Flashcards: Meteorology

In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content.

A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft.

A station model is a symbolic illustration showing the weather occurring at a given reporting station.

The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is an ocean current that is thought to affect the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean based on different modes on multidecadal timescales.

The Beaufort scale /ˈboʊfərt/ is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land.

Dew point is the highest temperature at which airborne water vapor will condense to form liquid dew.

Frost is the coating or deposit of ice that may form in humid air in cold conditions, usually overnight.

A low-pressure area, low or depression, is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations.

Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents found in the atmosphere of some planets, including Earth.

Atmospheric optics deals with how the unique optical properties of the Earth's atmosphere cause a wide range of spectacular optical phenomena.

The Azores High (Portuguese: Anticiclone dos Açores) (also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse latitudes. It forms one pole of the North Atlantic oscillation, the other being the Icelandic Low. The system influences the weather and climatic patterns of vast areas of North Africa and southern Europe, and to a lesser extent, eastern North America. The aridity of the Sahara Desert and the summer drought of the Mediterranean Basin is due to the large-scale subsidence and sinking motion of air in the system. In its summer position (the Bermuda High), the high is centered near Bermuda, and creates a southw

The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is the largest element of the intraseasonal (30- to 90-day) variability in the tropical atmosphere.

A cold front is defined as the leading edge of a cooler mass of air, replacing at ground level a warmer mass of air, which lies within a fairly sharp surface trough of low pressure.

A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or astronomical body's atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather.

Twilight is the illumination of the Earth's lower atmosphere when the Sun itself is not directly visible because it is below the horizon.

Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location.

A weather map displays various meteorological features across a particular area at a particular point in time and has various symbols which all have specific meanings.

The planetary boundary layer (PBL), also known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), is the lowest part of the atmosphere, extending from the ground to the bottom of where cumulus clouds form.

An atmospheric sounding is a measurement of vertical distribution of physical properties of the atmospheric column such as pressure, temperature, wind speed and wind direction (thus deriving wind shear), liquid water content, ozone concentration, pollution, and other properties.

The common phrase "Red sun at morning" is a line from an ancient rhyme often repeated by mariners: Red sun at night, sailors' delight.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to meteorology: Meteorology – interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere which explains and forecasts weather events.