| Section A | A index | 161-169 of 917 terms |
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adaptability—The ease with which an algorithm, rule-based system, or neural network developed for a given geographic location can be modified to perform equally well with input data from another location.
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adaptation luminance—(Or adaptation brightness; also called adaptation level, adaptation illuminance, brightness level, field brightness, field luminance.) The average luminance (or brightness) of those objects and surfaces in the immediate vicinity of an observer estimating the visual range. The adaptation luminance has a marked influence on an observer's estimate of the visual range because, along with the visual angle of the object under observation, it determines the observer's threshold contrast. High adaptation luminance tends to produce a high threshold contrast, thus reducing the estimated visual range. This effect of the adaptation luminance is to be distinguished from the influence of background luminance.
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adaptation strategies—Strategies for responding to climatic change that reduce the consequences of the changing climate by adjusting the physical environment or the interactions between the environment and human society.
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adaptive grid—A grid on which the number or geometric distribution of points changes in response to the characteristics of the evolving flow that is being described. Adaptive grids are most commonly used to place higher resolution in regions where error is likely to be large, for instance, in areas where the gradient (or Laplacian operator) is large.
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adaptive observational network—An observational network in which the location and timing of measurements of atmospheric properties are changed on a daily basis in order to minimize some measure of forecast error. To achieve this aim, atmospheric measurements must adapt to the flow observed on a particular day. For example, in midlatitude regions, enhanced atmospheric measurements in regions of large horizontal temperature gradients can lead to a significant reduction in forecast error. As these regions of strong baroclinicity move from one day to the next, the locations of enhanced measurements should also move.
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adaptive observations—(Also called targeted observations.) Observational data obtained specifically to improve model initial conditions for a numerical forecast of a selected weather feature, or to optimize a measure of forecast outcome (e.g., error). Guidance for selecting adaptive observations can be obtained from model-based products, such as singular vectors from adjoint models or ensemble forecasts, which are used to estimate where initial condition error has the greatest impact on the forecast measure. Adaptive observations can be obtained from in-situ platforms such as dropsonde aircraft, or by direction of remote sensors including satellite or radar instruments. See adjoint model, adjoint sensitivity.
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adfreezing—The process by which one object becomes adhered to another by the binding action of ice.
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