20 Terms
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Physical oceanography
The scientific study of the physical conditions and processes related to the motions and physical properties of ocean currents and waters.
Industry: Earth science
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Physical oceanography
Layer coordinates
Earth science; Physical oceanography
In numerical modeling, a system of vertical coordinates where an arbitrary number of layers are specified in which some fluid property (e.g. density) remains constant, i.e. an independent variable. ...
Shallow atmosphere approximation
Earth science; Physical oceanography
In meteorology, an approximation made to simplify the equations of motion in spherical coordinates where the radial distance r is replaced by a+z, where the altitude z is much smaller than the radius ...
Subjective analysis
Earth science; Physical oceanography
In meteorology, the name given to synoptic weather charts prepared by hand since the resulting diagnosis or analysis relied extensively on the subjective judgement of the preparer. Compare to ...
Red noise
Earth science; Physical oceanography
Noise with relatively enhanced low frequency power that results simply from serial correlation. The resulting power spectrum will have a negative slope. This is usually a good model for the noise ...
Nitrate/nitrite
Earth science; Physical oceanography
Nitrite occupies an intermediate oxidation state in the marine inorganic nitrogen cycle between the most reduced form, ammonia, and the most oxidised form, nitrate. Nitrite accumulation therefore ...
MIxed Layer Dynamics EXperiment (MILDEX)
Earth science; Physical oceanography
Multi-institutional cooperative experiment which took place in a deep water region (4700 m) about 650 km off Pt. Conception in central California. Two ships and two floating platforms were used to ...
Hadopelagic zone
Earth science; Physical oceanography
One of five vertical ecological zones into which the deep sea is sometimes divided. The is the lowest of the levels and is separated from the overlying abyssopelagic zone at about 6000 meters.
