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 AAS

American Astronomical Society

 ACMA

Atmospheric Composition Modeling and Analysis

 ADP

Astrophysics Data Analysis program

 AFL

Astrobiology Field Laboratory

 AGN

Active Galactic Nuclei

 AGU

The American Geophysical Union

 AIRS

Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder

 AIST

Advanced Information System Technology

 AIST

Advanced Information Systems Technology program

 AMSU

Advanced Microowave Sounding Unit

 AO

Announcement of Opportunity

 AOR

Authorized Organizational Representative. NASA proposals (through NSPIRES) are not submitted by individual scientists, engineers or educators, they come from an institution (such as a university). The Authorized Organizational Representative must be an official representative of that university (for example) who has the authority to approve overhead rates in the budget, etc

 APRA

Astronomy and Physics Research and Analysis

 ASTID

Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development and Mission Concept Studies

 ATFP

Astrophysics Theory and Fundamental Physics program

 ATI

Advanced Technology Initiative

 AVGR

Ames Vertical Gun Range

 Acoustic Sounders

Instruments that acquire multispectral measurements from which vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity can be derived and does particular measurements of depth of water below an instrument (at the surface or at some moored depth) which is computed form the travel time of the acoustic pulse emitted by this sounder.
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 altimetry

An aneroid barometer designed to register changes in atmospheric pressure accompanying changes in altitude
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 assimilation

the incorporation or conversion of nutrients into protoplasm that in animals follows digestion and absorption and in higher plants involves both photosynthesis and root absorption
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 asteroids

Metallic, rocky objects without atmospheres that orbit the Sun, but are too small to be called planets.
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 atmospheric

- The air surrounding the Earth, described as a series of shells or layers of different characteristics. The atmosphere, composed mainly of nitrogen and oxygen with traces of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases, acts as a buffer between Earth and the sun. The layers, troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and the exosphere, vary around the globe and in response to seasonal changes.
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- The visible solar atmosphere consists of three regions: the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the solar corona. The solar atmosphere is so hot that the gas is primarily in a plasma state: electrons are no longer bound to atomic nuclei, and the gas is made up of charged particles (mostly protons and electrons). In this charged state, the solar atmosphere is greatly influenced by the strong solar magnetic fields that thread through it. These magnetic fields, and the outer solar atmosphere (the corona) extend out into interplanetary space as part of the solar wind."

 auroral zone

The portion of the Earth that traverses the midnight portion of an oval is known as the auroral zone.
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