- Industrie: Earth science
- Number of terms: 10770
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The UK charity dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its wildlife.
The net mass displacement of water from one place to another, caused by wind blowing steadily over the surface; the net mass transport is 90° to tie right (in the Northern Hemisphere) of the wind's direction.
Industry:Earth science
The northward flowing current along the west coast of Africa; it is one of the swiftest of ocean currents, the strongest current in the South Atlantic. It is a continuation of the South Atlantic current . Proceeding toward the equator, the Benguela current gradually leaves the coast and continues as the northern portion of the south equatorial current.
Industry:Earth science
The ocean current flowing northward along the west coast of Greenland into David Strait. It is a continuation of the east Greenland current . Part of the west Greenland current turns around when approaching the Davis Strait and joins the Labrador current ; the rest rapidly loses its character as a warm current as it continues into Baffin Bay.
Industry:Earth science
The ocean current flowing southward along the east coast of Australia. It is formed by the division of part of the south equatorial current as it approaches the coast of Australia. Part of the east Australia current joins the west wind drift flowing eastward toward South America. In the summer (Southern Hemisphere) part of this water flows westward along the south coast of Australia into the Indian Ocean.
Industry:Earth science
The ocean current flowing southward along the west coast of the United States from approximately Washington to northern Baja California. It is the major branch of the Aleutian current . As a whole, the current represents a wide body of water that moves sluggishly toward the southeast. Off Central America, the California current turns toward the west and becomes the north equatorial current .
Industry:Earth science
The ordered array of known electromagnetic radiations, extending from the shortest cosmic rays, through gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet radiation, visible radiation, infrared radiation, and including microwave and all other wavelengths of radio energy. See absorption spectrum. The division of this continuum of wavelengths (or frequencies) into a number of named subportions is rather arbitrary and, with one or two exceptions, the boundaries of the several subportions are only vaguely defined. Nevertheless, to each of the commonly identified subportions there correspond characteristic types of physical systems capable of emitting radiation of those wavelengths. Thus gamma rays are emitted from the nuclei of atoms as they undergo any of several types of nuclear rearrangements; visible light is emitted, for the most part, by atoms whose planetary electrons are undergoing transitions to lower energy states; infrared radiations are associated with characteristic molecular vibrations and rotations; and radio waves, broadly speaking, are emitted by virtue of the accelerations of free electrons (the moving electrons in a radio antenna wire).
Industry:Earth science
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 reaches the deep ocean as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by physical transport processes such as downwelling rather than sinking. Carbon pump.
Industry:Earth science
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.
Industry:Earth science
The phenomenon by which electrons or ions are emitted from a heated object.
Industry:Earth science
The portion of the tide cycle between high water and the following low water. Sometimes called ebb tide.
Industry:Earth science
