Meteorology and atmospheric science terminology · MLC-0110

Meteorology and atmospheric science terms: K (95)

• KSmoke- Smoke in various concentrations can cause significant problems for people with respiratory ailments...
• K AMSCold Air Mass
• K changesSmall, rapid changes in the electric field, lasting about a millisecond, recorded between the return strokes...
• K coronaIn solar-terrestrial terms, of the white-light corona (that is, the corona seen by the eye at a total solar...
• K index (space weather)A quasi-logarithmic index that quantifies the maximum fluctuations of the horizontal components of the...
• K processA rapid in-cloud process of a lightning flash in which a brief recoil streamer runs back along an already...
• KachchanA hot, dry foehn-type wind that descends the lee slopes of the central hills of Sri Lanka during the...
• KaikiasThe personification of the northeast wind in Greek mythology, one of the Anemoi or wind gods. Kaikias was...
• Kal BaisakhiA localized, violent thunderstorm that occurs in the pre-monsoon season over the northeastern part of the...
• Kalman-Bucy filterThe continuous-time form of the Kalman filter, which gives the minimum-variance estimate of the state of a...
• Kamchatka CurrentA cold ocean current that flows southward along the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the North...
• KaraburanA violent, northeasterly wind in the deserts of Central Asia, particularly the Tarim Basin. The name...
• Karema windA strong, dry, southeasterly wind that blows across Lake Tanganyika in East Africa during the dry season...
• KarifA strong southwesterly wind of the summer monsoon season that blows across the Gulf of Aden at Berbera on the...
• KarstA distinctive type of topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite...
• Karst hydrologyThe study of water movement and storage within karst landscapes, which are characterized by soluble bedrock...
• KarstboraA specific type of bora wind that occurs in the Dinaric Alps, particularly over the karst regions of Slovenia...
• Katabatic frontA boundary that forms when a mass of cold, dense air, flowing downslope as a katabatic wind, encounters...
• Katabatic windA drainage wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of...
• KatafrontA front along which the warm air sinks relative to the frontal surface, so cloud and precipitation are weak...
• KatallobaricRelating to a region where atmospheric pressure is falling rapidly with time. A katallobaric center, or low...
• KatathermometerA specialized thermometer used to measure the cooling power of the atmosphere, which combines the effects of...
• KausA warm, damp southeasterly wind that blows over the Persian Gulf, primarily during the winter months. It...
• Keetch-Byrum drought indexAn index used to gage the severity of drought in deep duff and organic soils.
• Kelvin temperature scaleAn absolute thermodynamic temperature scale where zero Kelvin (0 K) represents absolute zero, the theoretical...
• Kelvin waveA large-scale wave in the ocean or atmosphere that is influenced by both gravity and the Coriolis effect...
• Kelvin waves, see Kelvin wave
• Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilityA fluid dynamic phenomenon that arises at the interface between two fluids or two layers of the same fluid...
• Kelvin-Helmholtz waveA wave generated by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, occurring at the interface between two fluid layers with...
• Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, see Kelvin-Helmholtz wave
• Kernel iceThe opaque, central core of a hailstone, also known as the hail embryo. This initial particle consists of a...
• KetonesA class of organic compounds containing a carbonyl functional group (C=O) bonded to two carbon atoms. In...
• Kew barometerA type of mercury barometer designed for portability and ease of reading, developed at the Kew Observatory in...
• KhamsinA hot, dry, and dusty southerly wind that blows across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, particularly...
• Killing freezeA meteorological event where temperatures drop sufficiently low and for a long enough duration to kill most...
• KilocycleAn obsolete unit of frequency equal to one thousand cycles per second. It is numerically equivalent to the...
• Kilogram calorieA unit of energy defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by...
• KilohertzA unit of frequency equal to one thousand cycles per second, or 1,000 hertz. The kilohertz (kHz) is used to...
• KilojouleA unit of energy equal to one thousand joules. In meteorology, it quantifies the energy content of...
• KilomegacycleAn obsolete unit of frequency equal to one billion (10^9) cycles per second. It was historically used in...
• KilomoleA unit of amount of substance equal to one thousand moles. A mole represents the amount of substance that...
• KilopascalThe internationally recognized unit used by the Atmospheric Environment Service for measuring atmospheric...
• K-IndexA measure of the thunderstorm potential based on vertical temperature lapse rate, moisture content of the...
• Kinematic boundary conditionA mathematical constraint applied at the interface between two fluid domains or between a fluid and a solid...
• Kinematic fluxThe rate of transport of a scalar quantity per unit area, expressed in units of velocity times the scalar...
• Kinematic viscosityThe ratio of a fluid's dynamic viscosity to its density, representing the fluid's resistance to flow under...
• Kinematical analysisThe study of the motion of the atmosphere without considering the forces that cause the motion. This analysis...
• KinematicsThe branch of mechanics that describes the motion of points, bodies, and systems of bodies without...
• Kinetic energyThe energy possessed by an object due to its motion. In meteorology, it quantifies the energy associated with...
• Kinetic theoryA theoretical framework that explains the macroscopic properties of gases, such as pressure, temperature, and...
• Kirchhoff vortexA specific solution of the two-dimensional Euler equations describing a patch of uniform vorticity with an...
• Kirchhoff's equationA thermodynamic relationship that describes how the enthalpy of a chemical reaction or phase change varies...
• Kirchhoff's lawA principle of thermal radiation stating that for any material in thermodynamic equilibrium, its emissivity...
• Kite observationA method of atmospheric data collection using instruments attached to a kite, allowing for measurements at...
• Kite soundingA method of obtaining vertical profiles of atmospheric variables by attaching meteorological instruments to a...
• Kloof windA cold, squally wind of the southern Cape coast of South Africa, best known in Simon's Bay and False Bay...
• KlydonographAn instrument that records the polarity and approximate magnitude of transient high-voltage surges, such as...
• KlystronA specialized linear-beam vacuum tube that amplifies or generates microwave and radio frequency signals. It...
• Knik windA strong, gusty southeasterly wind of the Matanuska Valley in south-central Alaska, noted around Palmer. It...
• Knollenberg probeAn optical particle counter used to measure the size distribution and concentration of hydrometeors, such as...
• KnotA unit of speed commonly used in meteorology and navigation, defined as one nautical mile per hour. It is...
• Knowledge acquisitionThe process of gathering, structuring, and formalizing information and expertise from human experts or other...
• Knowledge baseA structured repository of facts, rules, and heuristics about a specific domain, designed to support...
• Knowledge engineeringA subfield of artificial intelligence focused on building knowledge-based systems by acquiring, representing...
• Knowledge-based systemA computer program that uses a stored body of knowledge and an inference engine to solve problems that would...
• KnucklesSlang for lumpy protrusions on the edges, and sometimes the underside, of a thunderstorm anvil. They usually...
• Knudsen numberA dimensionless quantity that compares the molecular mean free path of a fluid to a representative physical...
• Knudsen's tablesA set of empirical tables and formulas that relate the chlorinity of seawater to its salinity, density, and...
• KoembangA dry, warm foehn-type wind on the north coast of Java, Indonesia, known around Cirebon and Tegal. It blows...
• Kolmogorov constantA dimensionless constant that appears in Kolmogorov's theory of isotropic turbulence, specifically in the...
• Kolmogorov microscaleThe smallest length scale in turbulent fluid flow, below which viscous forces dominate and turbulent kinetic...
• Kolmogorov scaleA set of characteristic length, time, and velocity scales that describe the smallest eddies in fully...
• Kolmogorov's similarity hypothesesA set of hypotheses proposed by Andrey Kolmogorov describing the statistical properties of small-scale...
• KonaA stormy, southwesterly wind that brings cloudy, humid, and rainy weather to the leeward (kona) side of the...
• Kona cycloneA non-frontal, cold-core low-pressure system that forms in the subtropics, particularly near the Hawaiian...
• Kona stormA type of extratropical cyclone that affects the Hawaiian Islands, characterized by strong southerly or...
• KonimeterAn instrument used to measure the concentration of dust particles in the air. It operates by drawing a known...
• KoniologyThe scientific study of atmospheric dust and its effects on the environment, climate, and human health. This...
• KoniscopeA hand-operated instrument devised by John Aitken for judging how much dust or how many condensation nuclei...
• Köppen classificationA widely used climate classification system that categorizes global climates based on vegetation...
• Köppen-Supan lineA theoretical boundary that delineates the region where the warmest month's mean temperature is below 10...
• KossavaA cold, strong, gusty southeasterly wind of the lower Danube region, felt in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. It...
• KpA planetary index that quantifies geomagnetic activity on a global scale, derived from measurements of...
• Kp indexA global geomagnetic activity index that quantifies disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field. It is a...
• Krakatoa windsStrong easterly winds in the equatorial stratosphere, known from the westward drift of the volcanic haze...
• KrigingA geostatistical interpolation technique used to estimate values at unobserved locations based on known...
• KryptonA noble gas, element number 36, present in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. It is colorless...
• Krypton hygrometerAn instrument that measures atmospheric humidity by detecting the absorption of ultraviolet (UV) radiation by...
• KT(Knot)- Unit of speed used in navigation, equal to 1 nautical mile (the length of 1 minute latitude) per hour...
• KTSKnots
• Kuo-Eliassen equationA diagnostic second-order partial differential equation for the zonally averaged meridional circulation of...
• Kurihara gridA latitude-longitude grid on the sphere that has fewer grid points on each latitude circle as the poles are...
• KuroshioA strong, warm ocean current flowing northeastward along the eastern coast of Taiwan and Japan. It is a...
• Kuroshio countercurrentA current that flows in the direction opposite to the adjacent Kuroshio, found along its flanks in the...
• Kuroshio systemA major western boundary current system in the North Pacific Ocean, analogous to the Gulf Stream in the...
• KurtosisA statistical measure describing the shape of a probability distribution, specifically the weight of its...
• KytoonA tethered aircraft that combines characteristics of both a kite and a balloon, designed to remain stable in...

95 of 10,756 terms in Meteorology and atmospheric science terminology (MLC-0110). Request the full dataset.