ScientificGlossary
Under DevelopmentBrowse through 82 defined scientific, computational, and environmental terms used across the platform.
Active Sensor
Remote SensingA remote sensing instrument that transmits its own electromagnetic energy pulse to illuminate targets and measures the reflected echo (e.g. SAR radar).
Albedo
ClimateThe dimensionless ratio of solar radiation reflected by a surface to that incident upon it, ranging from 0 (perfect absorber) to 1 (perfect reflector).
Algal Bloom
HydrologyA rapid increase in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems, often detected via red edge spectral bands.
Anisotropy
MathematicsThe directional dependence of material physical properties, such as magnetic vector responses or fluid flow parameters.
Aquifer
HydrologyAn underground geological layer of water-bearing permeable rock, gravel, sand, or silt from which groundwater can be extracted.
Aspect
TerrainThe downhill compass direction (in degrees, 0 to 360) that a terrain slope faces relative to North.
Atmospheric Correction
Remote SensingThe process of removing the scattering and absorption effects of the atmosphere to retrieve surface reflectance values.
Backscatter
Remote SensingThe portion of transmitted microwave pulses reflected back to a radar antenna after scattering off surface objects.
Band
Remote SensingA discrete range of wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum recorded by specific satellite sensors.
Bare Soil Index (BSI)
Geospatial IndicesAn index combining visible blue, red, NIR, and SWIR bands to map soil exposure and land degradation.
Bathymetry
TerrainThe measurement of depth of water in oceans, seas, or lakes, mapping underwater topography.
Bearer Token
APIs & SecurityA cryptographic credential passed in authorization request headers to grant client access to secure API endpoints.
Benchmark
Scientific ComputingA standardized reference profile or dataset used to measure performance or verify spatial model accuracies.
Biomass
EcologicalThe total mass of living organisms (primarily vegetation in remote sensing) within a designated spatial boundaries area.
Boundary Condition
MathematicsA set of constraints specified at the boundaries of the spatial domain when solving differential equations.
Bounding Box (BBox)
GeospatialA geographic region defined by coordinate boundaries: [Min Longitude, Min Latitude, Max Longitude, Max Latitude].
Brightness Temperature
Remote SensingThe temperature a blackbody would need to be in order to emit the same intensity of radiation observed from a target.
C-Band
Remote SensingA microwave frequency range (4 to 8 GHz) used by satellite sensors like Sentinel-1 to penetrate weather barriers.
Canopy
EcologicalThe overhead outer structural layer of forest vegetation, primarily foliage leaves and branches.
Carbon Sequestration
EcologicalThe long-term capture and storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide in geological formations or soil carbon pools.
Catchment
HydrologyA geographic drainage area or basin that collects rainfall and feeds water courses.
Chlorophyll
EcologicalThe primary green pigment in plants that absorbs solar energy for photosynthesis.
Clay Fraction
Soil SystemsThe relative percentage of clay particles (diameters less than 2 micrometers) in soil, regulating carbon kinetics.
Climate Reanalysis
ClimateA scientific method that blends historical weather observations with physics-based meteorological models.
Cloud Cover
ClimateThe fraction of the sky or geographic pixel area obscured by clouds at coordinate points.
Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG)
GeospatialA GeoTIFF file structure designed to optimize streaming and downloading segments via HTTP range requests.
Co-Polarization
Remote SensingA radar configuration where the transmitted and received signals share the same polarization plane (e.g. VV).
Conductivity
Soil SystemsA material constant expressing the rate at which heat, fluid, or electricity passes through structures.
Copernicus DEM
TerrainA global digital elevation grid provided by the European Space Agency at 30-meter resolutions.
Cross-Polarization
Remote SensingA radar configuration where the received signal is measured perpendicular to the transmitted signal plane (e.g. VH).
CUDA
HPCA parallel computing platform and API model created by NVIDIA to compile programs on GPU nodes.
Darcy's Law
HydrologyThe governing equation describing fluid discharge velocity through porous matrices under hydraulic gradients.
deal.II
Scientific ComputingA high-performance C++ library containing grid tools and mesh generation for finite element calculations.
Decibel (dB)
Remote SensingA logarithmic unit used to express ratios of physical values, such as radar backscatter amplitude.
Decomposition
Soil SystemsThe rate of chemical breakdown of soil organic carbon pools by micro-organisms over time.
Deforestation
EcologicalThe permanent clearance and conversion of forested lands to non-forest coverage types.
Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
TerrainA 3D grid layout mapping terrain heights relative to mean sea levels.
Digital Number (DN)
Remote SensingRaw, uncalibrated integer values recorded per pixel by satellite imaging arrays.
Dispersion
HydrologyThe scattering of chemical compounds or fluids as they flow through porous geologies.
Drainage Network
HydrologyA system of streams and surface paths that convey rainfall runoff through catchments.
Dry Combustion Spectroscopy
Soil SystemsAn analytical laboratory method used to measure organic carbon percentages in soil samples.
Earth Engineering
EcologicalThe integration of physical science, computing, and ecological models to recover natural systems.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Remote SensingThe complete range of all frequencies of electromagnetic radiation.
Emissivity
Remote SensingThe relative ratio of thermal energy emitted by a surface to that of a perfect blackbody radiator.
Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Geospatial IndicesA spectral index optimized to monitor crop canopy characteristics by reducing background soil noise.
ERA5
ClimateThe fifth generation European meteorological hourly reanalysis archive of global climates.
Erosion
Soil SystemsThe mechanical transport and degradation of topsoils by precipitation forces, winds, or runoffs.
Fallow
Soil SystemsAgricultural acreage left unsown for a period to restore moisture and key nutrient chemistry.
FEniCS Project
Scientific ComputingA popular open-source finite element programming interface for solving partial differential equations.
Ferromagnetic
Scientific ComputingMaterials (such as iron or nickel alloys) that exhibit strong magnetization fields.
Finite Element Method (FEM)
MathematicsA numerical method solving complex boundary value equations by dividing structures into meshes of elements.
Flow Accumulation
HydrologyA grid where each pixel value represents the total upslope drainage area contributing flow to it.
Flux
MathematicsThe physical rate of flow of matter or energy across a unit area boundary.
Geographic Information System (GIS)
GeospatialA spatial database system designed to edit, analyze, and map geographic vectors and rasters.
Geoid
GeospatialA model representing Earth's gravitational potential surface, corresponding to global sea levels.
Gmsh
Scientific ComputingAn open-source finite-element mesh generator that includes CAD pre-processing inputs.
GNUPlot
Scientific ComputingA lightweight, CLI-driven utility for plotting scientific dataset matrices.
Ground Range Detected (GRD)
Remote SensingA radar scene format where raw phase echoes are calibrated and projected onto coordinate ellipsoids.
Groundwater
HydrologyWater occupying pore spaces in underground geologies, beneath soil saturation zones.
High Performance Computing (HPC)
HPCComputational clusters using parallel processing layers to solve large physical matrices.
Hydrology
HydrologyThe Earth science branch studying the global movement, circulation, and properties of water.
Impervious Surface
UrbanA barrier surface that blocks water infiltration into soils (e.g. urban concrete roads).
In-Situ
GeospatialPhysical measurements collected directly in the field (e.g. extracting physical soil core cylinders).
Index
Geospatial IndicesA mathematical ratio combining multiple spectral band channels to emphasize specific surface features.
Interferometry
Remote SensingThe phase-based comparison of multiple radar scenes to map millimeter elevation displacements.
Interpolation
MathematicsThe estimation of values at unsampled coordinate locations based on surrounding data points.
Kriging
MathematicsA geostatistical interpolation method that weights coordinates using spatial variances.
Land Surface Temperature (LST)
Remote SensingThe skin temperature of the uppermost surface of planetary land features, resolved via thermal bands.
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG)
Scientific ComputingThe partial differential equation describing the precessional motion of magnetization vectors.
Landsat
Remote SensingThe long-running joint NASA/USGS Earth observation satellite program mapping spectral and thermal bands.
Leaf Area Index (LAI)
EcologicalA ratio expressing the one-sided green leaf area per unit of ground surface area.
Meshing
MathematicsThe structural division of continuous spatial geometry models into networks of finite elements.
MODIS
Remote SensingA NASA multi-spectral sensor mapping global surfaces daily at moderate resolutions (250m to 1km).
Monte Carlo
MathematicsA statistical simulation technique that uses repeated randomized samplings to calculate outcomes.
MPI (Message Passing Interface)
HPCA standardized network protocol for passing messages in parallel cluster nodes.
Multi-Spectral
Remote SensingSensors that capture energy across a small number of discrete band channels (usually 3 to 15 bands).
MuMax3
Scientific ComputingA GPU-accelerated micromagnetic simulation library that solves magnetization spin equations.
NetCDF
GeospatialA set of software libraries and self-describing array data formats used to store multi-dimensional scientific matrices.
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Geospatial IndicesA standard index comparing NIR and Red bands to measure green vegetation density.
OOMMF
Scientific ComputingA modular, CPU-oriented micromagnetic simulation engine designed by NIST.
OpenFOAM
Scientific ComputingA popular open-source computational fluid dynamics solver suite.
Orthorectification
Remote SensingThe mathematical correction of imagery to remove scale displacements caused by camera tilts and elevations.