Mn-Mz

 

MOBY

Acronym for Marine Optical Buoy, an instrument deployed off the coast of Lanai, Hawaii in Feb. 1994 to measure visible and near-infrared radiation entering and emanating from the ocean. The variations of the visible reflected radiation are referred to as the ocean color, a property from which other quantities such as the abundance of phytoplankton can be derived. MOBY will thus provide a time-series database for bio-optical algorithm development and the calibration of such satellite instruments as SeaWiFS, MODIS, and MERIS. See the MOBY Web site.

 

MOCE

Acronym for Marine Optical Characterization Experiment, a series of field experiments at different ocean sites to obtain a comprehensive set of bio-optical measurements such as radiometry, pigment analysis, total suspended matter, beam transmittance, and physical properties. See the MOCE Web site.

 

MODB

Abbreviation for Mediterranean Oceanic Data Base, a project to deliver advanced data projects for oceanographic research in the Mediterranean Sea. See the MODB Web site.

 

mode

The value in a collection of data that occurs most often. The mode of a probability distribution is the value for which it has a relative maximum. Contrast with mean and median.

 

MODE

Acronym for the Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment.

 

Modified Warm Deep Water

A type of water in the seas surround Antarctica that separates overlying Winter Water (WW) from underlying AACW.

 

MODIS

Abbreviation for Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, an instrument built to fly on EOS AM-1 and that will view the entire Earth's surface every 1 to 2 days acquiring data in 36 spectral bands to improve our understanding of globa dynamics and processes occurring on the surface of the Earth, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere. See the MODIS Web site and King et al. (1992).

 

modon

To be completed.

 

MOIST

Acronym for Moored Oceanographic Instrument SysTem.

 

moist static energy

The sum of sensible, potential and latent energy. In a stably stratified atmosphere, moist static energy increases with altitude. See Hartmann (1994).

 

Molucca Sea

One of the seas that comprise the Australasian Mediterranean Sea. It is centered at approximately 127 deg. E and 2 deg. N and is bordered by Sulawesi to the west, Halmahera to the east, the Sula Islands to the south, and Mindanao and the Pacific to the north. The approximately 200,000 sq. km area of this sea are underlain by a fairly complex series of troughs, basins and ridges that are usually divided into three north-south zones. The westernmost zone is the Sangir Trough connecting Davao Gulf in Mindanao with the Gorontalo Gulf; the central zone a broad ridge outlined by the 2000 m isobath which bears the Talaud and Miangas islands in the north; and the eastern zone a series of depressions and basins.

The Molucca Sea is an important passageway for deep water flowing from the Pacific Ocean through the Australasian Mediterranean and on into the Indian Ocean. One branch of flow through the Molucca is composed of deep flow from the Pacific through the Sangir Trough and on into the Sulawesi Sea, while another branch has flow entering via the Morotai Basin and exiting via the Gorontalo Basin south of Sulawesia as well as through the Lifamatola Strait into the Banda and Ceram Seas. Surface salinities depart at most 0.3 from an annual average of 34.0, although higher salinities have been recorded late in the year in the north and southern extremities. The surface salinities range from 28.3 deg. C in June to 27.0 deg. C in January.

The monsoon winds drive the surface circulation, changing slowly in direction from northeast to north-northwest during the southern summer and generally reversing direction during the winter months. As such a slow current flows southwestward along the eastern margin of the sea along with an opposite (northward) flowing current of similar strength in the western half in the winter months. The northward flow is maintained throughout the year except in the northern reaches where an east-southeast directed current occurs in the summer months. See Fairbridge (1966).

 

MOM

Acronym for Modular Ocean Model, a primitive equation general ocean circulation model developed at GFDL. It is intended to be a flexible tool for exploring ocean and coupled air-sea applications over a wide range of space and time scales. See the MOM Web site for further information.

 

MONEX

Acronym for the summer and winter Asian Monsoon Experiments, a component of FGGE designed to study monsoonal circulations.

 

monoclimax hypothesis

See the Clementsian school.

 

Montgomery potential

A quantity defined as

where g is gravitational acceleration, z the vertical coordinate, T temperature and the specific heat at constant pressure.

 

Montreal Protocol

An agreement in Sept. 1987 between 24 countries to reduce the production of CFCs by 50%. In retrospect, even had this been universally observed, the number of chlorine atoms in the stratosphere would have doubled by the year 2020.

 

MOPITT

Acronym for Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere, an experiment whose goal is to enhance knowledge of the lower atmosphere system and how it interacts with the surface/ocean/biomass systems. The particular focus is the distribution, transport, sources and sinks of carbon monoxide and methane in the troposphere. See the MOPITT Web site.

 

MORENA

Acronym for the Multidisciplinary Oceanographic Research in the Eastern Boundary of the North Atlantic project, with the general objective of measuring, understanding, and modeling shelf-ocean exchange in a typical coastal upwelling region of the eastern boundary layer of the subtropical ocean. See the MORENA Web site.

 

Mornington Abyssal Plain

One of three plains that comprise the Pacific-Antarctic Basin (the others being the Amundsen and the Bellingshausen Abyssal Plains. It is located at around 85-95 deg. W.

 

MRBP

Abbreviation for multiresponse randomized block procedure, a statistical method used to verify one or more numerical models, i.e. compare one or more numerical models with each other or with observations. See Mielke (1991) and Zeng and Pielke (1995).

 

MSFC

Abbreviation for Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

MSL

Abbreviation for Mean Sea Level.

 

MSR

Abbreviation for Microwave Scanning Radiometer.

 

MSR

Abbreviation for Microwave Scanning Radiometer.

 

MSS

Abbreviation for Multispectral Scanner (Landsat).

 

MSU

Abbreviation for Microwave Sounding Unit, a passive scanning microwave spectrometer with 4 channels in the 5.5 micrometer oxygen region (which correspond to frequency from 50 to 58 GHz). The nadir resolution is 109.3 km. This is part of the TOVS instrument package.

 

MTM

See Multiple Taper Method.

 

MTPE

Abbreviation for NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, a concept for an international Earth science program to provide the observations, understanding and modeling capabilities needed to assess the impact of natural events and human induced activities on the Earth's environment. It is envisioned to have both the space- and ground-based observational capabilities, along with the necessary data and information system(s), to accommodate the acquisition, archive and distribution of the data and information acquired about the Earth system. See the MTPE Web site and Asrar et al. (1992).

 

Multiple Current Hypothesis

A hypothesis advanced by Fuglister (1951) that the Gulf Stream system is irregular, varying and discontinuous east of the Grand Banks. The dearth of observations available in 1951 led him to suggest that an instantaneous chart, if available, would show a number of disconnected filaments of current rather than a continuous stream. This is an obvious foreshadowing of later developments predicated on more extensive theoretical and observational work that showed the instabilities to which the Gulf Stream is prone as it leaves the coast and heads east. It wanders and sheds eddies both north and south, processes that do indeed lead to the impression of a number of disconnected filaments. See also Stommel (1966).

 

Multiple Taper Method

A method of time series analysis in which several orthogonal data windows are used rather than one. These windows are generated as part of the overall method rather than introduced heuristically and then justified as in other methods. The method, having much in common with Backus-Gilbert inverse theory, features significance tests that help identify weak spectral peaks and reject high-amplitude bands of noise. It allows for an optimal compromise between spectral resolution and variance in spectrum estimation, and provides a nonparametric method for separating the line and continuum components of the spectrum. It was developed by Thomson (1982) and its use by him in the context of paleoclimate time series can be found in Thomson (1990b) and Thomson (1990a), with the latter also featuring a lengthy review of the method. The SSA Toolkit includes MWM amongst several time series analysis tools.

 

Multiple Window Method

See Multiple Taper Method.

 

Munk, Walter

More later.

 

Murray, John

More later.

 

MW

Abbreviation for Mediterranean Water.

 

MWDW

See Modified Warm Deep Water.

 

MWM

See Multiple Window Method.