Science terms starting with A

1,045 terms

  1. ADVCTN Advection- Transport of an atmospheric property by the wind.
  2. Advection (Abbrev. ADVCTN)- Transport of an atmospheric property by the wind.
  3. Advection Fog A fog that forms when warm air flows over a cold surface and cools from below until saturation is reached.
  4. advective tendency The large-scale advective tendency of temperature and moisture used to force SCMs and CSRMs, derived from constrained variational analysis.
  5. adventitious A structure arising at sites other than the usual ones, e.g. shoots from roots or leaves, and embryos from any cell other than a zygote.
  6. Adverse environmental impacts Impacts that are determined to be harmful to the environment. See also Effects
  7. ADVIS A program which combines the Antecedent Precipitation Index (API) method of estimating runoff with unit hydrograph theory to estimate streamflow for a…
  8. Advisory (Abbrev. ADVY)- Highlights special weather conditions that are less serious than a warning.
  9. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Executive agency responsible for ensuring requirements of National Historic Preservation Act and 36 CFR Part 800 are met.
  10. ADVN Advance
  11. ADVY Advisory - Highlights special weather conditions that are less serious than a warning.
  12. AEB Elephant Butte Power and Storage Division (Truth or Consequences, NM).
  13. Aeolian (eolian) Materials carried, deposited, produced, or eroded by the wind.
  14. Aeolian deposits Wind-deposited material such as dune sands and loess deposits.
  15. Aerate To impregnate with gas, usually air.
  16. Aeration The process of adding air to water by either passing air through water or passing water through air.
  17. Aeration basin A basin where oxygen is supplied by mechanical agitation or pneumatic means to enhance the breakdown of wastes held in suspension.
  18. Aeration Zone A portion of the lithosphere in which the functional interstices of permeable rock or earth are not filled with water under hydrostatic pressure.
  19. Aerial cover Ground area circumscribed by the perimeter of the branches and leaves of a given plant or group of plants (generally used as a measure of relative…
  20. AERMOD A refined, steady-state plume model that incorporates air dispersion on the basis of a state-of-the-art planetary boundary layer turbulence structure and…
  21. Aeroallergens Any of a variety of allergens such as pollens, grasses, or dust carried by winds.
  22. Aerobe A microorganism that grows in the presence of oxygen. See Anaerobe.
  23. Aerobic In biochemistry, reactions that need oxygen to happen or happen when oxygen is present.
  24. Aerobic Bacteria Microorganisms that require free oxygen, or air, to live, and that which contribute to the decomposition of organic material in soil or composting systems.
  25. aerobic fermentation Fermentation processes that require the presence of oxygen.
  26. aerobic respiration A chemical process in which oxygen is used to make energy from carbohydrates (sugars).
  27. Aerosol A system of colloidal particles dispersed in a gas, such as smoke or fog.
  28. aerosol absorption The process in which radiation energy is retained by aerosols.
  29. aerosol Angstrom coefficient Often incorrectly used synonymously with "aerosol Angstrom exponent", but should instead refer to the aerosol optical depth at the reference wavelength (1…
  30. aerosol Angstrom exponent The exponent of the inverse power-law that approximates the wavelength dependence of aerosol optical depth.
  31. aerosol concentration Number of aerosols per unit volume.
  32. aerosol extinction The removal of radiant energy from an incident beam by the process of aerosol absorption and/or scattering.
  33. aerosol loading An increase in aerosol concentration.
  34. aerosol optical properties The optical properties of aerosols, including asymmetry factor, phase-function, single-scattering albedo, refractive index, and backscatter fraction.
  35. aerosol particle size Linear size (e.g. radius or diameter) of an aerosol particle.
  36. aerosol scattering The scattering of radiative energy by processes at the aerosol and molecular level.
  37. aerovane A device that resembles a wind vane with a propeller at one end. It is used to indicate wind speed and direction.
  38. AF acre-feet.
  39. AFB Air Force Base
  40. AFCT Affect
  41. AFD Area Forecast Discussion - This National Weather Service product is intended to provide a well-reasoned discussion of the meteorological thinking which…
  42. AFederal Air Contaminant Discharge Permit (ACDP) In Oregon, the Department of Environmental Quality issues the ACDP.
  43. Affected Environment For an environmental impact statement, a description of the existing environment covering information necessary to assess or understand the impacts.
  44. Affected relative pair Individuals related by blood, each of whom is affected with the same trait. Examples are affected sibling, cousin, and avuncular pairs.
  45. affinity chromatography A method for purifying specific components in a solution by exploiting their specific binding to known molecule(s).
  46. affinity tag An amino acid sequence that has been engineered into a protein to make its purification easier.
  47. Afforestation Planting of new forests on lands that historically have not contained forests.
  48. Afforestations Planting of new forests on lands that have not been recently forested.
  49. aflatoxins A group of toxic compounds, produced by Aspergillus flavus, that bind to DNA and prevent replication and transcription.
  50. AFLP Abbreviation for amplified fragment length polymorphism.
  51. AFO Auburn-Folsom Office (Auburn, CA).
  52. AFOS Automation of Field Operations and Services. Computer system linking NWS offices for the transmission of weather data.
  53. AFRED Abbreviation for the A Index for Fredericksburg.
  54. AFRP Anadromous Fish Restoration Program.
  55. AFSS Automated Flight Service Station
  56. AFT After
  57. Afterbay The tail race of a hydroelectric power plant at the outlet of the turbines. The term may be applied to a short stretch of stream or conduit, or to a pond…
  58. Afterbay (tailrace) The body of water immediately downstream from a powerplant or pumping plant. A reservoir or pool that regulates fluctuating discharges from a…
  59. Afterbay dam (reregulating dam) A dam located downstream from a large hydroelectric powerplant used to regulate discharges downstream. See regulating dam.
  60. Aftershocks Earthquakes that follow the largest shock of an earthquake sequence. They are smaller than the main shock and within one to two rupture lengths distance…
  61. AFTN Afternoon
  62. AFTR after
  63. AFWA Air Force Weather Agency
  64. afy (af/yr) acre-feet per year.
  65. Ag Abbreviation for antigen.
  66. agar A polysaccharide gelifying agent used in nutrient media preparations and obtained from Rhodophyta (red algae).
  67. agarose The main functional constituent of agar.
  68. Agarose gel electrophoresis A matrix composed of a highly purified form of agar that is used to separate larger DNA and RNA molecules ranging 20,000 nucleotides. (See Electrophoresis.
  69. AGC automatic generation control.
  70. AGDISP A particular atmospheric disperison model used for treating the transport and diffusion of aerially sprayed pest control agents in agricultural…
  71. Age tank (day tank) A tank used to store a chemical solution of known concentration for feed to a chemical feeder.
  72. AGFS Aviation Gridded Forecast System
  73. Agglomerate An ice cover of floe formed by the freezing together of various forms of ice.
  74. Aggradation Geologic process wherein streambeds, floodplains, sandbars, and the bottom of water bodies are raised in elevation by the deposition of sediment; the…
  75. Aggregate 1. A clump or mass formed by gathering or collecting units. 2. A body of loosely associated cells, such as a friable callus or cell suspension. 3.
  76. Aggregation technique A technique used in model organism studies in which embryos at the 8-cell stage of development are pushed together to yield a single embryo (used as an…
  77. AGL Above Ground Level
  78. AGM annual geometric mean.
  79. AGN Again
  80. agonist A drug that triggers an action from a cell or another drug.
  81. Agricultural Districts/Preservation Areas Areas designed to keep land in agriculture that are legally recognized. Landowners may voluntarily enroll in programs and may receive special benefits and…
  82. Agricultural drainage The process of directing excess water away from root zones by natural or artificial means, such as by using a system of pipes and drains placed below…
  83. Agricultural fires Fires ignited to meet specific management objectives on agricultural lands.
  84. Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program (APR) A voluntary program which is intended to offer a non-development alternative to farmers and other owners or "prime" and "state important" agricultural…
  85. agricultural residue Agricultural crop residues are the plant parts, primarily stalks and leaves, not removed from the fields with the primary food or fiber product.
  86. Agricultural Zoning Agricultural zoning, including forestry zoning, restricts land uses to farming and livestock, other kinds of open-space activities and limited home…
  87. Agrobacterium A genus of bacteria that includes several plant pathogenic species, causing tumour-like symptoms. See: Agrobacterium rhizogenes, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
  88. Agrobacterium rhizogenes A bacterium that causes hairy root disease in some plants. Similar to the crown gall disease caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, this is achieved by the…
  89. Agrobacterium tumefaciens A bacterium that causes crown gall disease in some plants. The bacterium characteristically infects a wound, and incorporates a segment of Ti plasmid DNA…
  90. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation The process of DNA transfer from Agrobacterium tumefaciens to plants, that occurs naturally during crown gall disease, and can be used as a method of…
  91. Agrochemical Synthetic chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) used in agricultural production.
  92. AHD Ahead
  93. AHG Abbreviation for antihaemophilic globulin.
  94. AHOS Automatic Hydrologic Observing System
  95. AHOS-S Automatic Hydrologic Observing System - Satellite
  96. AHOS-T Automatic Hydrologic Observing System - Telephone
  97. AHS Archaeological and Historical Services.
  98. AI Abbreviation for artificial insemination.
  99. AIPC American Indian Program Council.
  100. Air The mixture of gases that surrounds the earth and forms its atmosphere, composed of, by volume, 21 percent oxygen, 78 percent nitrogen.