Physical oceanography

Physical oceanography

The scientific study of the physical conditions and processes related to the motions and physical properties of ocean currents and waters.

Industry: Earth science

Add a new term

Contributors in Physical oceanography

Become a Contributors

Physical oceanography

TOPEX microwave radiometer (TMR)

Earth science; Physical oceanography

An instrument on the TOPEX/POSEIDON mission. The TMR measures sea surface microwave emissivity at three frequencies (18, 21, and 37 GHz) to estimate to total water vapor content in the atmosphere. ...

Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR)

Earth science; Physical oceanography

An instrument that has been on board both SEASAT and NIMBUS-7. It produced earth location and time-tagged SSTs, surface wind stress, atmospheric water vapor, liquid water content, and precipitation ...

radar altimeter

Earth science; Physical oceanography

An instrument that uses radar to determine a vehicle’s (e.g. a satellite) height above the surface and for measuring the height of small objects (e.g. waves, hills) on a planetary surface. In 352 ...

NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT)

Earth science; Physical oceanography

An instrument that will measure wind speeds and directions over at least 90% of the ice-free global oceans every 2 days under all weather and cloud conditions. It is based on the Seasat scatterometer ...

thermoelectric Schlierenmeter

Earth science; Physical oceanography

An instrument used in the mid-20th century to record rapid temperature changes in the ocean. It consisted of a constantin wire soldered to copper wires in two places. One junction was exposed to the ...

gas tension device (GTD)

Earth science; Physical oceanography

An instrument which allows in–situ measurements of the rate at which gases pass through the ocean surface to be made. This was developed at the IOS.

North Pacific Equatorial Water (NPEW)

Earth science; Physical oceanography

In physical oceanography, a water mass formed at the boundary between the subtropical gyres via mixing in the Equatorial Countercurrent and the Equatorial Undercurrent. NPEW is a mixture of WNPCW and ...