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 lowest value of a measured quality at which a sensor meets its accuracy specification.

Formation of a single water drop by the union of two or more colliding drops.

An instrument which measures the effective terrestrial radiation. See Angstrom pyrgeometer.

A graphical aid used in the reduction of data from a winds aloft observation.

See hook gauge.

The effect upon the measurement of rainfall caused by the presence of the rain gauge.

Same as atmospheric pressure.

Any soft, gentle breeze.

A class of instruments employed to determine the electric potential at a point in the atmosphere, and ultimately the atmospheric electric field.

Of or pertaining to rain.

A constant which describes the performance of a wind vane in response to a step change in wind direction. It is calculated from the relative amount of overshoot on two successive swings (half cycles) of a decaying oscillation. This specification is dimens ...

Abbreviation for the pressure, temperature, and humidity data obtained by a radiosonde observation.

The total amount of water transferred to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration.

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.

Abbreviation for precipitation-evaporation quotient.

The boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere, usually characterized by an abrupt change in lapse rate. Its height varies from 10 to 20 km. Regions above the tropopause have greater atmospheric stability than regions below.

A graphical representation of stage or discharge at a point on a stream as a function of time.

See instrument error, observational error. random error, standard error, systematic error.

One of the radiation laws which states that the wavelength of maximum radiation intensity for a black body is inversely proportional to the absolute temperature of the radiating black body.