Ibe wind-
A local strong wind that blows through the Dzungarian Gate (in western China), a gap in the mountain ridge separating the depression of Lakes Balkash and Ala Kul from that of Lake Ebi Nor. The wind resembles the foehn and brings a sudden rise of temperature, in winter from about -26 degree to about -1 degree C.
Ice fog-
A type of fog, composed of suspended particles of ice, partly ice crystals 20 to 100 m in diameter, but chiefly, especially when dense, droxtals 12–20 m in diameter. It occurs at very low temperatures, and usually in clear, calm weather in high latitudes. The sun is usually visible and may cause halo phenomena. Ice fog is rare at temperatures warmer than -30°C, and increases in frequency with decreasing temperature until it is almost always present at air temperatures of -45°C in the vicinity of a source of water vapor. Such sources are the open water of fast-flowing streams or of the sea, herds of animals, volcanoes, and especially products of combustion for heating or propulsion. At temperatures warmer than -30°C, these sources can cause steam fog of liquid water droplets, which may turn into ice fog when cooled (see frost smoke).
See ice-crystal haze, arctic mist.
Ice storm-
A storm characterized by a fall of freezing liquid precipitation. The attendant formation of glaze on terrestrial objects creates many hazards.
Inertia wave-
1. Any wave motion in which no form of energy other than kinetic energy is present. In this general sense, Helmholtz waves, barotropic disturbances, Rossby waves, etc., are inertia waves. 2. More restrictedly, a wave motion in which the source of kinetic energy of the disturbance is the rotation of the fluid about some given axis. In the atmosphere a westerly wind system is such a source, the inertia waves here being, in general, stable. A similar analysis has been applied to smaller vortices, such as the hurricane. See inertial instability.
Inland sea breeze-
A circulation similar to a sea breeze, except not at a shore. The inland sea breeze is a very weak thermal circulation caused by temperature contrast between different land surfaces and is sometimes observed between cool irrigated farm land and neighboring dry desert land. This phenomenon is observed only when the synoptic-scale winds are very light.
Internal boundary layer-
A layer within the atmosphere bounded below by the surface, and above by a more or less sharp discontinuity in some atmospheric property. Internal boundary layers are associated with the horizontal advection of air across a discontinuity in some property of the surface (e.g., aerodynamic roughness length or surface heat flux) and can be viewed as layers in which the atmosphere is adjusting to new surface properties. See thermal internal boundary layer, mechanical internal boundary layer.
Internal gavity wave-
A wave that propagates in density-stratified fluid under the influence of buoyancy forces.
Internal wave-
A wave in fluid motion having its maximum amplitude within the fluid or at an internal boundary (interface). The concepts of internal and external waves originated in the study of gravity waves in homogeneous incompressible fluids, and it makes no difference in the dynamics of the wave whether the static stability of the fluid is concentrated in a free surface or in an interface. However, internal waves in a fluid with continually varying density have maximum amplitudes and nodal surfaces within the fluid itself, so that these are properly distinguished from external waves. Compare surface wave.
Inversion-
In meteorology, a departure from the usual decrease or increase with altitude of the value of an atmospheric property; also, the layer through which this departure occurs (the inversion layer), or the lowest altitude at which the departure is found (the base of the inversion).
