Meteorology: Random Listings 

The physical exposure of an instrument. The effect of immediate environment upon the representativeness of the measurements obtained by meteorological instruments is considerable and not always correctable. The purpose of the instrument shelter is to prov ...

The state of the atmosphere, mainly with respect to its effects upon life and human activities. As distinguished from climate, weather consists of the short-term (minutes to months) variations of the atmosphere.

A rotation anemometer which has a horizontal axis upon which helicoidal shaped vanes are mounted. See windmill anemometer.

The average temperature of the air as indicated by a properly exposed thermometer for a given time period, usually a day, a month, or a year.

Anemometer whicb measures wind speed by measuring the degree of cooling of a metal wire heated by an electric current. A type of cooling power anemometer.

The range of operating conditions of a device within which operating influences are negligible. The range is usually narrow. Reference operating conditions are the conditions under which reference performance is stated and the base from which the values o ...

A small anemometer with flat vanes which indicates the number of linear feet or meters of air which have passed the instrument during its exposure.

A c.g.s. (centimeter-gram-second) unit of mass. Originally defined as the mass of 1 cubic centimeter of water at 4

A thermometer which uses a transducing element whose element proper-ties are a function of its thermal state. Common meteorological examples of such thermometers are the resistance thermometer and the thermoelectric thermometer.

For a given location, a measure of the long-range effectiveness of precipitation in promoting plant growth. Also called precipitation-evaporation index.

The difference between the input quantity applied to a measuring instrument and the output quantity indicated by the instrument. The inaccuracy of an instrument is equal to the sum of its instrument error and its uncertainty.

Wind with a speed between 28 and 55 knots (32 and 63 mph); Beaufort scale numbers 7 through 10.

The process by which small particles suspended in a medium of a different refractive index diffuse a portion of the incident radiation in all directions. In scattering no energy transformation results, only a change in the spatial distribution of the radi ...

An absolute instrument developed by K. Angstrom for the measurement of direct solar radiation. The radiation receiver station consists of two identical manganin strips whose temperatures are measured by attached thermocouples. One of the strips is shaded, ...