- 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, ...
A change of direction and possibly amplitude of an electromagnetic, acoustic, or any other wave propagating in a material medium, as a consequence of spatial variation in the properties of the medium. In specular (mirrorlike) reflection, the spatial variation is abrupt (on the scale of the wavelength), as at an interface between water and air. Specular reflection is described by the law of reflection, according to which incident and reflected waves lie in the plane of incidence, defined by the normal to the interface and the direction of the incident wave, and make the same angle of incidence with this normal. Specular reflection is distinguished from refraction in that the direction of propagation of the reflected wave has a component opposite the direction of the incident wave. Although the law of (specular) reflection is often a good approximation, it is not exact: Diffuse reflection in directions not accounted for by the law of reflection always accompanies specular reflection because matter is not homogeneous on all scales. Light reflected by a cloud illuminated by sunlight is an example of diffuse reflection. Reflection may also refer to the change of direction of a beam of particles, in the broadest sense of this term.
Industry:Weather
A centrally buoyant device, designed to drift at a specific depth below the water's surface, used to measure water velocity at that depth.
Industry:Weather
A brief period of rainfall in which intensity can be variable and may change rapidly. It is often convective in nature.
Industry:Weather
A brief period of snowfall in which intensity can be variable and may change rapidly. A snow shower in which only light snow falls for a few minutes is typically called a snow flurry.
Industry:Weather
A bright, or dark, line found in the spectrum of some radiant source. The wavelength location of the line is controlled by the physics of the emission (bright line) or absorption (dark line) process involved. See absorption line, emission line.
Industry:Weather
A cathode-ray oscilloscope on which radar echoes are displayed. See radar displays.
Industry:Weather
A center for the Global Data Processing System that has the primary purpose of issuing meteorological analyses and prognoses on a regional scale for a specified geographic area.
Industry:Weather
A camera system developed by scientists at the University of Wisconsin and flown on the first ATS in 1966. This camera made use of the spin-stabilization of the satellite to produce high-resolution cloud imagery. The spin-scan cloud camera was the forerunner of the VISSR imaging instrument used in later geostationary satellites.
Industry:Weather
A buoyant device subject to wind effects used to measure water velocity on surface water bodies.
Industry:Weather
A British term for the sector of advancing cold air of a midlatitude depression in its mature or decaying state.
Industry:Weather
