Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

284 results found

Wind Cave National Park

(Encyclopedia)Wind Cave National Park, 28,295 acres (11,459 hectares), in the Black Hills, SW S.Dak.; est. 1903. Wind Cave, discovered in 1881, was named for the strong air currents that blow alternately in and out...

weather vane

(Encyclopedia)weather vane or wind vane, instrument used to indicate wind direction. It consists of an asymmetrically shaped object, e.g., an arrow or a rooster, mounted at its center of gravity so it can move free...

windmill

(Encyclopedia)windmill, apparatus that harnesses wind power for a variety of uses, e.g., pumping water, grinding corn, driving small sawmills, and driving electrical generators. Windmills were probably not known in...

Beaufort scale

(Encyclopedia)Beaufort scale, a scale of wind velocity devised (c.1805) by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort of the British navy. An adaptation of Beaufort's scale is used by the U.S. National Weather Service; it employ...

anemometer

(Encyclopedia)anemometer: see wind.

sandstorm

(Encyclopedia)sandstorm, strong dry wind blowing over the desert that raises and carries along clouds of sand or dust often so dense as to obscure the sun and reduce visibility almost to zero; also known as a dusts...

strip cropping

(Encyclopedia)strip cropping, practice of growing field crops in narrow strips either at right angles to the direction of the prevailing wind, or following the natural contours of the terrain to prevent wind and wa...

Eos

(Encyclopedia)Eos ēˈŏs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of dawn; daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Every morning she arose early and preceded her brother Helios into the heavens. Her husb...

sirocco

(Encyclopedia)sirocco sərŏkˈō [key] [Ital., from Arab. sharq=east], hot, dust-laden, dry, southerly wind originating in the N African desert (most commonly in the spring) and reaching Italy and nearby Mediterra...

ocarina

(Encyclopedia)ocarina ŏkərēˈnə [key], musical wind instrument with eight finger holes and two thumb holes, rather egg-shaped, and made of metal, terra-cotta or plastic. Unlike other wind instuments, it produce...