The smallest change in the environment that causes detectable change in the indication of an instrument. Compare to sensitivity.

Frozen or partly frozen rain.

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

The programs and instructions which direct a computer.

An instrument which automatically records the measurement of two or more meteorological elements.

A type of pressure-tube anemometer, named after the inventor.

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

A clock-driven instrument mounting which automatically and continuously points in the direction of the sun. It is used with a pyrheliometera,hen continuous direct solar radiation measurements are required.

A hygrometer using goldbeater's skin as the sensitive element. Variations of the physical dimensions of the skin caused by its hygroscopic character indicate relative humidity. (Note: Goldbeater's skin is the prepared outside membrane of the large intesti ...

A power supply which achieves its output regulation by means of one or more active power handling devices which are alternately placed in the "off" or "on" states. It is more efficient than linear supplies which vary the conduction of power devices to ach ...

The pressure exerted by the atmosphere as a consequence of gravitational attraction exerted upon the "column" of air lying directly above the point in question.

The general term for anemometers operating on the principle that the heat transfer to air from an object at an elevated temperature is a function of the air speed. Examples are the hot-wire anemometer and the katathermometer.

An old nautical term for mercury barometer.

A strong wind characterized by a sudden onset, a duration on the order of minutes, and a rather sudden decrease in speed.

Nested Grid Model generated every 12 hours by NCEP.

A number of quantity defining a limit that errors will not exceed when a device is used under specified operating conditions. Accuracy rating can be expressed in a number of forms, i.e. in terms of the measured variable (+/- 1 C), percent of span (+/-0.5% ...

The algebraic difference between the upper and lower limits of the measuring range of an instrument, i.e. a thermometer with a range of -35 to 50

A type of hygrometer which measures the water vapor content of the atmosphere by means of the absorption of vapor by a hygroscopic chemical.

Operation mode of a communication circuit in which each end can transmit and receive, but not simultaneously.

Diffuse solar radiation which has the same intensity in all directions.