Scales ( horizontal distances, ref : Earth's diameter 12,7xx km ) :
- microscale : 0 km to 1 km, 0 days to 1 day
- mesoscale : 1 km to 1000 km, 1 day to 1 week
- meso-alpha : 200 km to 2000 km
- meso-beta : 20 km to 200 km
- meso-gamma : 2 to 20 km
- macroscale / synoptic : 1000 km to 10,000 km, 1 week to 1 month
- megascale / global : world-wide, many months, periodic climates
Clines : sloped boundaries between distinct zones :
- thermocline : temperature
- chemocline : chemistry
- halocline : salinity
- barocline : pressure
- baroclinic : surfaces of constant pressure intersect ( are not parallel ) with surfaces of constant density
Contour lines / Isometric lines / Isolines / Isoquants / Isarithms / Isogram / Isopleths : lines referring to points of equal value in some dimension :
- isobar : pressure
- isotherm : temperature
- isocheim : mean winter temperature
- isothere : mean summer temperature
- isohel : solar radiation
- isogeotherm : temperature beneath Earth's surface
- isogon : direction
- wind direction, in meteorology
- magnetic declination, in the study of Earth's magnetic field
- agonic line : zero magnetic declination
- isoporic line : constant annual variation in magnetic declination
- isoclinic line : constant magnetic dip
- aclinic line : zero magnetic dip
- isodynamic line : constant magnetic force
- isocline : slope
- rate of change in a population's size is zero, given a pair of interacting populations, in the study of population dynamics
- isopach : thickness
- isochor : volume
- isopycnal : density
- water density, in oceanography
- isobath : depth
- isobathytherms : depths of water with equal temperature
- isohaline : ocean salinity
- isoheight / isohypse : geopotential height
- isodose : absorbed radiation
- isoplat : acid precipitation
- isobels : sound pressure
- isoflor : biological diversity, often referring to a taxonomic group
- isophene : biological event time, such as flowering
- isophote : illuminance
- isohyet / isohyetal line : rainfall
- isohume : humidity
- isodrosotherm : dew point
- isoneph : cloud cover
- isochalaz : frequency of hail storms
- isobront : phase of a thunderstorm
- isotach : wind speed
- isopectic line : dates of ice formation
- isotac : dates of thawing
- isochasm : aurora occurence
- isopotential / equipotential line : electrostatic potential
- isochrone : drive or travel time
- isotim : transport cost from source of a raw material
- isodapane : equivalent cost of travel time
- isoquant : production quantity ( in the context of fixed inputs )
- isocost : usages ( in the context of fixed production costs )
- in radar image interpretation
- isodop : Doppler velocity
- isoecho : radar reflectivity
- level set : mathematical term for a full collection of points having a particular function's output value
- algorithms used to find boundaries after image segmentation
- edge detection
- level-set method
- boundary tracing
- active contour model
- indifference curve : economic pressure
- phase diagram : in thermodynamic studies
- hybrid contour : energies of : hybrid orbitals and pure atomic orbitals
Also see :
- isosurfaces : would be to a 3-dimensional diagram, what isolines are to a 2-dimensional diagram
- chloropleth map : colours of an area represent a value in some dimension
- isallo- replaced iso- : when the line connects points whose values in some dimension are changing at the same rate
- isallobar : pressure changes
- anallobar : pressure increase
- katallobar : pressure decrease
- for terrain contour lines :
- rule of Vs : stream valleys :
- vee point indicates stream path
- vee points upstream
- rule of Os : closed loops :
- uphill on the inside, innermost loop is highest
- downhill on the outside, outermost loop is lowest
- exception : loop represents a depression : indicated by lines perpendicular to the depression, called hachures
- spacing of contours :
- more than one contour line merging, indicates a cliff
- can be used to approximate stream gradients
- graphic design
- line weight
- line colour
- line type
- line marking
