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.

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