Science terms starting with S

1,372 terms

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) SO2 is a key pollutant in the formation of acid rain and contributes to the formation of fine particles that are associated with significant negative…
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) A colorless gas soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water. A very powerful greenhouse gas used primarily in electrical transmission and…
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) A colorless gas soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water. A very powerful greenhouse gas used primarily in electrical transmission and…
Sulfur oxides (SOx) Compounds containing sulfur and oxygen, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfur trioxide (SO3).
Summation Principle This principle states that the sky cover at any level is equal to the summation of the sky cover of the lowest layer plus the additional sky cover…
Summer Typically the warmest season of the year during which the sun is most nearly overhead.
Summer Solstice The time at which the sun is farthest north in the Northern Hemisphere, on or around June 21.
Sump A pit or pool for draining, collecting, or storing water. A chamber located at the entrance to the pump which provides water to the pump.
Sump pump A pump used for removing collected water from a sump.
Sun Dog see Parhelion
Sun Path Diagram A circular projection of the sky vault onto a flat diagram used to determine solar positions and shading effects of landscape features on a solar energy…
Sun Pillar A bright column above or below the sun produced by the reflection of sunlight from ice crystals.
Sun Pointing Alignment of the radar antenna by locating the position of the sun in the sky, which has an exactly known position given the radar's location and the…
Sun Tempered Building A building that is elongated in the east-west direction, with the majority of the windows on the south side.
sundog A colored luminous spot produced by refraction of light through ice crystals that appears on either side of the sun. Also called parhelion.
Sunk cost A cost already incurred and therefore not considered in making a current investment decision.
Sunny When there are no opaque (not transparent) clouds. Same as Clear.
Sunrise The phenomenon of the sun's daily appearance on the eastern horizon as a result of the earth's rotation.
Sunset The phenomenon of the sun's daily disappearance below the western horizon as a result of the earth's rotation.
Sunspace A room that faces south (in the northern hemisphere), or a small structure attached to the south side of a house.
Sunspot Dark areas on the Sun created by strong magnetic fields beneath the Sun’s surface.
Sunspot Cycle The recurring, eleven-year rise and fall in the number of Sunspots.
Sunspot Group A cluster of multiple sunspots.
Sunspot Group Classification A: A small single unipolar sunspot or very small group of spots without penumbra. B: Bipolar sunspot group with no penumbra.
Sunspot Number In solar-terrestrial terms, a daily index of sunspot activity (R), defined as R = k (10 g + s) where S = number of individual spots, g = number of sunspot…
Super Cluster A cluster of clusters of galaxies. A vast collection of galaxy clusters that may contain tens of thousands of galaxies spanning over a hundred million…
Super Insulated Houses A type of house that has massive amounts of insulation, airtight construction, and controlled ventilation without sacrificing comfort, health, or…
Super Typhoon Typhoon having maximum sustained winds of 130 knots (150 mph) or greater.
Super Window A popular term for highly insulating window with a heat loss so low it performs better than an insulated wall in winter, since the sunlight that it admits…
superbug Jargon for a particular engineered strain of Pseudomonas, in which various hydrocarbon-degrading genes, derived from different plasmids, were combined…
Supercell Short reference to Supercell Thunderstorm; potentially the most dangerous of the convective storm types.
Supercell Thunderstorm Potentially the most dangerous of the convective storm types. Storms possessing this structure have been observed to generate the vast majority of…
supercoil The conformation of a double-stranded DNA molecule placed under torsional stress as a result of interactions with protein s.
Supercoiled plasmid The predominant in vivo form of plasmid, in which the plasmid is coiled around histone-like proteins.
Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) SMES technology uses the superconducting characteristics of low-temperature materials to produce intense magnetic fields to store energy.
Superconductivity The abrupt and large increase in electrical conductivity exhibited by some metals as the temperature approaches absolute zero.
Supercool To cool a liquid below its freezing point without solidification or crystallization.
Supercooled Liquid Water In the atmosphere, liquid water can survive at temperatures colder than 0 degrees Celsius; many vigorous storms contain large amounts of supercooled…
Supercritical flow Those conditions of flow for which the depths are less than critical and the velocities are greater than critical.
Supergene A group of neighboring genes on a chromosome that tend to be inherited together and sometimes are functionally related.
Superheated steam Steam at a given pressure which is above the temperature which corresponds to boiling temperature at that given pressure.
Supernatant The soluble liquid &action of a sample after centrifugation or precipitation of insoluble solids.
Supernatural Typically referring to spiritual or religious matters, the laws of nature do not apply to this realm.
Supernova Supernova refers to several types of stellar (meaning star) explosions that produce extremely bright objects that decline to invisibility over weeks or…
Superrefraction Bending of the radar beam in the vertical which is greater than sub-standard refractive conditions.
supersaturated air A condition that occurs in the atmosphere when the relative humidity is greater that 100 percent.
Supervisory control A system used to monitor conditions and operate mechanical features associated with a facility from a location other than at the site.
Supplemental irrigation service land Irrigable land now receiving, or to receive, an additional or reregulated supply of water through facilities constructed by or to be constructed by the…
Supplementary Heat A heat source, such as a space heater, used to provide more heat than that provided by a primary heating source.
Supply Duct The duct(s) of a forced air heating/cooling system through which heated or cooled air is supplied to rooms by the action of the fan of the central heating…
Supply Side Technologies that pertain to the generation of electricity.
Suppressed weir A rectangular weir that has only the crest far removed from the channel bottom, the sides are coincident with the sides of the approach channel, so no…
Suppressor gene A gene that can suppress the action of another gene.
suppressor mutation A mutation that reverses the effect of an earlier mutation, e.g. a mutation in a gene for a tRNA that permits it to read and override an amber mutation.
suppressor-sensitive mutant An organism that can grow in the presence, but not in the absence of a second genetic factor (the suppressor).
Surcharge An extra charge applied to the premium by an insurance company, usually applied as a result of at-fault accidents or moving violations.
Surcharge Capacity The volume of a reservoir between the maximum water surface elevation for which the dam is designed and the crest of an uncontrolled spillway, or the…
Surcharge capacity (surcharge storage) The reservoir capacity provided for use in passing the inflow design flood through the reservoir.
Surf Zone Area of water between the high tide level on the beach and the seaward side of the breaking waves.
Surf Zone Forecast (SRF) - A National Weather Service routine or event driven forecast product geared toward non-boating marine users issued for an area extending from the…
surface albedo The fraction of incoming solar radiation at a surface (i.e., land, cloud top) that is effectively reflected by that surface.
surface condition State of the surface, including vegetation, land use, surface type, roughness, and such; often provided in model output.
Surface Energy Budget The energy or heat budget at the earth's surface, considered in terms of the fluxes through a plane at the earth-atmosphere interface.
Surface expression Refers to the physical expression of seismic activity at the ground exterior in the form of a fault rupture or fissure.
Surface Impoundment An indented area in the land's surface, such as a pit, pond, or lagoon.
Surface marker Surface proteins that are unique to certain cell types capable of detection by antibodies or other detection methods.
Surface markers Proteins on the outside surface of a cell that are unique to certain cell types, which are visualized using antibodies or other detection methods.
Surface mining Removal of soil, sub-soil, and other strata and then extracting a mineral deposit found fairly close to the earth's surface. See strip mining.
surface moisture flux The vertical flux of surface moisture due to atmospheric turbulent transport.
Surface observation Surface observation A meteorological observation made on the Earth's surface in contrast with an upper-air observation).
Surface pump A mechanism for removing water or wastewater from a sump or wet well.
Surface Runoff Precipitation, snow melt, or irrigation in excess of what can infiltrate the soil surface and be stored.
Surface rupture The breakage of ground along the surface trace of a fault caused by the intersection of the fault surface area ruptured in an earthquake with the Earth's…
surface skin temperature The radiative surface skin temperature, from an infrared thermometer measuring the narrowband radiating temperature of the ground surface in its field of…
Surface soil Upper part of the soil ordinarily moved in tillage, or its equivalent in uncultivated soils, about 10 to 20 cm in thickness.
surface stress The vertical flux of momentum near the surface as the the ambient flow interacts with the land/water surface.
Surface texture The visual manifestations of the interplay of light and shadow created by the variations in the top of an object or landscape.
Surface vibration A method of compacting soil using a vibrating plate or vibrating smooth drum roller used on the surface of soil placed.
Surface Water Water on the Earth's surface that is directly exposed to the atmosphere, as distinguished from water in the ground (groundwater).
Surface Water Loop In this type of closed-loop geothermal heat pump installation, the fluid-filled plastic heat exchanger pipes are coiled into circles and submerged at…
Surface Weather Chart An analyzed synoptic chart of surface weather observations. A surface chart shows the distribution of sea-level pressure (therefore, the position of…
Surface wind Surface wind Wind blowing near the Earth's surface. It is measured, by convention, at a height of 10 m above ground in an area where the distance between…
Surface-based Convection Convection occurring within a surface-based layer, i.e., a layer in which the lowest portion is based at or very near the earth's surface.
Surge A rapid increase in the depth of flow.
Surge chamber A chamber or tank connected to a pipe and located at or near a valve that may quickly open or close or a pump that may suddenly start or stop.
Surge irrigation A surface irrigation technique wherein flow is applied to furrows (or less commonly, borders) intermittently during a single irrigation set.
Surplus electricity Electricity produced by cogeneration equipment in excess of the needs of an associated factory or business.
susceptible Inability to withstand injury due to biotic or. Opposite: resistance, tolerance.
Suspended The state of floating in water rather than being dissolved in it.
Suspended load (suspended sediment) Sediment that is supported by the upward components of turbulence in a stream and that stays in suspension for an appreciable length of time.
Suspended solids Waste particles suspended in water. Suspended solids can harbor harmful microorganisms and toxic chemicals.
Suspension The temporary disqualification of a firm or individual from contracting with the government or participating in government programs, pending the outcome…
suspension culture A type of culture in which cells and/or clumps of cells grow and multiply while suspended in a liquid medium.
Sustainable An ecosystem condition in which biodiversity, renewability, and resource productivity are maintained over time.
Sustainable Development Development with the goal of preserving environmental quality, natural resources and livability for present and future generations.
Sustainable Production The renewable living resources and their habitats, including, but not limited to, spawning, mating, and nursery grounds, and areas established to minimize…
Sustainable yield See Perennial/Safe/Sustainable yield
Sustained Overdraft Long-term withdrawal from the aquifer of more water than is being recharged.
Sustained Wind Wind speed determined by averaging observed values over a two-minute period.
Sustained yield The maintenance in perpetuity of regular, periodic harvest of wood resources from forest land without damaging the productivity of the land.