

Capacity of a soil or other surface to be penetrated by water sinking into the ground under the force of gravity. It thus expresses the rate of percolation.