Science terms starting with R

652 terms

  1. Rope (Also "Rope Funnel") - a narrow, often contorted condensation funnel usually associated with the decaying stage of a tornado. See rope stage.
  2. Rope Cloud In satellite meteorology, a narrow, rope-like band of clouds sometimes seen on satellite images along a front or other boundary.
  3. Rope Stage The dissipating stage of a tornado, characterized by thinning and shrinking of the condensation funnel into a rope (or rope funnel).
  4. ROSA Remote Observing System Automation. A type of automated data transmitter used by NWS Cooperative Program observers.
  5. Rossby Waves A series of troughs and ridges on quasi-horizontal surfaces in the major belt of upper tropospheric westerlies.
  6. rotary shaker Rotating apparatus with a platform on which liquid media or cultures can be continuously shaken.
  7. Rotation The number of years allotted to establish and grow a forest stand to maturity.
  8. ROTG Rotating
  9. Rotor An electric generator consists of an armature and a field structure. The armature carries the wire loop, coil, or other windings in which the voltage is…
  10. Rotor Cloud A turbulent altocumulus cloud formation found in the lee of some mountain barriers when winds cross the barrier at high speed.
  11. Rotten Ice Ice in an advanced stage of disintegration.
  12. Rough fish A nonsport fish.
  13. Rough Seas Sea conditions associated with regionally defined wind thresholds over bays, inlets, harbors, inland waters, and estuaries where larger waves are forming…
  14. Rough trees Live trees of commercial species which do not contain a sawlog because of roughness, poor form, splits, or cracks.
  15. Roundup-readyä Describing transgenic crop varieties that carry the bacterial gene which detoxifies the herbicide glyphosate, thereby making them resistant to its…
  16. Roundwood Logs, bolts, or other round sections cut from trees.
  17. Route alerting A supplement to the public alert system; a method for alerting people in areas not covered by the primary system or if the primary system fails.
  18. Routing The methods of predicting the attenuation of a flood wave as it moves down the course of a river.
  19. RPD Rapid
  20. RPLC Replace
  21. RPRT Report
  22. RQR Require
  23. rRNA See Ribosomal RNA.
  24. RRQ Right Rear Quadrant - the area upstream from and to the right of an upper-level jet max (as would be viewed looking along the direction of flow).
  25. RSG Rising
  26. RSN Reason
  27. RTE Route
  28. RTRD Retard
  29. RTRN Return
  30. RTVS Real Time Verification System
  31. Rubble dam A stone masonry dam in which the stones are unshaped or uncoursed. See dam.
  32. RuBP Abbreviation for ribulose biphosphate.
  33. RUC Rapid Update Cycle model, a numerical model run by NCEP that focuses on short-term forecasts out to 12 hours.
  34. ruminant Animal having a rumen - a large digestive sac in which fibrous plant material is fermented by commensal microbes, prior to its digestion in a "true"…
  35. Run Seasonal upstream migration of anadromous fish. One or more lengths of pipe that continue in a straight line.
  36. Run-of-River Hydropower A type of hydroelectric facility that uses the river flow with very little alteration and little or no impoundment of the water.
  37. Run-of-river plants The regulated inflow of one powerplant is equal to the outflow from a powerplant upstream.
  38. Runner Typically said "runner-runner" to describe a hand that was made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river.
  39. Running and quick-start capability The net capability of generating units that carry load or have quick-start capability.
  40. Runoff The water that flows off the surface of the land, ultimately into our streams and water bodies, without being absorbed into the soil.
  41. Runup The vertical distance above the setup that the rush of water reaches when a wave breaks on the dam embankment.
  42. Runway Visual Range The maximum distance at which the runway, or the specified lights or markers delineating it, can be seen from a position above a specified point on its…
  43. Rural area Predominantly agricultural, prairie, forest, range, or undeveloped land where the population is small.
  44. Rural electric cooperative (cooperatively-owned electric utility) A customer-owned electric utility that was created to transmit and distribute power in rural areas.
  45. Rural Electrification Administration (REA) An agency of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture that makes loans to states and territories in the U.S.
  46. rust A generic descriptor for various serious fungal plant pathogens, which infect the leaves and stems of crops.
  47. RVA River Summary, a NWS summary of river and/or crest stages for selected forecast points along the river.
  48. RVF River Forecast. An internal product issued by RFCs to other NWS offices. An RVF contains stage and/ or flow forecasts for specific locations based on…
  49. RVI River Ice Statement
  50. RVR 1. Runway Visual Range - the maximum distance at which the runway, or the specified lights or markers delineating it, can be seen from a position above a…
  51. RVS 1. Abbreviation for "revise" 2. River Statement, a product issued to communicate notable hydrologic conditions which do not involve flooding, i.e.
  52. RW Rainshower