- Industry: Weather
- Number of terms: 60695
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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, AMS has a membership of more than 14,000 professionals, ...
The study of the tropical atmosphere. The dividing lines, in each hemisphere, between the tropical easterlies and the midlatitude westerlies in the middle troposphere roughly define the poleward boundaries of this region. Whereas many circulation systems in middle and high latitudes are nearly adiabatic and quasigeostrophic, tropical systems are often strongly influenced by cumulus convection and surface heating, and can be less often dealt with using quasigeostrophic techniques. Many tropical circulations are driven or strongly influenced by coupling with the ocean. Examples of important tropical systems include the Hadley and Walker circulations, monsoons, tropical cyclones, the Madden–Julian oscillation, easterly waves, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The stratospheric circulation is dominated by the quasi-biennial oscillation and also contains the ascent branch of the Dobson circulation. Although tropical meteorology may be said to be a distinct endeavor, there are strong interactions between tropical and extratropical circulation systems.
Industry:Weather
A large-scale pressure trough that forms in a location that is consistent with the position of other dominant troughs and the distance between troughs expected from dynamical considerations. For example, the mean trough over the Mediterranean in winter is referred to as a resonance trough because of its relationship to the two orographically forced troughs of the east coasts of North America and Asia.
Industry:Weather
The statistical spread, or mean-square deviation from the mean, of the vertical velocity; useful as a measure of turbulence intensity or gravity wave amplitude. It is the vertical component of turbulence kinetic energy per unit mass. It determines the rate of vertical spread of pollutants.
Industry:Weather
The thermodynamic condition (temperature, supersaturation/supercooling) at which the rate of formation of the nascent phase first becomes appreciable. See Also nucleation.
Industry:Weather
The ratio of a region's total precipitation to the amount of “external” precipitation originating as evaporation from the oceans as opposed to evapotranspiration from the land.
Industry:Weather
The ratio of the root-mean-square of the eddy velocity to the mean wind speed. In general, it is a quantity that characterizes the intensity of gusts in the airflow.
Industry:Weather
The slight local difference between the gravitational attraction of two astronomical bodies and the centrifugal force that holds them apart. These forces are exactly equal and opposite at the center of gravity of either of the bodies, but, since gravitational attraction is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, it varies from point to point on the surface of the bodies. Therefore, gravitational attraction predominates at the surface point nearest to the other body, while centrifugal “repulsion” predominates at the surface point farthest from the other body. Hence there are two regions where tide-producing forces are at a maximum, and normally there are two tides each lunar day and solar day.
Industry:Weather
The zone between the ground surface and the top of the saturated zone (capillary fringe) associated with the regional water table.
Industry:Weather
The reverse of thermally direct, so that kinetic energy is transferred to internal and/or potential energy. An example occurs in the instability of shear flow in a stably stratified environment. Although the term may be considered confusing, it is widely used in contemporary literature.
Industry:Weather
