This is a
list of meteorology topics. The terms relate to
meteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century...
, the interdisciplinary scientific study of the
atmosphereThe Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
that focuses on
weatherWeather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the troposphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods...
processes and forecasting. (see also: List of meteorological phenomena)
A
- advection
Advection, in chemistry and engineering, is a transport mechanism of a substance or a conserved property with a fluid in motion. The fluid motion in advection is described mathematically as a vector field, and the material transported is typically described as a scalar concentration of substance,...
- aeroacoustics
Aeroacoustics is a branch of acoustics that studies noise generation via either turbulent fluid motion or aerodynamic forces interacting with surfaces. Noise generation can also be associated with periodically varying flows...
- aerobiology
Aerobiology is a branch of biology that studies organic particles, such as bacteria, fungal spores, very small insects, pollen grains and viruses, which are passively transported by the air...
- aerography (meteorology)
Aerography is the production of weather charts. The information is supplied by radiosonde observations, principally. Constant-pressure charts are routinely constructed at standard air pressures. Standard air pressures are 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, and 200 millibars...
- aerology
- air parcel
In fluid dynamics, within the framework of continuum mechanics, a fluid parcel is a very small amount of fluid, identifiable throughout its dynamic history while moving with the fluid flow. As it moves, the mass of a fluid parcel remains constant, while—in a compressible flow—its volume may...
(in meteorology)
- Air Quality Index
The Air Quality Index is a number used by government agencies to characterize the quality of the air at a given location. As the AQI increases, an increasingly large percentage of the population is likely to experience increasingly severe adverse health effects...
(AQI)
- airshed
An airshed is a part of the atmosphere that behaves in a coherent way with respect to the dispersion of emissions. It typically forms an analytical or management unit.Also: A geographic boundary for air quality standards....
(in meteorology)
- American Meteorological Society
The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
(AMS)
- anabatic wind
An anabatic wind, from the Greek anabatos, verbal of anabainein meaning moving upward, is a wind which blows up a steep slope or mountain side, driven by heating of the slope through insolation. It is also known as an upslope flow. These winds typically occur during the daytime in calm sunny weather...
- anemometer
An anemometer is a device that is used for measuring wind speed, and is one instrument used in a weather station. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind...
- annular hurricane
An annular hurricane or truck tire pattern hurricane is a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic or Eastern Pacific Oceans that features a large, symmetric eye surrounded by a thick ring of intense convection. This type of storm is not prone to the fluctuations in intensity associated with eyewall...
- anticyclone
In meteorology, an anticyclone is a weather phenomenon in which there is a descending movement of the air, and with surface systems, higher than average atmospheric pressure over the part of the planet's surface. Effects of surface-based anticyclones include clearing skies as well as cooler,...
(in meteorology)
- apparent wind
Apparent wind is the wind experienced by a moving object.-Apparent wind in sailing:In sailing, the apparent wind is the actual flow of air acting upon a sail...
- Atlantic hurricane
North Atlantic tropical cyclones usually form in summer or fall. Tropical cyclones can be broken down by intensity. Tropical storms have one-minute maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph , while hurricanes have one-minute maximum sustained exceeding 74 mph...
- atmometer
The atmometer or evaporimeter is a scientific instrument used for measuring the rate of evaporation from a wet surface to the atmosphere and invented by the Scottish mathematician and engineer Sir John Leslie....
- atmosphere
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body, and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
- Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project
Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project is a standard experimental protocol for global atmospheric general circulation models . It provides a community-based infrastructure in support of climate model diagnosis, validation, intercomparison, documentation and data access...
(AMIP)
- Atmospheric Radiation Measurement
The United States Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program was established in 1989 to study the fundamental physics related to interactions between clouds and radiative feedback processes in the atmosphere...
(ARM)
- (atmospheric boundary layer [ABL]) planetary boundary layer
The planetary boundary layer , also known as the atmospheric boundary layer , is the lowest part of the atmosphere and its behavior is directly influenced by its contact with a planetary surface. On Earth it usually responds to changes in surface forcing in an hour or less...
(PBL)
- atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets is studied. It is a multidisciplinary field of research and draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, computer modeling, oceanography, geology and...
- atmospheric circulation
Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air, and the means by which thermal energy is distributed on the surface of the Earth....
- atmospheric dispersion modeling
Atmospheric dispersion modeling is the mathematical simulation of how air pollutants disperse in the ambient atmosphere. It is performed with computer programs that solve the mathematical equations and algorithms which simulate the pollutant dispersion...
- atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity is the regular diurnal variations of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic network . The Earth’s surface, the ionosphere, and the atmosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit...
- atmospheric icing
Atmospheric icing occurs when water droplets in the atmosphere freeze on objects they contact. This is very dangerous on aircraft, as the built-up ice changes the aerodynamics of the flight surfaces, which can increase the risk of a subsequent stalling of the airfoil.Not all water freezes at 0°C...
- atmospheric physics
Atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, chemical models, radiation balancing, and energy transfer processes in the atmosphere...
- atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric sciences is an umbrella term for the study of the atmosphere, its processes, the effects other systems have on the atmosphere, and the effects of the atmosphere on these other systems. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather...
- atmospheric stratification
Atmospheric stratification is the division of the atmosphere into distinct layers, each with specific characteristics such as temperature or composition....
- atmospheric window
The infrared atmospheric window is the overall dynamic property of the earth's atmosphere, taken as a whole at each place and occasion of interest, that lets some infrared radiation from the cloud tops and land-sea surface pass directly to space without intermediate absorption and re-emission, and...
(see under Threats)
B
- ball lightning
Ball lightning is a debated and controversial atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects which vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter...
- balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
- barometer
A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...
("to measure atmospheric pressure")
- berg wind
- blizzard
A blizzard is a severe winter storm condition characterized by low temperatures, strong winds, and heavy blowing snow...
- bomb (meteorology)
Bomb is a meteorological term for a baroclinic low pressure area characterized by a rapid pressure fall of at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. It is applied only to cold air storms. Like warm-air hurricanes, however, these storms form over water and can cause severe damage to coastal areas.-...
- Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology is an Executive Agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together the state meteorological services that existed before then...
(in Australia)
C
- Canada Weather Extremes
This table shows record weather extremes in Canada.*A snowfall season runs from July 1-June 30-See also:*List of extreme temperatures in Canada*List of weather records-External links:*...
- Canadian Hurricane Centre
The Canadian Hurricane Centre is a division of the Meteorological Service of Canada, an agency of Canada's Department of the Environment, which exists to advise Canadians on the threat of tropical cyclones such as hurricanes and tropical storms...
(CHC)
- Cape Verde-type hurricane
A Cape Verde-type hurricane is an Atlantic hurricane that develops near the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. The average hurricane season has about two Cape Verde-type hurricanes, which are usually the most intense storms of the season because they often have plenty of warm open...
- capping inversion
A capping inversion is an elevated inversion layer that caps a convective boundary layer.The boundary layer is the part of the atmosphere which is closest to the ground. Normally, the sun heats the ground, which in turn heats the air just above it. Thermals form when this warm air rises into the...
(in meteorology) (see "severe thunderstorms" in paragraph 5)
- carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth...
- carbon fixation
Carbon fixation refers to any process through which gaseous carbon dioxide is converted into a solid compound. It mostly refers to the processes found in autotrophs , usually driven by photosynthesis, whereby carbon dioxide is changed into sugars...
- carbon flux
- carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, yet very toxic to humans. It consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, connected by a covalent double bond and a dative covalent bond...
(see under Carbon monoxide in the atmosphere)
- ceiling balloon
A ceiling balloon is used by meteorologists to determine the height of the base of clouds above ground level during daylight hours.The principle behind the ceiling balloon is a balloon with a known ascent rate and determining how long the balloon rises until it disappears into the cloud.Ascent...
("to determine the height of the base of clouds above ground level")
- ceilometer
A ceilometer is a device that uses a laser or other light source to determine the height of a cloud base. Ceilometers can also be used to measure the aerosol concentration within the atmosphere.-Optical Drum Ceilometer:...
("to determine the height of a cloud base")
- celestial coordinate system
In astronomy, a celestial coordinate system is a coordinate system for mapping positions on the celestial sphere.There are different celestial coordinate systems each using a system of spherical coordinates projected on the celestial sphere, in analogy to the geographic coordinate system used on...
- celestial equator
The celestial equator is a great circle on the imaginary celestial sphere, in the same plane as the Earth's equator. In other words, it is a projection of the terrestrial equator out into space...
- celestial horizon
The celestial horizon, also called the rational horizon, is a great circle parallel to the horizon, in which a plane at right angles to Zenith and Nadir lines are passing through the centre of the earth and intersects the celestial sphere, the center of which is the center of the Earth....
(rational horizon)
- celestial navigation
Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is a position fixing technique that was devised to help sailors cross the featureless oceans without having to rely on dead reckoning to enable them to strike land. Celestial navigation uses angular measurements between common celestial objects...
(astronavigation)
- celestial pole
The north and south celestial poles are the two imaginary points in the sky where the Earth's axis of rotation, "infinitely extended", intersects the imaginary rotating sphere of stars called the celestial sphere...
- Celsius
Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
- Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms
The Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms was established at the University of Oklahoma in 1989 as one of the first eleven National Science Foundation Science and Technology Centers...
(CAPS) (in Oklahoma in the US)
- Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is a non-profit organization based in Arizona. Its stated purpose is to "disseminate factual reports and sound commentary on new developments in the world-wide scientific quest to determine the climatic and biological consequences of the...
(based in Arizona in the US)
- (Central America Hurricane of 1857: see) SS Central America
SS Central America, sometimes called the Ship of Gold, was a 280-foot sidewheel steamer that steamed between Central America and the eastern coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally named the SS George Law, after Mr. George Law, of New York...
(Ship of Gold)
- Central Florida Tornado of February 2007
- Certified Consulting Meteorologist
Certified Consulting Meteorologist is the title of a person designated by the American Meteorological Society and to possess the attributes of Knowledge, Experience, and Character as they pertain to the field of meteorology...
- chaos theory
Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics which studies the behavior of certain dynamical systems that may be highly sensitive to initial conditions. This sensitivity is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. As a result of this sensitivity, which manifests itself as an exponential growth of...
(see "butterfly effect" under Chaotic dynamics)
- (Chapman cycle: see) ozone-oxygen cycle
The ozone-oxygen cycle is the process by which ozone is continually regenerated in Earth's stratosphere, all the while converting ultraviolet radiation into heat energy. In 1930 Sydney Chapman resolved the chemistry involved.- How the ozone layer works :...
- chemtrail theory
The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some contrails are actually chemicals or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for a purpose undisclosed to the general public. Versions of the chemtrail conspiracy theory circulating on the internet and radio talk shows theorize that...
- Chicago Climate Exchange
Chicago Climate Exchange is North America’s only voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system for emission sources and offset projects in North America and Brazil....
(CCX)
- chinook wind
Chinook winds, often called chinooks, commonly refers to foehn winds in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges, although the original usage is in reference to wet, warm coastal winds in the Pacific Northwest.Chinook is falsely...
(see "inversion smog" under Chinooks and health)
- clear-air turbulence
Clear air turbulence weather, sometimes colloquially referred to as "air pockets", is the erratic movement of air masses in the absence of any visual cues, such as clouds. Clear-air turbulence is caused when bodies of air moving at widely different speeds meet; at high altitudes of around this is...
(CAT)
- climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time...
- climate change
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average...
- Climate Diagnostics Center
The Climate Diagnostics Center was a project of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences , itself a joint project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado at Boulder. In October 2005, it was merged with five other NOAA labs to...
(in the US)
- climate engineering
- (climate forcing: see) radiative forcing
In climate science, radiative forcing is defined as the change in net irradiance at the tropopause. "Net irradiance" is the difference between the incoming radiation energy and the outgoing radiation energy in a given climate system and is thus measured in Watts per square meter...
- Climate Group
The Climate Group is an international non-profit organization, with offices in the UK , US, Europe, Australia, China, Hong Kong and operations underway in India. It is the world’s first global organisation focused solely on solutions to climate change. focuses on the links between reduced...
- climate house
The "ClimateHouse" energy efficiency certification promotes the adoption of building construction methods that meet energy saving and environment protection criteria. The category of energy saving, determines if a building is classified as a ClimateHouse. The category of energy saving, determines...
- climate model
Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate....
- climate modeller
- Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory
The Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory was a climate laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research...
(CMDL) (in the US)
- Climate Outreach and Information Network
The Climate Outreach and Information Network is the only British charity that works exclusively with the general public to provide information about climate change and how to deal with it...
(COIN) (British charity)
- (climate parameters, forcings and feedbacks: see) parametrization (climate)
Parameterization in a climate model refers to the method of replacing processes that are too small-scale or complex to be physically represented in the model by a simplified process...
- (climate science: see) climatology
Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
- climate sensitivity
In Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, equilibrium climate sensitivity refers to the equilibrium change in global mean near-surface air temperature that would result from a sustained doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration...
- (climate simulation: see) climate model
Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate....
- climate surprise
- (climate techno-fix: see) climate engineering
- (climate theory: see) Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu , was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Era of the Enlightenment...
(see "climate theory" in paragraph 3 under Political views)
- (climate variability: see) climate change
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average...
- (climate warming: see) global warming
Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
- (climate weapon: see) Weather Modification Operations and Research Board
In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulates weather control projects, under authority of Public Law 205 of the 92nd Congress. This agency does notperform research into weather modification....
(in the US) (see under Weather Control)
- climateprediction.net
Climateprediction.net, or CPDN, is a distributed computing project to investigate and reduce uncertainties in climate modelling. It aims to do this by running hundreds of thousands of different models using the donated idle time of ordinary personal computers, thereby leading to a better...
(CPDN) (distributed computing project)
- climatic determinism (equatorial paradox) (see also environmental determinism
Environmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture...
)
- Climatic Regions of India
India has a large variation in climate from region to region, due to its vast size. India experiences climate from four major climate groups. These can be further subdivided into seven climatic types.-Tropical rainy climatic group:...
- Climatic Research Unit
The Climatic Research Unit is a component of the University of East Anglia and is one of the leading institutions concerned with the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change....
(at the University of East Anglia in the UK)
- (climatic zone: see) clime
The seven climes was a notion of dividing the Earth into zones in Classical Antiquity....
- climatology
Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
- clime
The seven climes was a notion of dividing the Earth into zones in Classical Antiquity....
(climatic zone)
- Clinton Foundation
The William J. Clinton Foundation is a foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." The Foundation focuses on four critical areas:...
(see "Energy and Climate Change" under Goals)
- cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity, such as masses of material in space called interstellar clouds and nebulae...
- cloud albedo
Cloud albedo is a measure of the albedo of a cloud - higher values mean that the cloud reflects more solar radiation, or more radiation is transmitted....
("a measure of the reflectivity of a cloud")
- cloud base
This article refers to meteorology, for the airborne base of Captain Scarlet see Cloudbase.The cloud base is the lowest altitude of the visible portion of the cloud...
("the lowest altitude of the visible portion of a cloud")
- cloud chamber
The cloud chamber, also known as the Wilson chamber, is used for detecting particles of ionizing radiation. In its most basic form, a cloud chamber is a sealed environment containing a supercooled, supersaturated water or alcohol vapour. When an alpha particle or beta particle interacts with the...
(Wilson chamber) ("for detecting ... ionizing radiation")
- cloud condensation nuclei
Cloud condensation nuclei or CCNs are small particles about which cloud droplets coalesce. Water requires a non-gaseous surface to make the transition from a vapour to a liquid. In the atmosphere, this surface presents itself as tiny solid or liquid particles called CCNs...
(CCNs) (see under Phytoplankton role)
- cloud cover
Cloud cover refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds when observed from a particular location.- Measurement :...
- cloud feedback
Cloud feedback is the coupling between cloudiness and surface air temperature in which a change in surface air temperature could lead to a change in clouds, which could then amplify or diminish the initial temperature perturbation....
- cloud forcing
Cloud forcing is the difference between the radiation budget components for average cloud conditions and cloud-free conditions...
(see "greenhouse effect" in paragraph 2)
- cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which...
- (cloud formation: see) nephology
Nephology is the study of clouds and cloud formation. British meteorologist Luke Howard was a major researcher within this field, establishing a cloud classification system....
- cloud physics
Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation, growth and precipitation of clouds. Clouds are composed of microscopic droplets of water , tiny crystals of ice, or both . Under suitable conditions, the droplets combine to form precipitation, where they may fall to...
- cloud seeding
Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud...
- cloud street
Cloud streets are rows of cumulus or cumulus-type clouds aligned parallel to the low-level wind.The most favorable conditions for their formation occur when the lowermost layer of air is unstable, but is capped by an inversion-by a stable layer of air...
- cloud suck
Cloud suck is a phenomenon commonly known in paragliding and hang gliding where pilots experience significant lift due to a thermal under the base of cumulus clouds, especially towering cumulus and cumulonimbus...
- cloudburst
A cloudburst is an extreme form of rainfall, sometimes mixed with hail and thunder, which normally lasts no longer than a few minutes but is capable of creating minor flood conditions.-Etymology:There are similar names for such events in other languages...
(see "destruction" in paragraph 2 and see "Mumbai" in paragraph 3)
- CloudSat
CloudSat is a NASA Earth observation satellite, which was launched on a Delta II rocket on 28 April 2006. It uses radar to measure the altitude and properties of clouds, adding to information on the relationship between clouds and climate in order to help resolve questions about global warming...
("a NASA environmental satellite")
- coefficient of haze
The coefficient of haze is a measurement of visibility interference in the atmosphere....
(in meteorology)
- cold weather boot
- cold weather rule
A cold weather rule or cold weather law is a law or regulation that prohibits public utility companies from disconnecting customers who are unable to pay for the energy used to heat their homes during the winter. Such regulations may also require utility companies to reconnect customers during...
(cold weather law) (for public utility companies)
- (coldest place on earth: see) climate of Antarctica
The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth, the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth being −89.2 °C at Vostok Station. It is also extremely dry , with an average of only 166 mm of precipitation per year...
(see under Temperature)
- coldest temperature achieved on Earth
The coldest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2°C at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica July 21, 1983. Lower temperatures have been achieved artificially, including a record cold temperature of 100 pK, or 1.0 × 10-12 K in 1999.- Early cooling...
- Community Climate System Model
The Community Climate System Model is a coupled Global Climate Model developed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research with funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and NASA...
- continental climate
Continental climate is a climate that is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of snow cover each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer, although east coast areas may show an even distribution of precipitation.Regions containing...
- contrail
Contrails or vapour trails are visible trails of condensed water vapour made by the exhaust of aircraft engines. As the hot exhaust gases cool in the surrounding air they may precipitate a cloud of microscopic water droplets...
- controlled airspace
Controlled airspace is an aviation term used to describe airspace in which ATChas the authority to control air traffic, the level of which varies with the different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace is established mainly for three different reasons:...
- controlled atmosphere
A controlled atmosphere is an agricultural storage method. An atmosphere in which oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen concentrations are regulated, as well as temperature and humidity.Two major classes of commodity can be stored in controlled atmosphere....
(for agricultural storage)
- convection
Convection is the movement of molecules within fluids . Convection is one of the major modes of heat transfer and mass transfer...
(see under Atmospheric convection)
- convective available potential energy
In meteorology, convective available potential energy , sometimes, simply, available potential energy , is the amount of energy a parcel of air would have if lifted a certain distance vertically through the atmosphere...
(CAPE) (in meteorology)
- Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Terrestrial Applications
The Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Terrestrial Applications formalizes a major collaborative relationship between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Desert Research Institute...
(CIASTA)
- Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research
The Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research is designed to be a focal point for interactions between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Arctic research community through the University of Alaska for research related to the...
- Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research
The Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research formalizes a major collaborative relationship between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution .CICOR provides a framework at WHOI for...
(CICOR)
- Cooperative Institute for Climate Applications and Research
The Cooperative Institute for Climate Applications and Research formalizes a major collaborative relationship between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and Columbia University....
(CICAR)
- Cooperative Institute for Climate Science
The Cooperative Institute for Climate Science fosters research collaborations between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and the Princeton University.The CICS research themes are:* Earth System...
(CICS)
- Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research
The Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research fosters research collaborations between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory , Michigan State University and the University of...
(CILER)
- Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies
The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies fosters research collaborations between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Miami....
(CIMAS)
- Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
The Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies provides a mechanism to link the scientific and technical resources of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Oklahoma to create a center of research...
(CIMMS)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado at Boulder.- Quick facts :* Established in 1967 as...
(CIRES)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere provides a mechanism to link the scientific and technical resources of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and Colorado State University.The CIRA research themes are:* Global and...
(CIRA)
- corona (meteorology)
In meteorology, a corona is produced by the diffraction of light from either the Sun or the Moon by individual small water droplets of a cloud....
- COSMIC
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate is a program designed to provide advances in meteorology, ionospheric research, climatology, and space weather by using GPS satellites in conjunction with low Earth orbiting satellites...
(Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate)
- Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope
The Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope CAT was a three-element interferometer for cosmic microwave background radiation observations at 13 to 17 GHz, based at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. In 1995, it was the first instrument to measure small-scale structure in the cosmic microwave background...
(CAT)
- (Cosmic Background Explorer) COBE
The Cosmic Background Explorer , also referred to as Explorer 66, was a satellite dedicated to cosmology. Its goals were to investigate the cosmic microwave background radiation of the universe and provide measurements that would help shape our understanding of the cosmos.This work provided...
("to investigate the cosmic background radiation" etc.)
- cosmic microwave background experiments
There have been a variety of experiments to measure the Cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies and polarization since its first observation in 1964 by Penzias and Wilson. These include a mix of ground-, balloon- and space-based receivers...
- cosmic microwave background radiation
In cosmology, cosmic microwave background radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the universe. With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies is pitch black...
(CMB) (CMBR) (CBR) (MBR)
- cosmic noise
Cosmic noise and galactic radio noise is random noise that originates outside the Earth's atmosphere. It can be detected and heard on radio receivers.- Elaboration :Cosmic noise characteristics are similar to those of thermal noise...
- cosmic ray
Cosmic rays are energetic particles originating from outer space that impinge on Earth's atmosphere. Almost 90% of all the incoming cosmic ray particles are protons, almost 10% are helium nuclei , and slightly under 1% are heavier elements and electrons...
(see under Lightning)
- Cosmochemical Periodic Table of the Elements in the Solar System
In cosmochemistry, the Cosmochemical Periodic Table of the Elements in the Solar System is a periodic table that lists all known chemical elements. In addition, it supplements the standard periodic table with extra information for each element, including its condensation temperature,abundance...
- cosmochemistry
Cosmochemistry is concerned with the origin and development of the elements and their isotopes, primarily within the Solar System. The term was coined by Harold Urey...
- cumulonimbus cloud
Cumulonimbus is a type of cloud that is tall, dense, and involved in thunderstorms and other intense weather. It is a result of atmospheric instability. These clouds can form alone, in clusters, or along a cold front in a squall line. They create lightning through the heart of the cloud...
(see under Effects)
- (cumulonimbus with mammatus: see) mammatus cloud
Mammatus, also known as mammatocumulus, meaning "Mammary cloud" or "Breast cloud" is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud...
- (cumulonimbus with pileus: see) pileus (meteorology)
A pileus is a small, horizontal cloud that can appear above a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud, giving the parent cloud a characteristic "hoodlike" appearance. Pilei tend to change shape rapidly. They are formed by strong updrafts acting upon moist air at lower altitudes, causing the air to cool to...
- cumulus castellanus cloud
Cumulus castellanus is a type of cumulus cloud that is distinctive because it displays multiple towers arising from its top, indicating significant vertical air movement. They are so named because they somewhat resemble the crenellation on medieval castles...
- cumulus cloud
Cumulus clouds are a type of cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. They are often described as "puffy" or "cotton-like" in appearance. Cumulus clouds may appear alone, in lines, or in clusters...
- cumulus congestus cloud
Cumulus congestus clouds are characteristic of unstable areas of the atmosphere which are undergoing convection. They are often characterized by sharp outlines and great vertical development. Because cumulus congestus is produced by strong updrafts, it is typically taller than it is wide, and...
- cumulus humilis cloud
Cumulus humilis is what is commonly referred to as "fair weather cumulus". In hot countries and over mountainous terrain these clouds occur at up to 6000 meters altitude, though elsewhere they are typically found lower....
- cumulus mediocris cloud
Cumulus mediocris is a cloud form of the cumulus family, slightly larger in vertical development than Cumulus humilis. It may or may not show the cauliflower form characteristic of cumulus clouds. These clouds do not produce precipitation, but may further advance into clouds such as Cumulus...
- (cup anemometer: see) anemometer
An anemometer is a device that is used for measuring wind speed, and is one instrument used in a weather station. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind...
(see under Cup anemometers)
- current solar income
The current solar income of the Earth, or an ecozone or ecoregion or any area, is the amount of solar energy that falls on it as sunlight. This is thought important in some branches of green economics, as the ultimate measure of renewable energy....
- cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth.Large-scale...
- cyclone furnace
A cyclone furnace is a type of coal combustor commonly used in large industrial boilers.-Background:Developed in the early 1942 by Babcock & Wilcox to take advantage of coal grades not suitable for pulverized coal combustion, cyclone furnaces feed coal in a spiral manner into a combustion chamber...
(a type of coal combustor)
- (cyclone preparedness: see) hurricane preparedness
Hurricane preparedness encompasses the actions and planning taken before a tropical cyclone strikes to mitigate damage and injury from the storm...
- cyclonic separation
Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or water stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. Rotational effects and gravity are used to separate mixtures of solids and fluids....
(method of removing particles from an air or gas stream)
D
- D region
The D region is the portion of the ionosphere that exists approximately 50 to 95 km above the surface of the Earth.Note: Attenuation of radio waves, caused by ionospheric free-electron density generated by solar radiation, is pronounced during daylight hours. Because solar radiation is not...
(in the atmosphere)
- Darrieus wind turbine
The Darrieus wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine used to generate electricity from the energy carried in the wind. The turbine consists of a number of aerofoils vertically mounted on a rotating shaft or framework...
- dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon...
- dBZ (meteorology)
dBZ stands for decibels of Z. It is a meteorological measure of equivalent reflectivity of a radar signal reflected off a remote object. The reference level for Z is 1 mm
6 m
-3, which is equal to 1 μm
3...
- degree (temperature)
The term degree is used in several scales of temperature. The symbol ° is usually used, followed by the initial letter of the unit, for example “°C” for degree Celsius.-Scales of temperature measured in degrees:...
- deicing
De-icing is the process of removing frozen contaminant, snow, ice, slush, from a surface.Anti-icing is the process of protecting against the formation of frozen contaminant, snow, ice, slush on a surface....
- dendroclimatology
Dendroclimatology is the science of determining past climates from trees . Tree rings are wider when conditions favor growth, narrower when times are difficult. Other properties of the annual rings, such as maximum latewood density have been shown to be better proxies than simple ring width...
("extracting past climate information from information in trees")
- density altitude
Density altitude is the altitude in the International Standard Atmosphere at which the air density would be equal to the actual air density at the place of observation, or, in other words, the height when measured in terms of the density of the air rather than the distance from the ground...
- deposition (physics)
Deposition is a process in which gas transforms into solid . The reverse of deposition is sublimation.One example of deposition is the process by which, in sub-freezing air, water vapor changes directly to ice without first becoming a liquid...
- (depression [meteorology]: see) low pressure area
A low pressure area, or "low", is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower in relation to the surrounding area. Low pressure systems form under areas of upper level divergence on the east side of upper troughs, or due to localized heating caused by greater insolation or active thunderstorm...
- derecho
A derecho is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo...
(see also List of derecho events)
- dew
Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening. As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at which it can evaporate, resulting in the formation of water droplets.When...
- dew point
The dew point is the temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water. The condensed water is called dew. The dew point is a saturation point...
(dewpoint)
- disdrometer
A disdrometer is an instrument used to measure the drop size distribution and velocity of falling hydrometeors. Some disdrometers can distinguish between rain, graupel, and hail....
- downwelling
Downwelling is the process of accumulation and sinking of higher density material beneath lower density material, such as cold or saline water beneath warmer or fresher water or cold air beneath warm air. It is the sinking limb of a convection cell. Upwelling is the opposite process and together...
- drizzle
Drizzle is a light rain precipitation consisting of liquid water drops smaller than those of rain, and generally smaller than 0.5 mm in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation rates due to drizzle are on the order of a millimeter per...
- drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
- dry line
A dry line is an important factor in severe weather frequency in the Great Plains of North America...
(dew point line)
- dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
- dusk
Dusk is the beginning of darkness in the evening. It is often confused with sunset, which is the daily disappearance of the sun below the horizon. The sky generally remains bright and blue for some time after the sun sets. This period is known as twilight. Dusk is the end of the evening civil...
E
- Earth's atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
- Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field is approximately a magnetic dipole, with the magnetic field S pole near the Earth's geographic north pole and the other magnetic field N pole near the Earth's geographic south pole...
- economics of global warming
The economics of global warming refers to the economic costs and benefits of global warming, and to the economic impacts of actions aimed at the mitigation of and adaptation to global warming...
- effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans
The effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were shattering and long-lasting. As the center of Katrina passed east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 3 range with frequent intense gusts and tidal surge. Though the most severe portion of Katrina missed...
(see also Hurricane Katrina effects by regionThis article covers the Hurricane Katrina effects by region, within the United States and Canada. The effects of Hurricane Katrina, in August 2005, were catastrophic and widespread. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history, leaving 1836 people dead, and a further 705 missing....
)
- effect of sun angle on climate
The amount of heat energy received at any location on the globe is a direct effect of sun angle of climate, as the angle at which sunlight strikes the Earth varies by location, time of day, and season due to the Earth's orbit around the sun and the Earth's revolution around its tilted axis...
- eolian processes
Aeolian processes pertain to the activity of the winds and more specifically, to the winds' ability to shape the surface of the Earth and other planets. Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials, and are effective agents in regions with sparse vegetation and a large supply of...
- equator
The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass. In simpler language, it is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth...
(see under Equatorial climate)
- European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is an international organisation based at Reading, England that was founded in 1975.- Objectives :The objectives of the ECMWF are:...
(ECMWF)
- European Climate Change Programme
The European Climate Change Programme was launched in June 2000 by the European Union's European Commission.The goal of the ECCP is to identify, develop and implement all the necessary elements of an EU strategy to implement the Kyoto Protocol...
(ECCP)
- European emission standards
European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.Currently, emissions of...
(for motor vehicles)
- European windstorm
A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic windstorm associated with areas of low pressure that track across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe. They are most common in the winter months. Deep low pressure areas are relatively common over the North Atlantic and frequently track past the...
- evaporation
Evaporation is the vaporization of a liquid and the reverse, of condensation. A type of phase transition, it is the process by which molecules in a liquid state spontaneously become gaseous . Generally, evaporation can be seen by the gradual disappearance of a liquid from a substance when exposed...
- evaporative cooler
- evaporative cooling
- evaporite
Evaporites are water-soluble mineral sediments that result from the evaporation of bodies of surficial water. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks.- Formation of evaporite rocks :...
(a mineral sediment resulting from evaporation of saline water)
- evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies...
(ET) (sum of evaporation and plant transpiration)
- exhaust gas recirculation
In internal combustion engines, exhaust gas recirculation is a nitrogen oxide emissions reduction technique used in most petrol/gasoline and diesel engines....
(EGR) (exhaust gas recycling)
- exosphere
The exosphere is the uppermost layer of the atmosphere. In the exosphere, an upward travelling molecule can escape to space if it is moving fast enough to attain escape velocity; otherwise it will be pulled back to the celestial body by gravity...
(layer of atmosphere)
- extratropical cyclone
Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are a group of cyclones defined as synoptic scale low pressure weather systems that occur in the middle latitudes of the Earth having neither tropical nor polar characteristics, and are connected with fronts and...
(mid-latitude cyclone)
- extreme weather
]Extreme weather includes weather phenomena that are at the extremes of the historical distribution, especially severe or unseasonal weather.-Related to significant tropical cyclones:...
- extremes on Earth
This article describes extreme locations on Earth. Entries listed in bold are Earth-wide extremes.-Extreme elevations and temperatures per continent:-Greatest vertical drop:See also List of mountains and Seven Summits.- Subterranea :...
F
- fog
Fog is a cloud that is in contact with the ground. A cloud may be considered partly fog; for example, the part of a cloud that is suspended in the air above the ground is not considered fog, whereas the part of the cloud that comes in contact with higher ground is considered fog...
- forensic meteorology
Forensic meteorology is the process of reconstructing weather events for a certain location. This is done by acquiring local weather reports, radar and satellite images, and eyewitness accounts. Forensic meteorology is most often used in court cases for either insurance companies or a murder...
- freezing rain
Freezing rain is the name given to rain that falls when surface temperatures are below freezing. The raindrops become supercooled while passing through a sub-freezing layer of air, many hundred feet , just above the surface, and then freeze upon impact with any object they encounter. The resulting...
- (front [meteorology]: see) surface weather analysis
Surface weather analysis is a special type of weather map that provides a view of weather elements over a geographical area at a specified time based on information from ground-based weather stations...
- frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapor available. Frost is also usually translucent in appearance. There are many types of...
- frost creep (frost heave)
- frost flowers
Frost flowers is the name commonly given to a condition in which thin layers of ice are extruded from long-stemmed plants in autumn or early winter...
(frost castles) (ice castles) (ice ribbons) (ice blossoms)
- frost heaving
Frost heaving is the process by which the freezing of water-saturated soil causes the deformation and upward thrust of the ground surface. This process can damage plant roots through breaking or desiccation, cause cracks in pavement, and damage the foundations of buildings, even below the frost...
(frost heave)
- frost law
Frost laws are seasonal restrictions on road traffic weight limits and speeds.In climates that experience below freezing temperatures, frost heaving damage to roads have led to many states to enact laws....
- frost line
The frost line—also known as frost depth or freezing depth—is most commonly the depth that the groundwater in soil is expected to freeze. The frost depth depends on the climatic conditions of an area, the heat transfer properties of the soil and adjacent materials, and on nearby heat sources...
- (frost point: see) dew point
The dew point is the temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water. The condensed water is called dew. The dew point is a saturation point...
(dewpoint)
- frostbite
Frostbite-is a condition that results in body tissues is frozen. the next step is hyporterma. is the medical condition wherein localized damage is caused to skin and other tissues due to extreme cold....
- Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
(for measuring tornadoes)
- fulgurite
Fulgurites are natural hollow glass tubes formed in quartzose sand, or silica, or soil by lightning strikes. They are formed when lightning with a temperature of at least instantaneously melts silica on a conductive surface and fuses grains together; the fulgurite tube is the cooled product...
- (full lunar eclipse: see) lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse is an eclipse which occurs whenever the moon passes behind the earth such that the earth blocks the sun’s rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a...
- full-spectrum
Full-spectrum light is light that covers the electromagnetic spectrum from infrared through near-ultraviolet, or all wavelengths that are useful to plant or animal life; in particular, sunlight is considered full spectrum, even though the solar spectral distribution reaching Earth changes with time...
light
- funnel cloud
A funnel cloud is a funnel-shaped cloud of condensed water droplets, associated with a rotating column of wind and extending from the base of a cloud but not reaching the ground or a water surface. A funnel cloud is usually visible as a cone-shaped or needle like protuberance from the main cloud...
(related to a tornado)
G
- galactic cosmic ray
Galactic cosmic rays consist of those cosmic rays that enter the solar system from the outside. They are high-energy charged particles composed of protons, electrons, and fully ionized nuclei of light elements and are a strong source for cosmic ray spallation in the atmosphere of the...
(GCR)
- gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong. The U.S. Government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34 to 47 knots of sustained surface winds...
- gale warning
A gale warning is an advisory or warning issued by the local competent authority in maritime countries about the existence of winds of gale force or above or the imminent occurrence of gales at sea...
- Galileo thermometer
A Galileo thermometer, Galilean thermometer , is a thermometer made of a sealed glass cylinder containing a clear liquid and a series of objects whose densities are designed to sink in sequence as the liquid is warmed and decreases in density and vice-versa.-Typical design:Suspended in the liquid...
(Galilean thermometer)
- Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a total population of 57,466 within an area of...
(see under The 1900 Storm)
- Galveston Hurricane of 1900
The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900.It had estimated winds of at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale....
(in the US)
- gas balloon
A gas balloon is any balloon that stays aloft due to being filled with a gas less dense than air or lighter than air . A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small rubber party balloons...
(see under Gas balloons today)
- gas flare
A gas flare or flare stack is an elevated vertical stack or chimney found on oil wells or oil rigs, and in refineries, chemical plants and landfills used for burning off unwanted gas or flammable gas and liquids released by pressure relief valves during unplanned over-pressuring of plant equipment...
(flare stack)
- (gas warfare: see) chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons to kill, injure, or incapacitate an enemy....
Ge-Gk
- geomagnetic storm
A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a disturbance in space weather. Associated with solar coronal mass ejections , coronal holes, or solar flares, a geomagnetic storm is caused by a solar wind shock wave which typically strikes the Earth's magnetic...
- (geomagnetism: see) Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field is approximately a magnetic dipole, with the magnetic field S pole near the Earth's geographic north pole and the other magnetic field N pole near the Earth's geographic south pole...
- geospatial technology
Geospatial Technology, commonly known as geomatics, refers to technology used for visualization, measurement, and analysis of features or phenomena that occur on the earth...
(Spatial Information Technology)
- Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program is a key element in United States' National Weather Service operations. GOES weather imagery and quantitative sounding data are a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information used to support weather forecasting, severe...
(GOES) (a program of the US)
- geostatistics
Geostatistics is a branch of statistics focusing on spatiotemporal datasets. Developed originally to predict probable distributions for mining operations, it is currently applied in diverse disciplines including petroleum geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, geochemistry,...
- geostrophic wind
The geostrophic wind is the theoretical wind that would result from an exact balance between the Coriolis effect and the pressure gradient force. This condition is called geostrophic balance. The geostrophic wind is directed parallel to isobars . This balance seldom holds exactly in nature...
- Global Atmosphere Watch
The Global Atmosphere Watch is a worldwide system established by the World Meteorological Organization a United Nations agency to monitor trends in the Earth's atmosphere...
(GAW)
- greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is the heating of the surface of a planet or moon due to the presence of an atmosphere containing gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation. Thus, greenhouse gases trap heat within the surface-troposphere system...
- greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
(GHG)
- growing degree day
Growing degree days , also called growing degree units , are a heuristic tool in phenology. GDD are a measure of heat accumulation used by horticulturists and gardeners to predict the date that a flower will bloom or a crop reach maturity....
(GDD)
- growing season
In agriculture, the growing season is the period of each year when crops can be grown. It is usually determined by climate and crop selection. Depending on the location, temperature, daylight hours , and rainfall, may all be critical environmental factors.In the northern U.S...
H
- hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation which consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, that are individually called hail stones. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between 5 and 150 millimeters in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe and dangerous...
- halo (optical phenomenon)
A halo is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky...
- haze
Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. The WMO manual of codes includes a classification of horizontal obscuration into categories of fog, ice fog, steam fog, mist, haze, smoke, volcanic ash, dust, sand and snow...
- heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is the process of energy transfer from one body or system due to thermal contact, which in turn is defined as an energy transfer to a body in any other way than due to work performed on the body....
- (heat budget: see) radiation budget
- (heat equator: see) thermal equator
The thermal equator is a belt encircling the Earth, defined by the set of locations having the highest mean annual temperature at each longitude around the globe...
- (heat lightning: see) lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
- heat wave
A heat wave is prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity. There is no universal definition of a heat wave; the term is relative to the usual weather in the area...
- heating degree day
Heating degree day are quantitative indices designed to reflect the demand for energy needed to heat a home or business. These indices are derived from daily temperature observations, and the heating requirements for a given structure at a specific location are considered to be directly...
(HDD)
- (Heaviside layer) Kennelly–Heaviside layer (E region) (in the atmosphere)
- Heavy snow warning
A Heavy snow warning was a weather advisory issued by the National Weather Service of the United States during times when a high rate of snowfall was occurring or was forecast...
- heliostat
A heliostat is a device that, in general, tracks the movement of the sun. The device typically utilizes a mirror, which can be oriented throughout the day to redirect sunlight along a fixed axis toward a stationary target or receiver.Heliostats are used in solar telescopes, and solar power...
- High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program is an investigation project jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency . Its purpose is to investigate the ionosphere and establish whether some of its properties...
(HAARP)
- high pressure area
A high-pressure area is a region where the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the planet is greater than its surrounding environment. Winds within high-pressure areas flow outward due to the higher density air near their center and friction with land...
- High Resolution Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector
The High Resolution Fly's Eye or HiRes detector was an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observatory that operated in the western Utah desert from May 1997 until April 2006. HiRes utilized the atmospheric fluorescence technique that was pioneered by the Utah group first in tests at the Volcano Ranch...
- high-altitude airship
The United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency has contracted Lockheed Martin to construct a high-altitude airship to enhance its Ballistic Missile Defense System ....
(HAA)
- humid continental climate
The humid continental climate is a climate found over large areas of landmasses in the temperate regions of the mid-latitudes where there is a zone of conflict between polar and tropical air masses. The humid continental climate is marked by variable weather patterns and a large seasonal...
- humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and cool winters. This climate type covers a broad category of climates, and the term "subtropical" may be a misnomer for the winter climate....
- (humidex) heat index
The heat index is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature — how hot it feels, termed the felt air temperature. The human body normally cools itself by perspiration, or sweating, which evaporates and carries...
(HI)
- humidity
Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. In daily language the term "humidity" is normally taken to mean relative humidity. Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapour in a parcel of air to the saturated vapour pressure of water vapour at a prescribed...
- HurriQuake
The HurriQuake nail is a construction nail designed by Ed Sutt for Stanley-Bostitch, a division of Stanley Works, and patented in 2004. The features of the nail are designed primarily to provide more structural integrity for a building, especially against the forces of hurricanes and...
nail (for resisting hurricanes and earthquakes)
- (hydrologic cycle) water cycle
The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Since the water cycle is truly a "cycle," there is no beginning or end. Water can change states among liquid, vapor, and ice at various places in the water...
- hydrological phenomenon
A hydrological phenomenon, or hydrologic phenomenon, is an observable movement of water within the water cycle. Hydrological phenomena are studied within the field of hydrology, and include:* precipitation, including rain and snow* floods* droughts...
- hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout Earth, and thus addresses both the hydrologic cycle and water resources...
- hydrosphere
A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet....
- hygrometer
Hygrometers are instruments used for measuring relative humidity. A simple form of a hygrometer is specifically known as a psychrometer and consists of two thermometers, one of which includes a dry bulb and the other of which includes a bulb that is kept wet to measure wet-bulb temperature...
(different from hydrometerA hydrometer is an instrument used to measure the specific gravity of liquids; that is, the ratio of the density of the liquid to the density of water....
)
- hypercane
A hypercane is a hypothetical class of extreme tropical cyclone that could form if ocean temperatures reached around , 15 °C higher than the warmest ocean temperature ever recorded, which could in turn be caused by a large asteroid or comet impact, a large volcanic or supervolcanic eruption, or...
("hypothetical class of hurricane")
I
- ice
Ice is a solid phase, usually crystalline, of a non-metallic substance that is liquid or gas at room temperature, such as carbon dioxide ice , ammonia ice, or methane ice. However, the predominant use of the term ice is for water ice, technically restricted to one of the 15 known crystalline phases...
- Ice Accretion Indicator
The Ice Accretion Indicator is an L-shaped piece of aluminium 38 cm long by 5 cm wide. It is used to indicate the formation of ice, frost or the presence of freezing rain or freezing drizzle....
- ice age
The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
- ice storm
An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event, cyclonic snowstorm, or in some parts of the United States as a silver thaw. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on...
- Ice Storm Warning
An Ice Storm Warning is issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when freezing rain produces a significant and possibly damaging accumulation of ice...
- illuminance
In photometry, illuminance is the total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area. It is a measure of the intensity of the incident light, wavelength-weighted by the luminosity function to correlate with human brightness perception. Similarly, luminous emittance is the luminous flux per...
- impact winter
An impact winter is a period of prolonged cold weather caused by the impact on the Earth of a large asteroid or comet. If such an impact occurred on land or the floor of a shallow sea, it could cause large amounts of dust or ash to be thrown into the Earth's atmosphere, blocking the Sun's light...
- impluvium
The impluvium is the sunken part of the atrium in a Greek or Roman house . Designed to carry away the rainwater coming through the compluvium of the roof, it is usually made of marble and placed about 30 cm below the floor of the atrium....
- in situ
In situ is a Latin phrase meaning in the place. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may work but interference from...
(see under Earth and atmospheric sciences)
- incidental radiator
- India Meteorological Department
The India Meteorological Department , also referred to as the Met Office, is a Government of India organisation that is responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasts, and detecting earthquakes. The IMD is also the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center responsible for...
- Indian summer
Indian summer is an informal expression given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn in the northern hemisphere, typically in late October or early November, after the leaves have turned but before the first snowfall....
- infrared
Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves...
(IR) radiation (see under Meteorology)
- insolation
Insolation is a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. The name comes from a portmanteau of the words incident solar radiation. It is commonly expressed as average irradiance in watts per square meter or kilowatt-hours per square meter per day...
- instrument meteorological conditions
Instrument meteorological conditions , sometimes referred to as Blind flying, is an aviation term that describes weather conditions that normally require pilots to fly primarily by reference to instruments, and therefore under Instrument Flight Rules , rather than by outside visual references under...
(IMG)
- instrumental temperature record
]See also temperature record.The instrumental temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans as measured by temperature sensors.As is seen in the figure,The X axis represents the time, and the Y axis represents temperature anomaly in degree celsius....
- intentional radiator
An intentional radiator is any device that is designed to produce radio waves on purpose.Radio transmitters of all kinds, including the garage door opener, cordless telephone, cellular phone, wireless video sender, wireless microphone, and many others fall into this category....
- International Meteorological Organization
Although there had been significant developments in meteorology in the 18th century, Matthew Fontaine Maury, of the US Navy, was instrumental in convening the first true International Meteorological Organization held in Brussels, Belgium on August 23, 1853....
(IMO)
- International Temperature Scale of 1990
The International Temperature Scale of 1990 is an equipment calibration standard for making measurements on the Kelvin and Celsius temperature scales. ITS–90 is an approximation of the thermodynamic temperature scale that facilitates the comparability and compatibility of temperature measurements...
(ITS-90)
- International Terrestrial Reference System
The International Terrestrial Reference System describes procedures for creating reference frames suitable for use with measurements on or near the Earth's surface. This is done in much the same way that a physical standard might be described as a set of procedures for creating a realization of...
(ITRS)
- Invest (meteorology)
An invest in meteorology is a designated area of disturbed weather that is being monitored for tropical cyclone development. Invests are designated by three separate forecast centers: the National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and Joint Typhoon Warning Center...
- ion wind
Ion wind, ionic wind, or coronal wind is a stream of ionized fluid generated by a strong electric field. Francis Hauksbee, curator of instruments for the Royal Society of London, made the earliest report of electric wind in 1709...
(ion wind) (coronal wind)
- ionosonde
A ionosonde, or chirpsounder, is a special radar for the examination of the ionosphere. An ionosonde consists of:* A high frequency transmitter, automatically tunable over a wide range...
(chirpsounder)
- ionosphere
The ionosphere is the uppermost part of the atmosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...
- ionospheric reflection
Ionospheric reflection: Of electromagnetic waves propagating in the ionosphere, a redirection, i.e., bending--by a complex process involving reflection and refraction--of the waves back toward the Earth....
- ionospheric sounding
In telecommunication and radio science, an ionospheric sounding is a technique that provides real-time data on high-frequency ionospheric-dependent radio propagation, using a basic system consisting of a synchronized transmitter and receiver....
- iron cycle
In ecology or geoscience, the iron cycle is the biogeochemical cycle of iron through landforms, the atmosphere, and oceans. The iron cycle affects dust deposition and aerosol iron bioavailability..- References :...
- irradiance
Irradiance, radiant emittance, and radiant exitance are radiometry terms for the power per unit area of electromagnetic radiation at a surface. "Irradiance" is used when the electromagnetic radiation is incident on the surface. "Radiant exitance" or "radiant emittance" is used when the radiation is...
- irradiation
Irradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to radiation. The exposure can be intentional, sometimes to serve a specific purpose, or it can be accidental...
- isobar
Isobar may refer to:* A contour line of equal or constant pressure in meteorology* Isobar , in nuclear physics, one of multiple nuclides with equal numbers of nucleons* A heat pipe* Isobar , a 2009 science fiction film...
- isochore
Isochore may refer to:* an Isochoric process in thermodynamics* isochore...
(in a thermodynamicIn physics, thermodynamics is the study of the conversion of energy into work and heat and its relation to macroscopic variables such as temperature, volume and pressure...
diagram)
- isodrosotherm
- isogon (meteorology)
- (isogram) contour line
A contour line of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level...
(level setIn mathematics, a level set of a real-valued function f of n variables is a set of the formwhere c is a constant. That is, it is the set where the function takes on a given constant value....
) (isarithm)
- isohel
- isohume
- isohyet
- isohypse (in topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
)
- isotherm
An isotherm may refer to:*A type of contour line or surface on a map that connects or indicates points of equal temperature*An isothermal process in a thermodynamic cycle.* Moisture sorption isotherm...
L
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics is a research organization at the University of Colorado at Boulder. LASP is a research institute with over 100 research scientists ranging in fields from solar influences, to Earth's and other planetary atmospherics processes, space weather, space...
(LASP)
- lake effect snow
Lake-effect snow is produced in the winter when cold winds move across long expanses of warmer lake water, providing energy and picking up water vapor which freezes and is deposited on the windward shores. The same effect over bodies of salt water is called ocean effect snow, sea effect snow, or...
(a snowsquall)
- (lake surge: see) storm surge
Storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically a tropical cyclone. Storm surge is caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea level...
- land hemisphere
The land hemisphere, sometimes capitalized as the Land Hemisphere, is the hemisphere on the Earth containing the largest possible area of land. It is centered on...
- land lighthouse
A land lighthouse is simply a lighthouse constructed to aid navigation over land, rather than water. Historically, they were constructed in areas of flatland where the featureless landscape and prevailing weather conditions might cause travellers to become easily disorientated and lost...
- lapse rate
The lapse rate is defined as the rate of decrease with height for an atmospheric variable. The variable involved is temperature unless specified otherwise. The terminology arises from the word lapse in the sense of a decrease or decline; thus, the lapse rate is the rate of decrease with height and...
- lenticular cloud
Lenticular clouds are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, normally aligned perpendicular to the wind direction. Lenticular clouds can be separated into altocumulus standing lenticularis , stratocumulus standing lenticular , and cirrocumulus standing lenticular .- Formation...
- life zone
The Life Zone concept was developed by C. Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation are similar to the changes seen with an increase in...
- lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
- lightning rod
A lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod or conductor mounted on top of a building and electrically connected to the ground through a wire, to protect the building in the event of lightning...
(lightning protector) (lightning finial)
- lightning safety
- (lightning storm) thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, a hailstorm, or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically-assigned cloud type associated with the...
(T-storm) (electrical storm)
- lightvessel
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship which acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction...
(lightship)
- line source
A line source is a source of air, noise, water contamination or electromagnetic radiation that emanates from a linear geometry...
("a source of air, noise, water contamination or electromagnetic radiation")
- (list of all-time high and low temperatures by state: see) U.S. state temperature extremes
The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each state in the United States, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each state in the United States, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.The following table...
- list of basic earth science topics
- list of Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes
- list of Category 5 Pacific hurricanes
- list of cloud types
- list of coastal weather stations of the United Kingdom
- list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions
- list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita
- list of countries by ratio of GDP to carbon dioxide emissions
- list of Earth observation satellites
- list of lighthouses and lightvessels
- list of meteorological phenomena
- list of most polluting power stations
- list of named tropical cyclones
- list of Northern Indian Ocean tropical cyclone seasons (see also :Category:North Indian cyclone seasons)
- List of derecho events
- list of notable tropical cyclones
- list of power outages
- list of scientific journals in earth and atmospheric sciences
- list of Solar Cycles (list of sunspot cycles)
- list of tornado-related deaths at schools
- list of weather instruments
- list of weather records
- low pressure area
A low pressure area, or "low", is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower in relation to the surrounding area. Low pressure systems form under areas of upper level divergence on the east side of upper troughs, or due to localized heating caused by greater insolation or active thunderstorm...
(see same for "low-pressure cell")
- (lowest elevations: see) list of places on land with elevations below sea level
- (luminous pollution) light pollution
Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excessive or obtrusive artificial light. The International Dark-Sky Association , "The Light Pollution Authority," defines light pollution as: It obscures the stars in the night sky for city dwellers, interferes with...
(photopollution)
- lunar phase
A lunar phase or phase of the moon refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon and Sun...
M
- magnetic storm
Magnetic storm can refer to:* A geomagnetic storm* Magnetic Storm , the title of a book of paintings by Roger Dean* Magnetic Storm , the title of an hourlong PBS NOVA documentary about Earth's changing magnetic fields...
(geomagnetic storm)
- magnetopause
The magnetopause is the abrupt boundary between a magnetic field, and surrounding plasma. The magnetopause ripples, flaps, and moves inward and outward in response to varying solar wind conditions....
- magnetosheath
The magnetosheath is the region of space between the magnetopause and the bow shock of a planet's magnetosphere. The regularly organized magnetic field generated by the planet becomes weak and irregular in the magnetosheath due to interaction with the incoming solar wind, and is incapable of fully...
- magnetosphere
A magnetosphere is a highly magnetized region around and possessed by an astronomical object. Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere, as are the magnetized planets Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter's moon Ganymede is magnetized, but too weak to trap solar wind plasma. Mars has...
- marine west coast climate (maritime climate) (oceanic climate
An oceanic climate is the climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, and in southeastern Australia...
)
- Mars Climate Orbiter
The Mars Climate Orbiter was one of two NASA spacecraft in the Mars Surveyor '98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander...
- Mars Radiation Environment Experiment
The Martian Radiation Experiment, or MARIE was designed to measure the radiation environment of Mars using an energetic particle spectrometer as part of the science mission of the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft...
(Martian Radiation Experiment) (MARIE)
- mean radiant temperature
The Mean Radiant Temperature is a concept arising from the fact that the net exchange of radiant energy between two objects is approximately proportional to their temperature difference multiplied by their ability to emit and absorb heat . Mean radiant temperature is simply the area weighted mean...
(MRT)
- Mediterranean climate
A hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
- medium earth orbit
Medium Earth orbit , sometimes called intermediate circular orbit , is the region of space around the Earth above low Earth orbit and below geostationary orbit ....
(MEO) (intermediate circular orbit) (ICO)
- megathermal
In climatology, the term megathermal is sometimes used as a synonym for "tropical."The word megathermal is derived from two Greek words meaning "having great heat."...
(macrothermal)
- melting
Melting is a physical process that results in the phase change of a substance from a solid to a liquid. The internal energy of a solid substance is increased, typically by the application of heat or pressure, resulting in a rise of its temperature to the melting point, at which the rigid ordering...
- mercury (element)
Mercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80...
(see "Clean Air Act" in paragraph 3 under Release of mercury into the environment)
- mercury-in-glass thermometer
A mercury-in-glass thermometer, invented by German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, is a thermometer consisting of mercury in a glass tube. Calibrated marks on the tube allow the temperature to be read by the length of the mercury within the tube, which varies according to the heat given to it...
- mesosphere
The mesosphere is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. The mesosphere is located about 50 to 85 kilometers above the Earth's surface.The stratosphere and mesosphere are referred to as the middle atmosphere...
- mesothermal
In climatology, the term mesothermal is used to refer to certain forms of climate found typically in the Earth's Temperate Zones. It has a moderate amount of heat, with winters not cold enough to sustain snow cover...
(in climatology)
- Met Office
The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence. Part of the Met Office headquarters at Exeter in Devon is the Met Office College, which handles the training for internal personnel and many forecasters from around the world...
(previously Meteorological Office) (the UK's national weather service)
- meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina
The meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina, an extremely destructive Category 5 hurricane, began on August 23, 2005 when it originated as Tropical Depression Twelve near the Bahamas. The next day, the tropical depression strengthened to a tropical storm, and was named Katrina; it proceeded to...
- Meteorological Service of Canada
The Meteorological Service of Canada is a division of Environment Canada, which primarily provides public meteorological information and weather forecasts and warnings of severe weather and other environmental hazards. MSC also monitors and conducts research on climate, atmospheric science, air...
(MSC)
- meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century...
- metrology
Metrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement.-Introduction:...
- Miami Tornado
The Miami Tornado was an F1 tornado which touched down in Miami, Florida on May 12, 1997. The tornado is remembered not for its minor damage but for its haunting pictures, which made headlines around the world....
(of May 12, 1997)
- Miami tornadoes of 2003
- microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
- Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006
The Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006 was a significant flood that affected much of the Mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States. The flooding was very widespread, affecting numerous rivers, lakes and communities from upstate New York to North Carolina. It is widely considered to be...
- middle latitudes
The middle latitudes are between 23°26'22" North and 66°33'39" North, and between 23°26'22" South and 66°33'39" South latitude, or, the earth's temperate zones between the tropics and the Arctic and Antarctic. The prevailing winds in the middle latitudes are often very strong...
- midnight
Midnight is, literally, "the middle of the night". In most systems it is when one day ends and the next begins: when the date changes. Originally midnight was halfway between sunset and dawn, varying according to the seasons....
- millimeter cloud radar
Millimeter-wave cloud radar is a radar system designed to monitor cloud structure with wavelengths about ten times shorter than those used in conventional storm surveillance radars such as NEXRAD....
(millimeter wave cloud radar) (MMCR)
- mist
Mist is a phenomenon of small droplets suspended in air. It can occur as part of natural weather or volcanic activity, and is common in cold air above warmer water, in exhaled air in the cold, and in a steam room of a sauna. It can also be created artificially with aerosol canisters if the...
- moisture
Moisture generally refers to the presence of water, often in trace amounts.The moisture content is often an important aspect of foodstuffs including cheese and many dried goods such as tea where excess moisture can promote bacterial growth, decay, molding, or rotting over time.Excessive moisture...
- moonlight
Moonlight is the light that comes to Earth from the Moon. This light does not originate from the Moon, but is actually reflected sunlight. In many legends and fantasy games, moonlight is an important part of magical processes .- Illumination :The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on...
N
- NASA Clean Air Study
The NASA Clean Air Study has been led by the NASA in association with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America . Its results suggest that certain common indoor plants may provide a natural way of removing toxic agents such as benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air, helping...
- NASA Earth Observatory
The NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing organization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States ....
- NASA World Wind
World Wind is a free, open source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but more recent Java versions are cross platform...
(virtual globe)
- National Ambient Air Quality Standards
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards are standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under authority of the Clean Air Act that apply for outdoor air throughout the country...
(NAAQS) (in the US)
- National Center for Atmospheric Research
The National Center for Atmospheric Research conducts collaborative research in atmospheric and Earth system science, encompassing meteorology, climate science, atmospheric chemistry, solar-terrestrial interactions, environmental and societal impacts, and more...
(NCAR) (in the US)
- National Climatic Data Center
The United States National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina is the world's largest active archive of weather data.The Center has more than 150 years of data on hand with 224 gigabytes of new information added each day...
(NCDC) (in the US)
- National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants are emissions standards set by the United States EPA for an air pollutant not covered by NAAQS that may cause an increase in fatalities or in serious, irreversible, or incapacitating illness...
(NESHAPS) (in the US)
- (National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service: see) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
(NOAA) (in the US)
- National Geomagnetism Program
The National Geomagnetism Program is a program directed by the USGS that monitors the Earth's magnetic field....
(in the US)
- National Hurricane Center
The National Hurricane Center , located at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, is the division of National Weather Service's Tropical Prediction Center responsible for tracking and predicting the likely behavior of tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes.When tropical...
(in the US)
- National Map
The National Map is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States...
(in the US)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
(NOAA) (in the US)
- (National Severe Storms Forecast Center [NSSFC]: renamed) Storm Prediction Center
The Storm Prediction Center , located in Norman, Oklahoma, is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction , operating under the control of the National Weather Service , which in turn is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States Department of...
(SPC) (in the US)
- National Severe Storms Laboratory
The National Severe Storms Laboratory is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather research laboratory located at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma....
(NSSL) (in the US)
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
The National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC, is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research...
(NSIDC) (in the US)
- National Solar Observatory
The mission of the National Solar Observatory is to advance knowledge of the Sun, both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth, by providing forefront observational opportunities to the research community...
(in the US)
- National Weather Center
The National Weather Center , located on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together in partnership to improve understanding of events occurring in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range of time and space scales...
(in the US)
- National Weather Service bulletin for New Orleans region
The National Weather Service bulletin for the New Orleans region of 10:11 a.m., August 28, 2005 was a vividly worded release issued by the local Weather Forecast Office in Slidell, Louisiana, warning of the devastation that the Gulf Coast of the United States could experience as a result of...
(at 10:11 a.m., August 28, 2005)
- National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
- nautical almanac
A nautical almanac is a publication describing the positions of a selection of celestial bodies for the purpose of enabling navigators to use celestial navigation to determine the position of their ship while at sea...
- nephology
Nephology is the study of clouds and cloud formation. British meteorologist Luke Howard was a major researcher within this field, establishing a cloud classification system....
- nephoscope
Nephoscope is instrument for measuring the altitude, direction, and velocity of clouds. It Uses Radio Waves that bounce back and forth.http://img.tfd.com/wn/27/63027-nephoscope.gifThere are several types of nephoscope:...
- night sky
Night sky is a commonly used term most often employed to refer to the sky as it is seen at night. The term is usually associated with astronomy, with reference to views of heavenly bodies such as stars, the Moon and planets that become visible on a clear night after the Sun has set.The night sky...
- nimbus cloud
A nimbus cloud is a cloud that produces precipitation. Usually the precipitation reaches the ground as rain, hail or snow, however, that is not a requirement, falling precipitation may evaporate as virga.- Etymology :...
- nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the atmosphere and is essential to all life. The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the transformations of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. It is a cycle that includes gaseous components.Earth's atmosphere is...
- (nitrogen pollution: see) eutrophication
Eutrophication is an increase in the concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an extent that increases in the primary productivity of the ecosystem...
(see under Atmospheric deposition)
- nitrogenomics
Nitrogenomics pertains to the study of genomics of the nitrogen utilisation and assimilation in organisms. Nitrogen is a primary nutrient element for sustaining the life of every organism...
- NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service office. It is operated by the NWS, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the United States Department of...
(of the US)
- noctilucent cloud
Noctilucent clouds, are tenuous cloud-like phenomena that are the "ragged-edge" of a much brighter and pervasive polar cloud layer called polar mesospheric clouds in the upper atmosphere, visible in a deep twilight. They are made of crystals of water ice. The name means roughly night shining in Latin...
- North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface...
- numerical weather prediction
Numerical weather prediction uses current weather conditions as input into mathematical models of the atmosphere to predict the weather. While the first efforts to accomplish this were done in the 1920s, it wasn't until the advent of the computer that it was feasible to do in real-time...
O
- observational astronomy
Observational astronomy is a division of the astronomical science that is concerned with getting data, in contrast with theoretical astrophysics which is mainly concerned with finding out the measurable implications of physical models...
(see "light pollution" in places)
- observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial and/or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
(see also list of observatories)
- occultation
An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The word is used in astronomy and can also be used in a general sense to describe when an object in the foreground occults objects in the background...
- oceanic climate
An oceanic climate is the climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, and in southeastern Australia...
- Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research....
(OAR)
- 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak
- orographic lift
Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it expands and cools adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions,...
- oxygen
Oxygen Oxygen Oxygen (acid, literally "sharp", from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter) is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O...
- oxygen cycle
The oxygen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs: the atmosphere , the biosphere , and the lithosphere...
- ozone
Ozone or trioxygen is a simple triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic O
2. Ground-level ozone is an air pollutant with harmful effects on the respiratory systems of animals...
- ozone depletion
Ozone depletion describes two distinct, but related observations: a slow, steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere since the late 1970s, and a much larger, but seasonal, decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions during the same...
- ozone depletion potential
The ozone depletion potential of a chemical compound is the relative amount of degradation to the ozone layer it can cause, with trichlorofluoromethane being fixed at an ODP of 1.0. Chlorodifluoromethane , for example, has an ODP of 0.05.The first proposal of ODP came from Wuebbles in 1983...
(ODP)
- ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 93-99% of the sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth. Over 91% of the ozone in Earth's atmosphere is present here...
(ozonosphere layer)
- ozone-oxygen cycle
The ozone-oxygen cycle is the process by which ozone is continually regenerated in Earth's stratosphere, all the while converting ultraviolet radiation into heat energy. In 1930 Sydney Chapman resolved the chemistry involved.- How the ozone layer works :...
P
- Pacific decadal oscillation
The Pacific decadal oscillation is a pattern of Pacific climate variability that shifts phases on at least inter-decadal time scale, usually about 20 to 30 years. The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20° N...
- paleoclimatology
Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses records from ice sheets, tree rings, sediment, and rocks to determine the past state of the climate system on Earth....
- paleomagnetism
Paleomagnetism is the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field preserved in various magnetic minerals through time. The study of paleomagnetism has demonstrated that the Earth's magnetic field varies substantially in both orientation and intensity through time.A paleomagnetist is a...
- paleotempestology
Paleotempestology is the study of past tropical cyclone activity by means of geological proxies as well as historical documentary records. The term was coined by Kerry Emanuel.-Sedimentary proxy records:...
- parts-per notation
Parts-per notation is used, especially in science and engineering, to denote relative proportions in measured quantities; particularly in low-value proportions at the parts-per-million , parts-per-billion , and parts-per-trillion level...
- photovore
- planetary boundary layer
The planetary boundary layer , also known as the atmospheric boundary layer , is the lowest part of the atmosphere and its behavior is directly influenced by its contact with a planetary surface. On Earth it usually responds to changes in surface forcing in an hour or less...
(PBL)
- pluvial lake
A pluvial lake is a lake that experiences significant increase in depth and extent as a result of increased precipitation and reduced evaporation.-Etymology:The word pluvial comes from the Latin pluvia, which means "rain"...
- polar circle
A polar circle is either the Arctic Circle or the Antarctic Circle. On Earth, the Arctic Circle is located at a latitude of 66˚ 33' 38" N, and the Antarctic Circle is located at a latitude of 66˚ 33' 38" S...
- polar climate
Regions with a polar climate are characterized by a lack of warm summers .The tundra covers over 20% of the earth...
- polar easterlies
The polar easterlies are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the north and south poles towards low-pressure areas within the Westerlies at high latitudes...
- polar high
The polar highs are areas of high atmospheric pressure around the north and south poles, south polar high being the stronger one because land gains and loses heat more effectively than sea...
- polar ice cap
A polar ice cap is a high latitude region of a planet or natural satellite that is covered in ice. There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor any geological requirement for it to be over land; only that it must be a body of...
- (polar light: see) aurora (astronomy)
Auroras, sometimes called the northern and southern lights or aurorae , are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. They are also referred to as polar auroras...
- polar low
A polar low is a small-scale, short-lived atmospheric low pressure system that is found over the ocean areas poleward of the main polar front in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The systems usually have a horizontal length scale of less than and exist for no more than a couple of days....
- (polar mesospheric cloud) noctilucent cloud
Noctilucent clouds, are tenuous cloud-like phenomena that are the "ragged-edge" of a much brighter and pervasive polar cloud layer called polar mesospheric clouds in the upper atmosphere, visible in a deep twilight. They are made of crystals of water ice. The name means roughly night shining in Latin...
- polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE)
- polar night
The polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, when the sun stays above the horizon for a long time is called the polar day, or midnight sun....
- polar region
Earth's polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the poles also known as frigid zones. The North Pole and South Pole being the centers, these regions are dominated by the polar ice caps, resting respectively on the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica...
- (polar reversal) magnetic polarity reversal
- polar stratospheric cloud
Polar stratospheric clouds , also known as nacreous clouds, are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 meters...
(PSC) (nacreous cloud)
- polarization
Polarization is a property of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. This article primarily covers the polarization of electromagnetic waves such as light, although other types of wave also exhibit polarization....
(see under Polarization effects in everyday life)
- pole shift theory
The Pole shift hypothesis is almost always discussed in the context of Earth, but other bodies in the Solar System may have experienced axial reorientation during their existences....
- positive streamer
A positive streamer is the bit of a lightning bolt that rises from the ground before the lightning strikes, often determining the path of the cloud-to-ground lightning. It is essentially composed of a column of ionized air formed by the flow of electrons down into the ground target...
- post-glacial rebound
Post-glacial rebound is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, through a process known as isostatic depression...
- potential evaporation
Potential evaporation or potential evapotranspiration is defined as the amount of evaporation that would occur if a sufficient water source were available. If the actual evapotranspiration is considered the net result of atmospheric demand for moisture from a surface and the ability of the...
- potential temperature
The potential temperature of a parcel of fluid at pressure is the temperature that the parcel would acquire if adiabatically brought to a standard reference pressure , usually 1000 millibars...
- pyrocumulus
R
- radiance
Radiance and spectral radiance are radiometric measures that describe the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a particular area, and falls within a given solid angle in a specified direction. They are used to characterize both emission from diffuse sources and reflection from...
- radiant barrier
Radiant barriers or reflective barriers inhibit heat transfer by thermal radiation. Thermal energy may also be transferred via conduction or convection, however, radiant barriers do not necessarily protect against heat transfer via conduction or convection....
- radiant energy
Radiant energy is the energy of electromagnetic waves. The quantity of radiant energy may be calculated by integrating radiant flux with respect to time and, like all forms of energy, its SI unit is the joule. The term is used particularly when radiation is emitted by a source into the...
- radiation
In physics, radiation describes any process in which energy emitted by one body travels through a medium or through space, ultimately to be absorbed by another body...
- radiation budget
- radiation hormesis
Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that chronic low doses of ionizing radiation are beneficial, stimulating repair mechanisms that protect against disease...
- radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning, also called radiation sickness or a creeping dose, is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation...
(radiation sickness)
- radiative cooling
Radiative cooling is the process by which a body loses heat by radiation. In the case of the earth-atmosphere system it refers to the process by which long-wave radiation is emitted to balance the absorption of short-wave energy from the sun.The exact process by which the earth loses heat is...
- radiative forcing
In climate science, radiative forcing is defined as the change in net irradiance at the tropopause. "Net irradiance" is the difference between the incoming radiation energy and the outgoing radiation energy in a given climate system and is thus measured in Watts per square meter...
- radiological weapon
A radiological weapon or radiological dispersion device ' is any weapon that is designed to spread radioactive material with the intent to kill, and cause disruption upon a city or nation....
(radiological dispersion device [RDD])
- radiosonde
A radiosonde is a unit for use in weather balloons that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them to a fixed receiver. Radiosondes may operate at a radio frequency of 403 MHz or 1680 MHz and both types may be adjusted slightly higher or lower as required...
- rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to other kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. On Earth, it is the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into drops heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface...
- rain fade
Rain fade refers primarily to the absorption of a microwave Radio Frequency signal by atmospheric rain, snow or ice, and losses are especially prevalent at frequencies above 11 GHz. It also refers to the degradation of a signal caused by the electromagnetic interference of the leading edge of a...
(fading of signal by rain or snow)
- rain gauge
A rain gauge is a type of instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over a set period of time.-History:The first known records of rainfalls were kept by the...
- rain sensor
A rain sensor or rain switch is a switching device actuated by rainfall. There are two main types of rain sensors. The first is a water conservation device connected to an automatic irrigation system that causes the system to shut down in the event of rainfall...
- rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of land that has suffered desertification from proximity to mountain ranges. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them.-Description:...
- rainbow
A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere...
- rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests.From 40 to 75%...
- rarefaction
Rarefaction is the reduction of a medium's density, or the opposite of compression.A natural example of this is as a phase in a sound wave or phonon. Half of a sound wave is made up of the compression of the medium, and the other half is the decompression or rarefaction of the medium.Another...
- RealClimate
RealClimate is a commentary site on climatology by a group of climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. It aims to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary...
(commentary site on climate science)
- RealSky
RealSky is the name of a commercially available, digital photographic sky atlas. It is a subset of the Digitized Sky Survey and was published in 1996 by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific....
(digital photographic sky atlas)
- relative humidity
Relative humidity is a term used to describe the amount of water vapor that exists in a gaseous mixture of air and water vapor.- Definition :...
- relative pressure
- (relief precipitation: see) orographic lift
Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it expands and cools adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions,...
- research balloon
Research balloons are balloons that are used for scientific research. They are usually unmanned, filled with a lighter-than-air gas like helium, and fly at high altitudes....
- resistance thermometer
Resistance thermometers, also called resistance temperature detectors or resistive thermal devices , are temperature sensors that exploit the predictable change in electrical resistance of some materials with changing temperature. As they are almost invariably made of platinum, they are often...
(resistance temperature detector) (RTD)
- rime (frost)
Hard rime is a white ice that forms when the water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects. It is often seen on trees atop mountains and ridges in winter, when low-hanging clouds cause freezing fog...
S
- Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
The Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale is a classification used for most Western Hemisphere tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms. The scale divides hurricanes into five categories distinguished by the intensities of their sustained winds...
- satellite temperature measurements
Satellite temperature measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1978. By comparison, the usable balloon record begins in 1958....
- (Sea Islands Hurricane) 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane
On August 27, 1893 a major hurricane which came to be known as the Sea Islands Hurricane struck the United States near Savannah, Georgia. It was one of two deadly hurricanes during the 1893 Atlantic hurricane season; the storm killed an estimated 1,000–2,000 people, mostly from storm surge...
- sea level
Mean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...
- (sea level pressure) atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is defined as the force per unit area exerted against a surface by the weight of air above that surface at any given point in the Earth's atmosphere. In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above...
- sea surface temperature
Sea surface temperature is the water temperature close to the surface.In practical terms, the exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used...
(SST)
- severe weather
Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property.- Examples Include :Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and , instability in the...
- severe weather terminology (United States)
This article describes the United States National Weather Service . The NWS defines precise meanings for nearly all its weather terms. This article describes NWS terminology and related NWS weather scales...
- sky
The sky is the part of the atmosphere or of outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a deep blue surface because of the air's scattering of sunlight. The sky is...
- skyglow
Skyglow , is a kind of light pollution, visible by the "glowing" effect seen in the skies over many cities and towns as a dome of light...
- smoke
This article is about the substance. For other uses, see Smoke .Smoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass...
- snow
Snow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure. Snowflakes...
- Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is a spacecraft that was launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS launch vehicle on December 2, 1995 to study the Sun, and began normal operations in May 1996. It is a joint project of international cooperation between the European Space Agency and NASA...
- solar azimuth angle
The solar azimuth angle is the azimuth angle of the sun. It is most often defined as the angle between the line from the observer to the sun projected on the ground and the line from the observer due south. A positive azimuth angle generally indicates the sun is east of south, and a negative...
- solar cell
A solar cell is a device that converts the energy of sunlight directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the light source is...
- solar collector
A solar collector is a device for extracting the energy of the sun directly into a more usable or storable form. The energy in sunlight is in the form of electromagnetic radiation from the infrared to the ultraviolet wavelengths...
- solar constant
- solar cycle
The solar cycle, or the solar magnetic activity cycle, is the main source of periodic solar variation driving variations in space weather. The cycle is observed by counting the frequency and placement of sunspots visible on the Sun...
- solar eclipse
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth,...
- solar flare
A solar flare is a large explosion in the Sun's atmosphere that can release as much as 6 × 10
25 joules of energy. The term is also used to refer to similar phenomena in other stars, where the more accurate term stellar flare applies....
(see under Hazards)
- solar furnace
A solar furnace is a structure used to harness the rays of the sun in order to produce high temperatures, usually for industry. This is achieved using a curved mirror that acts as a parabolic reflector, concentrating light onto a focal point...
- solar greenhouse (technical)
A solar greenhouse works by letting in solar radiation to warm the ground, with the structure then trapping the energy to increase and maintain the temperature at a higher level than it otherwise would be. Generally, a greenhouse blocks the heat inside from mixing with the air outside...
- solar heating
Solar heating is the usage of solar energy to provide process, space or water heating. The heating of water is covered in solar hot water. Solar heating design is divided into two groups:...
- solar maximum
Solar maximum or solar max is the period of greatest solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During solar maximum, sunspots appear....
- Solar Maximum Mission
The Solar Maximum Mission satellite was designed to investigate solar phenomenon, particularly solar flares. It was launched on February 14, 1980....
- solar minimum
Solar minimum is the period of least solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During this time, sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days at a time...
- solar mirror
A solar mirror is a reflective surface used for gathering and reflecting solar energy in a system being powered by solar energy. It comprises a glass substrate, a reflective layer for reflecting the solar energy, and an interference layer...
- solar proton event
A Solar proton event occurs when protons emitted by the Sun become accelerated to very high energies either close to the Sun during a solar flare or in interplanetary space by the shocks associated with coronal mass ejections. These high energy protons cause several effects. They can penetrate the...
- solar radiation (solar irradiance)
- (solar storm) geomagnetic storm
A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a disturbance in space weather. Associated with solar coronal mass ejections , coronal holes, or solar flares, a geomagnetic storm is caused by a solar wind shock wave which typically strikes the Earth's magnetic...
- solar thermal collector
A solar thermal collector is a solar collector specifically intended to collect heat: that is, to absorb sunlight to provide heat. Although the term may be applied to simple solar hot water panels, it is usually used to denote more complex installations. There are various types of thermal...
- solar thermal energy
Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy . Solar thermal collectors are defined by the USA Energy Information Administration as low-, medium-, or high-temperature collectors. Low temperature collectors are flat plates generally used to heat swimming pools...
- solar updraft tower
The solar updraft tower is a proposed type of renewable-energy power plant. It combines three old and proven technologies: the chimney effect, the greenhouse effect, and the wind turbine...
- solar variation
Solar variations refer here to changes in the amount of total solar radiation and its spectral distribution. There are periodic components to these variations, the principal one being the 11-year solar cycle , as well as aperiodic fluctuations. Solar activity has been measured by satellites during...
- solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the sun. It consists mostly of electrons and protons with energies of about 1 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed with the passage of time...
- solarium
The word solarium is Latin and derives from the Latin word sol, meaning "sun".Solarium may also refer to:* Sunroom, a room built largely of glass to afford exposure to the sun...
space geostrategyGeostrategy in space deals with the strategic considerations of location and resources in outer space territory. In essence, it is the study of the strategic application of resources to the geography of space...
(geostrategy in space]) (astrostrategy)
- space weather
Space weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. It is distinct from the concept of weather within a planetary atmosphere, and deals with phenomena involving ambient plasma, magnetic fields, radiation and other matter in space...
- (specific humidity: see) humidity
Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. In daily language the term "humidity" is normally taken to mean relative humidity. Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapour in a parcel of air to the saturated vapour pressure of water vapour at a prescribed...
(see under Specific Humidity)
- (standard atmospheric pressure) atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is defined as the force per unit area exerted against a surface by the weight of air above that surface at any given point in the Earth's atmosphere. In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above...
(standard atmosphere)
- standard conditions for temperature and pressure
In physical sciences, standard conditions for temperature and pressure are standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements, to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data...
- storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
- storm cellar
Storm cellars are underground structures that are either located below buildings, or are built underground near houses or other such buildings. They are reinforced structures into which residents can go for protection from a strong wind storm. They are common in areas that often have tornadoes and...
- storm chasing
Storm chasing is broadly defined as the pursuit of any severe weather condition, regardless of motive, which can be curiosity, adventure, scientific exploration or for news / media coverage....
- storm drain
A storm drain, storm sewer , stormwater drain, drain or drainage well system is designed to drain excess rain and ground water from paved streets, parking lots, sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems...
(storm sewer) (stormwater drain)
- storm surge
Storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically a tropical cyclone. Storm surge is caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea level...
- storm tide
A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm. Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living along the coast. The water level can rise to more than 5 meters above the normal tide....
- storm track
Storm tracks are the relatively narrow zones in the Atlantic and Pacific along which most Atlantic or Pacific extratropical cyclones travel.The storm tracks begin in the westernmost parts of Atlantic and Pacific, where the large temperature contrasts between land and sea cause cyclones to form,...
- storm warning
A storm warning generally refers to an advisory issued by an official meteorological department to warn citizens of approaching dangerous weather...
(see same for "storm watch")
- storm-scale
Storm-scale is a scale of sizes of weather systems on the order of individual thunderstorms.- See also :* Synoptic scale meteorology* Mesoscale meteorology* Microscale meteorology* Misoscale meteorology...
- stormwater
Stormwater is a term used to describe water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt or runoff water from overwatering that enters the stormwater system...
- stratopause
The stratopause is the level of the atmosphere which is the boundary between two layers, stratosphere and the mesosphere...
- stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
- subarctic
The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, southern Greenland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang...
- subarctic climate
Regions having a subarctic climate are characterized by long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool to mild summers. It is found on large landmasses, away from the moderating effects of an ocean, generally at latitudes from 50° to 70°N poleward of the humid continental climates...
- subtropical cyclone
A subtropical cyclone is a weather system that has some characteristics of a tropical and an extratropical cyclone. As early as the 1950s, meteorologists were unclear whether they should be characterized as tropical or extratropical cyclones. They were officially recognized by the National...
(see same for "subtropical depression" and for "subtropical storm")
- subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
(see same for "subtropical" and for "subtropical climate")
- sudden ionospheric disturbance
A sudden ionospheric disturbance is an abnormally high ionization/plasma density in the D region of the ionosphere caused by a solar flare...
(SID)
- sudden stratospheric warming
A sudden stratospheric warming is an event where the polar vortex of westerly winds in the Northern winter hemisphere abruptly slows down or even reverses direction, accompanied by a rise of stratospheric temperature by several tens of kelvins...
- sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
- sun dog
A sun dog or sundog is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° distant and at the...
(sundog) (parhelion)
- sunlight
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. Near the poles in summer, the days are longer and the...
- sunshower
A sunshower or sun shower is an unusual meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining. These conditions often lead to the appearance of a rainbow, if the sun is at a low enough angle. The term "sunshower" is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland...
- sunspot
A sunspot is an area on the Sun's surface that is marked by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. They can be visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope...
(see under "Significant events")
- surface temperature inversion
- synoptic scale meteorology
The synoptic scale in meteorology is a horizontal length scale of the order of 1000 kilometres or more. This corresponds to a horizontal scale typical of mid-latitude depressions...
T
- temperature
In physics, temperature is a physical property of a system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the higher temperature. Temperature is one of the principal parameters of thermodynamics...
- temperature extremes
- (temperature inversion) inversion (meteorology)
In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to a temperature inversion, i.e., an increase in temperature with height, or to the layer within which such an increase occurs...
- temperature record
The temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans through various spans of time. The most detailed information exists since 1850, when methodical thermometer-based records began. There are numerous estimates of temperatures since the end of the...
- temperature record of the past 1000 years
The temperature record of the past 1,000 years describes the reconstruction of temperature for the last 1000 years on the Northern Hemisphere, later extended back to 2000 years and also to cover the southern hemisphere. A reconstruction is needed because a reliable surface temperature record...
- The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel is a U.S. cable and satellite television network that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news 24 hours a day. In addition to its cable TV programming, TWC also provides forecasts for terrestrial and satellite radio stations, newspapers, and websites, and maintains...
- The Weather Network
The Weather Network is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel that provides weather information 24 hours a day. Based in Oakville, Ontario, The Weather Network also operates a French language channel called MétéoMédia. The station has a separate feed for the Greater Toronto...
- thermal equator
The thermal equator is a belt encircling the Earth, defined by the set of locations having the highest mean annual temperature at each longitude around the globe...
- thermometer
A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor A thermometer (from the Greek θερμός (thermo) meaning "warm" and meter, "to measure") is a device that measures...
- thunder
Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, it can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble . The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a...
- thundersnow
Thundersnow, also known as a winter thunderstorm or a thunder snowstorm, is a rare thunderstorm with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain. It commonly falls in regions of strong upward motion within the cold sector of extratropical cyclones between autumn and spring when...
- thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, a hailstorm, or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically-assigned cloud type associated with the...
(electrical storm)
- TIMED
The TIMED mission was a two year project to study the dynamics of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The mission was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on December 7, 2001 aboard a Delta II rocket launch vehicle...
(Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics)
- tor
- tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud...
- tornado warning
A tornado warning is an alert issued by government weather services to warn an area that a tornado may be imminent. It can be issued after either a tornado or funnel cloud has already been spotted, or if there are radar indications that a tornado may be possible...
- tornado watch
A tornado watch is issued when weather conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms that are capable of producing tornadoes. A tornado watch therefore implies that it is also a severe thunderstorm watch...
- tornadogenesis
Tornadogenesis is the process by which a tornado forms. There are many types of tornadoes, and each type of tornado can have several different methods of formation. Scientific study is ongoing, as some aspects of tornado formation remain a mystery....
- torr
The torr is a non-SI unit of pressure defined as of a standard atmosphere, chosen to be roughly equal to the fluid pressure exerted by a millimeter of mercury, i.e. a pressure of 1 Torr is approximately equal to 1 mmHg...
(symbol: Torr) (millimetre of mercury) (mmHg)
- Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer is a satellite instrument for measuring ozone values. Of the five TOMS instruments which were built, four entered successful orbit. Nimbus-7 and Meteor-3 provided global measurements of total column ozone on a daily basis and together provide a complete data...
(TOMS)
- tropical climate
A tropical climate is a kind of climate typical in the tropics. Köppen's widely-recognized scheme of climate classification defines it as a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures above .- Examples of tropical climates :...
- tropical cyclogenesis
Tropical cyclogenesis is the technical term describing the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropical cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which mid-latitude cyclogenesis occurs...
- tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones feed on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air...
(tropical storm) (typhoon) (hurricane)
- Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert
A Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert is a bulletin released by the U.S. Navy-operated Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii or the Naval Maritime Forecast Center in Norfolk, Virginia, warning of the possibility of a tropical cyclone forming from a tropical disturbance that has been...
(TCFA)
- tropical cyclone observation
Tropical cyclone observation has been carried out over the past couple of centuries in various ways. The passage of typhoons, hurricanes, as well as other tropical cyclones have been detected by word of mouth from sailors recently coming to port or by radio transmissions from ships at sea, from...
- tropical cyclone prediction model
A tropical cyclone forecast model is a computer program that uses meteorological data to forecast the motion and intensity of tropical cyclones. Such models utilize powerful supercomputers with sophisticated mathematical modeling software and meteorological data to calculate paths and intensities...
- tropical cyclone rainfall climatology
A tropical cyclone rainfall climatology is developed to determine rainfall characteristics of past tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone rainfall climatology can be used to help forecast current or upcoming tropical cyclone impacts. The degree of a tropical cyclone rainfall impact depends upon...
- tropical cyclone scales
Tropical systems are officially ranked on one of several tropical cyclone scales according to their maximum sustained winds and in what oceanic basin they are located...
- Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere program
The Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program is a component of the World Climate Research Programme aimed specifically at the prediction of climate phenomena on time scales of months to years....
(TOGA)
- tropical rain belt
The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics in the Eastern Hemisphere over the course of the year...
- Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is a joint space mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall. The term refers to both the mission itself and the satellite that the mission uses to collect data...
(TRMM)
- Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra
The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site was listed in UNESCO World Heritage list in 2004. It comprises three Indonesian national parks on the island of Sumatra — Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park...
(in Indonesia)
- (Tropical Research Institute) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...
(STRI) (in Panama)
- Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough
A tropical upper tropospheric trough is a trough situated in upper-level tropics. Its formation is usually caused by the intrusion of energy and wind from the mid-latitudes into the tropics. It can also develop from the inverted trough adjacent to an upper level anticyclone...
(TUTT)
- tropical waves (African easterly waves)
- tropopause
The tropopause is the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Going upward from the surface, it is the point where air ceases to cool with height, and becomes almost completely dry. More formally, it is the region of the atmosphere where the lapse rate changes from...
- troposphere
The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 75 percent of the atmosphere's mass and 99 percent of its water vapor and aerosols....
- Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer or TES is a satellite instrument designed to measure the state of the earth's troposphere. It is an infrared Fourier Transform spectrometer and provides key data for studying tropospheric chemistry, troposphere-biosphere interaction, and troposphere-stratosphere...
(TES)
- tropospheric ozone
Ozone is a constituent of the troposphere . Photochemical and chemical reactions involving it drive many of the chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere by day and by night...
- tsunami
A is a series of water waves that is caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean. The original Japanese term literally translates as "harbor wave." Tsunamis are a frequent occurrence in Japan; approximately 195 events have been recorded...
- Tsunami PTSD Center
The Tsunami Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Center is a nonprofit institution located in Bangkok, Thailand, committed to the study, treatment and education of PTSD and related mental health issues, many of which are specific to Asia....
(Tsunami Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Center)
- tsunami warning system
A tsunami warning system is a system to detect tsunamis and issue warnings to prevent loss of life and property. It consists of two equally important components: a network of sensors to detect tsunamis and a communications infrastructure to issue timely alarms to permit evacuation of coastal...
U
- U.S. state temperature extremes
The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each state in the United States, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each state in the United States, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.The following table...
- ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than x-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
- United States temperature extremes
For the United States, the extremes are 134.8 °F in Death Valley, California and −82.8 °F recorded in Prospect Creek, Alaska....
- UV index
The UV index is an international standard measurement of how strong the ultraviolet radiation from the sun is at a particular place on a particular day...
W
- water vapor
Water vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. Water vapor is one state of the water cycle within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice...
- weather
Weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the troposphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods...
- weather lore
Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather.It has been a human desire for millennia to make accurate weather predictions. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes, and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the next day...
- wind
Wind is the flow of air or other gases that compose an atmosphere . On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air...
- windcatcher
A windcatcher is a traditional Persian architectural device used for many centuries to create natural ventilation in buildings. It is not known who first invented the windcatcher, but it still can be seen in many countries today...
- Windscale fire
On 10 October, 1957, the graphite core of a British nuclear reactor at Windscale, Cumberland , caught fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area. The event, known as the Windscale fire, was considered the world's worst reactor accident until Three...
- winter storm
A winter storm is an event in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are forms that only occur at cold temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice to form...
- Winter Storm Warning
A Winter Storm Warning is a statement made by the National Weather Service of the United States which means a winter storm is occurring or is about to occur in the area, usually within 24 hours. Generally, a Winter Storm Warning is issued if at least 4-6 or more inches of snow or 3 or more inches...
- Winter Weather Advisory
A Winter Weather Advisory is issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when a low pressure system produces a combination of winter weather that presents a hazard, but does not meet warning criteria...
- World Asthma Day
World Asthma Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma to improve asthma awareness and care around the world. World Asthma Day takes place on the first Tuesday of May. The theme of this year's event is "You Can Control Your Asthma"- External links :* * – Agency for...
- World Climate Change Conference, Moscow
- World Climate Conference
The world climate conferences are a series of international meetings, organized by the World Meteorological Organization , about global climate issues. The first two conferences largely focused on climate change in addition to climate research and forecasting. The next upcoming conference is World...
- World Climate Programme
The World Climate Programme was established following the first World Climate Conference in 1979. The major sponsors are the World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and...
- World Climate Report
World Climate Report, a newsletter edited by Patrick Michaels, was produced by the Greening Earth Society, a non-profit organization created by the Western Fuels Association.....
- World Climate Research Programme
The World Climate Research Programme was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization, and has also been sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO since 1993. It is a component of the...
- World Meteorological Organization
The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 188 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
(WMO)
- World Solar Challenge
The World Solar Challenge is a solar-powered car race which covers 3021 km through the Australian Outback, from Darwin to Adelaide....