The audio-frequency signal transmitted by the Diamond-Hinman radiosonde when the baroswitch pen passes each fifteenth contact of the commutator, up to a number determined by the design of the commutator, and each fifth contact thereafter. This signal is t ...

The envelope of air surrounding the earth and bound to it more or less permanently by virtue of the earth's gravitational attraction. The system whose chemical Properties. dynamic motions, and physical processes constitute the subject matter of meteorolog ...

The process in which incident radiation is retained by a substance. A further process always results from absorption.

National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Central computer and communications facility of the National Weather Service; located in Washington, DC.

A water-temperature thermometer provided with an insulated container around the bulb. It is lowered into the sea on a line until it has had time to reach the temperature of the surface water, then withdrawn and read. The insulated water surrounding the bu ...

An aneroid barograph designed to record atmospheric pressure variations of very small magnitude.

Growth of a cloud or precipitation particle by the collision and union of a frozen particle with a super-cooled water drop.

Atmospheric layer throughout which there is no change of temperature with height, i.e. a zero lapse rate.

Precipitation of very small, white opaque particles of ice, fairly flat or elongated, with diameters less than 1 mm. The solid equivalent of drizzle.

Determined by weighing a special type of wooden stick that has been exposed in the woods, its weight being proportional to its contained water.

Same as water year.

Any one of six gases, helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, all of whose shells of planetary electrons contain stable numbers of electrons such that the atoms are chemically inactive.

An instrument for measuring angles of inclination. Used in conjunction with a ceiling light to measure cloud height at night.

The correction applied to an instrument to account for the effect of temperature upon its response characteristics.

The source of illumination for an antenna reflector. Also called antenna feed.

A record obtained from a meteorograph. A chart in which meteorological variables are plotted against time.

A recording variometer.

Apparatus consisting of (a) standard radiosonde and radiosonde ground equipment to obtain upper-air data on pressure, temperature, and humidity, and (b) a self-tracking radio direction-finder to provide the elevation and azimuth angles of the radiosonde s ...

The depth below which the ground is saturated with water. No water table exists if the ground water is confined by an overlying impermeable stratum, as in the case of artesian ground water.

Wind with a speed between 48 and 55 knots (55 and 63 mph), Beaufort scale number 10.