Oceanography

Oceanography

The scientific studies of the ocean.

Industry: Earth science

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Oceanography

Baroclinic wave

Earth science; Oceanography

Describes the synoptic scale disturbance that grows in mid-latitudes due to baroclinic instability.

Beaufort wind scale

Earth science; Oceanography

Descriptive system that determines wind speed by noting the effect of the wind on the environment. Originally developed for use at sea by Admiral Beaufort of the British Navy in 1806.

Hydrostatic balance

Earth science; Oceanography

Describes a balance between vertical pressure gradient and buoyancy forces. Explicitly dp/dz = -\rho g. When this balance does not hold the fluid is non-hydrostatic.

Beta effect

Earth science; Oceanography

Denotes how fluid motion is affected by spatial changes of the Coriolis parameter, for example, due to the Earth's curvature. The term takes its name from the symbol \beta, representing the ...

Tidal current

Earth science; Oceanography

Currents associated with the cyclical rise and fall of the water level as described in the definition of tide.

Turbulence

Earth science; Oceanography

Describes fluid motion disturbed from its average behaviour by random fluctuations over a range of temporal and spatial scales.

Electromagnetic radiation lying in the wavelength interval from 0. 7 µ to 1000 µ. Its lower limit is bounded by visible radiation, and its upper limit by microwave radiation. Most energy emitted by ...