Solar Energy terms starting with V

40 terms

  1. Valley floor The gently sloping to nearly level bottom surface of a valley.
  2. Vent A component of a heating or ventilation appliance used to conduct fresh air into, or waste air or combustion gases out of, an appliance or interior space.
  3. Vernal pool Seasonally-flooded depressions found on soils with an impermeable layer such as a hardpan, claypan, or volcanic basalt.
  4. Vertebrate Any species having a backbone or spinal column including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
  5. Vertical angle of view Elevation of viewer relative to the elevation of the proposed action, and the resulting angle of difference.
  6. View duration Length of time a proposed action is in view. Impacts that are viewed for a long period of time are generally judged to be more severe than those viewed…
  7. Viewer distance The distance from a viewpoint to a seen object or landscape element.
  8. Viewpoint A point from which a landscape view is analyzed and/or evaluated.
  9. Viewshed The total landscape seen or potentially seen from all or a logical part of a travel route, use area, or water body.
  10. Visibility factors Conditions or other phenomena that affect the visibility or appearance of an object or a landscape.
  11. Visual absorption capability The physical capacity of a landscape to accept human alterations without loss of its inherent visual character or scenic quality.
  12. Visual attention Noticing and focusing of vision on a particular object or landscape element.
  13. Visual clutter The complex visual interplay of numerous disharmonious landscape characteristics and features resulting in a displeasing view.
  14. Visual contrast Opposition or unlikeness of different forms, lines, colors, or textures in a landscape.
  15. Visual disharmony A state of disagreement, incongruity, or disproportionate arrangement of forms, lines, colors, and textures in the visual elements of a seen landscape.
  16. Visual feature An element, such as a land or water form, vegetation, or structure in the seen landscape.
  17. Visual harmony A pleasing array of visual elements in a landscape, usually as a result of a sense of visual order, compatibility, and completeness between and among the…
  18. Visual impact Any modification in land forms, water bodies, or vegetation, or any introduction of structures, which negatively or positively affect the visual character…
  19. Visual intrusion Any human-caused change in the land form, water form, vegetation, or the addition of a structure which creates a visual contrast in the basic elements…
  20. Visual mitigation Actions taken to avoid, eliminate, or reduce potential adverse impacts on scenic resources.
  21. Visual quality See Scenic quality
  22. Visual Resource Inventory (VRI) Consists of a scenic quality evaluation, sensitivity level analysis, and a delineation of distance zones.
  23. Visual Resource Inventory (VRI) Classes VRI Classes are assigned to public lands based upon the results from the Visual Resource Inventory.
  24. Visual Resource Management (VRM) Class Designations Class I objective is to preserve the existing character of the landscape. The level of change to the characteristic landscape should be very low and must…
  25. Visual Resource Management (VRM) Classes Categories assigned to BLM lands, utilizing the Visual Resource Inventory Classes in the RMP process, with an objective which prescribes the amount of…
  26. Visual Resource Management (VRM) System BLM's system for minimizing the visual impacts of surface-disturbing activities and maintaining scenic values for the future.
  27. Visual resources Refers to all objects (man-made and natural, moving and stationary) and features such as landforms and water bodies that are visible on a landscape.
  28. Visual sensitivity Public concern for the maintenance of scenic quality in a particular landscape setting.
  29. Visual unity The quality or state of appearing to be united in principles and relationships or to be logically and aesthetically connected because of the visual…
  30. Visual value See Scenic value
  31. Volatile organic compound (VOC) Any organic compound that participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions except those designated by the EPA as having negligible photochemical…
  32. Volcanic Ash Consists of rock, mineral, and volcanic glass fragments smaller than 2 millimeters (mm) (0.
  33. Volcanic chain A linear sequence of volcanoes that occurs within a tectonic plate. As the plate moves over a stationary hot spot, new volcanoes are created.
  34. Volcanic cone A landform built by the material ejected from a volcanic vent and piled up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater.
  35. Volcanic vent The opening at the Earth's surface through which volcanic materials issue forth.
  36. Volcanic-rock aquifer See Aquifer-volcanic rock
  37. Volcanism The process by which magma and associated gases rise to the Earth's crust and are extruded, or expelled, onto the surface and into the atmosphere.
  38. Volcano A vent (opening) in the surface of the Earth through which magma erupts. It is also the landform that is constructed by the erupted material.
  39. Volcanoclastic rock Sedimentary rocks such as sandstones formed by the aggregation of rock fragments (clasts) of volcanic origin.
  40. Voluntary relinquishment To voluntarily relinquish possession with the intent of terminating ownership, but without vesting it in any other person.