| Acronym |
Full name |
Comments |
| M |
mega
| prefix for 10 to the 6th power |
| M |
Mach |
| m |
milli
| prefix for 10 to the negative 3rd power |
| M&O |
maintenance and operations |
| M&S |
Materials and Services |
| M&V |
Magnetism & Volcanoes |
| M-ANL |
Argonne National Laboratory |
| M-PDU |
multiplexed protocol data unit |
| M3 |
M cubed
| Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology division,
NCAR |
| MAB |
Man and the Biosphere program |
United Nations |
| MAB |
Meteorological Applications Branch
| NOAA, FSL Forecast Research Division |
| MAC |
Machine Aided Cognition |
| MAC |
Multiple Access Computer |
| MAC |
Manager's Advisory Council
| NCAR, ATD |
| MAC |
Apple Macintosh Computer |
| MAC |
medium access control |
| MACCM2 |
Middle Atmosphere Community Climate Model, Version
2 |
| MACCM3 |
Middle Atmosphere Community Climate Model, Version
of CCM3 |
| machine code |
| The machine language used for entering text and
program instructions onto the recording medium or into storage and which
is subsequently used for processing and printout (i.e., computer instruction
code) |
| MACRAT |
Middle-Atmosphere Chemistry, Radiation, and Transport
program |
NCAR, ACD |
| MADAM |
Master Data Acquisition Module |
| MADER |
Management of Atmospheric Data for Evaluation and
Research |
| MADIS |
Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System
|
| MAF |
Mesoscale Analysis Forecasting |
| MAG |
Magnetosphere Currents/Fields |
| MAGE |
Marine Aerosol and Gas Exchange Experiment
| or Project |
| MAGE |
Marine Gas Emissions |
| MAGSAT |
Magnetic Field Satellite |
| mail reflectors |
| Mail boxes, that automatically forward their contents
to a specified list of recipients. Recipients may be on any of several networks,
including commercial networks |
| MALTS |
Marine Layer Thickness Study |
| MAMOS |
Marine Automatic Meteorological Observing Station
|
USWB |
| MAMS |
Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor |
| MAN |
metropolitan area network |
| MAP |
Mesoscale Alpine Project |
| MAP |
Metro-Agro-Plex |
| MAP |
Middle Atmosphere Program |
| MAPCON |
| A routine developed by Unidata for contouring NPS
gridded data on a background map from netCDF files |
| MAPR |
Multi-angle Profiling Radar |
| MAPS |
Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites
| NASA |
| MAPS |
Multiple Aircraft Positioning System |
| MAPS |
Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System |
| MAPS |
millions of actions per second |
| MAPS/RUC |
MAPS is the research version of the Rapid Update
Cycle
| NOAA/FSL |
| MAR |
Modernization and Associated Restructing
| see MARD |
| MAR |
Marshall Field Site
| NCAR, ATD |
| MARC |
Middle Atmosphere Responses to Changes |
| MARC |
Machine Readable Cataloging |
| MARD |
Modernization Associated Restructuring Demonstration
| An NWS program to test AWIPS components |
| MARI |
Middle Atmosphere Research Initiative
| successor to MASI |
| Mark-IVB |
| a satellite data system developed by the U.S. Air
Force |
| MARS |
Meteorological Airborne Radar Data System |
NOAA |
| marvel |
| To show or experience great surprise or admiration
|
| MAS |
Millimeter-wave Atmospheric Sounder |
| MASDIS |
Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System
|
| MASER |
Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation |
| MASI |
Middle Atmosphere Science Initiative
| NSF |
| MASnet |
mainframe and server network |
formerly the NCAR local network |
| MASP |
Multi-angle Aerosol Spectrometer Probe |
| MASSCOMP |
Massachusetts Computer Corporation |
| MATCH |
Model for Atmospheric Chemistry and Transport |
| MATCH |
McGill University; technical improvements to the
large-scale spectral element ocean model (SEOM) |
| MATEX |
Massive Air Tracer Experiment |
New England acid rain |
| MATR |
MOPITT Algorithm Test Radiometer |
| MAYPOLE |
May Polarization Experiment |
| mb |
millibar |
| Mb |
Megabits |
| MB |
megabytes
| Roughly one million bytes; exactly 1,048,576 bytes.
See also mb |
| mb |
Millibar
| See also MB |
| MBA |
MB Associates |
San Ramon, California |
| M-BNW
| Batelle Northwest
|
| MBO
| Management by Objective |
| MBONE
| Multicast backBONE |
| Mbps
| megabits |
Millions of bits per second |
| MBT
| Miscellaneous Budget Transactions |
| MBY
| megabyte |
| Mbyte
| megabyte |
(106) per second |
| MCA |
moist convective adjustment |
| MCA |
moist convective adjustment |
| MCA |
Micro Channel Architecture |
| MCA |
Manufacturing Chemists Association |
| McBE |
McIDAS Broadcast Evaluation
| A committee drawn from the sites that first tested
the Unidata McIDAS software |
| MCC |
mesoscale convective complex |
| MCC |
Mission Control Center |
| MCCs |
mesoscale convective complexes |
| McIDAS |
Man-computer Interactive Data Access System
| A suite of applications, developed at University
of WI, Madison's SSEC, for analyzing and displaying meteorological data
for research and education. The software can be used with conventional observation,
satellite, and grid-point data. Unidata distributes two versions of this
software: McIDAS-X for UNIX platforms and McIDAS-OS2 for computers running
OS/2 |
| MCR |
Multichannel Cloud Radiometer |
| MCS |
mesoscale convective system |
| MCTEX |
Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment |
| MCV |
mesoscale cyclonic vortex |
| MD |
Master Directory |
| MD |
Modernization Division
| NOAA, FSL |
| MD file |
| Generalized meteorological data file in a McIDAS
database |
| MDC |
Modified Direct Costs |
| MDCRS |
Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System
|
| MDI |
Michelson Doppler Imager |
| MDM |
multiplexer/demultiplexer |
| MDR |
Manually Digitized Radar
| A type of radar image |
| MDS |
Minimum detectable signal |
| MDDS |
Maintenance Decision Support System
| |
| MECCA |
Model Evaluation Consortium for Climate Assessment
| EPRI, ENEA, EDF/DER, KEMA, SCE, CRIEPI, NSCEE,
and EPA were financial sponsors of MECCA which contracted with UCAR/NCAR
to host a dedicated supercomputer in the early 90's. |
| MECCA |
Mesoscale Experiment Center for Control and Analysis
|
| MEF |
Master E-mail Facility |
| MEFENET |
Department of Energy Network |
| MEGAN |
Model of the Exchange of Gases between the Atmosphere
and Nature |
|
| MELTER |
Mesosphere/ Lower Thermosphere Explorer |
NASA |
| MEP |
Minority Engineering Program |
| MERIS |
Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer |
ESA |
| MERIT |
MERIT, Inc.
| A nonprofit consortium of eight Michigan universities
that provides funding and sets policy for the Merit Computer Network. Merit,
with the University of Michigan, managed NSFNET from inception until 1994
|
| MERT |
Medical Emergency Response Team
| UCAR |
| Meso-alpha |
| 200-2000 km range Fronts, Hydrostatic low-pressure
(Eta, AVN) systems |
| Meso-beta |
| 20-200 km range land-water, sea Non-hydrostatic,
breezes hydrostatic (MM5, RAMS |
| Meso-gamma |
| 2-20 km range Thunderstorm Non-hydrostatic convection,
(ARPS) complex terrain flows |
| MesoNet |
Mesoscale Network |
| mesoscale |
C scale |
10 to 100 km, mesoconvective elements, GARP usage
|
| Mesoscale models |
| Mesoscale models are used to simulate sub-grid
scale phenomena not resolved by regional-scale models. The mesoscale ranges
as defined by Orlanski (1975). |
| Metadata |
| Data about (behind) the data (the attributes associated
with the data) |
| METAPPS |
Meteorological Applications Task Force |
| METAR |
meteorological aviation reports |
| MeteoAssert |
a multimedia presentation of weather phenomena
|
| METEOR |
Multiple Experiment Transporter into Earth Orbit
and Return |
USSR |
| METEOSAT |
Meteorological Satellite |
A European satellite, ESA |
| METOBS |
| An MSDOS-based program for extracting marine observations
from raw observation files |
| METROMEX |
Metropolitan Meteorological Experiment |
1970 |
| MF |
medium frequency
| 300-3,000 KHz |
| MFD |
Master File Directory |
| MFE |
Magnetic Field Explorer |
| MFE |
Magnetic Field Experiment |
| MFE/magnolia |
Magnetic Field Explorer/Magnolia mission
| USA/France |
| MFECC |
Magnetic Fusion Energy Computation Center |
| MFEM |
Magnetic Field Explorer Mission |
USA |
| MFENET |
National Magnetic Fusion Energy Network |
| M-ISWS |
Illinois State Water Survey |
| MFLOPS |
Megaflops
| millions of floating-point operations (106)
per second |
| MFM |
standard hard drives |
| mfp |
mean free path |
| MGA |
Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts |
| MHD |
magnetohydrodynamic |
| MHR |
Mile High Radar |
| MHS |
message handling system |
| MHz |
Megahertz
| unit of frequency: one million cycles per second
|
| MIB |
management information base |
| MICR |
magnetic ink character reader |
regarding computer pattern recognition |
| Micro-scale |
| 2 km Turbulent eddies LES model |
| Microsoft |
Microsoft Corporation |
| Microsoft Windows |
| A window system and user interface software released
by Microsoft in 1987 to run on top of MSDOS |
| MicroVax |
| A minicomputer manufactured by DEC |
| MIDI |
Musical Instrument Digital Interface |
| MIDnet |
| A regional computer network of midwestern universities;
linked to NSFNET; established in 1985 |
| MIESR |
Matrix Isolation/Electron Spin Resonance |
| MIGS |
MASnet Internet gateway server (or system) |
| MIP |
millions of Instructions per second |
| MILNET |
Military Network |
| MILOX |
Mid-Latitutde Ecosystem and Photochemical Oxidants
| Chameides |
| MIMD |
multiple instruction multiple data |
| MIMR |
Multiband Imaging Microwave Radiometer |
| MIMSA |
Minority Institutions in Marine Sciences Association
|
| MIP |
Millions of Instructions per second |
| MIPS |
Millions of Instructions per second |
| MIRA |
Management Information Research Associates
| NCAR consultant
|
| MIRAGE |
Megacity Impacts on Regional and Global Environments
|
| MIRAGE-Mexico |
Megacity Impact on Regional and Global Environments-Mexico
campaign |
| MISR |
Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer
| EOS AM |
| MIST |
Microburst and Severe Thunderstorm Experiment
| or Project |
| MIT |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| MITI |
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
| Japan |
| MIZEX |
Marginal Ice Zone Experiment |
| MJO |
Madden-Julian Oscillation |
| MKS |
meter-kilogram-second system of measurement |
| MKS |
unit of force replaced by Newtons |
| MKSA |
Absolute MKS |
used for electomagnetic units in acoustics |
| ML |
Mesa Laboratory
| UCAR, NCAR |
| MLI |
Multiple Layer Insulation |
| MLM |
Time-varying horizontal model of the Lavoice type
|
See VSM, TDM, and DCM |
| MLNAC |
Mesa Lab Network Access Completion
| NCAR |
| MLO |
Mauna Loa Observatory
| NOAA |
| MLOPEX |
Mauna Loa Photochemistry Experiment |
I, summer of 1988; II, summer of 1991 |
| MLS |
Microwave Limb Sounder |
NASA/UARS |
| MLSO |
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory |
| MLT |
magnetic local time |
| mM |
milli mole |
| MMD |
mass median diameter |
| MM4 |
mesoscale model, version 4 |
Pennsylvania State University/NCAR mesoscale (regional)
limited-area model |
| MM5 |
Fifth-generation Mesoscale Model |
| MM90 |
| the parallelized version of MM5 |
| MMAC |
Multi-Media Access Center
| Cabletron repeater |
| MMD |
mass median diameter |
| MMI |
Monthly Management Information Report |
| MMI |
man-made interface |
| MMM |
Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology |
M cubed (M3) is a division of NCAR |
| MMOL |
Manned Orbital Laboratory |
| MMS |
Minerals Management Service
| DOI |
| MMS |
Microscale Meteorology Section
| NCAR, MMM |
| MMSS |
multimission support service |
| MNP |
Microcom Network Protocol
| Class V compresses data for 2x thruput |
| MNRAS |
Monthly Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society
|
| MO&DSD |
Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate
|
| MOA |
Memorandum of Agreement |
| MOA |
Memorandum of Agreement |
| MOBILHY |
Modelisation du Bilan Hydrique |
| MOCCA |
Mobile Operations Center for Communication and
Analysis |
| MOCD |
magneto-optics compact disk |
| MOD (+/or DSI |
Ministry of Defense
| DSI-Defense Security Installation, London |
| MODAC |
Meteorological Observation and Data Assimilation
Center |
| MODCOMP |
| A machine manufactured by Modular Computer Systems
Inc. |
| MODD |
Meteorological and Omega Data Digitizer
| GARP |
| MODE |
Mid-Oceanic Dynamics Experiment
| Spring 1973, Sargasso Sea |
| MODE |
MODE in cospar papers |
| modem |
modulater-demodulater
| Computer terminal for alphanumeric information
|
| MODIS |
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer |
| MODIS-T |
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer-Tilt
|
| MODS |
Mission Operations and Data Systems |
| MOE |
Measure of Effectiveness |
| mol |
mole |
| MOL |
Manned Orbital Laboratory |
| MOLAS |
Mono Lake APIPS Study |
| MOM |
MASnet Operations Monitor |
| MOM |
mission operations manager |
| MONEX |
Monsoon Experiment |
GARP |
| MONTBLEX |
Monsoon Trough Boundary Layer Experiment
| India |
| MOPITT |
Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere
| NCAR, ACD |
| MOPS |
millions of operations (106) per second
|
| MOS |
Model Output Statistics |
| MOS |
Marine Observation Satellite
| Japan |
| MOS |
metal-oxide semiconductor |
| Mosaic |
| A software tool designed by NCSA to browse various
information servers on the Internet. Mosaic allows a user to view WWW and
Gopher documents and to retrieve files from FTP servers, among other capabilities
|
| MOSES |
Manned Open Sea Experiment Station
| NOAA |
| MOSES |
Meteorological Observing Station, extremely simple
| GAMP, name for their automatic observing system
|
| Motif |
| A software toolkit for the X Window System distributed
by the Open Software Foundation |
| MOU |
Memorandum of Understanding |
| moulded-draught |
draught mean the vertical distance from the moulded
base line amidships to a subdivision load water line |
| Mountain Waves |
See Lee Waves |
| MOVIE.BYU |
Colored Movie Software produced by Brigham Young
University |
| MOZART |
Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers
| NCAR |
| mp |
melting point |
| MP |
Mono-processing
| Job class on the Cray computers |
| MP |
MASnet code for the Xerox 4050 laser printers |
| MPA |
Maintenance Purchase Award |
| MPC |
mother-of-pearl clouds |
| MPD |
Magnetospheric Particles Detectors |
| MPDATA |
Multidimensional Positive Definite Advection Algorithm
|
| MPI |
Max Planck Institute |
| MPI |
message passing interface |
| MPIF |
Message Passing Interface Forum |
| MPOA |
Multi-Protocol Over ATM |
| MPP |
massively parallel processor |
| MPR |
advanced microwave precipitation radiometer |
| MPS |
radar system
| never written out |
| MPS |
Mesoscale Prediction Section
| NCAR, MMM |
| MR |
Management Reserve |
| MRB |
Materials Review Board |
| MRF |
Medium-Range Forecast
| A forecasting model run by the NMC |
| MRF |
Meteorological Rocket Facility |
Wallops Island |
| MRI |
Meteorological Research, Inc.
| Altadera, California |
| MRI |
Meteorological Research Institute
| of the JMA, Japanese Meteorological Association
|
| MRI |
Minority Research Initiation |
| MRI |
Mesoscale Research Initiative |
| MRIR |
Medium Resolution Infrared Radiometer
| Nimbus |
| MRIS |
Media Relations & Information Services |
NCAR |
| MRN |
Meteorological Rocket Network |
IRIG, USAF |
| MRS |
Mesoscale Research Section |
AAP, now a part of MMM, NCAR |
| MS |
MASnet code for the Mass Storage System |
| MS |
the company Microsoft |
| MSC |
Manned Spaceflight Center |
Now Lyndon B Johnson Space Center in Houston |
| MSCP |
mass store control processor
| NCAR |
| MSD |
mass storage device |
| MSDOS |
Microsoft Disk Operating System
| The operating system developed by Microsoft Corporation
for running personal computers |
| MSE |
mean square error |
| MSF |
Magnetic Flux Structures |
| MSFC |
Marshall Space Flight Center |
NASA |
| MSFE |
Mechanisms of Soil Formation and Evolution
|
|
| MSI |
Measurements, Standards, and Intercomparisons |
NCAR/ACD Group |
| MSI |
Maximum Strategy, Inc |
| MSIS |
mass spectrometer and incoherent scatter |
| MSISR |
Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar |
| MSL |
mean sea level |
| MSLP |
Mean sea-level pressure |
| MSOCC |
Multisatellite Operations Control Center |
| MSP |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| M-SRI |
Stanford Resource Institute |
| MSS |
Multi-spectral Scanner
| LANDSAT |
| MSS |
mass storage system
| NCAR |
| MST |
mesospheric/stratospheric/tropospheric |
| MSU |
microwave sounding unit |
| MSU |
mass storage unit |
| MT |
Magnetic Tape |
| MTA |
message transfer agent |
| MTBF |
mean time between failure |
| MTC |
Main Trunk Circuit |
GARP |
| MTEM |
Magnetosphere-Thermosphere Explorer Mission |
USA |
| MTF |
Mississippi Test Facility |
NASA |
| MTI |
moving target indicator |
| MTL |
message transfer layer |
| MTM |
Mechanical Test Model |
| MTTF |
Mean Time to Failure |
| MTTR |
mean time to repair |
| M-UCSD |
University of California at San Diego
|
| MUG |
McIDAS Users Group |
| multicast |
| A packet with a special destination address that
multiple nodes on the network may be willing to receive. |
| multimedia |
| Means of conveying information via a combination
of mechanisms, including but not limited to text, images, video, and sound.
|
| multitasking |
| The capability of running two or more programs
simultaneously; describes operating systems. |
| MUSE |
monitor of ultraviolet solar energy |
| M&V |
Magmatism & Volcanoes |
| MVS |
Multiple Virtual Storage
| A mainframe operating system that is not supported
by Unidata, but whose initials may be confused with the VMS |
| MVS/XA |
Multiple Virtual Systems/Extended Architecture
| Operating system on the Mass Storage Control Processor,
NCAR |
| MW |
Microwave |
| Mw |
Megawords |
| MWG |
Meteorological Working Group |
IRIG, USAF |
| MWISP |
Mt. Washington Winter Icing and Storms Project
| UCAR, NCAR, RAP |
| MWO |
Mt. Washington Observatory |
| Mwords |
megawords
| million words |
| MWP |
MicroWave Profiler |
| Mx |
maxwell |
