Definitions

• AVHRR: The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer is a five channel radiometer flown on the polar orbiting satellites. The visible and infrared detectors are primarily used to study cloud cover and surface properties such as temperature and vegetation cover.
• Conduction: The transfer of heat during collisions among molecules. Heat is transferred from warm objects to cold ones, the rate is proportional to their temperature difference and their heat conductivity.
• Evaporative Cooling: Energy is required to change the phase of water from a liquid to a vapor, which results in a cooling of the surrounding environment.
• Heat Capacity: The ratio of the amount of heat energy absorbed to the substance's temperature increase.
• Heat Conductivity: Describes a material's ability to transfer heat via conduction.
• Infrared Radiation: Electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength between 3.5 and 500 micrometer. Remote-sensing instruments work by measuring the radiation emitted by objects in this spectral bandpass.
• If you draw a line from the satellite to the center of the earth, were the line hits the surface of the earth is the sub-satellite point. The groundtrack of the satellite connects consecutive sub-satellite points and describes the path of the satellite with reference to Earth's surface.
• Synoptic Scale Circulation: Weather phenomena whose spatial scale is similar in size to continents and oceans. Examples include fronts, cyclones and anticylones.
• Thermal Circulation: A local or regional circulation system that develops due to pressure gradients created by differences in surface heating.
• Wavelength: The distance between two consecutive crests, or troughs, of a wave.