sferics
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From atmospherics.
Noun
[edit]sferics
Noun
[edit]sferics pl (plural only)
- Electromagnetic pulses caused by atmospheric phenomena, such as lightning. plural of sferic
- 1920: Wilbur H. Paulsen (American Meteorological Society pub.), Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society [1]
- A Sferics Locating System has been developed to determine the geographical location of lightning strokes...
- 1965 (pub.): Mitre Corporation, Research & Experimentation 1960-1964 [2]
- ...an artificial sferics generator was used as a known source of EM pulses.
- 1987: Barbara Tufty, 1001 Questions Answered About Hurricanes, Tornadoes and Other Natural Air Disasters [3]
- Researchers have thought that possibly these sferics could be used to track hurricanes—but so far, they have been only marginally successful.
- 1998, Donald R. MacGorman, W. David Rust, The Electrical Nature of Storms[4]:
- Sferics are classified normally by the frequency of the receiver used to detect them.
- 1999, Rudolf F. Graf, William Sheets, The Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits[5]:
- This circuit generates a bipolar pulse waveform that closely approximates the main features of sferics.
- 2003: Rakov, Vladimir A. Rakov, Martin A. Uman, Lightning: Physics and Effects [6]
- The second common theoretical approach of the propagation of sferics involves viewing the Earth-ionosphere cavity as a waveguide...
- 1920: Wilbur H. Paulsen (American Meteorological Society pub.), Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society [1]
- Radio interference caused by sferics; atmospherics.
- 1959, D. L. Carpenter, Identification of Whistler Sources on Visual Records and a Method of Routine Whistler Analysis[7]:
- In the identification of sources of short whistlers, the spectral characteristics of the sferics can often be used to establish many sferics as doubtful...
- 1963, Thomas Pynchon, V.[8]:
- As it turned out, the whistler was only the first of a family of sferics whose taxonomy was to include clicks, hooks, risers, nose-whistlers and one like a warbling of birds called the dawn chorus....
Usage notes
[edit]When referring to the electromagnetic phenomenon, this term can be used either as the normal plural of sferic or in pluralia tantum construction.