ExpertGlossary terms starting with F

2,087 terms

flocculant A chemical agent that causes small particles to aggregate (flocculate).
Flocculation The process of forming flocs. A step in water filtration in which alum is added to cause particles to clump together.
floccule A micro-organism aggregate or colloidal particle floating in or on a liquid. The cloudy appearance of micro-organism contaminated liquid media illustrates…
Floe An accumulation of frazil flocs (also known as a "pan") or a single piece of broken ice.
Flomax (FLOH-max) A drug used to treat urinary problems caused by an enlarged prostate.
Flood A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least…
Flood boundary Line drawn or outer edge of colored (inundation) area on an inundation map to show the limit of flooding.
Flood Categories Terms defined for each forecast point which describe or categorize the severity of flood impacts in the corresÂponding river/stream reach.
Flood Certification Fee A fee charged by independent mapping firms to identify properties located in areas designated as flood zones.
Flood control capacity Reservoir capacity assigned to the sole purpose of regulating flood inflows to reduce flood damage downstream. See exclusive flood control capacity.
Flood control pool (flood pool) Reservoir volume above active conservation capacity and joint use capacity that is reserved for flood runoff and then evacuated as soon as possible to…
Flood Control Storage Storage of water in reservoirs to abate flood damage.
Flood Crest The maximum height of a flood wave as it passes a location.
Flood Disaster Protection Act (FDPA) of 1973 Made the purchase of flood insurance mandatory for the protection of property located in Special Flood Hazard Areas.
Flood frequency Refers to the probability (in percent) that a flood will occur in a given year.
Flood Frequency Curve (1) A graph showing the number of times per year on the average, plotted as abscissa, that floods of magnitude, indicated by the ordinate, are equaled or…
Flood Gate A gate to control flood releases from a reservoir.
Flood Hazard Area Total stream and adjacent area periodically covered by overflow from the stream channel containing 1) the floodway which is the channel itself and…
Flood Hazard Boundary Map (FHBM) Official map of a community issued by the Federal Insurance Administrator, where the boundaries of the flood, mudflow, and related erosion areas having…
Flood hydrograph A graph showing, for a given point on a stream, the discharge, height, or other characteristic of a flood with respect to time.
Flood Insurance Flood insurance protects against water from an overflowing river or a hurricane's tidal surge and also covers damage from water that builds up during…
Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Official map of a community on which the Mitigation Division Administrator has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones…
Flood irrigation Water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow along the ground among the crops.
Flood Loss Reduction Measures The strategy for reducing flood losses. There are four basic strategies. They are prevention, property protection, emergency services, and structural…
Flood of Record The highest observed river stage or discharge at a given location during the period of record keeping. (Not necessarily the highest known stage.)
Flood Plain A strip of relatively flat and normally dry land alongside a stream, river, or lake that is covered by water during a flood.
Flood Plain Information Studies Reports usually prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) following a survey of a flood-impacted community.
Flood pool index Computed as the ratio of the flood control pool depth to the depth below the pool, multiplied by the percent of time the reservoir water surface will be…
Flood Potential Outlook (ESF on AFOS) (FPO for Acronym): In hydrologic terms, An NWS outlook that is issued to alert the public of potentially heavy rainfall that could send area…
Flood Potential Outlook (ESF on AFOS) (FPO) An NWS outlook that is issued to alert the public of potentially heavy rainfall that could send area rivers and streams into flood or aggravate an…
Flood Prevention Measures that are taken in order to keep flood problems from getting worse. Planning, land acquisition, river channel maintenance, wetlands protection…
Flood Problems Problems and damages that occur during a flood as a result of human development and actions.
Flood Profile A graph of elevation of the water surface of a river in flood, plotted as ordinate, against distance, measured in the downstream direction, plotted as…
flood projection In facsimile, the optical method of scanning in which the object is floodlighted and the scanning spot is defined by a masked portion of the illuminated…
Flood Routing A process of determining progressively over time the amplitude of a flood wave as it moves past a dam or downstream to successive points along a river or…
flood search routing In a telephone network, nondeterministic routing in which a dialed number received at a switch is transmitted to all switches, i.e.
Flood severity Qualitative description of how severe a possible flood could be (High, Medium, Low) depending on failure modes (including rate of failure), flood…
Flood severity understanding Understanding as to what degree flooding might affect the downstream population.
Flood Stage An established gage height within a given river reach above which a rise in water surface level is defined as a flood.
Flood Statement (FLS) A statement issued by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along major streams in which there is not a serious threat to life or property.
Flood Warning (FLW) In hydrologic terms, a release by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along larger streams in which there is a serious threat to life or…
Flood Warning (FLW) A release by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along larger streams in which there is a serious threat to life or property.
Flood Watch Issued to inform the public and cooperating agencies that current and developing hydrometeorological conditions are such that there is a threat of…
Flood Wave A rise in streamflow to a crest and its subsequent recession caused by precipitation, snow melt, dam failure, or reservoir releases.
Flood Zone (Zone) A geographical area shown on a Flood Hazard Boundary Map or a Flood Insurance Rate Map that reflects the severity or type of flooding in the area.
Flooded Ice Ice which has been flooded by melt water or river water and is heavily loaded by water and wet snow.
flooding Insertion of a large volume of data resulting in denial of service. [INFOSEC-99] Synonyms [in e-mail and forum postings] mail bombing, spamming; [in radio…
flooding compound A substance surrounding the buffer tubes of a fiber-optic cable, to prevent water intrusion into the interstices in the event of a breach of the jacket.
Floodplain Any land area susceptible to being inundated by floodwaters from any source.
Floodplain Management The operation of an overall program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage, including but not limited to, emergency preparedness…
Floodproofing The process of protecting a building from flood damage on site. Floodproofing can be divided into wet and dry floodproofing.
Floodwall A long, narrow concrete, or masonry embankment usually built to protect land from flooding.
Floodway (1) A part of the flood plain, otherwise leveed, reserved for emergency diversion of water during floods.
Floor Action "on the floor" is that which occurs as part of a formal session of the full Senate.
floor amendment An amendment offered by an individual Senator from the floor during consideration of a bill or other measure, in contrast to a committee amendment.
Floor Area Ratio (FAR) A measure of development intensity. FAR is the ratio of the amount of floor area of a building to the amount of area of its site.
Floor broker Floor brokers at a securities or commodities exchange handle client orders to buy or sell through a process known as a double action auction, in which…
floor leaders The Majority Leader and Minority Leader are elected by their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for their parties and to…
floor load capacity of a floor area to support a given weight expressed in terms of weight per unit of area
floor manager Senators designated to lead and organize consideration of a bill or other measure on the floor.
Floor Plan A scaled drawing showing the horizontal arrangement of one level of the building that typically indicates walls, doors and dimensions
Floor Space The interior area of a building, calculated in square feet or meters.
floor space ratio filing capacity expressed in cubic volume of records per square unit of floor space
Floor trader Unlike floor brokers who fill client orders, floor traders buy and sell stocks or commodities for their own accounts on the floor of an exchange.
Floorman Individual responsible for supervising serveral tables in the pit.
Flop The first three community cards, put out face up, altogether.
Floppy A thin magnetic film disk that is used as an older method for storing data.
Floppy Disc An increasingly rare storage medium consisting of a thin magnetic film disk housed in a protective sleeve.
floppy disk A circular sheet of polyester coated with magnetic oxide and housed in a thin, square plastic jacket that is used as a removable data storage medium See…
flops Acronym for floating-point operations per second. Note: For example, 15 Mflops equals 15 million floating-point arithmetic operations per second.
Flora Plants, especially those of a specific region, considered as a group.
Florida rig Very similar to the Texas rig, the only difference is the weight is secured by "screwing" it into the bait.
FLOT Forward Line of Own Troops.
Flow Volume of water that passes a given point within a given period of time. See base flow, discharge, enhancement flow, instream flow requirements…
Flow augmentation The release of water stored in a reservoir or other impoundment to increase the natural flow of a stream.
Flow channel The portion of a flow net bounded by two adjacent flow lines.
Flow Condition In reference to solar thermal collectors, the condition where the heat transfer fluid is flowing through the collector loop under normal operating…
flow control See transmit flow control.
flow control procedure A procedure for controlling the rate of transfer of data among elements of a network, e.g.
Flow curve The locus of points obtained from a standard liquid limit test and plotted on a graph representing moisture content as ordinate on an arithmetic scale and…
Flow cytometry A method of measuring the number of cells in a sample, the percentage of live cells in a sample, and certain characteristics of cells, such as size…
flow diagram Synonym flowchart.
Flow Duration Curve A cumulative frequency curve that shows the percentage of time that specified discharges are equaled or exceeded.
Flow failure Failure in which a soil mass moves over relatively long distances in a fluidlike manner.
Flow Improvers A chemical used in fuel to reduce friction and increase performance.
Flow karyotyping Use of flow cytometry to analyze and separate chromosomes according to their DNA content.
Flow line The path that a particle of water follows in its course of seepage under laminar flow conditions.
Flow net A graphical representation of flow lines and equipotential (piezometric) lines used in the study of seepage phenomena.
Flow rate The amount of water that moves through an area (usually pipe) in a given period of time.
Flow Restrictor A water and energy conserving device that limits the amount of water that a faucet or shower head can deliver.
Flow Separation The process by which a separation eddy forms on the windward or leeward sides of bluff objects or steeply rising hillsides.
Flow slide The failure of a sloped bank of soil in which the movement of the soil mass does not take place along a well-defined surface of sliding.
Flow Splitting The splitting of a stable airflow around a mountain barrier, with branches going around the left and right edges of the barrier, often at accelerated…
Flowage Water that floods onto adjacent land.
Flowage easement The right or easement to overflow, submerge, or flood certain lands; a right to prohibit building on certain floodways.
flowchart A graphical representation using symbols to document the flow of information, the decision-making process, and/or the sequence of operations that are to…
Flowing Artesian Well A well drilled into a confined aquifer with enough hydraulic pressure for the water to flow to the surface without pumping.
Flowing Well In hydrologic terms, a well drilled into a confined aquifer with enough hydraulic pressure for the water to flow to the surface without pumping.
flowline On a flowchart, a line that (a) has an indicated direction, (b) represents a connection between other symbols, and (c) indicates the sequence of…
floxuridine A drug used in the treatment of cancer. It is a type of antimetabolite.