orography

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)The scientific study, or a physical description of mountains.

   “Orography: A description of mountains.”

   “A knowledge of the Hydrography of a country aids as much in determining its geology as does its Orography, — that is, a description of its mountains.”

2. (uncountable, usually)The orographic features of a region.

   “Morocco was in 1883-1884 the scene of important explorations by de Foucauld, a Frenchman who, disguised as a Jew, crossed and re-crossed the Atlas and supplied the first trustworthy information as to the orography of many parts of the chain.”

   “Most flows actually occur, of course, over non-uniform orography and consequently in numerical models of such flows it is necessary to transform the coordinates so that the equations accurately represent flows in such terrain (Gal-Chen and Somerville 1975).”

   “The independent scientists of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) expressed concerns about how the spectral model would deal with steep mountains.[…]It was this work that lead to development of the envelope orography outlined below.”