- Industry: Weather
- Number of terms: 60695
- Number of blossaries: 0
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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, ...
One of the western boundary currents of the North Pacific subtropical gyre. A deep, narrow, and swift current, it continues from the Philippines Current in a northeastward direction from Taiwan along the continental rise of the East China Sea, through Tokara Strait, and close to the eastern coast of Japan. At 35°N it separates from the coast and flows eastward into the Pacific as a free jet known as the Kuroshio Extension. It forms a marked temperature and salinity front with the Oyashio, which meets the Kuroshio Extension from the north and then flows parallel to it. Like all other western boundary currents, the Kuroshio develops instabilities and sheds eddies. Its unique characteristic is that south of Honshu it switches between three quasi- stable paths across the Izu Ridge at irregular intervals of 18 months to several years. Volume transport in the Kuroshio increases downstream and reaches 57 Sv (57 × 106 m3s−1) in the Kuroshio Extension, increasing seasonally by 15% during summer. The current's path in the extension is characterized by large meridional excursions in the so-called First and Second Crest at 145° and 152°E. On approaching the Shatsky Rise at 157°E, the Kuroshio Extension divides into several paths that tend to recombine before the Emperor Seamounts near 170°E cause the current to split again and disintegrate. The flow then continues as the North Pacific Current.
Industry:Weather
A stability index that is a measure of thunderstorm potential based on temperature lapse rate, moisture content of the lower troposphere, and the vertical extent of the moist layer. The K index is determined by the following equation:
where T is the temperature and Td is the dewpoint in degrees Celsius at the pressure levels indicated. The higher (positive) the K index, the greater the likelihood of thunderstorm development.
Industry:Weather
A stability index that is a measure of thunderstorm potential based on temperature lapse rate, moisture content of the lower troposphere, and the vertical extent of the moist layer. The K index is determined by the following equation:
where T is the temperature and Td is the dewpoint in degrees Celsius at the pressure levels indicated. The higher (positive) the K index, the greater the likelihood of thunderstorm development.
Industry:Weather
The level at which an air parcel, rising or descending adiabatically, attains the same density as its environment.
Industry:Weather
The level at which an air parcel, rising or descending adiabatically, attains the same density as its environment.
Industry:Weather
An irrotational plane wave A parallel to the propagation direction in the sense that if A = A0exp(ik • x − iωt), where k is the wave vector, then k × A = 0. An example is an acoustic wave in an inviscid medium. Compare transverse wave.
Industry:Weather
An irrotational plane wave A parallel to the propagation direction in the sense that if A = A0exp(ik • x − iωt), where k is the wave vector, then k × A = 0. An example is an acoustic wave in an inviscid medium. Compare transverse wave.
Industry:Weather
A device that produces a narrow beam of electromagnetic energy by recirculating an internal beam many times through an amplifying medium, each time adding a small amount of energy to the recirculating beam in a phase-coherent manner. Typically the output beam results when a small amount of recirculating energy is allowed to leak out from the internal “cavity. ” These devices produce energy at light frequencies (which are higher than radio frequencies) in the infrared, visible, or ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and hence they often use optical technologies.
Industry:Weather
A jet stream that is typically found in the lower 2–3 km of the troposphere. At night, sometimes called a nocturnal jet. Examples are the African jet and the Somali jet.
Industry:Weather
A violent northeast wind of Central Asia occurring during spring and summer. It resembles the white buran of winter but, instead of snow, it carries clouds of dust that darken the sky.
Industry:Weather
