A quantity to which a number of values can be assigned.
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HORSE LATITUDES
The regions of calms and variable winds coinciding with the subtropical high pressure belts on the poleward sides of the trade winds. The expression is generally applied only to the northern of these two regions in the North Atlantic Ocean, or to the portion of it near Bermuda.
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CONTROL POINT
The value of the controlled variable which the controller operates to maintain.
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CATS PAWS
Light variable winds on calm waters producing scattered areas of small waves.
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DOLDRUMS
The equatorial trough, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds.
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BASIN
1. A depression of the sea floor approximately equidimensional in plan view and of variable extent. 2. An area of water surrounded by quay walls, usually created or enlarged by excavation, large enough to receive one or more ships for a specific purpose. 3. An area of land which drains into a lake or sea through a river and its tributaries. 4. A nearly land-locked area of water leading off an inlet, firth, or sound.
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CALIFORNIA CURRENT
A North Pacific Ocean current flowing southeast- ward along the west coast of North America from a point west of Vancouver Island to the west of Baja (Lower) California where it gradually widens and curves southward and southwestward, to continue as the westerly flowing PACIFIC NORTH EQUATO- RIAL CURRENT. The California Current is the southern branch of the Aleutian Current, augmented by the North Pacific Current, and forms the eastern part of the general clockwise oceanic circulation of the North Pacific Ocean. Although usually described as a permanent ocean current, the California Current is actually a poorly defined and variable flow easily influenced by the winds. See also MEXICO CURRENT
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DECREMENT
1. A decrease in the value of a variable. 2. To decrease a variable in steps
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DELTA
1. The low alluvial land, deposited in a more or less triangular form, as the Greek letter delta, at the mouth of a river, which is often cut by several distributaries of the main stream. 2. A change in a variable quantity, such as a change in the value of the declination of a celestial body.
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EPHEMERIS TIME
The time scale used by astronomers as the tabular argument of the precise fundamental ephemerides of the sun, moon and planets. It is the independent variable in the gravitational theories of the solar system. It is determined in arrears from astronomical observations and extrapolated into the future, based on International Atomic Time.
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FIXED AND VARIABLE PARAMETERS OF SATELLITE ORBIT
The fixed parameters are those parameters which describe a satellite's approximate orbit and which are used over a period of hours. The variable parameters describe the fine structure of the orbit as a function of time and are correct only for the time at which they are transmitted by the satellite
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