Oceanography

Oceanography

The scientific studies of the ocean.

Industry: Earth science

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Oceanography

Exponent

Earth science; Oceanography

The part of a floating-point number specifying the power of ten by which the mantissa should be multiplied. In the common notation, e.g., 3. 1E8, the exponent is 8.

The organic carbon that forms the biological pump is transported primarily by sinking particulate material, for example dead organisms (including algal mats) or faecal pellets. However, some carbon ...

Ultraviolet catastrophe

Earth science; Oceanography

The prediction of the Rayleigh-Jeans law that the energy radiated by a blackbody at extremely short wavelengths is extremely large, and the total energy radiated is infinite, whereas in reality it ...

Scattering

Earth science; Oceanography

The process by which small particles suspended in a medium of a different index of refraction diffuse a portion of the incident radiation in all directions. In scattering, no energy transformation ...

Heat capacity

Earth science; Oceanography

The ratio of the amount of heat transfer applied to a body to the change in temperature produced by this heat, usually expressed as the heat energy required to raise the temperature of a specific ...

Size parameter

Earth science; Oceanography

The ratio of circumference of the sphere (of an aerosol particle) to the wavelength of incident radiation. For Rayleigh scattering, the particle radii are smaller than about one-tenth the wavelength ...

Inertial range

Earth science; Oceanography

The range of length scales over which energy is transferred and dissipation due to molecular viscosity is negligible. The power spectrum has power law behaviour over the inertial range. In two ...