Oceanography

Oceanography

The scientific studies of the ocean.

Contributors in Oceanography

Oceanography

A relation bet ween the differential intensity (dE) of blackbody radiation within a narrow range of wavelengths; it is equal to 2ckT-4d, where c is the speed of light, k is the Boltzmann constant, T ...

Antarctic High

Earth science; Oceanography

A region of high pressure that occupies central Antarctic throughout the year. This pressure system is responsible for very cold temperatures and extremely low humidity.

Rossby number

Earth science; Oceanography

A dimensionless number relating the ratio of inertial to Coriolis forces. Explicitly, the Rossby number is Ro=U/(fL) in which U and L are characteristic velocity and horizontal length scales, ...

Southern Oscillation

Earth science; Oceanography

A large-scale atmospheric and hydrospheric fluctuation centred in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. It exhibits a nearly annual pressure anomaly, alternatively high over the Indian Ocean and high over ...

Rotary current

Earth science; Oceanography

A tidal current that changes direction progressively through 360 degreesduring a tidal cycle.

Ekman spiral

Earth science; Oceanography

A theoretical representation that a wind blowing steadily over an ocean of unlimited depth and extent and uniform viscosity would cause, in the Northern Hemisphere, the immediate surface water to ...

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability

Earth science; Oceanography

An instability of an unbounded parallel shear flow to the growth and nonlinear development of waves with phase speed in the along flow direction approximately equal to the speed of the inflexion ...