Oa-Om

 

OACES

Acronym for the Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study, a program designed to gain a predictive understanding of the magnitude of the atmospheric carbon dioxide that is ultimately dissolved in the ocean and removed from the atmosphere for a period of time. See the OACES Web site or the NOAA OACES Web site.

 

OAR

Acronym for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, a program office of NOAA that focuses on natural phenomena in the ocean, atmosphere, and space environments that have societal significance. More information can be found at the OAR Web page. OAR consists of the ERL and several other sections.

 

OASIS

Acronym for the NCDC One-line Access and Service Information System, a data management system that allows easy access to NOAA's environmental data. Operational and atmospheric research data can be obtained using the system by identifying sets of interest, viewing associated metadata, browsing the data, and then obtaining it via FTP. See the OASIS Web site.

 

oasis effect

A phenomenon where hot dry air in equilibrium with a desert flows across an oasis edge and experiences rapid evaporation using sensible heat from the air as well as radiant energy. The air is cooled by this process until it reaches equilibrium with the new surface.

 

OBL

Abbreviation for oceanic surface boundary layer, one of the two types of PBL.

 

obligate chemotroph

A species of phytoplankton that has no photosynthetic pigments and cannot photosynthesize, as opposed to facultative chemotrophs.

 

obliquity

Also called the obliquity of the ecliptic, this term is used to denote the tilt of the earth's axis with respect to the plane of the earth's orbit. This is one of the three main orbital perturbations (the other two being eccentricity and precession) involved in the Milankovitch theory and as such varies from about 22 to 25 deg. at a period of about 41,000 years. Obliquity perturbations tend to amplify the seasonal cycle in the high latitudes of both hemispheres simultaneously, with the effect small in the tropics and maximum at the poles.

 

OCCAM

Acronym for the Ocean Circulation and Climate Advanced Modelling Project, a project whose aim is to build a high resolution model of the world ocean. See the OCCAM Web site.

 

occlusion

In meteorology, as a depression develops, the trailing cold front moves more rapidly than the leading warm front. The warm sector between them is gradually narrowed until the cold front catches the warm front, at which point occlusion takes place and the warm sector is effectively lifted off the ground.

 

OCCM

Abbreviation for Ocean Carbon Cycle Model.

 

oceanography

More later.

 

Oceanography Society

A society founded in 1988 to disseminate knowledge of oceanography and its application through research and education, to promote communication among oceanographers, and to provide a constituency for concensus-building across all the disciplines of the field. They also publish a magazine called, strangely enough, "Oceanography". See the Oceanography Society Web site.

 

ocean stratosphere

The lower layer of the ocean as defined by Defant in 1928. The stratosphere is a sluggish, cold layer which is homogeneous vertically and horizontally in its basic properties. It is a region of slow exchanges. See Defant (1961), Ch. XIX and Tchernia (1980).

 

ocean troposphere

The upper layer of the ocean as defined by Defant in 1928. The troposphere is a region of relatively high temperature where there are strong vertical and horizontal variations of properties. It is a zone of perturbations and strong currents. See Defant (1961), Ch. XX and Tchernia (1980).

 

OCMIP

Abbreviation for Ocean Carbon-Cycle Model Intercomparison Project, a project to compare the results of global 3-D ocean models being used to study the ocean's carbon cycle. See the OCMIP Web site for further information.

 

OCSEAP

Acronym for Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program, a NOAA/BLM project.

 

OCSEAP

Acronym for Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program, a NOAA/BLM project.

 

OCTS

Acronym for Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner, a visible and infrared multispectral radiometer designed to measure global ocean color and sea surface temperature with high sensitivity. OCTS scans the Earth's surface using a rotating mirror in the direction perpendicular to the satellite flight path. This instrument will fly on the ADEOS mission.

 

ODP

1. Abbreviation for the Ocean Drilling Program, which conducts basic research into the history of the ocean basins and the overall nature of the crust beneath the ocean floor using the scientific drill ship, JOIDES resolution. This was originally called the DSDP. See the ODP Web site. 2. Abbreviation for ozone depletion potential.

 

OGP

Acronym for the Office of Global Programs, a program office of NOAA. More information can be found at the OGP Web page.

 

OHTEX

Acronym for Ocean Heat Transport EXperiment (Japan).

 

Okhotsk Sea

A marginal sea on the northern rim of the Pacific Ocean centered near 55 deg. N and 150 deg. E. It is bounded by the Siberian coast to the west and north, the Kamchatka Peninsula to the east, and the Kurile Islands to the south and southeast. It covers an area of about 1,600,000 km, has an average depth of about 860 m, and a maximum depth of 3370 m in the Kurile Basin. It is connected to both the Pacific Ocean and the Japan Sea via narrow passages, the most important ones being (for the former) the Boussole Strait (2318 m) and the Kruzenshtern Strait (1920 m) and (for the latter) the Tatarskyi Strait (50 m) and the Soya (or La Perouse) Strait (200 m).

The prominent surface circulation feature is the Soya Current, an extension of the Tsushima Current that flows through the southern part of the Okhotsk Sea. The current shear between this and the more quiescent offshore waters frequently produces eddies of around 10-50 km diameter. See Tomczak and Godfrey (1994).

 

Oldest Dryas

A post-LGM European climate regime. This refers to the early stages of the ice retreat when the open landscapes of northern and central Europe were dominated by plants of the Arctic tundra. It was followed by the Bolling oscillation. See Lamb (1985), p. 371.

 

Olduvai Magnetic Event

Short-term normal polarity time interval about 1.9 million years ago within the Matuyama Reverse Epoch. See Bowen (1991).

 

Oligocene

The third of five epochs in the Tertiary period, lasting from 36.6 to 23.7 Ma. It is preceded by the Eocene epoch and followed by the Miocene epoch.

 

OLR

Abbreviation for outgoing longwave radiation. This is controlled by the temperature of the emitting substance, so that the cold poles and cloud tops produce the lowest values. Deserts, with their warm surfaces and dry overlying atmospheres, show the highest values.

 

OLR

Abbreviation for Operational Line Scanner, a high resolution oscillating scan radiometer which produces 0.5 km resolution and 3 km resolution visible and infrared imagery.

 

ombrotrophic

Dependent on atmospheric moisture for nutrients. This is said of a bog or its vegetation.

 

omega equation

More later.

 

OMEX

Acronym for Ocean Margin EXchange project, a component of the MAST program. This project aims to study the biogeochemical fluxes and processes across the European continental shelf break facing the North Atlantic. See the OMEX Web site.

 

OMLET

Acronym for Ocean Mixed Layer ExperimenT (Japan).