- 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, ...
Over a specified period (usually the 24-hour observational day), the fastest speed, in miles per hour, of any “mile” of wind. The accompanying direction is specified also. The fastest mile is the reciprocal of the shortest interval (in 24 hours) that it takes one mile of air to pass a given point. This record is maintained only at weather stations that have a multiple register and thus have a time-record of the passing of each mile of wind. Compare peak gust.
Industry:Weather
One of the western boundary currents of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. A deep, narrow, and swift current, it originates from the Loop Current of the Gulf of Mexico. It enters the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits with a transport of 30 Sv (30 × 106 m3 s−1) and speeds of 1. 8 m s−1 and follows the coast northward for 1200 km to Cape Hatteras (35°N). Input from the Antilles Current and entrainment from the Gulf Stream recirculation in the Sargasso Sea increase its transport to 70–100 Sv (70–100 × 106 m3 s−1) before it leaves the coast at Cape Hatteras to continue as the Gulf Stream.
Industry:Weather
Opposite of frictional convergence; namely, the spreading apart of air horizontally caused by a change in air drag against the surface.
Industry:Weather
One of the western boundary currents of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and one of the swiftest ocean currents with one of the largest transports. A deep, narrow, and swift current, it continues from the Florida Current for 2500 km in a northeastward direction, penetrating into the Atlantic as a free jet. It reaches its maximum transport of 90–150 Sv (90–150 × 106 m3s−1) near 65°W before beginning to lose water to the Sargasso Sea; this water rejoins the Florida Current as the Gulf Stream recirculation. Some 50–90 Sv (50–90 × 106 m3s−1) continue northeastward past the Grand Banks (50°W), where the current is also known as the Gulf Stream Extension and the North Atlantic Current (or North Atlantic Drift). It forms a marked temperature and salinity front with the Labrador Current, which meets the Gulf Stream Extension from the north and then flows parallel to it. As a free jet, the Gulf Stream develops instabilities in the form of meanders that eventually break off as eddies, also known as rings. Cyclonic (cold core) rings contain cold Labrador Current water and drift slowly southwestward into the Sargasso Sea. Anticyclonic (warm core) rings contain warm Sargasso Sea water and drift southwestward in the Slope Water found between the Gulf Stream and the continental shelf.
Industry:Weather
One of the western boundary currents of the Atlantic Ocean and part of the pathway for water from the southern into the Northern Hemisphere in the global ocean conveyor belt. Flowing northward along the northern coast of South America, it originates from the North Brazil Current, receives a contribution from the South Equatorial Current, and continues as the Caribbean Current. The continuity of the Guyana Current as a permanent northward current is in doubt, but northward flow does exist in the mean. Eddies related to flow instability typical for western boundary currents have been reported.
Industry:Weather
One of the three stages to describe the development of the foehn in the Alps. They are 1) the preliminary phase, when cold air at the surface is separated from warm dry air aloft by a subsidence inversion; 2) the anticyclonic phase, when the warm air reaches valley stations as the result of the cold air retreating out toward the plain; and 3) the stationary phase or cyclonic phase, when the foehn wall forms and the downslope wind becomes appreciable.
Industry:Weather
One full orbit of AVHRR data at reduced resolution (3. 3 km x 4. 0 km) stored on digital tape recorders for subsequent playback to NOAA Command and Data Acquisition ground stations.
Industry:Weather
Old snow that has become granular and compacted (dense) as the result of various surface metamorphoses, mainly melting and refreezing but also including sublimation. The resulting particles are generally spherical and rather uniform. Firnification, the process of firn formation, is the first step in the transformation of snow into land ice (usually glacier ice). Some authorities restrict the use of firn to snow that has lasted through one summer, thereby distinguishing it from spring snow. Originally, the French term, “névé,” was equivalent to the German term, “firn,” but there is a growing tendency, especially among British glaciologists, to use “névés” for an area of firn, that is, generally for the accumulation area above or at the head of a glacier.
Industry:Weather
Oceanic current systems of planetary scale driven by the global wind system. The subtropical gyres are driven by the trade winds and by the westerlies of the temperate regions, the subpolar gyres by the westerlies and the polar easterlies. Gyres consist of a narrow, swift-flowing western boundary current, an eastward-flowing zonal current, a broad and slow-moving eastern boundary current, and a westward flowing zonal current. Eight gyres are distinguished in the World Ocean: In the Atlantic, the Brazil, South Atlantic, Benguela, and South Equatorial Currents form the subtropical gyre of the Southern Hemisphere; the Gulf Stream, Azores, Canary, and North Equatorial Currents form the subtropical gyre in the Northern Hemisphere; the Labrador, North Atlantic, Irminger, and East Greenland Currents form the subpolar gyre. In the Pacific, the East Australian, South Pacific, Peru/Chile, and South Equatorial Currents form the subtropical gyre of the Southern Hemisphere; the Kuroshio, North Pacific, California, and North Equatorial Currents form the subtropical gyre of the Northern Hemisphere; the Oyashio, Aleutian, California, and Alaskan Currents and the Alaskan Stream form the subpolar gyre; a second subpolar gyre exists in the Bering Sea. In the Indian Ocean, the Agulhas, South Indian, West Australian, and South Equatorial Currents form the only subtropical gyre.
Industry:Weather
