11 Terms
Home > Industry/Domain > Earth science > Oceanography
Oceanography
The scientific studies of the ocean.
Industry: Earth science
Add a new termContributors in Oceanography
Oceanography
Davidson current
Earth science; Oceanography
A countercurrent of the Pacific Ocean running north along the west coast of the United States (from northern California to Washington to at least latitude 48 degrees) during the winter months.
Rayleigh scattering
Earth science; Oceanography
1. Any scattering process produced by spherical particles whose radii are smaller than about one-tenth the wavelength of the scattered radiation. Compare Mie scattering. See also size parameter. ...
Oyashio current
Earth science; Oceanography
A cold ocean current flowing from the Bering Sea southwest along the coast of Kamchatka, past the Kuril Islands, continuing close to the northeast coast of Japan and reaching nearly 35 degrees ...
Burger number
Earth science; Oceanography
A dimensionless number comparing the buoyancy with Coriolis forces. Explicitly, the Burger number is Bu = N 2 D 2 /(f 2 L 2 ) in which N is the buoyancy frequency, f is the Coriolis parameter, and ...
Kuroshio system
Earth science; Oceanography
A system of ocean currents including the Kuroshio , Kuroshio extension , North Pacific current , and the lesser Tsushima current and Kuroshio countercurrent .
Froude number
Earth science; Oceanography
A dimensionless number relating the ratio of inertial to buoyancy forces applicable, in particular, to homogeneous shallow water flow, or two layer flow. Explicitly, in the shallow water ...
Richardson number
Earth science; Oceanography
A dimensionless number relating the ratio of buoyancy to inertial forces. In a stratified fluid with characteristic squared buoyancy frequency J,the bulk Richardson number is Ri = J/(U/L)^2 in which ...
