MET Chapter Five
About this set
Created by:
molly_peel on February 15, 2012
Subjects:
Description:
Vocabulary from chapter five of the meteorology textbook.
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.
Order by
40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Adiabatic Process | A process that takes place without a transfer of heat between the system (such as an air parcel) and its surroundings. Compression always results in warming and expansion results in cooling. |
| Dry Adiabatic Rate | The rate of change of temperature in a rising or descending unsaturated air parcel. About 10℃ per 1000m. |
| Moist Adiabatic Rate | The rate of change of temperature in a rising or descending saturated air parcel. Usually 6℃ per 1000m. |
| Environmental Lapse Rate | The rate of decrease of air temperature with elevation. Most often measured with a radiosonde. |
| Absolutely Stable Atmosphere | An atmospheric condition that exists when the environmental lapse rate is less than the moist adiabatic rate. This results in a lifted parcel of air being colder than the air around it. |
| Absolutely Unstable Atmosphere | An atmospheric condition that exists when the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic rate. This results in a lifted parcel of air being warmer that the around it. |
| Condensation Level | The level above the surface marking the base of a cumuliform cloud. |
| Conditionally Unstable Atmosphere | An atmospheric condition that exists when the enviormental lapse rate is less than the dry adiabatic rate but greater than the moist adiabatic rate. Also called conditional instability. |
| Orographic Uplift | The lifting of air over a topographic barrier. |
| Rain Shadow | The region on the lee side of a mountain where the precipitation is noticeably less than on the windward side. |
| Precipitation | Any form of water particles--liquid or solid--that falls from the atmosphere and reaches the ground. |
| Collision-Coalescence Process | The process of producing precipitation by liquid particles (cloud droplets and raindrops) colliding and joining (coalescing). |
| Coalescence | The merging of cloud droplets into a single larger droplet. |
| Ice-Crystal (Bergeron) Process | A process that produces precipitation. The process involves tiny ice crystals in a supercooled cloud growing larger at the expense of the surrounding liquid droplets. |
| Supercooled Droplet | Water droplets existing at temperatures below freezing. |
| Ice Nuclei | Particles that act as nuclei for the formation of ice crystals in the atmosphere. |
| Accretion | The growth of a precipitation particle by the collision of an ice crystal or snowflake with a supercooled liquid droplet that freezes upon impact. |
| Cloud Seeding | The introduction of artificial substances (usually silver iodide or dry ice) into a cloud for the purpose of either modifying its development or increasing its precipitation. |
| Rain | Precipitation in the form of liquid water drops that have diameters greater than that of drizzle. |
| Drizzle | Small water drops between 0.2 and 0.5 mm in diameter that fall slowly and reduce visibility more than light rain. |
| Virga | Precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground. |
| Shower (Rain) | Intermittent precipitation from a cumuliform cloud, usually of short duration but often heavy. |
| Snow | A solid form of precipitation composed of ice crystals in complex hexagonal form. |
| Fallstreaks | When ice crystals and snowflakes fall from high cirrus clouds. |
| Flurries (of Snow) | Snow falling from developing cumulus clouds; light showers that fall intermittently for short durations and produce only light accumulations. |
| Snow Squall | An intermittent heavy shower of snow that greatly reduces visibility. |
| Blizzard | A severe weather condition characterized by low temperature and strong winds (greater than 35 mi/hr) bearing a great amount of snow either falling or blowing. |
| Sleet | A type of precipitation consisting of transparent pellets of ice 5 mm or less in diameter. |
| Freezing Rain (Glaze) | Rain or drizzle that falls in liquid form and then freezes upon striking a cold object or ground. |
| Rime | A white or milky granular deposit of ice formed by the rapid freezing of supercooled water drops as they come in contact with an object in below-freezing air. |
| Black Ice | A thin sheet of ice that appears relatively dark and may form supercooled droplets, drizzle, or light rain come in contact with a road surface that is below feeling. Also thin dark-appearing ice that forms on freshwater or saltwater ponds or lakes. |
| Ice Storm | A winter storm characterized by a substantial amount of precipitation in the form of freezing rain, freezing drizzle, or sleet. |
| Snow Grains | Precipitation in the form of very small, opaque grains of ice. The solid equivalent of drizzle. |
| Snow Pellets | White, opaque, approximately round ice particles between 2 and 5 mm in diameter that form in a cloud either from the sticking together of ice crystals or from the process of accretion. Also called graupel. |
| Hailstones | Transparent or partially opaque particles of ice that range in size from that of a pea to that of golf balls. |
| Standard Rain Gauge | A nonrecording rain gage with an 8 inch diameter collector funnel and a tube that amplifies rainfall by tenfold. |
| Trace (of Precipitation) | An amount of precipitation less than 0.01 in.. |
| Water Equivalent | The depth of water that would result from the melting of a snow sample. Typically about 10 inches of snow will melt to 1 inch of water, producing a water equivalent of 10 to 1. |
| Radar | An electronic instrument used to detect objects (such as falling precipitation) by their ability to reflect and scatter microwaves back to a receiver. |
| Doppler Radar | A radar that determines the velocity of falling precipitation either toward or away from the radar unit by taking into account the Doppler shift. |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.