Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

altocumulus

(Encyclopedia)altocumulus: see cloud.

altostratus

(Encyclopedia)altostratus: see cloud.

stratocumulus

(Encyclopedia)stratocumulus: see cloud.

stratus

(Encyclopedia)stratus: see cloud.

rainmaking

(Encyclopedia)rainmaking, production of rain by artificial means now generally disregarded, though it is probable that rainmaking hastens or increases rainfall from clouds suitable for natural rainfall. Interest in...

thunderstorm

(Encyclopedia)thunderstorm, violent, local atmospheric disturbance accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail. The typical thunderstorm caused by convect...

waterspout

(Encyclopedia)waterspout, tornado occurring at sea or over inland waters. The characteristic funnel-shaped cloud is formed at the base of a cumulus-type cloud and extends downward to the water surface, where it pic...

Oort, Jan Hendrik

(Encyclopedia)Oort, Jan Hendrik ōrt [key], 1900–1992, Dutch astronomer. He confirmed (1927) Bertil Lindblad's theory of the Milky Way galaxy's rotation. In the 1950s he and his colleagues used radio astronomical...

Bighorn Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Bighorn Mountains, range of the Rocky Mts., N central Wyo., extending c.120 mi (190 km) N into S Montana, E of the Bighorn River. Cloud Peak, 13,165 ft (4,013 m), is the highest point. The glaciated m...

ceilometer

(Encyclopedia)ceilometer sēlŏmˈĭtər [key], in aviation and meteorology, automatic instrument used to record ceiling, i.e., the altitude of the lowest cloud layer covering more than half of the sky. The ceilome...