- Industry: Government
- Number of terms: 30456
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NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
A network of uniformly spaced parallel lines intersecting at right angles. When superimposed on a map, it usually carries the name of the projection used for the map. For example: Lambert grid, transverse Mercator grid, and universal transverse Mercator grid.
Industry:Natural environment
A technique used to provide a general description of large areas of reef and to gauge broad changes in abundance and distribution of organisms on coral reefs. The technique, widely used in Australia, involves towing a snorkel diver (observer) at a constant speed behind a boat. The observer holds on to a 'manta board' attached to a small boat by a 17-meter length of rope. This person makes a visual assessment of specific variables during each manta tow (2 minutes duration), and records these data when the boat stops, on a data sheet attached to the manta board. The manta tow technique is used to provide a general description of large areas of reef and to gauge broad changes in abundance and distribution of organisms on coral reefs. The advantage of manta tow over other survey techniques is that it enables large areas of reefs to be surveyed quickly and with minimal equipment.
Industry:Natural environment
An area in the littoral zone that retains sea water at a low tide because of a depression or arrangement of rocky substrate.
Industry:Natural environment
Any dive within a certain time frame after a previous dive. Some dive tables consider any dive within 12 hours of a previous dive as repetitive.
Industry:Natural environment
Describes coral colonies with horizontal interlocking branches and short upright branches.
Industry:Natural environment
In genetics, a sequence of three nucleotides of DNA which specifies an amino acid.
Industry:Natural environment
Microalgal organism living on a surface (e.g., on a seaweed frond); a plant living on the surface of another plant.
Industry:Natural environment
Referring to water with a salinity higher than that of natural seawater.
Industry:Natural environment
The BCD is a mandatory piece of equipment for SCUBA diving. It is an expandable bladder, most commonly worn as an expandable vest, that can be inflated with air from the tank to increase buoyancy while diving. To decrease buoyancy, the BCD is deflated through special air-dump valves or hoses. It provides positive buoyancy for resting, swimming or lending assistance to others under water. The BCD allows maintenance of neutral buoyancy at any depth simply by adding or releasing air. It is also called a buoyancy compensator (BC).
Industry:Natural environment
