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CLIMATOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
Climate is an active factor in the physical environment of all living things. Its influences on human welfare range form the immediate effects of weather events to complex responses associated with climate change. The modern communications media that inform us almost daily of floods, droughts, hurricanes, blizzards, heat waves, or other disasters somewhere in the world also bring news of the resulting property damage, crop failures, famine, or deaths, global heating or cooling, advance or recession of polar ice, changing sea level, expanding deserts, and inevitable world hunger. A growing body of evidence suggests that abuse of the environment may enhance the likelihood of these catastrophes. For this reason, climatology treats the role of humankind as well as the so-called natural factors. Climatology is the science that seeks to describe and explain the nature of climate, why it differs from place to place, and how it is related to other elements of the natural environment and to human activities. Defined as the physics of the atmosphere, meteorology uses the methods of the physical sciences to interpret and explain atmospheric processes; it is equated increasingly with atmospheric science. Climatology extends the findings of meteorology in space and in time to encompass the entire earth and periods of time as long as observations or scientific inference will permit. The study of climate comprises three fundamental subdivisions: physical elements and processes, climatic patterns, and applications. Physical climatology is what causes the variations in heat exchange, moisture exchange, and fluid motion from time to time and place to place. Regional climatology has as its goal- the orderly arrangement and explanation of spatial patterns. It includes identification of significant climatic characteristics and the classification of climatic types. Applied climatology explores the relation of climate to other phenomena and considers its potential effects on human welfare, finally confronting the possibility of modifying climates to meet human needs. It is this phase of general climatology that emphasizes the interdependence of sciences and the unity of human knowledge as well as the utility of climatic data and information. Bioclimatology, agro climatology, medical climatology, building climatology, and urban climatology are examples. The proliferation of specialized studies clearly illustrates the wide scope and variety of climate-related phenomena. The atmosphere is a blanket of gasses and suspended liquids and solids that entirely envelops the earth. In the early stages of formation of the planet from cosmic gases, solar and gravitational effects probably resulted in accretion of some gases and the escape of others. The gases of the present atmosphere are not a direct residue of the earliest form of the planet; rather, they are the evolutionary products of volcanic eruptions, hot springs, chemical breakdown of solid matter, and contributions from the biosphere, including photosynthesis and human activities.

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TOPIC-I

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION & STRUCTURE


Air is a mechanical mixture of gases, not a chemical compound. Average compositions of dry air, shows that three gases-nitrogen, oxygen and argon-account for 99.9 per cent of the air by volume. Greenhouse gases play an important role in the thermodynamics of the atmosphere by trapping longwave terrestrial re-radiation, producing the greenhouse effect. 1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) released from the interior of the earth and produced by respiration of biota, soil processes, combustion and oceanic evaporation. Conversely, it is dissolved in the oceans and consumed by the process of plant photosynthesis. 2. Methane (CH4) is produced primarily through anaerobic (i.e. oxygen-deficient) processes by natural wetlands and rice paddies (together about 40 per cent of the total), as well as by enteric fermentation in animals, by termites, through coal and oil extraction, biomass burning, and from landfills. 3. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is produced by biological mechanisms in the oceans and soils, by industrial combustion, automobiles, aircraft, biomass burning, and as a result of the use of chemical fertilizers. It is destroyed by photochemical reactions in the stratosphere involving the production of nitrogen oxides. 4. Ozone (O3) is produced by the high-level breakup of oxygen molecules by solar ultraviolet radiation and destroyed by reactions involving nitrogen oxides and chlorine (CI), the latter generated by CFCs, volcanic eruptions and vegetation burning in the middle and upper stratosphere. 5. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs: chiefly CFCI3 and CF2CI2 are entirely anthropogenically produced by aerosol propellants, refrigerator coolants (e.g. Freon), cleansers and air conditioners, and were not present in the atmosphere until the 1930s. CFC molecules rise slowly into the stratosphere and then move pole ward, being decomposed by photochemical processes into chlorine after an estimated average lifetime of some 65-130 years. 6. Hydrogenated halocarbons (HFCs and HCFCs) are also entirely anthropogenic gases. They have increased sharply in the atmosphere over the last few decades, following their use as substitutes for CFCs. Trichloroethane (C2H3CI3), for example, which is used in dry-cleaning and degreasing agents, increased fourfold in the 1980s and has a seven-year residence time in the atmosphere. They generally have lifetime of a few years, but still have substantial greenhouse effects. Water vapor (H2O), primary greenhouse gas, is a vital atmospheric constituent. It averages about 1 per cent by volume but is very variable both in space and time, being involved in a complex global hydrological cycle. Variations with height The light gases (hydrogen and helium especially) might be expected to become more abundant in the upper atmosphere, but large-scale turbulent mixing of the atmosphere prevents such diffusive separation even at heights of many tens of kilometers above the surface. The height variations that do occur are related to the source-locations of the two major non-permanent gases water vapor and ozone. Since both absorb some solar and terrestrial radiation, the heat budget and vertical temperature structure of the atmosphere are considerably affected by the distribution of these two gases.

Water vapor comprises up to 4 per cent of the atmosphere by volume (about 3 per cent by weight) near the surface, but only 3-6 ppmv (parts per million by volume) above 10 to 12 km. It is supplied to the atmosphere by evaporation from surface water or by transpiration from plants and is transferred upwards by atmospheric turbulence. Ozone (O3) is concentrated mainly between 15 and 35 km. The upper layers of the atmosphere are irradiated by ultraviolet radiation from the sun that causes the break-up of oxygen molecules at altitudes above 30km (i.e. O2 =O+O). These separated atoms (O+O) may then combine individually with other oxygen molecules to create zone as illustrated by the simple photochemical scheme: O2+O+M = O3+M Chapman cycle The constant metamorphosis of oxygen to ozone and from ozone back to oxygen involves a very com-

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plex set of photochemical processes, which tend to maintain an approximate equilibrium above about 40 km. However, the zone-mixing ratio is at its maximum at about 35 km, whereas maximum ozone concentration occurs lower down, between 20 and 25 km in low latitudes and between 10 and 20 km in high latitudes. This is the result of some circulation mechanism transporting ozone downwards to levels where its destruction is less likely, allowing and accumulation of the gas to occur. Variations with latitude and season Variations of atmospheric composition with latitude and season are particularly important in the case of water vapor and ozone. Carbon dioxide (CO2). The major reservoirs of carbon are in limestone sediments and fossil fuels on land and in the worlds oceans. The atmosphere contains about 750 X 1012 kg of carbon (C), corresponding to a CO2 concentration of 358 ppm. The major fluxes of atmosphere carbon dioxide are a result of solution/dissolution in the ocean and photosynthesis/respiration and decomposition by biota. The average time for a CO2 molecule to be dissolved in the ocean or taken up by plants is about four years. Photosynthetic activity leading to primary production on land involves 50 X 1012 kg of carbon annually, representing 7 percent of atmospheric carbon; his accounts for the 10 ppm annual oscillation in CO2 observed in the northern hemisphere due to its extensive land biosphere. The oceans play a key role in the global carbon cycle. Photosynthesis by phytoplankton generates organic compounds of aqueous carbon dioxide. Eventually, some of the biogenic matter sinks into deeper water, where it undergoes decomposition and oxidation back into carbon dioxide. This process transfers carbon dioxide from the surface water and sequesters it in the ocean deep water. As a consequence, atmospheric concentrations of CO2 can be maintained at a lower level than otherwise. This mechanism is known as a biologic pump. Ocean biomass productivity is limited by the availability of nutrients and by light. Hence, unlike the land biosphere, increasing CO2 levels will not necessarily affect ocean productivity; inputs of fertilizers in river runoff may be a more significant factor. In the oceans, the carbon dioxide ultimately goes to produce carbonate of lime, partly in the form of shells and the skeletons of marine creatures. Ozone (O3) is distributed very unevenly with height and latitude as a result of the complex photochemistry involved in its production. Since the late 1970s, dramatic declines in springtime total ozone have been detected over high southern latitudes. The normal increase in stratospheric ozone associated with increasing solar radiation in spring apparently failed to develop. Observations in Antarctica show a decrease in total ozone in September-October from 320 Dobson units (10-3 cm at standard atmospheric tempera-

ture and pressure) in the 1960s to around 100 in the 1990s. The results from one specific location illustrates the presence of an ozone hole over the South Polar Region. There has been an increase in ozone in the lowest 10 km as a result of anthropogenic activities. THE LAYERING OF THE ATMOSPHERE The atmosphere can be divided conveniently into a number of rather well marked horizontal layers, mainly on the basis of temperature. Troposphere The zone where weather phenomena and atmospheric turbulence are most marked, and it contains 75 per cent of the total molecular or gaseous mass of the atmosphere, and virtually all the water vapor and aerosols. Throughout this layer, there is a general decrease of temperature with height at a mean rate of about 6.5 C/km. The decrease occurs because air is compressible and its density decreases with height, allowing rising air to expand and thereby cool. Additionally, the atmosphere is heated mainly by turbulent heat transfer from the surface, not by absorption of radiation. The troposphere is capped in most places by a temperature inversion level.

The inversion acts as a lid that effectively limits convection. This inversion level or weather ceiling is called the tropopause. Height of the tropopause at any point is correlated with sea level temperature and pressure, which are in turn related to the factors of latitude, seasonal and daily changes in surface pressure. There are marked variations in the altitude of the tropopause with latitude from about 16 km at the equator, where there is great heating and vertical convection turbulence, to only 8 km at the poles. Stratosphere Extends upwards from the tropopause to about 50 km. Stratosphere contains much of the total atmo-

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sphere ozone (a peak density at approximately 22 km), maximum temperatures associated with the absorption of the suns ultraviolet radiation by ozone occur at the stratopause, where temperature may exceed 0o C. The air density is much less here, so even limited absorption produces a large temperature increase. Mesosphere Above the stratopause, average temperatures decrease to a minimum of about-133C (140 K) or around 90 km. This layer is commonly termed the mesosphere. It is in this region that noctilucent clouds are observed over high latitudes in summer. Their presence appears to be due to meteoric dust particles, which act as ice crystal nuclei when traces of water vapor are carried upwards by high-level convection caused by the vertical decrease of temperature in the mesosphere. However, their formation is also thought to be related to the production of water vapor through the oxidation of atmospheric methane, since apparently they were not observed prior to the Industrial Revolution. Pressure is very low in the mesosphere, decreasing from about 1 mb at 50 km to 0.01 mb at 90 km. Thermosphere The lower portion of the thermosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen (N2) and oxygen in molecular (O2) and atomic (O) forms whereas above 200 km atomic oxygen predominates over nitrogen (N2 and N). Temperatures rise with height, owing to the absorption by extreme ultraviolet radiation by molecular and atomic oxygen, probably approaching 800-1,200 K at 350km, but these temperatures are essentially theoretical.

Above 100 km, the atmosphere is increasingly affected by cosmic radiation, solar X-rays and ultraviolet radiation, which cause ionization, or electrical charging, by separating negatively charged electrons from neutral oxygen atoms and nitrogen molecules, leaving the atom or molecule with a net positive charge (an ion). The Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis are produced by the penetration of ionizing particles through the atmosphere from about 300 km to 80 km, particularly in zones about 10-20 latitude from the earths magnetic poles. The term ionosphere is commonly applied to the layers above 88 km. Exosphere and magnetosphere The base of the exosphere is between about 500 km and 750 km. Here atoms of oxygen, hydrogen and helium (about 1 per cent of which are ionized) form the tenuous atmosphere, and the gas law ceases to be valid. Neutral helium and hydrogen atoms, which have low atomic weights, can escape into space since the chance of molecular collisions deflecting them downwards becomes less with increasing height. Hydrogen is replaced by the breakdown of water vapor, helium and methane (CH4) near the mesopause, while helium is produced by the action of cosmic radiation on nitrogen and from the slow steady breakdown of radioactive elements in the earths crust. Ionized particles increase in frequency through the exosphere and beyond about 200 km in the magnetosphere there are only electrons (negative) and protons (positive) derived from the solar wind plasma of electrically conducting gas.

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TOPIC-II

INSOLATION & TEMPERATURE


Sun is continually shedding part of its mass by radiating waves of electromagnetic energy and highenergy particles into space. This constant emission represents almost all the energy available to the earth (except for a small amount emanating from the radioactive decay of earth minerals). Solar energy, originating from nuclear reactions within the suns hot core is transmitted to the suns surface by radiation and hydrogen convection. Visible solar radiation (light) comes from a cool outer surface layer called the photosphere. The outflowing hot gases (plasma) from the sun, referred to as the solar wind interact with the earths magnetic field and upper atmosphere. The earth intercepts both the normal electromagnetic radiation and energetic particles emitted by the sun during solar flares. Total solar output to space, assuming a temperature of 5,760K (the sun is 3.84X1026 K), only a tiny fraction of this is intercepted by the earth, because the energy received is inversely proportional to the square of the solar distance (150 million km). The energy received at the top of the atmosphere on a surface perpendicular to the solar beam for mean solar distance termed is the solar constant. For solar radiation, 8 per cent is ultraviolet and shorter wavelength emission, 39 per cent visible light and 53 per cent near-infrared. The mean temperature of the earths surface is about 288 K (15 C) and of the atmosphere about 250 K (-23 C). Solar constant undergoes small periodic variations of about 0.1 per cent, related so sunspot activity. Sunspots are dark cooler areas visible on the suns surface. Their number and positions change in a regular manner, known as the sunspot cycles. These cycles have wavelengths averaging 11 years (varying in length between 8 and 13 years). Although sunspot areas are cool spots, they are surrounded by bright areas of activity known as faculae, which have higher temperatures; the net effect is for solar output to vary in parallel with the number of sunspot. Assuming that the earth behaves as a black body, a long-continued difference of 2 per cent in the solar constant could change the effective mean temperature of the earths surface by as much as 1.2 C. Energy transfer within the earth-atmosphere system Heat energy can be transferred by the three following mechanisms. 1. Radiation: Electromagnetic waves transfer energy (both heat and light) between two bodies, without the necessary aid of an intervening material medium. Radiation entering the atmosphere may be absorbed by atmospheric gases in certain wavelengths. Scattering occurs if the direction of a photon of radiation is changed by interaction with atmospheric gases and aerosols. Scattering of blue light is an order of magnitude greater than that of red light creating the daytime blue sky. However, when water droplets or aerosol particles, with similar sizes to the radiation wavelength are present, most of the light is scattered forward. This scattering gives the grayish appearance of polluted atmospheres.

Within a cloud, or between low clouds and a snow-covered surface, radiation undergoes multiple scattering. In the latter case, the white out conditions typical of Polar Regions in summer (and mid-latitude snowstorms) are experienced, when surface features and the horizon become indistinguishable. 2. Conduction: The heat passes through a substance from point to point by means of the transfer of adjacent molecular motions. Since air is a poor conductor, this type of heat transfer can be virtually neglected in the atmosphere, but it is important in the ground. 3. Convection Effect of the atmosphere Solar radiation is virtually all in the short-wavelength range, less than 4 um. About 18 per cent of the incoming energy is absorbed directly by ozone and water vapor. While radiation reaches the lower stratosphere, about 30 per cent is immediately reflected back into space from the atmosphere, clouds and the earths surface, leaving approximately 70 per cent to heat the earth and its atmosphere. Of this, the greater part eventually heats the atmosphere, but much of this heat is received secondhand by the atmosphere via the earths surface. The ultimate retention of this energy by the atmosphere is of prime importance, because if it did not occur, the average temperature of the earths surface would fall by some 40 C obviously making most life impossible. The surface absorbs almost half of the incoming energy available at the top of the atmosphere and reradiates it outwards as long (infrared) waves of greater than 3 um. Much of this reradiated long-wave energy can be absorbed by the water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere, the rest escaping through atmosphere windows back into outer space.

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Effect of cloud cover Clouds form a significant barrier to the penetration of radiation. The drop in surface temperature, often experienced on a sunny day when a cloud temporarily cuts off the direct solar radiation illustrates how much radiation is actually reflected depends on the amount of cloud cover and its thickness. The proportion of incident radiation that is reflected is termed as the albedo, or reflection coefficient (expressed as a fraction or percentage). Cloud type affects the albedo. The effect of cloud cover also operates in reverse, since it serves to retain much of the heat that would otherwise be lost from the earth by radiation throughout the day and night. This largely negative role of clouds means that their presence appreciably lessens the daily temperature range by preventing high maxima by day and low minima by night. As well as, interfering with the transmission of radiation, clouds act as temporary thermal reservoirs because they absorb a certain proportion of the energy they intercept. Effect of latitude More radiation is being received in summer than in winter because of the higher altitude of the sun and the longer days. Latitude is a very important control because this will determine both the duration of daylight and the distance traveled through the atmosphere by the oblique rays from the sun.

Feature of the latitudinal receipt of radiation is that the maximum temperatures experienced at the earths surface do not occur at the equator, but at the tropics. The apparent migration of the vertical sun is relatively rapid during its passage over the equator, but its rate slows down as it reaches the tropics. Between 6 N and 6 S the suns rays remain almost vertically overhead for only 30 days during each of the spring and autumn equinoxes. On the other hand, between 17.5 and 23.5 latitude the suns rays shine down almost vertically for 86 consecutive days during the period of the solstice. Also the tropics experience longer days than at the equator, makes the maximum zones of heating occur nearer the tropics than the equator. In the northern hemisphere, this poleward displacement of the zone of maximum heating is emphasized by the

effect of continentality, while low cloudiness associated with the subtropical high-pressure belts is an additional factor. The clear skies are particularly effective in allowing large annual receipts of solar radiation in these areas. Over the continents, the highest values occur at about 23 N and 10-15 S. In consequence, the mean annual thermal equator (i.e. the zone of maximum temperature) is located at about 5 N. Effect of land and sea Another important control on the effect of incoming solar radiation stems from the different ways in which land and sea are able to profit from it. Whereas water has a tendency to store the heat it receives; land, in contrast, quickly returns it to the atmosphere. A large proportion of the atmosphere solar radiation is reflected back into the atmosphere without heating the earths surface at all. The proportion depends upon the type of surface. A sea surface reflects very little unless the angle of incidence of the suns rays is large. Heat transmission in the soil is carried out almost wholly by conduction, and the degree of conductivity varies with the moisture content and porosity of each particular soil. Air is an extremely poor conductor and for this reason a loose, sandy soil surface heats up rapidly by day, as the heat is not conducted away. Increased soil moisture tends to raise the conductivity by filling the soil pores, but too much moisture increases the soils heat capacity, thereby reducing the temperature response. The different heating qualities of land and water are also partly accounted for by their different specific heats. The specific heat of a substance can be represented by the number of thermal units required to raise a unit mass of it through 1 C. The specific heat of water is much greater than for most other common substances, and water must absorb five times as much heat energy to raise its temperature by the same amount as a comparable mass of dry soil. In this way, the oceans act as a very effective reservoir for much of the worlds heat. Similarly, evaporation of seawater causes larger heat expenditure because a great amount of energy is needed to evaporate even a small quantity of water. The thermal role of the ocean is an important and complex one. The ocean has three thermal layers. 1. The seasonal boundary, or upper mixed, layer, lying above the thermocline. This is less than 100 m deep in the tropics but is hundreds of meters deep in the sub polar seas. It is subject to annual thermal mixing from the surface. 2. The warm water sphere or lower mixed layer. This underlies 1 and slowly exchanges heat with it down to many hundreds of meters. 3. The deep ocean. This contains some 80 per cent of the total oceanic water volume and exchanges heat with 1 in polar seas.

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This vertical thermal circulation allows global heat to be conserved in the oceans, thus damping down the global effects of climatic change produced by thermal forcing. Differences between land and sea help to produce what is termed continentality. Over the land, the lag between maximum and minimum periods of radiation and the maximum and minimum surface temperatures is only one month, but over the ocean and at coastal stations the lag is as much as two months. Second, the annual and diurnal ranges of temperature are greater in continental than in coastal locations. The third effect of continentality results from the global distribution of the landmasses. The small sea area of the northern hemisphere causes the northern hemisphere summer to be warmer but its winters colder on the average than those of the southern hemisphere. Heat storage in the oceans causes them to be warmer in winter and cooler in summer than land in the same latitude, although ocean currents give raise so some local departures from this rule. Effect of elevation and aspect Even differences in the elevation of the land and its aspect (that is the direction that the surface faces) strongly control the amount of solar radiation received. Some slopes are more exposed to the sun than others, whereas really high elevations that have a much smaller mass of air above them receive considerably more direct solar radiation under clear skies than locations near sea level, particularly below 2,000-3000 m due to the concentration of water vapor in the lower troposphere. The intensity of incident solar radiation increases by 5-15 per cent for each 1,000 m increase in elevation in the lower troposphere. There is also a correspondingly greater net loss of terrestrial radiation at higher elevations because the low density of the overlying air results in a smaller fraction of the outgoing radiation being absorbed.

radiation loss for north-facing slopes, as distinct from south-facing ones. Relief may also affect the quantity of insolation and the duration of direct sunlight when a mountain barrier screens the sun from valley floors and sides at certain times of day. In many Alpine valleys, settlement and cultivation are noticeably concentrated on southward facing slopes the (adret or sunny side), whereas northward slopes (ubac or shaded side) remain forested. Vertical temperature gradients are determined in part by energy transfers and in part by vertical motion of the air. The energy terms are the release of latent heat by condensation, radiational cooling of the air the sensible heat transfer from the ground. Horizontal temperature advection, by the motion of cold and warm air masses, may also be important. Vertical motion is dependent on the type of pressure system. High-pressure areas are generally associated with descent and warming of deep layers of air, hence decreasing the temperature gradient and frequently causing temperature inversions in the lower troposphere. In contrast, low-pressure systems are associated with rising air, which cools upon expansion and increases the vertical temperature gradient.

Increasing latitude causes a relatively greater

The winter lapse rate is greater than the summer one only in Mediterranean climates. In these regions, there is more likelihood of rising air associated with low-pressure areas in winter. The tropical and subtropical deserts have very steep lapse rates in summer, when there is considerable heat transfer from the surface and generally ascending motion. The opaqueness of the atmosphere to infrared radiation, relative to its transparency to short-wave radiation, is commonly referred to as the greenhouse effect. The total greenhouse effect results from the net infrared absorption capacity of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other traces of gases- methane (CH4) nitrous oxide (N2O) and troposheric ozone (O3) which absorb strongly at wavelengths within the atmosphere window region, in addition of their other absorbing bands. The net warming contribution of the natural nonanthropogenic greenhouse gases to the mean effective planetary temperature of 255 K (corresponding to the emitted infrared radiation) is approximately 33 K, of which water vapor accounts for 12 K, carbon dioxide 7 K, methane about 3 K. The present global mean sur-

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face temperature is 288K. THE RADIATION AND HEAT BUDGETS The global radiation budget has three major components: solar radiation incoming at the outer limits of

the atmosphere (Qs), the planetary albedo (a), and outgoing long-wave radiation from the earth to space (I). The basic form of the budget equation for the earth and its atmosphere is:

R = Qs (1 a) I Where R is the radiation balance (surplus or deficit) and (1 a) is the percentage of total insolation, which is absorbed by the earth and atmosphere. Of the total income (Qs), about 26 percent is reflected by clouds or scattered back to space by clouds, dust and gas molecules without heating the air; 4 percent is reflected to space from the earths surface. The ratio of the amount of radiation reflected to the amount received on a surface is termed the albedo. The earths mean albedo (known as the planetary albedo) is about 30 percent, although its value is greater in polar regions than at the equator, varying with the angle of incidence as well as the characteristics of the reflecting surfaces. The albedo of clouds varies widely with their thickness and composition. About 19 percent of insolation is absorbed in the atmosphere by gases, clouds, and suspended solids. Oxygen and ozone at high levels absorb most of the ultraviolet radiation to provide the main source of energy for circulation above 30 km. Water vapor, clouds, and dust are the principal absorbers of incoming longwave radiation in the troposphere. The earths surface absorbs 51 percent of insolation, either directly after diffuse scattering downward by clouds and the atmosphere. Thus, approximately 70 percent of total insolation is effective in heating the earth and its atmosphere. Surface Tropical forest Deciduous forest Coniferous forest Savanna Desert Grain crops Green grass Albedo (%) 21 18 13 5 28 10-25 8-27

Surface Dense cloud Thin cloud Oceans (60-70 lat) Inland waters Snow Wet sand Bare rock

Albedo (%) 70-80 25-50 7-23 2-78 40-90 30-35 12-18

The total amount of energy reaching the earth over a considerable period of time is equaled by total outward losses. It this was not so, the earth would soon become either very hot or very cold. Part of the solar radiation absorbed at the earths surface is transferred upward by long-wave radiation and as sensible heat by conduction and convection, but much of it reaches the atmosphere as latent heat when water is evaporated from land and water surfaces, especially from oceans. HORIZONTAL TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION On continental or world maps, mean temperatures are frequently reduced to sea-level equivalents by adding about 6C0 for each 1000 m of elevation. This adjustment essentially eliminates the effect of altitude on temperature and thus facilitates the mapping of horizontal temperature differences. The world pattern of temperature is determined by a number of factors. Effectiveness of insolation in heating the earths surface is largely determined by latitude. The general decrease in temperatures from the equator towards the poles is one of the most fundamental and best-known facts of climatology.

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Temperature Inversion
Vertical temperature distributions in the troposphere also can contribute to conditions of pollution. A temperature inversion occurs when the normal decrease of temperature with increasing altitude (normal lapse rate) reverses at any point form ground level up to several thousand meters. Thus, instead of being carried away, pollutants are trapped under the inversion layer. Inversions most often result from certain weather conditions, such as when the air near the ground is relatively cool on clear nights, or from topographic situations that can produce cold air drainage into valleys. In addition, the air above snowcovered surfaces or beneath subsiding air in a high-pressure system may cause a temperature inversion. As an example, in winter months in Midwestern and eastern North America, highpressure produces inversion conditions that trap air pollution. In the western United States, summer subtropical high-pressure systems also cause inversions that produce air stagnation.

where the land meets the sea. At the junction of land and sea there is a deviation in their uniformity because of the different treatment insolation receives at land and sea. The Isothermal lines, drawn to represent the surface distribution of temperature, posses the following characteristics: (1) The isothermal lines passing from the continents towards the oceans bend towards the equator during summer and turn towards the poles during winter. The local currents further modify these bends. Over the northern portions of the Atlantic and the Pacific, these lines bend towards the pole because of Gulf Stream and Kuro Shio while the cold Labrador Current bends them towards the equator. In southern hemisphere, due to the predominance of ocean, east-west trend is uniform.

The distribution of temperature on the surface of the earth depends on insolation, land and sea, seasonal changes, winds and currents and the nature of the land. For purposes of convenience, the mean temperatures are taken by as average of observations over a definite period of time. These temperatures are further reduced to sea level as if the observations had been taken or the places actually existed at sea level. Then, places having similar or nearly similar temperature conditions are joined by means of a line, which is known as Isotherm . These isothermal lines represent the surface distribution of temperature and like latitudes generally run from east to west. The only change or break in their east-west run comes

(2) Over land surfaces, where there are no varied landforms, the isothermal lines run parallel to the equator. (3) The hottest regions are the equatorial landmasses and the coldest regions are in the interior of North America and Asia. But in both the cases, they are not just at the centre but slightly towards the east. On the basis of surface distribution of temperature, the earth has been divided into three zones (1) Torrid zone, (2) Temperate zone and (3) Frigid zone. Torrid zone extends on both the sides of the equator and is bounded by the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Between 23 N and 66 N in the Northern Hemisphere or between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle and between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle lies the Temperate zone. The Arctic Circle forms the southern boundary of the Frigid zone in the Northern Hemisphere while the Antarctic Circle is the northern limit of the Frigid zone in the Southern Hemisphere. But now these zones are supposed to be bounded by Isothermal lines. 68 F mean annual Isotherm separates the Torrid zone from the Temperate zone. And the 50 F Isotherm for the hottest month forms the boundary line between the Temperate zone and the Frigid zone.

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HUMIDITY & MOISTURE


Atmospheric water vapor is responsible for the overriding percentage of total global energy lost into space by infrared radiation. Over 75 per cent of the energy input from the surface into the atmosphere comes from the liberation of latent heat by condensation and, principally, the production of rainfall. HUMIDITY The atmosphere moisture content, comprising water vapor and water droplets and ice crystals in clouds, is determined by local evaporation, air temperature and the horizontal atmosphere transport of moisture. Cloud water, on average, amounts to only 4 per cent of atmospheric moisture. The total mass of water in a given volume of air, i.e. the density of the water vapor, is one such measure. This is termed the absolute humidity (Pw) and is measured in grams per

cubic meter (g/m-3). Volumetric measurements are seldom used in meteorology and more convenient is the mass mixing ratio (x). This is the mass of water vapor in grams per kilogram of dry air. For most practical purposes, the specific humidity (q) is identical, being the mass of vapor per kilogram of air, including its moisture. More than 50 per cent of atmospheric moisture content is below 850 mb (approximately 1,450 m) and more than 90 per cent below 500 mb (5,575 m). Mean precipitable water generally decreases from the equator to the poles due to the direct relation between atmospheric moisture content and air temperature. There are especially low values over deserts, where there is strong air subsidence. The greatest seasonal variations occur in the 20-30 N, the location of the Asian and African monsoons.

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Another important measure is relative humidity (r), which expresses the actual moisture content of a sample of air as a percentage of that contained in the same volume of saturated air at the same temperature. The relative humidity is defined with reference to the mixing ratio. The relative humidity of a parcel of air will obviously change if either its temperature or its mixing ratio is changed. In general, the relative humidity varies inversely with temperature during the day, tending to be lower in the early afternoon and higher at night. Moisture transport The atmosphere transports moisture horizontally as well as vertically. Evaporation precipitation = net horizontal transport of moisture into the air column. A prominent feature is the equator ward transport into low latitudes and the poleward transport in middle latitudes. Atmospheric moisture is transported by the global westerly wind systems of middle latitudes towards higher latitudes and by the easterly trade wind systems towards the equatorial region. CONDENSATION Condensation takes place (1) when the tempera-

ture of the air is reduced but its volume remains constant and the air is cooled to dew point; (2) if the volume of the air is increased without addition of heat; this cooling occurs because adiabatic expansion causes energy to be consumed through work; (3) when a joint change of temperature and volume reduces the moisture-holding capacity of the air below its existing moisture content; or (4) by evaporation adding moisture to the air. Fog, or low stratus, with drizzle known as crachin which is common along the coats of south China and the Gulf of Tonkin in February April can develop as a result of either air-mass mixing or warm advection over a colder surface. The addition of moisture into the air near the surface by evaporation occurs when cold air moves out over a warm water surface. This can cause steam fog, which is common in arctic regions. Cold fogs can be dissipated locally by the use of dry ice (frozen CO2) or the release of propane gas through expansion nozzles to produce freezing and the subsequent fallout of ice crystals. The most effective cause of condensation is undoubtedly the dynamic process of adiabatic cooling.

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TOPIC-III

PRECIPITATION
Precipitation refers to all liquid and frozen forms of water. Rain- Falling water drops with a diameter of at least 0.5 mm are termed drizzle. Snow-Ice crystals falling in branched clusters as snowflakes. Wet snow has crystals and crevices. At low temperatures (-30 C), crystals may float in the air, forming diamond dust. Hail- Hard pellets, balls, or irregular lumps of ice, at least 5 mm across, formed of alternating shells of opaque and clear ice. Graupel Snow pellets opaque conical or rounded ice particles 2-5 mm in diameter formed by aggregation. Steel- A rain-snow mixture. Dew- Condensation droplets on the ground surface or grass, deposited when the airs dew-point temperature is reached. Hoar frost is the frozen form, when ice crystals are deposited on a surface. Rime- Clear crystalline or granular ice deposited when supercooled fog or cloud droplets encounter a vertical structure, trees, or suspended cable. The rime deposit grows into a triangular form related to the wind speed. It is common in cold, maritime climates and on mid-latitude mountains in winter. The world pattern of precipitation 1. The equatorial maximum, which is displaced into the northern hemisphere. This is related primarily to the converging trade wind systems and monsoon regimes of the summer hemisphere particularly in South Asia and West Africa. Annual totals over large areas are of the order of 200-250cm or more. tal interiors extends these dry conditions into middle latitudes. In addition to very low average annual totals, often less than 15 cm, these regions are subject to considerable year-to-year variability. 4. Low precipitation in high latitudes and in winter over the continental interiors of the northern hemisphere. This reflects the low vapor contents of the extremely cold air. Most of this precipitation occurs in solid form. ACID PRECIPITATION Acid precipitation includes both acid rain and snow (wet deposition) and dry deposition. The acidity of precipitation represents an excess of positive hydrogen ions [H+] in a water solution. Acidity is measured on the pH scale (1 log [H+]) ranging from 0 to 14, where 7 is neutral, i.e. the hydrogen cations are balanced by anions of sulphate, nitrate and chloride. Over the oceans, the main anions are Cl- and SO2/4from sea salt. Level of acidity in rainfall is about pH 4.8 to 5.6 because atmospheric CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Sulphate concentrations in rainwater in Europe increased over this 20-year period by 50 per cent in southern Europe and 100 per cent in Scandinavia. The emissions from coal and fuel oil in these regions have high sulphur contents. NOx emissions, by contrast, are primarily from automobiles and thus NO3- is mainly deposited locally. SO2 and NOx have atmospheric residence time of 1-3 days. SO2 is not readily dissolved in cloud or raindrops unless oxidized by OH or H2O2 but dry deposition is quite rapid. In areas subject to frequent fog, or hill cloud, acidity may be greater than with rainfall. This is a result of several factors. Small fog or cloud droplets have a large surface area, higher levels of pollutants provided more time for aqueous-phase chemical reactions, and the pollutants may act as nuclei for fog droplet condensation. The impact of acid precipitation depends on the vegetation cover, soil and bedrock type. Neutralization may occur by addition of cations in the vegetation canopy or on the surface rocks (Ca, Mg cations); otherwise the increased acidity augments normal leaching of bases from the soil. FORMATION OF PRECIPITATION The two current theories that attempt to explain the rapid growth of raindrops involve the growth of ice crystals at the expense of water drops, and the coalescence of small water droplets by the sweeping action of falling drops. 1. Bergeron Findeisen theory It is based on the fact that at subzero temperatures, the atmospheric vapor pressure decreases more

2. The west coast maxima of middle latitudes associated with the belt of traveling disturbances in the westerlies. The precipitation in these areas has a very high degree of reliability. 3. The dry areas of the subtropical high-pressure cells, which include not only many of the worlds major deserts but also vast oceanic expanses. In the northern hemisphere, the remoteness of the continen-

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rapidly over an ice surface than over water. This results in the saturated vapor pressure over water becoming greater than that over ice, especially between temperatures of -5 and -15 C, where the difference ex-

ceeds 0.2 mb. If ice crystals and super-cooled water droplets exist together in a cloud, the latter tend to evaporate and direct deposition takes place from the vapor on to the ice crystals.

Freezing nuclei are necessary before ice particles can form usually at very low temperatures (about 15 to -25 C). Small water droplets can, in fact, be super cooled in pure air to -40 C before spontaneous freezing occurs, but ice crystals generally predominate in clouds where temperatures are below about -22 C. Freezing nuclei are far less numerous than condensation nuclei. However, some become active at higher temperatures. Kaolinite, a common clay mineral, initially becomes active at -9 C and on subsequent occasions at -4 C. Common biogenic aerosols emitted by decaying

plant litter, in the form of complex chemical compounds, also serve as freezing nuclei. In the presence of certain associated bacteria, ice nucleation can take place at only 2 to -5 C. Tiny ice crystals grow readily by deposition from vapor, with different hexagonal forms of crystal developing at different temperature ranges. The number of ice crystals also tends to increase progressively because small splinters become detached by air currents during growth and act as fresh nuclei. The freezing of super cooled water drops may also produce ice splinters.

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Ice crystals readily aggregate upon collision, due to their branched (dendritic) shape, and tens of crystals may form a single snowflake. Temperatures between about 0 and -5 C are particularly favorable to aggregation, because fine films of water on the crystals surfaces freeze when two crystals touch, binding them together. When the fall speed of the growing ice mass exceeds the existing velocities of the air upcurrents, the snowflake falls, melting into a raindrop if it falls about 250 m below the freezing level. This theory can account for most precipitation in middle and higher latitudes, yet it is not completely satisfactory. Cumulus clouds over tropical oceans can give rain when they are only some 2,000 m deep and the cloud-top temperature is 5 C or more. In middle latitudes in summer, precipitation may fall forming cumuli that have no subfreezing layer (warm clouds). A suggested mechanism in such cases is that of droplet coalescence. Practical rainmaking has been based on the Bergeron theory. This basis of super-cooled (water) clouds between -5 and -15 C are seeded with especially effective materials, such as silver iodide or dry ice (CO2) from aircraft or ground-based silver iodide generators, promoting the growth of ice crystals and encouraging precipitation. 2. Coalescence theories It was originally thought that atmospheric turbulence by making cloud particles collide would cause a significant proportion to coalesce. However, particles just as easily break up if subjected to collisions. Longmuir offered a variation of this simple collision theory by pointing out that falling drops have terminal velocities directly related to their diameters, such that the larger drops might overtake and absorb small droplets and that the latter might also be swept into the wake of the former and be absorbed by them. The initial presence of a few very large cloud droplets calls for the availability of giant nuclei (e.g. salt particles) if the cloud top does not reach above the freezing level. Maritime clouds do have relatively few large condensation nuclei and high liquid water. Hence, rapid onset of showers is feasible by the coalescence mechanism in maritime clouds. Alternatively, if a few ice crystals are present at higher levels in the cloud they may eventually fall through the cloud as drops and the coalescence mechanism comes into action. Turbulence, especially in cumuliform clouds serves to encourage collisions in the early stages. Thus, the coalescence process allows a more rapid growth than simple condensation can provide and is in fact, common in warm clouds in tropical maritime air masses, even in temperate latitudes. PRECIPITATION TYPES Three main types of precipitation convective, cyclonic and orographic are there according to the primary mode of uplift of the air. 1. Convective type precipitation This is associated with towering cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. Three subcategories can be dis-

tinguished according to their degree of spatial organization. 1. Scattered convective cells develop through strong heating of the land surface in summer, especially when low upper tropospheric temperatures facilitate the release of conditional or convective instability. Precipitation, often including hail, is of the thunderstorm type, although thunder and lightning do not necessarily occur. Individual heavy downpours, last for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2. Showers of rain, snow of soft hail pellets may form in cold, moist unstable air passing over a warmer surface. Convective cells moving with the wind can produce a streaky distribution of precipitation parallel to the wind direction. Few locations in which these cells may occur are parallel to a surface cold front in the warm sector of a depression (sometimes as a squall line) or parallel to and ahead of the warm front, where precipitation is widespread. 3. In tropical cyclones, cumulonimbus cells become organized about the centre in spiraling bands. Particularly in the decaying stages of such cyclones, typically over land, the rainfall can be very heavy and prolonged affecting areas thousands of square kilometers. 2. Cyclonic type precipitation Essential mechanism is ascent of air through horizontal convergence of airstreams in an area of low pressure. In extra-tropical depressions, this is reinforced by uplift of warm, less dense air along an air-mass boundary. Such depressions give moderate and generally continuous precipitation over very extensive areas as they move, usually eastward, in the westerly wind belts between about 40 and 65 latitude.

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Polar low combine effects of air stream convergence and convective activity, whereas troughs in the equatorial low-pressure area give convective precipitation as a result of air stream convergence in the tropical easterlies. 3. Orographic precipitation Orography, dependent on the alignment and size of the barrier, may cause (1) forced ascent on a smooth mountain slope, producing adiabatic cooling, condensation and precipitation; (2) triggering of conditional or convective instability; (3) triggering of convection by diurnal heating of slopes and upslope winds; (4) precipitation from low-level cloud over

the mountains through seeding of ice crystals or droplets from an upper-level feeder cloud (5) increased frontal precipitation by retarding the movement of cyclonic systems and fronts. West coast mountains with onshore flow, such as the Western Ghats, India, during the south-west summer monsoon; the west coasts of Canada, Washington and Oregon; or coastal Norway, in winter months supposedly illustrate smooth forced ascent. In view of the complexity of processes involved, Tor Bergeron proposed using the term orogenic rather than orographic, precipitation, i.e. an origin related to various orographically produced effects.

Two special cases of orographic effects may be mentioned. One is the general influence of surface friction, which by turbulent uplift may assist the formation of stratus or stratocumulus layers when other conditions

are suitable. Only light precipitation (drizzle, light rain or snow grains) is to be expected under these circumstances. The other case arises through frictional slowing down of an air stream moving inland over the coast.

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TOPIC-IV

ATMOSPHERIC INSTABILITY
The displacement of an air parcel to an environment of lower pressure (without heat exchange with surrounding air) causes an increase in its volume and a consequent lowering of its temperature. A volume increase involves work and the consumption of energy, thus reducing the heat available per unit volume and hence the temperature. Such a temperature change, involving no subtraction or addition of heat, is termed adiabatic. Vertical displacements of air are obviously a major cause of adiabatic temperature changes. When a parcel of air moves vertically, the changes that take place often follow an adiabatic pattern because air is fundamentally a poor thermal conductor and the air parcel as a whole tends to retain its own thermal identity, which distinguishes it from the surrounding air masses.

The rate at which temperature decreases in a rising, expanding air parcel is called the adiabatic lapse rate. If the upward movement of air does not produce condensation, then the energy expended by expansion will cause the temperature of the mass to fall at what is called the dry adiabatic lapse rate or DALR (9.8C/ km). However, prolonged reduction of the temperature invariably produces condensation, and when this happens, latent heat is liberated, counteracting the dry adiabatic temperature decrease to a certain extent. It is therefore a distinguishing feature of rising and saturated (or precipitating) air that it cools at a slower rate (i.e. the saturated adiabatic lapse rate or SALR) than air that is unsaturated. Another difference between the dry and saturated adiabatic rates is that whereas the former remains constant the latter varies with temperature. This is because air masses at higher temperatures are able to hold more moisture and on condensation therefore release a greater quantity of latent heat. For high temperatures, the saturated adiabatic lapse rate may be as low as 4 C/km, but this rate increases with decreasing temperatures, approaching 9 C/km at 40 C. In all, three different lapse rates can be differentiated, two dynamic and one static. There is the environmental (or static) rate, which is the actual temperature decrease with height on any occasion. This is not

an adiabatic rate, therefore, and may assume any form depending on local air temperature conditions. There are also the dynamic adiabatic dry and saturated lapse rates (or cooling rates), which apply to rising parcels of air moving through their environment. Close to the surface, the vertical temperature gradient some-times greatly exceed the dry adiabatic lapse rate, that is, it is super adiabatic. This is particularly common in arid areas in summer.

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The changing properties of moving air parcels can be conveniently expressed by plotting them as path curves. One such adiabatic diagram in common use is the tephigram. This displays five sets of lines representing properties of the atmosphere. 1. Isotherms i.e. lines of constant temperature (parallel lines from bottom left to top right). 2. Dry adiabats (parallel lines from bottom right to top left). 3. Isobars i.e. lines of constant pressure (slightly curved nearly horizontal lines). 4. Saturated adiabats (curved lines sloping up from right to left). 5. Saturation mixing ratio lines (those at a slight angle to the isotherms). AIR STABILITY AND INSTABILITY The important characteristic of stable air is that if it is forced up or down, it has a tendency to return to its former position once the motivating

force ceases. At any level, the rising parcel is cooler and denser than its surroundings and therefore tends to revert to its former level. Similarly, if the air is forced downwards it will gain temperature at the dry adiabatic rate. Similarly, if an air parcel is impelled downwards under these same conditions from a higher level, it will become colder than its surrounding and there will be no check on its downward progress until it reaches the surface. The characteristic of unstable air is a tendency to continue moving away from its original level when set in motion. A further possibility is if the air is stable in the lower layers, but if the air is forced to rise, for example by passage over a mountain range, or by local surface heating until the air being warmer than its surroundings, is free to rise. This is termed conditional instability, as the development of instability is dependent on the air mass becoming saturated.

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TOPIC-V

CLOUDS
Clouds are visible aggregates of water droplets, ice particles, or a mixture of both along with varying amounts of dust particles. A typical cloud contains billions of droplets having diameters on the order of 0.01 to 0.02 mm; yet liquid or solid water accounts for less than 10 parts per million of the cloud volume. Most clouds result from cooling due to lifting of air. Those associated with strong rising air currents have vertical development and a puffy appearance, whereas those produced by gentler lifting or other methods of cooling tend to form in layers. Although their method of formation may affect their appearance, clouds are classified primarily on the basis of their height, shape, color, and transmission or reflection of light. High clouds are cirrus types, always composed of ice crystals, which are nearly transparent white and fibrous or silky. Cirrocumulus clouds are a cirriform layer or patch of small white flakes or tiny globules arranged in distinct groups or lines. They may have the appearance of ripples similar to sand on a beach. Cirrostratus is a thin white veil of cirrus. It is nearly transparent so that the sun, moon, and brighter stars show through distinctly. Cirrus clouds frequently can be detected by the halos which they create around the sun or moon and can thus be distinguished from haze or light fog. Halos result from the refraction of light by ice crystals suspended in the air.

The middle clouds predominate at height ranging from 2 to 8 km above ground level. They are composed of water droplets, ice crystals, or mixtures of both. The principal types are altocumulus and altostratus. Altocumulus contains layers or patches of globular clouds, usually arranged in fairly regular patterns of lines, groups, or waves. Vertical air currents in the layers occupied by altocumulus may cause the clouds to build upward. Isolated altocumulus may form in the wave of an air stream as it rises over a mountain or a convective column, provided the rise is sufficient to cool the air below its dew point. The banner clouds above peaks (or above local chimneys of convection) are of this type. Because of their lens shape they are named altocumulus lenticularis. Altostratus is a fibrous veil, gray or blue-gray, and thicker than the higher cirrostratus, although it may merge gradually into the latter. It ordinarily does not exhibit halo phenomena, but another optical effect, the corona, sometimes appears as a smaller circle of light around the sun or moon

in the both altostratus and altocumulus. The corona results form the diffraction of light by water droplets, and its diameter is inversely proportional to the size the cloud droplets. It is common for altostratus to change into altocumulus and vice versa. Precipitation may fall from altostratus, or altocumulus, but it does not necessarily reach the ground. When the cloud layer lowers to become somewhat thicker and darker and falling rain or snow obscures its base, it is called nimbostratus. The base level of low clouds varies from very near the ground to about 2,000 m. The basic type of this family is the stratus, a low, uniform layer resembling fog but not resting on the ground. Stratus is frequently formed by the lifting of a fog bank or by the dissipation of its lower layer. If broken into fragments by the wind, it is called fractostratus. When associated with nimbostratus, stratus sometimes builds downward as well. Rain falling from the upper cloud layer may evaporate on falling through dry air and then recon

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dense in lower saturated layers to form stratus. Precipitation from stratus, if it occurs, is usually light. Stratocumulus clouds form a low, gray layer composed of globular masses or rolls which are usually arranged in groups, lines or waves. Altocumulus clouds have the same general characteristics. Clouds with vertical development fall into two principle categories; cumulus and cumulonimbus. Cumulus clouds are dense, dome-shaped, and have flat bases. Cumulus with little vertical development and a slightly flattened appearance are commonly associated

with fair weather. Cumulonimbus clouds exhibit great vertical development, towering at times to 18 km more, where they spread out to leeward and form an anvil of cirrus. These are the thunderhead clouds that produce heavy showers of rain, snow, or hail. Often accompanied cloud may cover the whole sky and have the appearance of nimbostratus. In this case, its true nature is revealed by the much heavier precipitation that falls from the cumulonimbus or by the preceding evolution of the cloud cover.

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TOPIC-VI

ATMOSPHERIC MOTION & WINDS


The atmosphere is in constant motion. The downward-acting gravitational field of the earth sets up the observed decrease of pressure away from the earths surface that is represented in the vertical distribution of atmospheric mass. This mutual balance between the force of gravity and the vertical pressure gradient is referred to as hydrostatic equilibrium. This state of balance, together with the general stability of the atmosphere and its shallow depth, greatly limits vertical air motion. There are four controls on the horizontal movement of air near the earths surface: the pressure-gradient force, the Coriolis force, centripetal acceleration and frictional forces. 1. The pressure-gradient force Horizontal differences in pressure can be due to thermal or mechanical causes and these differences control the horizontal movement of an air mass. In effect, the pressure gradient serves as the motivating force that causes the movement or air away from areas of high pressure and towards areas where it is lower. The pressure gradient force is inversely proportional to air density and this relationship is of particular importance in understanding the behavior of upper winds. 2. The earths rotational deflective (Coriolis) force The Coriolis force arises from the fact that the movement of masses over the earths surface is usually referred to a moving co-ordinate system (i.e. the latitude and longitude grid, which rotates with the earth). There is apparent deflection of moving objects to the right of their line of motion in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere, as viewed by observers on the earth. The magnitude of the deflection is directly proportional to: (1) the horizontal velocity of the air. (2)The sine of the latitude (sin0 = 0; sin 90 = 1).The Coriolis force always acts at right angles to the direction of the air motion, to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. The geostrophic wind Observations in the free atmosphere (above the level affected by surface friction at about 500 to 1,000m) show that the wind blows more or less at right angles to the pressure gradient (i.e. parallel to the isobars). This implies that for steady motion the pressuregradient force is exactly balanced by the Coriolis deflection acting in the diametrically opposite direction. The velocity is inversely dependent on latitude. Except in low latitudes, where the Coriolis deflection approaches zero, the geostrophic wind is a close approximation to the observed air motion in the free atmosphere. 3. The centripetal acceleration For a body to follow a curved path there must be an inward acceleration towards the centre of rotation. This is expressed by: C = -mV2 r Where m = the moving mass, V= its velocity and r = the radius of curvature. This factor is sometimes regarded as a centrifugal force operating radially outwards. In the case of the earth itself, this is valid. The centrifugal effect due to rotation has in fact resulted in a slight bulging of the earths mass in low latitudes and a flattening near the poles. In a low-pressure system, balanced flow is maintained in a curved path (referred to as the gradient wind) by the Coriolis force being weaker than the pressure force. The difference between the two gives the net centripetal acceleration inwards. In the high-pressure case, the inward acceleration is provided by the Coriolis force exceeding the pressure force. The magnitude of the centripetal acceleration is generally small, but it becomes important where highvelocity winds are moving in much curved paths (i.e. around an intense low-pressure system). Two cases are of meteorological significance: first, in intense cyclones near the equator, where the Coriolis force in negligible, and, second, in a narrow vortex such as a tornado. Under these conditions, when the large pressure-gradient force provides the necessary centripetal acceleration for balanced flow parallel to the isobars, the motion is called cyclostrophic.

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4. Frictional forces and the planetary boundary layer Below about 500 m for flat terrain, friction begins to reduce the wind velocity below its geostrophic value. This layer of frictional influence is known as the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Its depth varies over land from a few hundred metres at night, when the air is stable as a result of nocturnal surface cooling, to 1 2 km during afternoon convective conditions. Over the oceans, it is more consistently near 1 km deep and in the tropics especially is often capped by an inversion due to sinking air. For theoretical convenience, it is often treated as being neutrally stable. Under this ideal state, the wind turns clockwise (veers) with increased height above the surface, setting up a wind spiral. This spiral profile was first demonstrated in the turning of ocean currents with depth by V.W. Ekman; both are referred to as Ekman spirals . The slowing of the wind towards the surface modifies the deflective force, which is dependent on velocity causing it also to decrease. At low levels the wind consequently blows obliquely across the isobars in the direction of the pressure gradient. The angle of obliqueness increases with the growing effect of frictional drag due to the earths surface averaging about 10 20 at the surface over the towards the low-pressure centre generates upward motion at the top of the PBL, known as Ekman pumping. Wind velocity decreases exponentially close to the earths surface due to the frictional effects of the surface. In summary, the surface wind (neglecting any curvature effects) represents a balance between the pressure-gradient force and the Coriolis force perpendicular to the air motion and friction parallel to the air motion. THE GLOBAL WIND BELTS 1. The trade winds The trades (or tropical easterlies) are important winds that blow over nearly half the globe. They originate at low latitudes on the margins of the subtropical high-pressure cells, and their constancy of direction and speed is remarkable. Trade winds, like the westerlies, are strongest during the winter half-year, which suggests that they are both controlled by the same fundamental mechanism. The two trade wind systems tend to coverage in the Equatorial Trough. Over the oceans, particularly the central Pacific, the convergence of these air streams is often pronounced and in this sector the term Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is applicable. Equatorward of the main belts of the trades over the eastern Pacific and eastern Atlantic are regions of light, variable winds, known traditionally as the doldrums. Their seasonal extent varies considerably: from July to September they spread westward into the central Pacific, while in the Atlantic they extend to the coast of Brazil. A third major doldrums zone is located in

the Indian Oceans and western Pacific. 2. The equatorial westerlies In the summer hemisphere and over continental areas especially, there is a zone of general westerly winds intervening between the two trade wind belts. This westerly system is well marked over Africa and South Asia in the northern hemisphere summer, when thermal heating over the continents assists the northward displacement of the Equatorial Trough. Over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the ITCZ does not shift sufficiently far from the equator to permit the development of this westerly wind belt. 3. The mid-latitude (Ferrel) westerlies These are the winds of the mid-latitudes emanating from the poleward sides of the subtropical highpressure cell. They are far more variable than the trades in both direction and intensity, for in these regions the path of air movement is frequently affected by cells of low and high pressure, which travel generally eastwards with in the basic flow. Also, in the northern hemisphere, the preponderance of land areas with their irregular relief and changing seasonal pressure patterns tend to obscure the generally westerly airflow. The westerlies of the southern hemisphere are stronger and more constant in direction than those of the northern hemisphere because the broad expanses of ocean rule out the development of stationary pressure systems. 4. The polar easterlies Occur between a polar high pressure and the belt of low pressure of the higher mid-latitudes. Easterly winds occur mainly on the poleward sides of depressions over the North Atlantic and North Pacific, and if average wind directions are calculated for entire latitude belts in high latitudes there is found to be little sign of a coherent system of polar easterlies. Mechanisms maintaining the general circulation of the atmosphere the large-scale patterns of wind and pressure that persist throughout the year or recur seasonally. Energy is continually undergoing changes of form. Unequal heating of the earth and its atmosphere by solar radiation generates potential energy, some of which is converted into kinetic energy by the rising of warm air and the sinking of cold air. Ultimately, the kinetic energy of atmospheric motion on all scales is dissipated by friction. In order to maintain the general circulation, the rate of generation of kinetic energy must obviously balance its rate of dissipation. A second controlling factor is the angular momentum of the earth and its atmosphere. This is the tendency for the earths atmosphere to move, with the earths atmosphere to move, with the earth, around the axis of rotation. Angular momentum is proportional to the rate of spin (that is the angular velocity) and the square of the distance of the air parcel from the axis of rotation. With a uniformly rotating earth and atmosphere,

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the total angular momentum must remain constant (in other words, there is a conservation of angular momentum). If, therefore, a large mass of air changes its position on the earths surface such that its distance from the axis of rotation also changes, then its angular velocity must change in a manner so as to allow the angular momentum to remain constant. Naturally, absolute angular momentum is high at the equator and decreases with latitude to become zero at the poles (that is, the axis of rotation), so air moving polewards tends to acquire progressively higher eastward velocity. LOCAL WINDS Local controls over air movement: Diurnal tendencies are superimposed upon both the large-and the small-scale patterns of wind velocity. In normal conditions, there is a general tendency for wind velocities to be least about dawn, at which time there is little vertical thermal mixing and the lower air does not therefore partake of the velocity of the more freely moving upper air. Conversely, velocities of some local winds are greatest between 1300 and 1400 hours, because this is the time when the air suffers its greatest tendency to move vertically due to terrestrial heating. 1. Mountain and valley winds Terrain irregularities give to their own special meteorological conditions. On warm sunny days, the heated air in a valley is laterally constricted, compared with that over an equivalent area of lowland, and so tends to expand vertically. The volume ratio of lowland: valley air is typically about 2 or 3:1 and this difference in heating sets up a density and pressure differential, which causes air to flow from the lowland up the axis of the valley. This valley wind is generally very light and requires a weak regional pressure gradient in order to develop. This flow along the main anabatic (upslope) winds, which result from greater heating of the valley sides, compared with the valley floor. These slope winds rise above the ridges lines and feed an upper return current along the line of the valley to compensate for the valley wind. At night, there is a reverse process as the denser cold air at higher elevations drains into depressions and valley; this is known as a katabatic wind. 2. Winds due to topographic barriers Mountain ranges have important effects on the air-flow across them. The displacement of air upwards over the obstacle may trigger instability if the air is conditionally unstable and buoyant, whereas stable air returns to its original level in the lee of the barrier as the gravitational effect counteracts the initial displacement. This descent often forms the first of a series of lee waves (or standing waves) down wing. The wave form remains more or less stationary relative to the barrier, with the air moving quite rapidly through it. Below the crest of the waves, there may be circular air motion in a vertical plane, which is termed a rotor. The development of lee waves is commonly disclosed by the presence of lenticular clouds.

Winds on mountain summits are usually strong, at least in middle and higher latitudes. Airflow over a mountain range causes the air to be constricted and thus accelerated particularly at and near the crest line (the Venturi effect), but friction with the ground also retards the flow, compared with free air at the same level. The net result is predominantly one of retardation, but the outcome depends on the topography, wind direction and stability. Knowledge of such local variability is critical in the siting of wind-energy systems. A wind of local importance in mountain areas is the fohn, or Chinook. It is a strong, gusty, dry and warm wind that develops on the lee side of a mountain range when stable air is forced to flow over the barrier by the regional pressure gradient. Sometimes, there is a loss of moisture by precipitation on the windward side of the mountains and the air, having cooled at the saturated adiabatic lapse rate above the condensation level, subsequently warms at the greater dry adiabatic lapse rate as it descends on the lee side, with a consequent lowering of both the relative and the absolute humidity. The fohn effect is the result of the blocking of air to windward of the mountains by a summit level temperature inversion. This forces air from higher levels to descend and warm adiabatically. Fohn winds are common along the northern flanks of the Alps and the mountains of the Caucasus and Central Asia in winter and spring, when the accompanying rapid temperature rise may help to trigger avalanches on the snow-covered slopes. At Tashkent, in Central Asia, the mean winter temperatures may rise to more than 20 C during a fohn. In the same way, the Chinook is a significant feature at the eastern foot of the New Zealand Alps, the Andes in Argentina and the Rocky Mountains. The importance of fohn winds lies mainly in the dispersal of cloud by the subsiding dry air rain shadow effects.

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In some parts of the world, winds descending on the lee slope of a mountain range are cold. The type example of such fall winds is the bora of the northern Adriatic, although similar winds occur on the northern Black Sea coast, in northern Scandinavia in Novaya Zemlya and in Japan. These winds occur when cold continental air masses are forced across a mountain range by the pressure gradient and, despite adiabatic

warming, displace warmer air. They are therefore primarily a winter phenomenon. Locally, at the foot of the mountains, such winds may attain hurricane force, with gusts. A few downslope storms of this type have caused millions of dollars of property damage in Boulder, Colorado, and the immediate vicinity. These windstorms develop when a stable layer close to the mountain-crest level prevents airflow to windward form crossing over the mountains. 3. Land and sea breezes Typical land-sea pressure differences are of the order of 2 mb. At night, the air over the sea is warmer and the situation is reversed, although this reversal is also the effect of downslope winds blowing off the land. These local winds can have a decisive effect on coastal temperature and humidity. The advancing cool sea air may from a distinct line (or front) marked by cumulus clouds development, behind which there is a distinct wind velocity maximum. This often develops in summer, for example, along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The sea breeze has a depth of about 1 km, although it thins towards the advancing edge, and may penetrate 50 km or more inland by 2100 hours. Typical wind speeds in such sea breezes are 4-7 m/s. In middle latitudes the Coriolis deflection causes turning of a well-developed onshore sea breeze (clockwise in the northern hemisphere) so that eventually it may below more or less parallel to the shore. Analogous lake breeze systems develop adjacent to large inland water bodies such as the Great Lakes.

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TOPIC-VII

PRESSURES BELTS
That there are seven alternating belts of low and high pressure on the earths surface. Equatorial trough of low pressure- The equatorial trough of low pressure is located in the vicinity of the geographical equator between latitudes 5 N and 5 S. This is the mean position of this pressure belt. The average pressure in this belt is less than 1013 millibars throughout, but in the eastern hemisphere it is generally less than 1009 millibars. Since the maximum insulation in available in the equatorial region, the earths surface is intensely heated during the day so that the lowermost layers of air get warmed. The heated air expands, becomes lighter, and rises upward. Thus, convectional currents are set up in the atmosphere throughout the year. Equatorial trough of low pressure is the zone of convergence of trade winds blowing equator wards from the sub-tropical belts of high pressure in the northern and southern hemisphere. Within this belt the winds are light and variable with frequent calms. That is why this belt is called the doldrums. The equatorial trough of low pressure is as it is, tied with the sun. Therefore, it shifts towards the north and south of equator with the apparent movement of the sun. In this belt the temperature is high throughout the year, so the air pressure is always low. Thus, the equatorial low pressure belt is thermally produced. Here, the pressure is more uniform than that in other parts of the world.

Sub-tropical high pressure belt- The areas of sub-tropical high pressure are located between latitudes 25 and 35 N and S. The most important feature of this pressure belt is that it is broken into a number of high pressure centers or cells. These high pressure cells or centers of action are the key points in the distributional pattern of air pressure over the globe. Subtropical high pressure cells are dynamically produced due to the rotation of earth. The subtropical highs are areas of sinking and setting air from higher altitudes which tend to build up atmospheric pressure. In the upper atmosphere, over this belt the upper level westerlies and

anti-trades converge and set up descending currents in the atmosphere. Because of the subsidence of air in these areas, the weather for most part of the year remains fair and dry. Subsidence also causes an increase in the temperature of surface air. All the hot deserts of the world lie in this belt, and are located on the western margins of the continents. These high-pressure zones are called the horselatitudes. The cells of high pressure persist throughout the year over the large ocean basin where there is a slight seasonal change in their position. There are

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marked variations in their intensity and size. In the southern hemisphere, there is an almost continuous belt of high pressure, because the high pressure cells spread to adjacent continental areas during the winter season. The subsiding air currents produce stability in the atmosphere and also create dry air masses. Rainfall is extremely limited in areas under the influence of high pressure cell. Another characteristic feature of subtropical highs is that they extend to about 9,600 meters above the mean sea-level. As regards the origin of subtropical high-pressure cells on the poleward margin of the tropical regions; the classical theories ascribe their origin to the piling up of poleward moving air in the so-called antitrades which, when at about latitude 20 degrees, are deflected into the westerlies. Convergence at higher levels results in downward movement of air and high pressure near the earths surface. There is another dynamic theory according to which polar masses are the main cause of subtropical highs. Anticyclones near the Polar Front have a tendency to move equator wards, while cyclones usually move pole wards. These moving cold anticyclones are said to regenerate the subtropical highs occasionally. Thus both the dynamic and the thermal factors are responsible for the origin of subtropical highs, each

reinforcing the other. Subpolar low pressure belts- In the southern hemisphere there is an uninterrupted belt of low pressure between latitudes 60 and 70 where there is a vast expanse of the oceans. The continuity of subpolar low pressure belt in the northern hemisphere is broken. However, there are well-defined low pressure cells over the northern oceans. E.g. in the vicinity of Aleutian Islands in the Pacific Ocean and between Greenland and Iceland in the Atlantic. During the winter season, there is a great contrast between the temperatures of the continents and adjacent oceans. This helps in reinforcing the Aleutian Low and the Icelandic Low. Polar highs- Pressure at the poles are consistently high throughout the year. In the northern hemisphere the high pressure area is not centered at the pole, but it is believed to extend from northern Greenland, westward across the islands situated in northern part of Canada. As regards the origin of the cap of high pressure at the Poles, thermal factor seems to be more important than the dynamic factor. Although because of the diurnal rotation of the earth, the layers of air at the poles are thinned out, the persistent low temperature makes the polar air cold and heavy. This gives rise to the caps of high pressure in polar regions.

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TOPIC-VIII

GENERAL ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION


The net effect of the differential heating of the earth by insolation is to produce density difference that set the atmosphere in three-dimensional motion. Much of the energy for maintaining the global circulation comes form the tropical oceans, where evaporation transfers large amounts of latent heat to the air. Although the influence of latitude upon heating might be expected to create a simple circulation between tropical and polar areas, the effect of the earths rotation diverts the wind into gigantic whirling systems, or vortices, that are aligned more or less in latitudinal belts. The resulting zonal flow patterns have prevailing winds with strong easterly or westerly components and comprise the basic motion system of the general circulation. If, for the time being, we neglect the influences resulting from differences in heat and moisture exchange over land and water surfaces, we find a hypothetical arrangement of surface wind and pressure belts. In the vicinity of the equator, where pressures are low, winds converge and rise, and the surface winds are light and variable. This inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), also known as the doldrums, fluctuates in position and intensity and is at times a weak, discontinuous belt. On either side of the ITCZ, blowing into it (converging), are the trade winds. They are named the northeast and southeast trades in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, respectively. Note that although the pressure gradient is directed from the subtropic high toward the intertropical convergence the winds are deflected by the earths rotation, so that they approach the equator at acute angels rather than at the perpendicular. The source of the trades are the subtropic highs, sometimes called the horse latitudes, where much of the upper air arriving from the equatorial zone converges and piles up, then subsides and diverges near the surface. The subtropic highs are not actually continuous belts, but are broken up into cells having their best development over the oceans. Because much of the air movement is downward and pressure gradients are weak, a tendency to calms or variable winds characterizes these cells at the surface. A part of the diverging air becomes the trades; that which flows toward the pole forms prevailing westerlies. In the Northern Hemisphere, the westerlies are from the southwest and in the Southern Hemisphere from the northwest. The Coriolis effect accounts for the westerly component in each case. The westerlies are zone of cyclonic storms, and although strong winds in these storms may blow from any direction of the compass, zonal westerlies predominate. The cyclonic storms themselves move in a general west to east direction. Land masses disrupt the westerlies considerably in the Northern Hemisphere, but in the Southern Hemisphere, where there is a virtually unbroken belt of water between 40 and 60 South, the westerlies are strong and persistent. They are often called the roaring forties in this zone, a carryover from sailing days. The westerlies and the polar easterlies meet and converge at the subpolar lows, or polar fronts. Here, there is frequently a great contrast between the temperatures of the winds from subtropical and polar source regions, giving rise to the cyclonic vortices or lows that are carried along in the westerlies. The polar easterlies carry air out ward from the polar highs, which are regions of subsidence of air from higher levels. TRICELLULAR MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION Horizontal transport of heat and angular momentum of the earth and its atmosphere are the controlling factors of the general circulation. Potential energy generated by unequal heating of the heating of the earth and its atmosphere is continuously being transformed into kinetic energy by the ascent and descent of heated and cold air respectively. In order to maintain the general atmospheric circulation, there must exist a balance between the rate of generation of kinetic energy and the rate of its dissipation. The three-cell model of the northern hemisphere meridional circulation (also called the tricellular meridional circulation) was prepared by Palmen in 1951. The model makes it clear that there are two possible ways of transporting heat and momentum; (a) by circulation in the vertical plane as depicted in the model showing three distinct meridional cells in the northern hemisphere, and (b) horizontal circulation. The following meridional circulation cells have been discussed separately: (1) Tropical cell (also called Hadley cell). (2) Polar front cell (also called Ferrel cell). (3) Polar or subpolar cell. 1. Tropical cell: The tropical cell, which is the dominant feature of the tricellular circulation model, is also called Hadley cell. It is through this cell that the poleward heat transport in tropical and middle latitudes is accomplished. The tropical cell is considered to be the main source of angular momentum in the atmosphere. This circulation cell is located between the equator and roughly 30 latitudes.

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The rising air from thermally-driven tropical cell moves poleward in the upper troposphere. The poleward outflow of air in this cell is called the antitrades. These air-currents found at elevations of 8,000 to 12,000 meters near the equator begin to descend in a zone between 20 and 25 degrees latitude. While moving from low to higher latitudes, these upper tropospheric winds are subject to progressively increasing Coriolis force as a result of which they the deflected and become geostrophic westerlies. The subtropical jets stream at about 12,000 m height takes the form of high-velocity westerly winds. The northern hemisphere winter jet stream is replaced by the Tropical Easterly Jet during the summer months over the continents of Asia and Africa at about 10 degree north latitude. It would be pertinent to point out that the subsidence zone the poleward moving upper flow in the tropical cell is the site of the worlds tropical deserts. Near the centre of his zone of subsiding air, where the winds are light and variable, the region is popularly known as the horse latitudes. From the equator ward margin of the horse latitudes the surfaces flow towards the equator is known as the trade winds. In this way, the horizontal flow near the surface completes the cellular pattern of tropical circulation. Remember that the trade winds from both the hemisphere converge at the equatorial trough of low pressure or intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). This region is called the doldrums.

2. Polar Front cell: The polar front cell is also called the Ferrel cell. This mid-latitude cell is thermally induced. In this mid-latitudes cell the surface air flow is directed towards the pole, and because of the Coriolis force the winds blow almost from west to east. The prevailing westerlies, the name given to surface winds in this zone, are disrupted frequently by the migratory extratropical cyclones and anticyclones. The cause of the upper-air westerlies in the polar front cell is said to be the poleward decrease of temperature. In winters, when the meridional temperature gradient is steepest, the upper-air westerlies are most intense. According to Trewartha, the middle and uppertroposphere westerlies are characterized by long waves and jet streams. Troughs and ridges in the upper westerlies are formed by long waves. 3. Polar Cell : In this cell, warm air is seen ascending the polar front and breaking through near the tropopause. The most important feature of this cell is that the polar front is more continuous and prominent in the middle troposphere. There is subsidence of air in the horse-latitudes from the tropical as well as polar front cells. In the subtropical high-pressure belt the tropical air moves towards higher latitudes in the western sector of the high pressure cells, while the air form middle cell moves into the tropical region in their eastern part. Roughly this cell is located between 60 degree latitude and the poles. The cold polar easterlies in their equatorward movement clash with the warmer westerlies of the temperate regions. The zone of contact between these airflows of contrasting nature is called the polar front. The third cell is characterized by considerable horizontal turbulent mixing at all levels. Here heat transport is accomplished by the waves in the westerlies. To sum up, in the tropical regions the exchange of heat and momentum is accomplished by direct circulations. Over the oceans the trade winds transport air towards the equator. But over the continents, the monsoon circulation transports air towards the north during the warmer part of the year. During the winter months the dry offshore winds transfer air from land to sea. The direction is meridional in this case also. It may be noted that intertropical convergence zone is the most important and uninterrupted belt of convergence on the surface of earth. In the subtropical high-pressure belt there are numerous areas of divergence, which make significant contribution to meridional circulation. Meridional Cells : An Explanation There are two possible ways in which the atmosphere can transport heat and momentum by circulation in the vertical plane low-latitudes (or Hadley) cell analogous to the convective circulations set up when a pan of water is heated over a flame and are referred to

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as thermally direct cells. Warm air near the equator was thought to rise and generate a low-level flow towards the equator, the earths rotation deflecting these currents which thus form the northeast and south-east trades. This explanation was put forward by G. Hadley in 1735, although in 1856 W. Ferrel pointed out that the conservation of angular momentum would be a more effective factor in causing easterlies, because the Coriolis force is small in low latitudes. The low-latitude cell would be completed by poleward countercurrents aloft, with the air sinking at about 30 latitude as it is cooled by radiation. Another thermally direct cell is in the high latitudes with cold dense air flowing out from a polar high pressure. A single direct cell in each hemisphere is not possible, because the easterly winds near the surface would slow down the earths rotation. On average the atmosphere must rotate with the earth, requiring a balance between easterly and westerly winds over the globe. The mid-latitude (Ferrel) cell is thermally induced and would need to be driven by the other two. These views underwent radical amendment from about 1948 onwards. The alternative means of transports heat and momentum-by horizontal circulationshad been suggested in the 1920s by A.Defant H. Jeffreys V.P. Starr and R.M. White at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that in middle latitudes horizontal cells transport most of the required heat and momentum polewards. The modern concept of the general circulation views the energy of the zonal winds as being derived form traveling waves, not from meridional circulations. In lower latitudes, however, this mechanism may be insufficient of itself to account for the total energy transport estimated to be necessary for energy balance. Longitudinally, the Hadley cells, linked with the monsoon regimes of the summer hemisphere rising over South Asia is associated with east-west (zonal) outflow, and these systems are known as Walker circulations. Just as Hadley circulations represent major meridional (i.e. north-south) components of the atmosphere circulation, so Walker circulations represent the large-scale zonal (i.e. east-west) components of tropical airflow. These latter circulations are driven by major east-west pressure gradients set up by differences between, on the one hand, air rising over heated continents and the warmer parts of the oceans and, on the other, air subsiding over cooler parts of the oceans, over continental areas where, deep high-pressure systems have become established, and in association with subtropical high-pressure cells. The Walker circulations were first identified by Sir Gilbert Walker in 1922-3 as the result of an inverse correlation that he observed between pressure over the eastern Pacific Ocean and Indonesia. The strength and phase of this so-called Southern Oscillation is commonly measured by the

pressure difference between Tahiti (18S, 150W) and Darwin, Australia (12S, 130E). This Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) has two extreme phases. -Positive when there is a strong high pressure in the south-east Pacific and a low centre over Indonesia with ascending air and convective precipitation. -Negative (or low) when the area of low pressure and convection is displaced eastward towards the Date Line. Positive SOI implies strong easterly trade winds (low level equatorial westerlies) over the central-western Pacific. These Walker circulations are subject to fluctuations in which an oscillation (EI Nino-Southern Oscillation: ENSO) between high phase (i.e. nonENSO events) and low phases (i.e. ENSO events) is the most striking. 1. High phase characterized by four major zonal cells involving rising low-pressure limbs and accentuated precipitation over Amazonia, central Africa and Indonesia/India; and subsiding high-pressure limbs and decreased precipitation over the eastern Pacific, South Atlantic and western Indian Ocean. During this phase, low-level easterlies strengthen over the Pacific and subtropical westerly jet streams in both hemispheres weaken, as does the Pacific Hadley cell. 2. Low phase: - This is characterized by five major zonal cells involving rising low-pressure limbs and accentuated precipitation over the South Atlantic, the western Indian Ocean, the western Pacific and the eastern Pacific; and subsiding high-pressure limbs and decreased precipitation over Amazonia, central Africa, Indonesia/India and the central Pacific. During this phase, low-level westerlies and high-level easterlies dominate over the Pacific and subtropical westerly jet streams in both hemispheres intensify, as does the Pacific Hadley cell. Latitudinal Shifting of Wind Belts During the course of the earths yearly revolution around the sun, the suns vertical noon rays shift northwest and southward a total of 49 of latitude, that is, between 23 N (summer solstice) and 23 S (winter solstice). However, because of the added influence of longer days in the summer hemisphere, the belt of maximum solar heating actually shifts through approximately 65 of latitude-from about 30 to 35 N to 30 to 35 S. temperature belts, which are largely sun-controlled follow the latitudinal migration of solar energy. Pressure and wind belts, which are in part thermally controlled, also shift north and south with the sun. This north-south shifting of the wind belts is not a simple zonal phenomenon, however; it varies in the amount and rapidity of the shift from one part of the earth to another. In general it lags 1 month, or possibly 2, behind the sun. Over the oceans and along coasts, where the migration is more readily observable, it is fairly small-usually not much over 10 to 15. But over continents, where seasonal temperature changes are greater, the total latitudinal shift is also greater. In ad-

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dition, the time lag is considerably less on land than over oceans. Surface-wind systems are more confused over land masses, however, due to the effects of terrain irregularities and strong seasonal and diurnal temperature contrasts. Consequently an orderly migration of wind belts is less evident over continents.

Latitudes affected by more than one wind belt Theoretically, three such transition zones should be present in each hemisphere; Latitudes about 5 to 15 lay between the wet equa-

torial trough and ITCZ on the one hand and the dry subsidence-divergence zone of the trades and the subtropical anticyclones on the other. With the north-south seasonal shifts of pressure and wind belts, these latitudes mainly get the effects of the ITC and its rainbringing disturbances at the time of high sun (summer), and the effects of subsidence in the subtropical anticyclones and the dry trades at the season of low sun (winter). One wet and one dry season are the result. This seasonal pattern usually is muted along the eastern side of a land mass, where the subtropical anticyclone is ordinarily weak. Latitudes about 30 to 40 fall between the fairweather subtropical anticyclones and the middle latitude stormy westerlies. Dry weather associated with subsidence and divergence should therefore be characteristic of summer, while the winter season should have adequate precipitation from traveling cyclonic storms and fronts in the westerlies. Actually, however, these dry summers and wet winters are found only in certain restricted longitudes, mainly on the eastern sides of oceans and the adjacent western margins of the continents (for example, California and the Mediterranean Sea region. The third transition zone involves the middle-latitudes westerlies and the polar easterlies. The effects of the latitudinal shifting are much less obvious in these latitudes than in the other two transition zones.

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TOPIC-IX

THE AIR-MASS
An air mass may the defined as a large body of air whose physical properties, especially temperature, moisture content and lapse rate, are more or less uniform horizontal for hundreds of kilometers. Three main factors determine the nature and degree of uniformity of air-mass characteristics. (1) The nature of the source (from which the air mass obtains its original qualities); (2) the direction of movement and changes that occur in an air mass as it moves over long distances, and (3) the age of the air mass. The physical properties of all air masses are classified according to the way in which they compare with the corresponding properties of the underlying surface region or with those of adjacent air masses. Most of the physical processes of our atmosphere result from self-regulating attempts to equalize the major differences that arise from inequalities in the distribution of heat, moisture and pressure. Radiation and vertical mixing can produce some measure of equilibrium between the surface conditions and the properties of the overlying air mass if air remains over a given geographical region for a period of about three to seven days. Naturally, the chief source regions of air masses are normally overlain by quasi-stationary pressure systems. These requirements are fulfilled where there is slow divergent flow from the major thermal and dynamic high-pressure cells, whereas low-pressure regions are zones of convergence into which air masses move. the air masses generally have a mixing ratio to only 0.1-0.5 g/kg near the surface. The stability produced by the effect of surface cooling prevents vertical mixing, so further cooling occurs more slowly by radiation losses only. In view of their extreme dryness, these air masses are characterized by small cloud amounts and low temperatures. In summer, continental heating over northern Canada and Siberia causes the virtual disappearance of their sources of cold air. 2. Warm air masses These have their origins in the subtropical highpressure sure cells and, during the summer season, in the great accumulations of warm surface air that characterize the heart of large land areas. The tropical (T) sources are either maritime (mT), originating the oceanic subtropical high-pressure cells, or continental (cT), either originating form the continental parts of these subtropical cells or simply associated with regions of generally light variable winds, assisted by upper troposphere subsidence, over the major continents in summer.(e.g. Central Asia). The maritime type is characterized by high temperatures (accentuated by the warming action to which the descending air is subjected), high humidity of the lower layers over the oceans, and stable stratification. Since the air is warm and moist near the surface, stratiform cloud commonly develops as the air moves polewards from its source. The continental type in winter in restricted mainly to North Africa, where it is a warm, dry and stable air mass. In summer, warming of the lower layers by the heated land generates a steep lapse rate, but despite is instability the low relative and specific humidity prevent the development of cloud the precipitation.

1. Cold air masses The principal sources of cold air in the northern hemisphere are (1) the continental anticyclones of Siberia and northern Canada, which originate in continental polar (cP) air masses, and (2) the Arctic Basin, when it is dominated by high pressure. The snow-covered source regions of these two air masses lead to marked cooling of the lower layers and, since the vapor content of cold air is very limited,

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Air-Mass Modification As an air mass moves away form its source region it is affected by different heat and moisture exchanges with the ground surface and by dynamic processes in the atmosphere. Thus an initially barotropic air mass is gradually changed into a moderately baroclinic airstream in which isosteric and isobaric surfaces intersect one another. The presence of horizontal temperature gradients means that air cannot travel as a solid block maintaining an unchanging internal structure. The trajectory (i.e. actual path) followed by an air parcel in the middle or upper troposphere will normally be quite different form that of a parcel nearer the surface, due to the increase of westerly wind velocity with height in the troposphere. A. Thermodynamic changes An air mass may be heated from below either by passing from a cold to a warm surface or by solar heating of the ground over which the air is located. Similarly, but in reverse, it can be cooled from below. Heating from below acts to increase air-mass instability. Changes can also occur through increased evaporation, the moisture being supplied either from the underlying surface or by precipitation from an overlying air-mass layer. In reverse, the abstraction of moisture by condensation or precipitation can also cause changes. A parallel change is the respective addition or loss of latent heat accompanying this condensation or evaporation. B. Dynamic changes They involve mixing or pressure changes associated with the actual movement of the air mass. This process is particularly important at low levels,

where surface friction intensifies the natural turbulence of airflow providing a ready mechanism for the upward transfer of heat and moisture. Large-scale lifting may result from forced ascent by a mountain barrier or from airstream convergence. Conversely, sinking may occur when high-level convergence sets up subsidence or when stable air, having been forced up over high ground by the pressure gradient, descends in its lee. Dynamic processes in the middle and upper troposphere are in fact a major cause of air-mass modification. The decrease in stability aloft, as air moves away from the areas of subsidence, is a common example of this type of mechanism. The results of modification secondary air masses Cold air mass & weather conditions Over middle latitudes of the southern hemisphere, the circumpolar ocean gives rise to a continuous zone of mP air that, in summer, extends to the margin of Antarctica. The weather in cP airstreams is typically that of bright periods and squally showers, with a variable cloud cover of cumulus and cumulonimbus. As mP air moves eastwards towards Europe, the cooler sea surface may produce a neutral or even stable stratification near the surface, especially in summer, but subsequent heating over land will again regenerate unstable conditions. When cP air moves southwards over land in winter, in central North America for example, it acquires a greater tendency towards instability, but there is little gain in moisture content. The cloud type is scattered shallow cumulus, which only rarely gives showers. In many parts of the world, the surface conditions and air circulation produce air masses with intermediate characteristics. Northern Asia and northern Canada fall into this category in summer. In a general sense, the air has affinities with continental polar air masses but these land areas have extensive bog and water surfaces, so the air is moist and cloud amounts are quite high. Warm air mass and weather conditions The modification of warm air masses is usually a gradual process. Air moving polewards over progressively cooler surfaces becomes increasingly stable in the lower layers. mT air with high moisture content, surface cooling may produce advection fog, and this is particularly common, in the south-western approaches to the English Channel during spring. Similar development of advection fog in mT air occurs along the South China coast in February-April, and also off Newfoundland. If the wind velocity is sufficient for vertical mixing, low stratus cloud forms in the place of fog, and drizzle may result. In addition, forced ascent of the air by high ground of by overriding of an adjacent air mass, can produce heavy rainfall.

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The cT air originating in those parts of the subtropical anticyclones situated over the arid sub-tropical in summer is extremely hot and dry. It is typically unstable at low levels and dust storms may occur, but the dryness and the subsidence of the upper air limit cloud development. In North Africa this cT air may move out over the Mediterranean rapidly acquiring moisture, with gearing off showers and thunderstorm activity. Equatorial air is usually cooler than that subsid-

ing in the subtropical anticyclones. On the equatorial sides of the subtropical anticyclones in summer, the air is moving westwards from areas with cool sea surfaces towards those of higher sea-surface temperatures. The mT air moving westwards around the equatorward sides of the subtropical highs becomes much less stable than that on the north-eastern margin of the cells. Eventually, such air forms the very warm, moist, unstable equatorial air of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

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TOPIC-X

FRONTOGENESIS & WEATHER


Many of the day-to-day changes are associated with the formation and movement of boundaries, or fronts, between different air masses. Discontinuities often persist between impinging air masses of differing characteristics. The term front for these surfaces of air-mass conflict was a logical one, proposed during the First World War by a group of meteorologists (including V. and J. Bjerknes, H. Solberg and T. Bergeron) working in Norway, and their ideas are still an integral part of most weather analysis and forecasting particularly in middle and high latitudes. The typical geometry of and air-mass interface, or front, resembles a wave form. According to the Norwegian cyclone model the interface between these air masses develops into a wave form with its apex located at the centre of the low-pressure area. The wave encloses a mass of warm air between modified cold air in front and fresh cold air in the rear. The formation of the wave also creates a distinction between the two sections of the original air-mass discontinuity for, although each section still marks the boundary between cold and warm air, the weather characteristics found in the neighborhood of each section are very different. The two sections of the frontal surface are distinguished by the names warm front for the leading edge of the wave and cold front for that of the cold air to the rear. The boundary between two adjacent air masses is marked by a strongly baroclinic zone of large temperature gradient 100-200 km. Sharp discontinuities of temperature, moisture and wind properties at fronts, especially the warm front, are rather uncommon. zone, the fronts are usually very active and are termed ana-fronts, whereas sinking of the warm air relative to the cold air masses gives rise to less intense kata-front. 1. The warm front The warm front represents the leading edge of the warm sector in the wave. The frontal zone here has a very gentle slope, of the order of 0.5-1 so the cloud systems associated with the upper portion of the front herald its approach some 12 hours or more before the arrival of the surface front. The ana-warm front, with rising warm air, has multi-layered cloud that steadily thickens and lowers towards the surface position of the front. The first clouds are thin, wispy cirrus, followed by sheets of cirrus and cirrostratus, and altostratus. The sun is obscured as the altostratus layer thickness and drizzle of rain begins to fall. The cloud often extends through most of the troposphere and with continuous precipitation occurring is generally designated as nimbostratus. Patches of stratus may also form in the cold air as rain falling through this air undergoes evaporation and quickly saturates it.

The activity of a front in terms of weather depends upon the vertical motion in the air masses. If the air in the warm sector is rising relative to the frontal

The descending warm air of the kata-warm front greatly restricts the development of medium-and highlevel clouds. The frontal cloud is mainly stratocumulus, with a limited depth as a result of the subsidence inversions in both air masses. Precipitation is usually light rain or drizzle formed by coalescence, since the freezing level tends to be above the inversion level, particularly in summer. At the passage of the warm front the wind veers, the temperature rises and the fall of pressure is checked. The rain becomes intermittent or ceases in the warm air and the thin stratocumulus cloud sheet may break up. 2. The cold front The weather conditions observed at cold fronts are equally variable, depending upon the stability of

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the warm-sector air and the vertical motion relative to the frontal zone. The classical cold-front model is of the ana-type, and the cloud is usually cumulonimbus.

ated with a zone of layered cloud (similar to that found with a warm front) and often of precipitation. Hence its position is indicated separately on some weather maps and it is referred to by Canadian meteorologists as a trowel (trough of warm air aloft). The passage of an occluded front and trowel brings a change back to polar air-mass weather. The occurrence of frontolysis (frontal decay) is not necessarily linked with occlusion, although it represents the final phase of a front. Decay occurs when differences to longer exist between adjacent air masses. This may arise in four ways: (1) through their mutual stagnation over a similar surface, (2) as a result of both air masses moving on parallel tracks at the same speed, (3) as a result of their movement in succession along the same track at the same speed, or (4) by the system incorporating into itself air of the same temperature.

Nimbostratus occurs more frequently at the front. With the kata-cold front the cloud is generally stratocumulus and precipitation is light. With ana-cold fronts there are usually brief, heavy downpours, sometimes accoumpained by thunder. The steep slope of the cold front, roughly 2, means that the bad weather is of shorter duration than at the warm front. With the passage of the cold front, the wind veers sharply, pressure begins to rise and temperature falls. The sky may clear very abruptly, even before the passage of the surface cold front in some cases, although with kata-cold fronts the changes are altogether more gradual. 3. The occlusion Occlusions are classified as either cold or warm, the difference depending on the relative states of the cold air masses lying in front and to the rear of the warm sector. If the air is colder than the air following it then the occlusion is warm, but if the reverse is so (which is more likely over the British Isles) it is termed a cold occlusion.

The line of the warm air wedge aloft is associ-

ZONES OF FRONTOGENESIS Their development is restricted to well-defined

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areas. Arctic and polar fronts are caused primarily by gross differences in air-mass characteristics, whereas tropical discontinuities within and between somewhat similar air masses are produced mainly by the nature of the large-scale air motion and especially by confluence within an airstream or between two air currents of different humidity.

The major zones of frontal wave development are naturally those areas which are most frequently baroclinic as a result of airstream confluence. Pacific Polar and Atlantic Polar Fronts- Their position is quite variable, but they show a general equatorward shift in winter, when the Atlantic Frontal Zone may extend into the Gulf of Mexico. Another section of the Polar Front, often referred to as the Mediterranean Front, is located over the Mediterranean-Caspian Sea areas in winter. At intervals, fresh Atlantic mP air, or cool cP air from south-east Europe, converges with warmer air masses, often of North African origin, over the Mediterranean Basin and initiates front genesis. In summer, the area lies under

the influence of the Azores subtropical high-pressure cell, and the frontal zone is absent. In the southern hemisphere, the Polar Front is on average about 45 S in January (summer). In July there are two Polar Frontal Zones spiraling towards Antarctica from about 20 S one starts over South America and the other at 170 W. The second major frontal zone is the Arctic Front, associated with the snow and ice margins of high latitudes. In summer, this zone is developed along the tundra margin in Siberia and North America. In winter over North America, it is formed between cA (or cP) air and Pacific maritime air modified by crossing the Coast Ranges and the Rockies. Between the two hemispherical belts of subtropical high pressure there is a further major world convergence zone, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (or ITCZ). Formerly this was referred to as the Intertropical Front (IITF), but air-mass contrasts only occur in limited sectors. This zone moves seasonally north and south away from the equator. The contrast between the converging air masses obviously increases with the distance of the ITCZ from the equator, and the degree of difference in their characteristics is naturally associated with considerable variation in activity along the convergence zone. Activity is most intense in June-July over South Asia and West Africa, when the contrast between the maritime and continental air masses that are involved is at a maximum. Continental polar air frequently streams out from Canada over the western Atlantic in winter, where it undergoes rapid transformation. Heating over the Gulf Stream Drift rapidly makes the lower layers unstable, and evaporation into the air leads to sharp increases of moisture content and cloud formation. The turbulence associated with the convective instability is marked by gusty conditions. By the time the air has reached the central Atlantic, it has become a cool, moist, maritime polar (mP) air mass.

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TOPIC-X-A

JET STREAMS
The winds at several kilometers above the surface follow giant, undulating paths around the earth in the latitudes of the westerlies. These waves apparently result from the tendency of winds in large-scale motion systems to retain a constant spin (angular momentum) about the earths axis of rotation. A stream of air moving toward the equator adopts a cyclonic curvature (counterclock wise in the Northern Hemisphere) relative to the surface at the lower latitude as the distance from the axis of rotation increases. Eventually, the curved path turns the wind back toward the pole. Passing its original latitude, the wind takes an opposite (that is, anticyclonic) curvature relative to the earth as it comes closer to the polar axis, where the rotational velocity is less. (These effects are easily demonstrated on a globe.) The resulting Rossby waves may have lengths of 3,000 to 6,000 km, permitting and anticyclones in the westerlies. Their length, amplitude, and position are influenced by differential heating at the surface and by extensive mountain barrier. Winds in upper-level tropospheric waves reach maximum speeds in the jet streams, narrow bands of high-velocity winds follow the wave path near the tropopause at elevations of 8 to 15 km. Jet streams are swift geostrophic air streams in the upper troposphere that meander in relatively narrow belts. These are the strong cores of upper-level westerly winds. Towards the end of World War II that the existence of the jet streams was made know to the meteorologists. The term jet stream was first applied to the high velocity upper-level winds during World War II. According to Trewartha, the jet streams are relatively narrow bands of stronger winds bounded by slower moving air. Jet steams is also described as a westerly air current in the form of a flattened narrow core or tube, thousands of kilometers in length, a few hundred kilometers in width, and two or more kilometers in vertical thickness. According to Petterssen, the jet stream is almost entirely a thermal wind and its strength is proportional to the temperature contrast through the whole layer below. Because of the steep north-south temperature gradients, the north-south pressure gradient increases with height upto the level of the jet. This is the basic reason for the existence of jet stream. They are circumpolar in character. However, the jet streams do not always blow from due west, but have some poleward or equatorward component. Jet streams are characterized by a great seasonal variation. During the colder part of the year they migrate towards the equator and their velocity also increases. In summer the wind speeds in jet streams are reduced to about half of what it is in winter because of smaller horizontal temperature gradients. Polar-Front Jet the primary jet steam. The PolarFront Jet has the maximum speeds averaging 215 km per hour. In extreme cases it becomes double of the average speed. Sometimes the Polar-Front Jet encircles the entire globe. At higher latitudes, the wind velocity is relatively higher on the right than on the left of the jet core. On the contrary, at lower latitudes the wind to the right of the jet core is relatively slower than that on its left. Polar-Front Jet is always associated with the polar front. Because of the piling up of air to the right side of the jet scream, there is a high-pressure area on the earths surface towards the equatorward margin of westerlies. There is a well-marked longitudinal variation in the strength of the jet stream. It winter, the highest wind velocities of the jet stream are found near the east coast of Asia. The jet is weakest over the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is dependent on the temperature contrasts. In summer, the picture is entirely different. Now, the strongest jet is positioned along the Canadian border. The Mediterranean Sea is another region over which the jet stream is very strong. Because of the absence of huge continental areas in the subpolar regions of the southern hemisphere, the jet stream is relatively more symmetrical than that of the northern hemisphere. Although the general flow of jet streams is almost parallel to the parallels of latitude, on occasions great meanders extending form north to south are also formed. That is why the isobars in a jet stream are wavy. According to latitudes as well as altitudes there are giant size ridge of high pressure and troughs of low pressure. Even the smallest of the waves in the jet stream averages 6400 km in length. Its wavelength is also about 880 km. Index Cycle of the Jet Stream In the first stage the jet stream lies quite close to the Polar Regions and flows from due west to east. In the northern hemisphere, the cold air mass is found to the north of the upper-level westerlies. To the south of the jet lies the mild air of the midlatitudes. North-south pressure gradient is relatively steeper. The air mass exchange between the temperate and tropical regions is at its minimum. The first stage thus represents the high zonal index. In the second stage, the amplitude of jet stream

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waves increases. The whole of the jet moves towards the equator as a result of which there is an inroad of cold polar air southward. The warm air masses from lower latitudes move towards higher latitudes.

Last stage of index cycle, the giant size meanders of the jet are cut off from the main stream. The result is that an immense pool of cold and dense polar air is isolated in the upper troposphere of the lower latitudes where it is encircled by entirely different air masses. In the upper atmosphere of higher latitudes the tropical air masses are entrapped by the colder air. This is called the low zonal index of the jet stream. The zonal character of the upper-level westerlies is no longer in existence. They are fragmented into a number of cells. Above the subtropic highs a high-speed westerly flow, the subtropical stream persists through most of the year. Its wind speeds commonly exceed 1000 knots; maximum of more than 300 knots have been recorded in both hemisphere, for-example, over Japan and the South Indian Ocean. Near the equator upper-level wave motion is not

so well developed as at higher latitudes owing to a much smaller Coriolis effect and a relatively steady flow of air that does not push vigorously across parallels of latitude. Nevertheless, in the tropical stratosphere an easterly stream develops south of Asia during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Although its direction is steady, it varies in speed, averaging about 70 knots. The tropical easterly jet is thought to be associated with thermal conditions arising from summer heating of the Asian continent. Also known as the Krakatoa easterlies, it probably carried volcanic dust westward after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Another stratospheric jet stream is the Polar Night Jet. During winter, the sun does not heat a cone of atmosphere at the pole, and the resulting strong temperature gradient in the stratosphere creates westerly winds at heights averaging 60 km. Rocket observations have recorded speeds exceeding 300 knots a height of nearly 80 km in the polar night jet stream above the arctic. Surface Weather It plays significant role in controlling the behavior of terrestrial atmosphere. Polar-Front jet streams are closely related to the middle-latitude weather disturbances. The meanders of the more northerly uppertropospheric jet stream determine the location of the surface polar front. Besides, the paths followed by the cyclones are also largely controlled by these upper level high velocity westerlies. Even the distribution of precipitation by extratropical cyclones is indirectly influenced by the jet streams aloft. Areas lying below the jet may have heavy precipitation. There are evidences that the eddies produced in these upper air streams, come down to affect the cyclonic weather. Rainfall, snowfall, thunderstorms of varying intensities, tornadoes, cold waves or snow storms are all directly affected by the jet streams aloft. Migration of high and low pressure cells on the surface of the earth is also directly related to the shifting positions of the jet streams as they move around the earth. The dynamically produced high pressure cells within the subtropical belts owe their existence to the upper westerlies and the jet stream.

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TOPIC-XI

CYCLOGENESIS & WEATHER


The development or significant strengthening of a cyclone is called cyclogenesis. If a surface cyclone is to form or deepen, there must be a net divergence of the mass of air in the region above it, for only then will the surface pressure decrease. Once a surface low forms, cyclonic circulation and boundary-layer convergence also develop. Consequently, during development the mass divergence aloft must be larger than the boundary-layer convergence. Thus, a key element in cyclogenesis is the existence of strong divergence of mass aloft. Most cyclones form or intensify in the region to the east of an upper-level short-wave trough. In this region of the wave, the upper-level divergence is usually greatest, especially if the jet stream is present. Cyclogenetic areas Within the polar vortex there are always short waves and jet maxima present. When the polar vortex is large, these features extend far equator ward, but when the vortex contracts (as it does in summer), the features are confined to higher latitudes. Thus during the course of a year nearly all of the earth poleward of about 20 latitude experiences short waves and jet maxima at one time or another. However, cyclogenesis does not occur with equal frequency in all areas. Some geographical areas posses characteristics which greatly favor cyclogenesis. These regions are known as the earths cyclogentic areas. The cyclogenetic areas are characterized by one or more of the following: (1) weak static stability (steep lapse rates); (2) a nearby source of warm, humid air; and (3) large horizontal temperature gradients. Weak stability favors the rising motion needed to connect the upper and lower branches of the cyclone. Humid air allows condensation to occur at low elevations, thereby increasing the buoyancy of the air, particularly in the presence of a conditionally stable lapse rate. Large horizontal temperature gradients imply that fronts and jet maxima are likely to be intense in the region. Cyclogenetic regions in the United States and Canada- The East Coast cyclogenetic area is characterized by all three of the feature noted above. During the cooler seasons, the Atlantic Ocean water especially the Gulf Stream, is much warmer than the cold polar and arctic air masses that move out from continental North America. These air masses are heated from the bottom, a process which reduces stability and adds water vapor to the air. To the south and south-east of this cyclogenetic area is an abundant source of maritime tropical air mass. The Gulf of Mexico cyclogenetic area has characteristics similar to the East Coast area, but not as pronounced. Many of the Gulf cyclones remain fairly weak as they move across northern Florida or southern Georgia. In general oceanic cyclones become more intense than continental cyclones. The greater friction over the continents causes the wind to cross the isobars at a larger angle than over the oceans (e.g. 30 to 40 over land and 20 to 30 over ocean). As a consequence there is less compensating low-level convergence over the oceans allowing the surface pressure to fall to a lower value. Anticyclones & Weather The anticyclone (or high-pressure area) also plays an important role in the weather of the middle latitudes. The prolonged summer heat waves of the eastern and central United States occur when a high-pressure area becomes stationary over the south-eastern part of the country. The clockwise flow around the anticyclone carries very warm, maritime tropical air northward from the Gulf of Mexico. Because the air motion in the lower atmosphere is divergent, there is a general subsidence of air over the region which tends to inhibit the development of thunderstorms in the warm, moist air. Often these warm anticyclones are simply extensions of the vast subtropical highs which are centered over the subtropical oceans. The circulation reaches upward to very high elevations in the atmosphere. Since the circulation exists through most of the depth of the atmosphere, they move very little. In winter strong high-pressure areas form over the very cold arctic plains of northeastern Asia (Siberia) and North America. These cold anticyclones, particularly the one over Siberia, persist for much of the winter. Occasionally the arctic high-pressure systems or parts of them move southeastward to the rear of an eastward-moving cyclone. These anticyclones contribute to major outbreaks of arctic air and the bright, bitterly cold days of winter. Between any two cyclones there is a region of relatively high pressure. Although these anticyclones are often poorly formed, their weakly divergent surface winds and subsiding air usually lead to a period of clear weather between the cloudy, wet weather of the successive cyclones. Extratropical Cyclones (Wave Cyclones) Much of the highly variable and cloudy weather we come across in the temperate zone is the direct result of travelling cyclones. Since the middle latitudes are an area of convergence where contrasting air masses generally meet, it is there that the cyclones and anticyclones travel with varying regularity along with the prevailing westerly winds. Extratropical cyclones develop in regions lying 0 0 between 30 and 65 north and south latitudes in both the hemispheres. In these latitude zones that the polar and tropical air masses meet and form what is known as the polar fronts. Shape and size. There is great degree of variation in the shape and size of middle-latitude cyclonic

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storm. Generally the isobars are almost circular or elliptical. Howerver, in certain depressions, the isobars take the shape of the letter V. Such storms are called a V- shaped depression. pressure in a cyclone is lowest at the centre and increases towards its margins. The pressure difference between centre and the outer margin of low may vary from 10 to 20 mb. In a very large and intense cyclone, this pressure difference may be as much as 35 mb. The midlatitude cyclones are subjected to the general westerly flow of atmosphere in the temperate zone. Even though there is no definite path with most of the cyclones follow. At least true that there are certain tracks which are most commonly followed. Heavy concentration of storm tracks in the vicinity of the Aleutian and Icelandic lows is the most important feature of the world distribution of the paths followed by the middle-latitude cyclones. Like the latitudinal shifting of the wind and pressure belts, there is a definite seasonal shifting of the paths of cyclones. During winter months the opposing air masses have greater contrasts in their physical properties, so the winter cyclones that develop in the middle-latitude zone are greater in number and are more intense. This accounts for the greater changeability of weather in the temperate zone during the winter months than during the summer season, when the whole atmospheric circulation becomes sluggish. In summer all the paths of the cyclone shift towards north with the result that there are no temperate cyclones found anywhere in the subtropical region and the warm temperate zone. A high concentration of storms is witnessed in the higher latitudes of the Bering Strait and the American and Russian sub-Arctic and Arctic regions. In the southern hemisphere, the Antarctic frontal zone the associated storms occur all the year round around the Antarctic ice pack. Polar front theory This theory, as stated earlier, is also called the frontal theory or the wave theory of the origin of extratropical cyclones. It was developed by V. Bjerknes. It provides and adequate explanation of the origin and development of the middle-latitude cyclone. This theory recognizes that the polar front, separating polar and tropical air masses, gives rise to cyclonic disturbances that intensify and move along the front and proceed through a somewhat predictable life cycle. Cyclones, according to Bjerknes, form along a front where polar and tropical air masses with contrasting physical properties are moving parallel to it in opposite directions. It may be noted that the polar front is not a permanent line. Another characteristic feature of the polar front is the fact that the changing seasons as well as positoning of the jet streams aloft bring about a marked north- south shift in its location. Any unstable wave originating along these fronts develops, under favourable conditions, into a full-fledged cyclone. Thus it is evident that cyclogenesis (cyclone for-

mation) occurs where a frontal surface is distorted into a wave-shaped discontinuity. According to the polar front theory, as the cold polar air is deflected equatorward and the warm tropical air poleward, a cyclone-forming wave is formed along the front. The wave thus formed is divided into two parts. The eastern part of the wave where the warm air advancing towards the east ascends over a wedge of cold air mass is called the warm front. Western portion of the discontinuity, where cold polar air is replacing the warm air by underrunning the warm and lighter tropical air mass, is the cold front. As the wave develops, the ascent of warm air along the warm front results in condensation, cloud formation and precipitation. Since the the cold front advances at a faster rate than the warm front, the sector of warm air becomes progressively smaller. The process continues, and the cold front ultimately overtakes the slow moving warm front. Now, the process of occlusion starts. With the occlusion of the warm sector, the source of energy for the cyclone is cut off. It is noteworthy that when warm and cold fronts are combined into one, a long backward-swinging front is formed. This is called an occluded front. The onset of the process of occlusion brings the storm close to its death. Life cycle of an extratropical cyclone The four stages in the life cycle of an extratropical cyclone are : (1) the initial state, (2) the incipient stage, (3) the mature stage, and (4) the occlusion stage.

(1) The initial Stage. In the initial stage the polar and the tropical air currents on the opposite sides of the polar front blow parallel to the isobars and the front. Front is quasi-stationary and is in perfect equilibrium. The wedge of cold air mass lies under the warm air. There is complete absence of wind shift. The weather is fine. (2) The incipient stage. In the second stage a wave has formed on the front. Cold air is turned in a southerly direction and warm air in a northerly direction.

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There is an encroachment of each air mass into the domain of the other. A cyclonic circulation is initiated around a low centre at the apex of the wave. It may be pointed out that the new depression developing at the crest of the wave is called the nascent cyclone. The process of the birth of a new cyclone is commonly called cyclogenesis. (3) The mature stage. In the third stage the intensity of cyclone increases. Now, the cyclone is fully developed. There are well marked warm and cold sectors. The warm air in this stage moves faster that the cold air. The direction of movement is perpendicular to the warm front. Throughout the cyclone, there is an ascending air along the entire surface of discontinuity. If the rising air mass is moist, there will be cloudiness and precipitation along the warm as well as cold fronts. The precipitation released at the warm front is more widespread and steady, whereas the cold front precipitation is confined to a narrow zone. (4) The occlusion stage. The final stage the advancing cold front ultimately overtakes the warm front which results in the formation of an occluded front. The warm sector is slowly pinched off and finally the two cold air masses mix across the front. This eliminates the occluded front. Now, the cyclone dies out. Bjerknes Cyclone Model and Sequence of Weather The cyclone model helps is understanding and predicting the sequence of weather of the temperate latitudes. A temperate cyclone takes about 2 to 4 days to pass over a region. During this short period of time abrupt changes in weather conditions are the rule rather than exception. Changes in weather will depend on the position of the observer in relation to the cyclone passing overhead. If the cyclone passes the observer along the line ab, the weather observed will be somewhat different from that experienced along the line cd.

Sequence of weather along ab If the cyclone passes along ab, the observer is to the north of the centre of the cyclone. In this case, there is no warm sector or front. Therefore the weather conditions associated with warm or cold fronts are absent in this portion of the cyclone. In this section the temperature remains cool during the passage of the cyclone. The pressure becomes progressively lower. As regards cloud conditions, at first the sky is covered with cirrus clouds which gradually change into cirro-stratus, altostratus and finally nimbus. In the beginning, the precipitation is light, but becomes heavier as the storm moves eastward. Along ab, usually there is a broad region of light rains which result from the uplift of warm air above the cold air from the north. After the storm has passed, there is a gradual decrease in precipitation. Sequence of weather along cd. In case the cyclone passes the observer along the line cd, he is to the south of the centre of storm. If the change of weather is followed along this line, the appearence of high cirrus clouds on the western horizon heralds the approach of a wave cyclone. These cirrus or cirrostratus clouds are visible in the sky from a distance of 1600 to 2400 km from the surface front. These clouds create halo around the sun and the moon. As the warm front draws nearer, the lower and thicker clouds cover the sky. Alto-stratus and altocumulus are replaced by stratocumulus and nimbus. Sometimes the vertical movement of local air columns produces cumulonimbus clouds. These clouds are producers of local thunderstorms particularly in in spring and summer. As the warm front approaches along the line cd, there is a gradual increase in temperature and fall in air pressure. Relative humidity also registers a gradual increase. Winds begin to change direction from east to southeast to south to southeast. This is called a veering wind shift. With the passage of warm front, the observer is now in the warm sector. Skies become clear, temperatures rise and there are southerly winds. But the fair weather of the warm sector passes off quickly. Now, there is southwesterly flow of air. However, the pressure remains constant. Since the cold front intense squall line thunderstorms generally precede the cold front. As the cold front approaches the observer, there are rolling black clouds accompanied by thundershowers, hail and an occasional tornado. Heavy precipitation associated with the cold front is confined to a narrow zone and is of short duration. It is also accompanied by thunder and lightning. When the cold front passes the observer along the line cd, there is a clear wind shift, southerly air currents are replaced by westerly and northwesterly winds. There is a sudden drop in temperature. The air pressure starts rising. Now, the region is under the influence of subsiding coold and dry polar air. The weather is fine and the skies clear.

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TROPICAL CYCLONES
If the wind speed in the cyclonic circulation exceeds 60 km/hr (40 mi/hr), the system is classified as a tropical storm. If the system continues to intensify until the wind speeds exceed 120 km/hr (75 mi/hr), it

is classified as a tropical cyclone. Intense storms of this type are called hurricanes in the North Atlantic (including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico) and the eastern North Pacific near Mexico. In the western Pacific they are called typhoons, and in the region of India they are simply called cyclones.

The tropical cyclone differs from the extra tropical cyclone in a number of ways. The isobars in a hurricane are more circular and the pressure gradient is much steeper. The size of the hurricane is smaller; a diameter of 200 to 500 km (120 to 300 mi) is typical, which is roughly one-quarter the diameter of an extratropical cyclone. While the energy of the extratropical cyclone is derived mainly from the contrasting densities of its cold and warm air masses, the energy of the tropical cyclone is chiefly furnished by the latent heat that is released during the formation of the torrential rains of the storm. Hurricanes lack both the fronts and the patterns of precipitation that the found along the fronts of extratropical cyclones. Although the precipitation of a hurricane is more evenly distributed than that in an extratropical cyclone; there are numerous spiral bands extending outward from the low center along which the rainfall is especially heavy. A satellite photo of a hurricane shows the spiral bands. Well-developed hurricanes contain an eye, which is a region 10 to 50 km (6 to 30mi) wide near the storms center in which there is sinking motion. Tropical cyclones occur much less frequently than do extratropical cyclones. The tropical cyclone is an intense warm-core low. The worlds lowest sea-level pressures occur in these violent storms. A record low pressure of 876 mb was observed in Typhoon June in November 1975 in the

western Pacific. Because of its warm core, a tropical cyclones intensity decreases with height, especially at elevations above 3 km. Above 12 or 14 km it is common to find high pressure and an outflow of air. Several hundred kilometers from the storm center this outflow air sinks. At the very core of cyclonic whirl is the eye of the storm. It is characterized by sinking motion, relatively clear skies, and light winds. However, just outside the eye are found the strongest winds. If a hurricane passes directly over a locality, the wind increases to hurricane force as the storm approaches, then calm sets in as the eye moves over. After the eye passes, the violent winds again return but from a different direction. Tropical cyclone formation Tropical cyclone forms over oceans where the water temperature exceeds 27 oC (81 F) and at distances greater than about 5 latitude away from the equator. Very close to the equator the Coriolis force is too weak to permit an intense cyclonic circulation to develop. Nearly all tropical cyclones develop in mid-and late summer and early fall, when the ocean temperatures in the summer hemisphere are at their warmest values of the year. An exception is the western part of the tropical North Pacific Ocean, where the water is warm enough to permit the occasional formation of a typhoon to permit winter (low-sun-season).

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The growth of a tropical cyclone involves an interaction between two scales of motion-the thunderstorm scale and the much larger scale of the tropical cyclone itself. The warm tropical oceans provide abundant moisture to the atmosphere consequently; the thunderstorms produce especially heavy rains and release great amounts of latent heat. If the thunderstorms occur in an unorganized pattern, the latent heating is also unorganized and ineffective in supporting the growth of a tropical cyclone. But if there is an organized pattern of thunderstorm activity, the latent heat is released within a fairly limited area. As a result, there is significant warming of the atmosphere. Because warm air weighs less than cooler air, the pressure falls and a cyclonic circulation develops. The boundary-layer convergence in the developing low leads to increased rising motion and the development of additional thunderstorms and still more latent heating. This type of feed back may lead to a fullfledged hurricane. It should be emphasized, however, that at least some sort of weak disturbance is initially necessary. Sometimes the initial weak disturbance is an easterly wave of disturbance line. On other occasions it is a weak depression along the intertropical convergence zone Movement and decay of tropical cyclones The storms move generally westward across the tropical oceans, they sometimes turn poleward as they reach the western parts of the oceans. They are steered by the broad-scale upper-level flow around the west end of the subtropical highs and then become caught up in the middle-latitude flow. They are then carried towards the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere or the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. As they move over the colder waters of the higher-latitude oceans, the storms weaken or die. They also weaken

rapidly when they move over a land surface, since they then lose their favorable warm-water environment. Also the increased friction between the strong winds and rougher land surface causes more air to flow across the isobars towards the low center, thus reducing the pressure gradient. Although tropical cyclones weaken rapidly as they move inland, torrential rains may continue for several days, producing devastating floods. (Sometimes the storms circulation draws in contrasting air masses and becomes an extratropical cyclone. Case Study One of the most devastating hurricanes to strike the United States coastline this century was Hurricane Camille. Ironically, it was significant not only for the disaster it brought (256 dead, $ 1.5 billion damage), but also for the moisture benefit it delivered and the drought it abated. Hurricane-force winds diminished sharply, shortly after landfall, leaving a vast rainstorm that traveled from the Gulf Coast through Mississippi, western Tennessee, Kentucky and into central Virginia. Severe flooding occurred along the Gulf Coast near the point of landfall and in the James River basin of Virginia, where torrential rains produced record floods. However, beyond this flooding and immediate coastal damage, Camilles effect actually was beneficial; ending year-long drought conditions along major portions of its track. According to the weather records of the past 40 years, about one-third of all hurricanes making landfall in the United Sates have created beneficial conditions inland in terms of the precipitation contributed to local water budgets. The tragic loss of life must not be forgotten of course. But, in terms of overall effect, hurricanes should be viewed as normal and natural meteorological events that certainly have destructive potential but also contribute to the precipitation regimes of the southern and eastern United States. A closing thought on our societys response to these powerful weather events: despite the increased damage from hurricanes we see evidence of increased construction and development in vulnerable coastal lowlands. Continued development in vulnerable areas helps explain the estimated $20 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Even after Camilles devastation a building boom hit the region. Ironically, new buildings, apartments, and governmental offices opened right next to still-visible rubble and bare foundation pads. Unfortunately, a careful risk area has never been policy. Appropriate and effective hazard perception is rarely put into practice by public or private decision makers. Coastal lowlands, river flood plains, and earthquake fault zones are at risk because of poor perception and lack of planning The consequence is that out entire society bears the financial cost of poor perception, no matter where in the country it occurs- not just those victims who directly shoulder the physical emotional and economic hardship of the event. This recurrent yet avoidable cycle- construction, devastation, reconstruction, devastation-was portrayed in Fortune.

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TOPIC-XII

HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
The evaporation of water from the surface of the oceans and continents, its condensation in the atmosphere and its return to the surface in the form of precipitation is a never-ending cycle. The composite of these processes is called the hydrological cycle. In its broadest sense the hydrologic cycle includes the meridional transport of water vapor. More frequently the term is applied to the exchange of the water substance between the oceans atmosphere, and continents. Because continents have more precipitation than evaporation and oceans have more evaporation than precipitation, there must be an exchange of the other substance between them. much of the sea-evaporated moisture is returned directly to the ocean by rains over the sea. Cu km/year Precipitation on continents Evaporation from continents Surplus on continents Precipitation on oceans Evaporation from oceans Deficiency on oceans Transferred from continents to oceans 122,000 97,000 25,000 359,000 384,000 25,000 25,000

Some of the water vapor added to the atmosphere through evaporation from the oceans is transported to the continents, where together with land-evaporated water vapor; it condenses and falls as precipitation. A part of this precipitation soaks into the ground to form the groundwater resource, while some is returned to the sea by runoff in the form of streams and glaciers. Still another part is transported back to the oceans by land winds containing land-evaporated moisture. Water evaporated in one locality is usually precipitated hundreds even thousands of kilometers distant; the hydrologic cycle is rarely completed locally. Of course,

Through careful observation it has been discovered that the rain and snowfall on the continents is well in excess of the runoff from those same areas in the form of rivers and glaciers. Since only-roughly 20 percent of the land precipitation is removed by runoff, it follows that close to 80 percent must be returned to the atmosphere by evaporation from the ground, inland bodies of water, and the vegetation cover. The circulation of the atmosphere produces a continual exchange of air masses between land and sea. Humid tropical maritime air masses traveling poleward become cool, precipitate much of their moisture, and are ultimately converted into continental polar and maritime polar air masses. Conversely, continental polar air masses moving equator ward over land areas become warmed, absorb much land-evaporated moisture, and eventually are transformed into warm, moist maritime tropical air masses over the oceans. Thus, it is not only rivers and glaciers that carry land-precipitated moisture back to the oceans, but also these dry polar continental air masses, which may pass entirely across the continent with out any precipitation. The character of the hydrologic cycle varies from continent to continent. The greatest amounts of precipitation evaporation and runoff are in South America, which contains large regions with tropical humid climates and few areas with dry climates. Runoff is least from Australia, which is predominantly a continent of dry climates.

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TOPIC-XIII

APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY
There is a need for applied climatology from several quarters- intellectual demand from within subject itself; practical demand from society in general. The ways in which the climatic elements affect every form of economic and social activity are now receiving increasing attention from climatologists. Since the Second World War that new consciousness arose about the potentialities of climatology as an active subject with immense practical utility for planning almost all human requirements ranging form the development of water resources to the eradication of diseases. Today, climatology is occupying an important place in such diverse fields as agricultural production, animal husbandry and urban and industrial planning. Different types of cultures and civilizations developed in different parts of the world on account of different climatic conditions found over there. There is close relationship between climate and human civilization. Of all the elements of climate, temperature and precipitation are the most important and most effective. However wind rate of evaporation, frost, dew, fog, cyclone, anticyclones and various types of local violent storms influence our various activities to a greater or lesser degree. Therefore in planning our economic and social activities the elements of weather and climate should be taken care of. Water Budget Of all the earths resources, none is more fundamental to life than water. The high specific heat of water, its ability to exist in gaseous, liquid, or solid forms under natural conditions, and its capacity for storing or releasing latent heat with changes of state give it immense influence on atmospheric processes. At the some times, its availability at different times and places is a function of weather and climate. The restless atmosphere is the most active agent in the constant redistribution of water on the earths surface. If all atmospheric moisture were precipitated, it would oceans a layer averaging only about 25 mm deep over the earths water; 2 percent is in ice caps and glaciers fresh-water soil moisture and vegetation account for about 5 percent. The circulation of water from oceans to air and return to the oceans, entailing residence of varying duration in life forms, fresh-water bodies, ice accumulations, or as ground water, comprises the hydrologic system, an integral part or subsystem of the global climate system that always requires energy for change of state or mass transfer. Whereas, the greater part of moisture the eventually falls as precipitation comes from the oceans, some water takes a shortcut in the system and enters the air directly through evaporation and transpiration from soil and vegetation. In middle and high latitudes only a small part of precipitation over land can be traced to evapotranspiration from the same area, but much of the transpiration from rain forests returns as rainfall within the forested region. The processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation are essentially climatic; their functions would be simpler if it were not for constant motion in the maritime air masses carry water onto the land. Wherever they undergo lifting process- convection, or graphic ascent, or convergence-precipitation is the likely result. We can consider relevant elements of the hydrologic system by means of accountings procedure-the water budget of the earths surface. The essential elements of moisture exchange for a given land area and specified period of time are combined in the equation. P = ET + dST + S In which P is the income from precipitation, ET is the loss by evapotranspiration, dST is the gain or loss of storage in the soil, and S is surplus. Thus all of the income is accounted for by expenditures, as increase or decrease in saving, and a possible surplus that requires wise management. The water budget concept can be applied in the analysis of the moisture exchange at any surface-a plant leaf, a forest canopy, a glacier, an entire continent, or an ocean. It is an effective means of determining drought conditions and the proper use of irrigation water. One of the most fruitful applications is in the predictions of runoff (surplus) from river basins under varying climatic conditions. The key element in the water budget is evapotranspiration, which is also the link between moisture and energy exchanges. The rate and amount of evapotranspiration can be determined if the difference in water vapor and the rate of vertical mixing through the surface layer of the air are known. SOIL MOISTRUE AND GROUND WATER The amount of water a saturated soil can retain against the pull of gravity is its field capacity. It varies mainly with soil. Fine clays have high field capacities, whereas sandy soils hold moisture. For agricultural purpose, it is useful to consider the minimum amount of soil water that is necessary in the root zone to allow extraction of plants. This minimum is the wilting point, and it depends on the same factors that govern field capacity. When the soil zone has reached field capacity, excess soil water percolates downward under the force of gravity through a subsurface zone aeration (vadose water) to a zone saturation known as ground water.

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RUNOFF AND FLOODS Runoff is that portion of precipitation that returns to the oceans and other water bodies over the land surface. Floods differ from simple runoff only in degree. River floods result wherever the channel capacity is exceeded by the runoff. Excessive runoff of rainfall or snowmelt is the fundamental cause, but the channel capacity may also be affected by barriers to flow (such as dams or ice jams), sudden changes of direction of the stream, reduced gradient, situation of the stream bed, or sudden release of water due to a broken dam. The predisposition of a climate to storms producing excessive precipitation is the fundamental basis of the flood hazard. Two types of storms initiate most rain-caused floods: the prolonged, widespread rain which, through sheer quantity of water, creates extensive flooding over entire watersheds. Flash floods are most common in those regions which experience heavy thunderstorms. Simple diversion of surface water (runoff) and withdrawal of underground water (storage) predate written history. Damming and storage in a wet area or during a rainy period for subsequent transfer to meet needs at other places or times has become a widespread practice for redistributing water used in irrigation or hydroelectric generation. Alteration of terrain features, soils, and vegetation also affects runoff and storage. Applications of impervious coverings (for example, urban pavements) greatly increase runoff at the expense of soil moisture and percolation to groundwater. Other approaches to water management entail

modification of atmospheric processes. Suppression of evaporation from reservoirs can be achieved by covers, by vertical mixing to reduce surface temperature, or by windbreaks loss. Thin chemical films (alkanols, for example) that have a low vapor pressure have been used with moderate success to retard evaporation from relatively calm surface waters. Changes in vegetative cover affect evapotranspiration: cultivating practices such as weeding and mulching reduce soil moisture losses; clearing of forests usually results in decreased evapotranspiration and increased runoff. Distillation for the purpose of desalination or purification of polluted water preempts the normal atmospheric processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation to provide water supplies of acceptable quality. Condensation in cooling towers releases latent heat, permitting reuse of water in thermal processes of factories and power plants. An obvious way to offset a water deficit is to increase precipitation. Capture of fog drip on screens or filaments and collection of dew on cool surface are methods of enforcing precipitation to augment meager fresh water supplies along desert coasts, but the amounts of water gained are small. Rainmaking by cloud seeding or other means cannot change the total global water supply, but it might accelerate the hydrologic engine to make more water available at a specific time and place. Schemes to enhance precipitation by inducing atmospheric instability or to steer rainbearing storms by cloud seeding or other means are somewhat hypothetical at present.

CLIMATE AND FORESTRY Net radiation (watts/m2) 60 53 50 50 50 Sensible heat flux (watts/m2) 20 13 8 15 20 Latent heat flux (watts/m2) 40 39 42 35 30 Evapotranspiration (mm per month) 41 40 43 36 31

Land use Coniferous forest Deciduous forest Farm land wet Farm land dry Grassland

Albedo (%) 12 18 20 20 20

Wise management of the worlds vegetation resources requires understanding of their ecology, including climatic relations. In view of its economic significance forestry is an appropriate example to illustrate applied bioclimatology. The distribution and growth rates of forest species reflect climatic conditions, and forests, in turn, affect energy and mass exchanges in the climate system. The effects of forests on climate are greatest in the area which the trees occupy and they are roughly proportional to the density of cover, but forests also modify the climate of adjacent areas. Widespread removals, changes in species composition, or conversion to other types of land use alter surface heat and water

budgets and may affect regional mesoclimates. In mid-latitude lowlands the mean annual temperature within a forest is about 0.6 oC lower than on the outside; at an elevation of 1,000 m the difference is 1oC. The greatest average difference is in summer, when it may be as much as 2C; in winter it is only about 0.06C. In low-latitude forests the influence of a tree canopy on air temperature is even greater. In a dense forest the upper canopy shades the ground and acts as the primary absorbing surface during the day, thus retarding the rise of soil temperature. At night the canopy radiates heat more rapidly than the ground, which is slower to cool. Depending upon the density of the

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cover, forests may intercept up to 90 percent of the sunlight which is incident at the treetop level. Precipitation over a forest differs appreciably from that over adjacent areas. Tree covers intercept a part of the precipitation which falls over a forest, and much of it is evaporated. The proportion thus withheld from the soil depends upon the density of foliage and also on the duration and type of rainfall. In general coniferous forests intercept more precipitation than do hardwoods, and deciduous species prevent comparatively little precipitation from reaching the ground in winter. Conversely, reforestation may actually result in decreased stream flow from a watershed. Relative humidity is 3 to 10 percent higher within a forest on the average owing to the lower temperature lighter air movement, and transpiration from plants. Evaporation from the soil is considerably lessened as a result of the protective influence of the forest, and if the ground is well covered with plant litter, it is reduced by one-half to two-thirds as compared by evaporation from soil in the open. By restricting air movement, tress aid in reducing evaporation, lowering temperatures and increasing relative humidity. FOREST-FIRE WEATHER Prevention and control of forest fires constitute one of the most expensive, albeit necessary, aspects of forest management. It has been estimated that lightning sets 5,000 to more than 10,000 fires annually in the forests of the western United States alone. Prevention of lightning-caused fires conceivably could begin with control of lightning. Lightning strikes are more common on high elevations, fires thus started are more difficult to reach than most human-caused. The potential occurrence and the rate of spread of forest fires are direct functions of both the local weather and regional climate. Factors that determine the fire danger include relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction precipitation, and condition of the vegetation and litter. Extreme fire danger develops during long periods of hot, dry weather, especially when associated with the stable air of anticyclones. Katabatic winds such as the mistral in France or the Santa Ana in California frequently create severe fire hazards. During the fire season, observations of critical weather elements are taken at stations operated by various public and private agencies. These stations employ standard instruments and usually have in addition a device for determining the moisture content of forest litter. This fuel moisture indicator consists of wooden sticks freely exposed to the weather. The fuel sticks are periodically weighed on a scale which is calibrated to give an index of fuel moisture content. SOIL FORMATION Soils are affected by climate directly throughout their evolution from parent rock to their current state of development. Their character is shaped indirectly by climate acting through vegetation and animal life.

Throughout soil formation the climate within the soil is more important than that of the air above. Temperature changes are conducted downward slowly; at a depth of about 60 to 80 cm diurnal variations are uncommon. The structure of all soil and its moisture content help to determine its conductivity; dry, porous soil conducts heat slowly, whereas wet, compact soil and soiled rock are much better conductors. Air in the soil may differ in compact from that in the atmosphere, but it is a poor conductor and reduces heat transfer in porous soils. CLIMATE AND SOIL EROSION The immediate climate-connected causes of accelerated erosion are the same as those which weather and transport parent material naturally. Accelerated erosion depends more on the time scale than on erosion processes. But in one way or another, humans are usually indirect agents in accelerated erosion. Where there is excessive precipitation and hence a great potential erosion hazard due to surface runoff, a dense vegetation cover ordinarily exists to inhibit soil erosion. In arid climates vegetation is sparse, but running water is not such a great threat to the soil. Thus, there is a semblance of equilibrium between the forces that form the soil and those that would erode. Cutting forests, cultivation, grazing of herds, or burning of the plant cover all serve to upset the natural equilibrium and to accelerate erosion. The world distribution of actual accelerated erosion, being in part the result of land-use practices, does not show a close connection with the patterns of climate and vegetation. Rather it is the potential erosion, or the erosion hazard, which is closely related to climatic conditions and to the associated soils. The fact that some soils erode more easily than others is traceable, in part, to the effect of climate on their formation. In the regions of heavy rainfall, running water readily attacks exposed soils. In the humid tropical climates, the soils are generally deficient in humus so that, although the clay sub-soils are quite resistant to erosion, the topsoil washes away easily. Where the rainfall is seasonal, where the soil is frozen for a part of the year, or where there is a snow cover for an extended period, the forms and intensity of erosion on exposed soils are altered but may be nonetheless disastrous. Soils in regions of arid and semiarid climates are the most susceptible to the ravages of wind erosion. Soil water not only adds to the weight of the particles but is a cementing agent which reduces the tendency of soil to be blown out. When exposed to the wind, soil lacking in moisture are readily blown if the particles are small enough. In the drought years of the 1930s in the Dust Bowl of the United States, the loose topsoil was completely removed from large areas. Temperature has its maximum effect on accelerated erosion indirectly through its influence on plant cover and the weathering process. Freezing and thawing directly alter the structure of the soil and thus make

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it more susceptible to the action of wind or running water. MARINE LIFE The influence of weather and climate on the biological cycles of the oceans are no less complex than those on land but the marine environment changes less rapidly and consequently marine plants and animals usually are slower to reflect atmospheric conditions. Energy and mass exchanges between ocean and air make it difficult to distinguish cause from effects of a changing ocean environment, but important climatic factors include solar radiation, temperature and wind. Biotic response also depends on the nutrient supply, which is influenced by climate. Photosynthetic activity of phytoplankton, the basis of the marine food chain, or pyramid, is limited to the euphotic or illuminated zone of the sea, where it varies regionally and seasonally. Light is a direct factor in the diurnal feeding and schooling patterns of fish and their reactions to fishing gear. Ocean water temperatures are determined mainly by absorption of solar radiation by exchange of heat with the atmosphere, and by mixing. The annual production cycles of marine herbivores vary widely with the availability of algae, which in turn respond to seasonal changes in ocean temperatures, light, and surface stirring by wind. Fish adapt more rapidly to warming than to cooling, and their tolerance of actual temperature varies with the temperature range to which they have become acclimated. EFFECTS OF WINDS AND CURRENTS ON FISHERIES Wind is a factor in the motion of ocean currents, drifts, and upwelling. It also is a direct cause of wave action and surface mixing. All of these stirring actions influence thermal conditions, oxygen content, and the nutrient supply. Winds over on oceanic area can disturb local currents and affect the productivity of a fishing ground thousands of kilometers away. Changing course of ocean currents has been responsible for disastrous declines in commercial fisheries in the past. The herring fishery off Iceland deteriorated catastrophically in the late 1960s as drift ice moved farther south than usual, presumably due to a shift of atmospheric pressure patterns and a stronger outflow of surface winds from the northwest. In years of a strong EI Nino off the west coast of South America, abnormally high water temperatures reduce the feed for anchovies. Mixing by wind or other dynamic actions in the oceans redistributes heat, dissolved substances, organic matter, and sediments. Wave action, as during a storm, rapidly alters surface temperature and turbidity, causing most swimming species to descend. Temperature, salinity, acidity, gases (notably oxygen and carbon dioxide), nutrient supplies, suspended sediments, and industrial pollutants are critical factors for marine life. This is especially true along coasts and in estuaries,

where mixing and wave action can alter proportions rapidly. Upwelling of seawater is maintained by steady surface winds, ascent of water deficient in oxygen may create a lethal environment. Rising organic matter may respond to light and wave-induced oxygenation, thus enhancing biological activity. Fishing is subject to weather vagaries that state of the sea and other conditions that affect the potential catch and operations are a vital service to the fishing industry. Precipitation and fog are critical elements when they freeze on boats and equipment or reduce visibility. TEMPERATURE AND CROPS The temperature of the air and of the soil affects all the growth processes of plants. Every variety of every crop plant has minimum, optimum, and maximum temperature limits for each of its stages of growth. Winter rye has relatively low temperature demands and can withstand freezing during a winter period of dormancy. Tropical crops (for example, dates or cacao beans) have high temperature requirements throughout the year. The upper lethal temperatures for active plant cells of most species range from 50 to 60. High temperatures are not as serious as low temperature in arresting plant development. Crops ordinarily do not burn up; they dry up. But, under very high temperatures, growth is slowed or even stopped regardless of the moisture supply, and premature loss of leaves or fruits is likely. Disaster to crops usually comes with the combination of dry and hot conditions. Temperatures that promote quick growth may also result in weak plants which are more easily damaged by wind, hail, insects, or disease. The highest yields in the mid-latitude grain belts usually occur in years with summers that are cooler than normal for a particular area, permitting increased storage of photosynthetic matter. In addition, cool summers, often are accompanied by greater rainfall. The problem of high temperature can be solved under field conditions by increasing the moisture supply through irrigation or by moisture-conserving tillage practices. Delicate plants can be protected from the direct rays of the sun by taller tree crops or by cloth or slat shades. Where it is desirable to have low temperatures during the stages of germination of flowering of crops, this can be achieved by planting early in the season or in a cooler location, or, as in the case of winter wheat, by planting before the cold season. PHENOLOGY Phenology is the science that relates climate to periodic events in plant and animals life. Phenological data includes such facts as dates of germination and emergence of seeds; dates of budding, flowering, and ripening; or seasonal activities of birds and insects. These depend on climatic conditions preceding each event as well as the time of the event.

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The rate of development of a plant variety is the resultant of all environmental factors; climatic, physiographic, edaphic, and biotic. It is primarily a function of climate; heat and light being the most important factors. A close relationship exists, therefore, between plant phenology and both latitude and altitude. At a given location the period between planting and harvesting is not a specific number of calendar days but rather a summation of energy units, which may be represented as degree-days. The duration of a certain temperature is quite as important as temperature average. A degree-day for a given crop is defined as day on which the mean daily temperature is one degree above the threshold temperature. Degree-day concept has shortcomings. It does not differentiate between such combinations as warm spring-cool summer and cold spring-hot summer, it makes no allowance for unfavorably high temperature nor for diurnal temperature ranges; and it neglects specific temperature values (such as those of leaf surface) or trends that may be essential at various stages of crop development. The time required to achieve maturity is also a function of the length of day or photoperiod. Studies of crop and animal phenology over a number of years aid in planning management schedules that are best adapted to local climate. It is also possible to avoid the periods of maximum hazard from insects, diseases, or seasonal weather phenomena. FROST The greater agricultural risk associated with low temperature is the threat of unseasonable frosts. Two kinds of frosts may be distinguished: (1) advection, or air mass frost, which results when the temperature at the surface in an air mass is below freezing; and (2) radiation frost, which occurs on clear nights with a temperature inversion and usually results in formation of ice crystals on cool objects. The former, sometimes called black frosts, are more properly termed freezes. Air mass freezes are common in winter in middle and high latitudes; they are an agricultural problem primarily in relation to specific crops which are limited in their winter-hardiness. Actual plant damage may be result of alternate freezing and thawing, frost-heave in the soil, or desiccation. FROST PREVENTION Direct frost prevention measures are aimed primarily at breaking up the inversion which accompanies intense night time radiation. This is accomplished by stirring the air by heating it, methods which are effective only in stable air. THE FROST-FREE SEASON Climatic records usually derive the frost-free season from the number of days during which the temperature is continuously above 0 C, cut for agricultural purpose the period between the last killing frost of spring and the first killing frost of autumn. In general, the frost-free season decreases with an increase in latitude. Large areas with in the tropics

experience no frost except at high altitudes. The other extreme is at the poles, where there is no frost-free season. THE MOISTURE FACTOR Moisture is more important than any other environmental factor in crop production. There are optimum soil moisture conditions for crop development. Excessive amounts of water in the soil alter various chemical and biological processes, limiting the amount of oxygen and increasing the formation of compounds that are toxic to plant roots. The underlying cause of inadequate soil aeration may be poor vertical drainage as well as excessive rainfall. Conditions can be improved to some extent by drainage practices. High rate of percolation of water through the soil tends to remove plant nutrients and inhibit normal plant growth. Cover crops and addition of humus to the soil help to alleviate this problem. Heavy rainfall may directly damage plants or interfere with flowering and pollination. The effect of rain on the harvest and storage of grain and hay is a common problem. Special energy-consuming methods are employed to speed drying and prevent losses in storage. Snow and freezing rain are threats to winter plants. Hail is a special case of excessive moisture which causes direct damage to plants. DROUGHT Drought is the deficit that results when soil moisture is insufficient to meet the demands of potential evapotranspiration. Three classes of drought may be differentiated (1) permanent drought associated with arid climates; (2) seasonal drought, which occur in climates with distinct annual periods of dry weather; and (3) drought due to precipitation variability. Drought does not begin with the onset of a dry spell; it occurs when plants are inadequately supplied with moisture from be soil. Regions of permanent and seasonal drought coincide broadly with the world pattern of climates. Arid climates experience permanent drought. Prolonged droughts alter the pattern of agricultural land use on a major scale. COMBATING DROUGHT- IRRIGATION Prevention of drought damage to growing crops is a matter of either (1) decreasing the water need of crops or (2) increasing the water supply, or possibly a combination of the two. Planning of crops that have low water demands helps reduce the water need. Cultivation practices which improve the soil structure and inhibit runoff are effective. Weed control is especially important if the available water is to be used most effectively. In subhumid and semiarid climates dry farming methods depend on the conservation and use of two-or sometimes three-years rainfall on years crop. During the period when a field lies fallow, it is cultivated to kill weeds and to create soil structure that will retain moisture. Thus soil moisture stored during the fallow

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period supplements the meager rainfall in the crop season. In the case of seasonal droughts, the planting schedule often is adjusted to permit maturity and harvest before the effects of the dry season become too great. In arid regions, or where cropping must be confined to a warm, dry season, agriculture is possible only with irrigation. In semiarid and subhumid climates, irrigation makes possible larger yields and a greater variety of crops. It also lengthens the period during which land can be used productively and makes yields more consistent from year to year. The chief limitations on irrigation are the availability of water from surface-or ground-water sources and the cost of getting it to the fields. Within these limits, irrigation has the advantage that it can be regulated as an element in the water budget to meet the variable demands of different crops, different seasons or chance droughts. In general, irrigation is desirable whenever the soil moisture storage in the root zone drops to about 40 percent of capacity. Water must be applied before conditions reach the wilting point. CROPS AND WIND Wind has its most important effects on crops production indirectly through the transport of moisture and heat in the air. Movement of air increases evapotranspiration, but the effect decreases with increasing wind speed and varies among plant species. Moderate turbulence promotes the consumption of carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. Wind may speed the chilling of plants, or, on occasion, prevent frost by disrupting a temperature inversion. Wind dispersal of pollen and seeds is natural and necessary for native vegetation and may be helpful for certain crops but it is detrimental when weed seeds are spread or when unwanted cross fertilization of plants occurs. Direct mechanical effects are the breaking of plant structures, lodging of hay and cereals, or shattering of seed heads. Along the shores of salt lakes and oceans, salts transported inland by the wind affect both plants and the soil. Practices to avert the effects of wind on evapotranspiration are essentially those, including irrigation, employed to combat drought. Mechanical damage due to wind can be lessened somewhat by making use of natural or artificial shelter. Protected valleys and lee slopes are suitable for some types of crops which are easily damaged by wind. Windbreaks composed of trees, shrubs, hedges, or fences are widely used to protect both crops and animals from the wind. The best permanent windbreaks are rows of trees planted perpendicular to the prevailing winds. As a widespread measure to combat wind, they have accompanying disadvantages, however. They reduce the area of cultivated land, compete for soil moisture, and may produce harmful shade. If too dense, windbreaks generate turbulence that may nullify their intended effect.

CLIMATIC FACTORS IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY The climatic factor that effect pastures or feed crops therefore exert an indirect influence on livestock. Fluctuations in animal productivity frequently result from variations in the feed supply rather than from the direct effects of climatic elements on the normal body functions of animals. All breeds have optimum ranges of climate for maximum growth and development. The climatic elements which affect livestock indirectly through the feed supply are those which influence plant growth or the spread of insects and diseases. Those having direct effects are temperature, light, precipitation, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and storms. Sunlight and the duration of daylight influence animals in several ways. Breeds of cattle and pigs with light-colored skins are occasionally sunburned under intense sunshine. The daily feeding period of most classes of livestock is determined in part by the length of day. Cattle normally graze more in shaded locations. Weight gains of calves and lambs and milk production by dairy cows increase when the winter photoperiod is extended by supplementary lighting, even without increased consumption of feed. The primary influence of precipitation on livestock is through its effect on feed. If it is associated with cold weather, it tends to accentuate the detrimental effects of the low temperature. High relative humidity, whether associated with abundant rainfall or not, influences respiration and perspiration in animals. Very dry air may cause discomfort, but it is ordinarily of less importance than high temperature in a drought provided that feed and water are available. Wind may have good or bad effects, depending on wind speed and the accompanying temperatures. Moderate breezes ameliorate discomfort and ill effects caused by high temperatures. On the other hand, high winds increase drying, may fill the air with dust and sand, or intensify the impact of precipitation. Changes in atmospheric pressure appear to have some effect on animals. Relatively large pressure differences accompanying changes in altitude are especially significant. Decreasing pressure may be one of the stimulants to intensified feeding prior to the arrival of storm centers or fronts. Many of the restrictions on productively and regional distribution of both plants and animals are pathological, that is, they are caused by insects diseases. Climate nevertheless exerts an indirect influence. Various types of plant enemies, such as mildew, rusts, scabs, and blights, reproduce and spread most rapidly under conditions of warmth and high humidity. Spores of fungus disease are spread by the wind, making control difficult. Wheat, barley, and certain legumes are largely excluded from humid climates because of disease problems rather than direct climatic factors.

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The largest class of malefactors in the livestock industries is internal parasites. Climate and daily weather influence the distribution, rate of spread, and intensity of infestation of parasitic disease. Rainfall, wind, and sunlight render valuable assistance in maintaining sanitary conditions in pastures and feedlots. Their aid can be put to the best advantage by rotating animal from one enclosure to another. SELECTION AND BREEDING FOR CLIMATIC ADAPTATION Where a suitable environment cannot be provided economically for a specially plant variety or animal breed, the alternative is to select or bread other types that are adapted to prevailing conditions. This approach has contributed to increased yields and the expansion of agriculture into new regions since the beginning of cultivation and animal husbandry. Modern plant breeding aims to improve yield, quality resistance to pests, and adaptation to climatic factors, including short-term weather vagaries and longer-term climatic fluctuations. It also increasingly must meet the needs imposed by the changing technology of cultivation, harvesting, and possessing; but considerations of climate remain paramount. Development of disease resistant types through selection and crossbreeding has been another goal of animal scientists. PLANT AND ANIMAL INTORDUCTION The adaptation of crops and livestock to certain climatic optima is of great significance in connection with the introduction of a particular variety or breed into a new area. To the extent that climate influences the productiveness of crops or livestock, transfer of plants or animals to another region with a similar climate is likely to be successful. Tropical tree crops have been transplanted literally around the world. Coffee, believed to have been native to the highlands of eastern Africa, is now widely grown in tropical Latin America. The introduction of such Mediterranean crops as citrus fruits, olives, and wine grapes into other dry summer subtropical regions is an example of migration of crops to similar climates. Whereas many crop plants have been introduced

into new areas in the past largely on a trial-and-error basis, recent efforts have been directed toward detailed study of agro climatic relationship to improve yield, quality, or disease resistance. As world agriculture has expanded and the demands for food have increased plant introduction has come to mean more than the establishment of a new crop; it entails new varieties which have better characteristics for productivity in a particular environment. Climate influences animal introduction more through its effects on feed supplies than by direct means. When climates with sharply contrasting temperatures are involved, however, failure to acclimate and to maintain satisfactory production levels may present a serious obstacle to livestock introduction. AQUACULURE Fish contribute a significant share of the protein in the diet of many people. Aquaculture, like agriculture, entails maintenance of a special environment for production of organic matter. The principal climatic influences are exerted by light, temperature and wind. Other factors are water quality, nutrient supply, and undesirable organisms, all of which react to the climate system at least indirectly. An objective of aquaculture is to reduce or eliminate harmful effects, while taking advantage of favorable natural conditions. The methods include control of light, temperature, and water movement; aeration and filtration; fertilizing or feeding; selection, breeding, and transplanting; and protection from diseases and preying for competing organisms. Only a massive effort could establish true mariculture in the open ocean. An intermediate stage of fish herding or transport offers potential for increasing oceanic production if due attention is given to climatic and other limitations. Bivalve molluscs are sedentary, they are more easily cultivated than most fish, but they are also less able to avoid desiccation or changes in temperature and water quality. Swimming species such as carp and catfish readily adapt to pond culture and are most productive in warm humid climates.

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TOPIC-XIV

URBAN CITY CLIMATES


Cities concentrate people and their activities in small areas, thereby providing excellent opportunities to examine cultural modifications of climate. Although atmospheric pollution, which normally attains greater densities over cities, has received a large share of popular attention in recent years, it is not the only factor influencing city climates. Urban areas are also moisture sources. In turn these affect radiation, visibility, temperature, wind, humidity, cloudiness, and precipitation. Concentrations of pollutants in the air above a city create an urban aerosol, which attenuates insolation, especially when the sun angle is low as in the case at high latitudes and in winter. The aerosols is best developed (that is, at its worst) during conditions of stale air and calms or light winds. In comparison with open rural areas the annual total direct solar radiation in the heart of large industrial cities may be decreased by 15 to 30 percent. Insolation has been observed to vary during the week, being greatest on Sundays, when industrial activity and traffic are at a minimum. The urban aerosol is somewhat selective, for it reduces the proportion of an ultraviolet radiation more than the longer wave lengths. It reduces the numElements Solid particles Gases Cloud cover Fog, winter Fog, summer Precipitation Snowfall Rain days with less than 5 mm Relative humidity, winter Relative humidity, summer Radiation Ultraviolet radiation, winter Ultraviolet radiation, summer Duration of sunshine Annual mean temperature Heating degree days Annual mean windspeed Calms The roughness of the city surface increases frictional drag and turbulence. Gustiness and erratic flow of wind through the maze of urban canyons are well known to the city dweller, although gusts are more likely to reach their maximum speeds in the open countryside. Except under conditions of low regional wind speeds the mean wind speed within the city is lower than in the surrounding rural environment. When nighttime winds are light, the speeds in the central city air ber of bright sunshine house as well as the horizontal visibility. In spite of the diminished insolation the center of the typical metropolis constitutes a heat island that has a shape and size related to urban morphology, buildings, and industries and that results largely from urban heat generation and storage. Temperatures normally are highest near the city center and decline gradually toward the suburbs, beyond which there is a steep downward temperature gradient at the rural margin. The differences are greater at night than by day. Although heat islands tend to be larger and more intense over large urban areas, the relation is not direct. Spacing of buildings and both kind and amount of activity influence heat island development. Owing to the blanketing effect of pollutants on the radiation budget, diurnal ranges of temperature are less in urban areas than over the countryside. In view of the importance of vertical temperature lapse rates to atmospheric stability, the island generates modest convection. To the lee of cities, an urban heat plume at several meters above the surface may intensify rural inversions. Comparison with rural environment 10 times more 5 to 25 times more 5 to 10 percent greater 100 percent more 30 percent more 5 to 10 percent more 5 percent less 10 percent less 2 percent less 8 percent less 15 to 20 percent less 30 percent less 5 percent less 5 to 15 percent less 0.5 to 1.0c higher 10 percent fewer 20 to 30 percent less 5 to 20 percent more inhibits surface flow, and calms are more frequent, whereas the relative instability of city air promotes turbulence, and stronger winds from above reach the surface more often. A strong heat island generates its own circulation system. The inflow of cooler rural air toward the rising air over the city is generally weaker than might be expected, however, and is best developed on relatively calm, clear nights. Smoke plumes of residential

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areas have been observed to point toward a city center. The tendency of air to rise above the heat island is a possible explanation of greater cloudiness over cities and may account in part for greater precipitation, for cities are good sources of condensation and ice nuclei. One of the problems in urban precipitation studies is the difficulty of finding unpolluted rural areas with which to make experimental comparisons. A small number of ice nuclei injected into supercooled clouds might enhance rainfall, but a massive addition of condensation nucleus to air before it reaches its saturation temperature and produces warm clouds should lead to formation of many small droplets and inhibit rainfall. The net effect of the urban aerosol on precipitation over the city and on the leeward in not clearly understood. In depends on the kind and number of nuclei emitted by urban sources, natural nuclei, relative humidity, thermally lapse rates, and mechanical turbulence. Although climatological evidence is sparse, it may be that the incidence of hail is relatively greater over cities owing to convection activity. The proportion of precipitation in the form of snow appears to be less over urban centers, presumably because of higher temperature associated with the heat island, and when it falls, its effect on the surface albedo is rapidly modified by snow removal operations and urban dust. The potential effects of the urban aerosol on a

heat island suggest processes leading to increased precipitation downwind from a city. Although conclusive results for a large number of cities under different conditions are lacking, specific studies appear to support a modification hypothesis. The Metropolitan Meteorological Experiment (METROMEX) was initiated at St. Louis, Missouri in 1971 as a cooperative project of several research organizations to investigate urban influences. Its findings include greater convective activity, more thunderstorms, denser concentrations of condensation nuclei, 10 to 30 percent more precipitation, and a greater incidence of hail along storm paths to the lee of the urban area than over adjacent rural land. The mean relative humidity in city air is usually a few percent lower than in the surrounding country, especially at night and in summer when the heat island is well developed. Rural-urban differences in specific humidity are much more complex. Urban surfaces promote rapid runoff of precipitation, whereas vegetation and soil in the country retain moisture for evaporation over a longer period. On the other hand, the difference in availability of water vapor is offset to some extent by the many combustion sources in the city. During periods of light winds, tall buildings may inhibit the flow of air at ground level and thus reduce the upward diffusion of moist air. The net effect of all factors in a given city is to produce specific humidity values that reflect influences of urban form and function.

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TOPIC-XV

CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION
Because of the interplay between the various climatic controls many variations in the climate exist, even within a given latitude zone. Since the number of combinations of different climatic controls is very large, every location on the earths surface has a distinctive climate. The geographers goal in classifying is to bring order to large quantities of information. By establishing groups composed of items having certain fundamental characteristics in common, order and simplicity are introduced. This type of organization in scientific terminology is referred to as classification. As a fundamental tool of science, classification has three interrelated objectives: to bring order to large quantities of information, to speed retrieval of information, and to facilitate communication. Climatic classification is a device by which the multiplicity of atmospheric conditions upon the earth is meaningfully organized. Climatic classification has a number of advantages, by identifying climatic types; we are able to predict various associated visible aspects of the environment. It may also enable to predict the climate of a region through his observation of the vegetation, animal life, soils or landforms. A climatic region has been defined as an area of the earths surface over which an approximately homogeneous set of climatic conditions is produced by the combined effects of a number of climatic controls. The particular set of climatic conditions is called a climatic type. Climatic classifications are generally of two types: (1) empirical, and (2) genetic. Empirical classification is based on statistics, experiments, or physical characteristic relating to climate. It is based on observations; it is therefore usually more stable over time than a genetic classification. Genetic variation, on the other hand, is based on the causes or the genesis of climatic variation. In this scheme of classification climatic phenomena, as they obtain in different areas on the earths surface, are organized according to their causes or origin. Koppen Of the several schemes of climatic classification, the one devised by Wladimir Koppen still remains the most widely known descriptive system. Koppen proposed his first classification in 1900, using the 1874 world vegetation map of de Condole, a French plant physiologist. This classification scheme uses certain critical values of temperature of the warmest and the coldest months and precipitation of the wettest and the driest months. (A) Megatherms. The season is winterless, the average temperature of the coldest month being above 18 C. There is at least one month of heavy precipitation. Certain areas of this belt are characterized by two rainy seasons. (B) Xerophytes. The semi-arid steppes and hot deserts. (C) Mesotherms. Moderate heat and amount of moisture. Regions lying between latitudes 22 and 45 N and S. The average values of temperatures are usually below 18 C for the coldest month and 22 C for the warmest month. (D) Microtherms. Lower mean values of annual temperature, summer cool and short, and winters colder are called microtherms. The monthly mean temperature for the warmest month is at least 10 C and less than 22 C. The mean temperature for the coldest month is below 6 C. Occasional snow in winter and adequate precipitation during the warmer months. (E) Hekistotherms. Snow-bound Arctic region beyond the polar limits. Koppen revised his classification first in 1918, when he paid greater attention to the monthly and annual averages of temperature and precipitation and their seasonal distribution. Koppen classification continued to be modified. Koppen-Geiger world climatic map was published in 1936. However, a further modified version of Koppens original classification was published in 1953, which is known as Koppen-Geiger-Pohls classification of world climate. Koppen placed reliance on his belief that the distribution of natural vegetation was the best expression of the totally of climate. The Koppen system recognizes five principal categories of climate; each category is designated by a capital letter as follows. A. Humid tropical climates. Winterless climates; it is hot all seasons; all months have a mean temperature above 18 C. B. Dry climates. In these climates evaporation exceeds precipitation; there is a constant water deficiency. C. Humid mesothermal climates or warm temperate rainy climates. These climates have mild winters; the average temperature of the coldest months below 18 C but above-3C; the average temperature of the warmest month over 10C. In this group of climate both the seasons, winter and summer, are found. D. Humid microthermal climates or cold snowforest climates. These climates have severe winters; the average temperature of the coldest month is below-3 and that of the warmest month exceeds 10C.

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E. Polar climates. These are summerless climates; the warmest monthly mean is below 10C. Four of the principal categories of climatic groups

(A, C, D, and E) are based on temperature characteristics, while the fifth, the B category, has precipitation as its fundamental criterion.

Letter symbol
1st 2nd 3rd A f m w B

Explanation
Average temperature of coolest month 18 C or higher Precipitation in driest month at least 6 cm Precipitation in driest month at least 6 cm but equal to or greater than 10 r / 25 Precipitation in driest month less than 10 r / 25 70% or more of annual precipitation falls in warmer six months (April through September in the Northern Hemisphere) and r less than 2t+28 70% or more of annul precipitation falls in cooler six months (October through March in Northern Hemisphere) and r less than 2t Neither half of year with more than 70% of annual precipitation and r less than 2t+14 r less than upper limit of applicable requirement for B r less than upper limit for B but more than that amount t greater than 18 C t less than 18 C Average temperature of warmest month greater than 10C and of coldest month between 18 and 0 C Precipitation in driest month of summer half of year less than 4 cm and less than 1/3of amount in wettest winter month Precipitation in driest month of winter half of year less than 1/10 of amount in wettest summer month Precipitation not meeting conditions of either s or w Average temperature of warmest month 22 C or above Average temperature of each of four warmest month 10C or above; temperature of warmest month below 22C Average temperature of from one to three months 10 C or above; temperature of warmest below 22C. Average temperature of warmest month greater than 10 and of coldest month 0C or below Same as under C Same as under C Same as under C Same as under C Same as under C Same as under C Average temperature of coldest month below -38 C (d is then used instead of a, b, or c Average temperature of warmest month below 10C Average temperature of warmest month between 10 and 0C Average temperature of warmest month 0 or below Temperature requirements same as E, but due to altitude (generally above 1,500 m) classification is based on statistical parameters, each climatic region can be precisely defined. The temperature and precipitation affect other

W S h k C s w f a b c D s w f a b c d E T F H

Koppen used the temperature and precipitation statistics in his classification of the climate. These two weather elements are easy to measure. Since Koppens

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aspects of our physical environment more directly than any other element. His climatic classification system is based on the relationship between the types of plants at a particular place and the climatic characteristics of the place. Koppen introduced the concept of effective precipitation which depends on the rate of potential evapotranspiration. Potential evapotranspiration is largely controlled by temperature. Since climatic boundaries in Koppens system of classification were designed to delimit the vegetation regions, they may be taken to be vegetation boundary. Another advantage of this classification is that it is possible to assign a given place to a particular climatic sub-group only on the basis of certain easily acquired statistics about an areas temperature and precipitation. All the major groups, sub-groups and further subdivisions are described by a combination of letters. Lastly, this classification is so simple and detailed that it can be easily used at different education levels. There are certain drawbacks from which this classification scheme suffers. Koppen based his classification on the mean monthly values of temperature and precipitation. Precipitation can only be estimated rather than measured accurately. This makes comparison from one locality to another rather difficult. Further, Koppen did not take into account such weather elements as winds precipitation intensity, amount of cloudiness, and daily temperature extremes only for the sake of making his classification generalized and simple. Another major drawback is that it is empirical. The causative factors of climate have been totally ignored. Thus, the air masses, which form the very basis of modern climatology, could not find any place in Koppens classification. Lastly, the letter symbols used by Koppen in his climates classification provide international shorthand describing climate regions that are rather difficult to characterize in words. Thornthwaite C.W. Thornthwaite, an American climatologist, introduced two climatic classifications, one in 1931, and the other in 1948. In 1931, Thornthwaite devised a complex and empirical classification which was very close to Koppens scheme. However, Thornthwaites classification is based on precipitation effectiveness and thermal efficiency (temperature efficiency). Under this classification climatic types were subdivided by the use of a term to denote the seasonal distribution of precipitation. The climatic types and their boundaries were defined empirically by observing the characteristics of natural vegetation, soil, and the drainage pattern. T=mean monthly temperature (in F) is calculated. The sum of the 12 monthly ratios gives the precipitation effectiveness (also called precipitation efficiency)

index. On the basis of P/E indices and boundary values for the major vegetation regions, five humidity provinces were defined.

Main climatic groups based on precipitation effectiveness


Humidity Province A (Wet) B (Humid) C (Subhumid) D (Semi arid) E (Arid) Vegetation Rain Forest Forest Grassland Steppe Desert P/E Index 127 64-127 32-63 16-31 16

Thornthwaite introduced an index of thermal efficiency. The index is thus the annual sum of (t-32)/4 for each month. In other words, the sum of twelve monthly temperature efficiency rations (T/E) gives a T/E index. On the basis of the seasonal distribution of precipitation the humidity provinces were subdivided into the following: r- Rainfall adequate in all seasons. s- Rainfall deficient in summer. w- Rainfall deficient in winter. d- Rainfall deficient in all seasons. When precipitation effectiveness, seasonal distribution of rainfall and thermal efficiency are taken together there would be in all 120 climatic types. However, Thornthwaite has shown only 32 climatic types on the world map. It differs from Koppens classification on two scores: first, he introduced an expression for precipitation efficiency, and second, he made use of an index of thermal efficiency. Delimitation of the climatic boundaries becomes difficult and vague. Besides, there are almost three times greater than Koppens climatic types. Another characteristic feature is that the climatic types in this classification can be recognized by the letter symbols alone. In this scheme of climatic classification the lack of adequate climatic data presented as serious handicap. Like Koppens classification, this classification too does not permit comparison from one locality to another. These schemes of classification are not so useful for meteorologists and climatologists because the interplay between the weather elements and other climatic factors is not clearly shown. In 1948, Thornthwaite proposed a new classification of climate; based on the concept of potential evapotranspiration, which represents the amount of moisture that would be transferred to the atmosphere by evaporation of liquid or solid water, plus transpiration from living tissues, principally plants if it ( the moisture ) were available. For a 30-day month (12-hour days): PE (in cm) = 1.6 (10 t/I) a

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where I = sum of 12 months of (t/5) 1.514 a = a further complex function of I. The most characteristic feature of this classification scheme is that the temperature efficiency is calculated from the PE value, this being a function of temperature. Using computed indices of moisture and heat, Thornthwaite defined the moisture and thermal provinces. : A, B4, B3, B2, B1, C2, C1, D, and E. Thus, on the basis of moisture index alone, 9 humidity provinces have been defined. Similarly on the basis of average annual thermal efficiency and its summer concentration, 9 thermal provinces have been categorized : A, B4, B3, B2, B1, C2, C1, D, and E. This classification system has proved most satisfactory in case of North America where vegetation boundaries nearly coincide with particular PE values. But it is not satisfactory for the tropical and semiarid areas. Thornthwaite does not determine his climatic boundaries on the basis of vegetation boundaries. In this respect, he differs from Koppen in case of his second classification Thornthwaite as a climatologist developed the concept of the soil-moisture balance, and he uses it as the foundation of his climate system. The soil-moisture balance represents availability of moisture for plants, and an assessment of the availability of surplus moisture to supply stream flow and ground water. The amount and availability of soil moisture is also affected besides other factors, by the losses due to evapotranspiration. Even though this scheme of climatic classification is based on two variables: (1) precipitation, and (2) evapotranspiration, temperature is by no means ignored in it. Temperature is also accounted for while calculating evapotranspiration. The most significant contribution of Thornthwaite has been that the concept of evapotranspiration has been applied in practical studies of the water balance as regards the problems of water use. Trewartha Glenn T. Trewartha in his book An Introduction to Climate (1980) his latest revision differs radically from the Koppens classification. The climate classification system devised by Trewartha represents a compromise between purely empirical and genetic methods. Trewartha recognized only a limited number of principal climatic types, usually fewer than 15. From the utilitarian point of view, he considers empirical classification as superior to genetic classification of climate. Trewartha has classified world climates in 6 great climatic groups out of which five (A, C, D, E, F) are based on temperature criteria, and the sixth (B) is the dry group based on precipitation. Climatic Groups Based on Temperature Criteria A. Tropical humid Climate. The type of climate is found in the low latitudes on each side of the equator in an irregular belt 20 to 40 wide. There

in no winter season in this climatic group. Temperature is uniformly high throughout the year with adequate annual rainfall. There is no occurrence of frost in any part of the year. This climatic group is subdivided into two climatic types which are as under. Ar. Tropical wet climate. Characterized by less than two dry months. Extends out 5 to 10 on either side of the equator. This type of climate is under the influence of intertropical convergence zone and the equatorial westerlies. Distinguished by constant low pressure. It is also known as the tropical rainforest. Aw. Tropical wet-and-dry climate. Annual average precipitation is less than that in Ar. During the winter season, Aw climatic regions are dominated by the dry trade winds or subtropical anticyclones. The duration of dry season is longer than that of the wet season. Because of the occurrence of deciduous forest and tree-studded grasslands, Aw is often referred to as Savanna Climate. Temperature is uniformly high. C. Subtropical Climate. For 8 months, the temperatures are generally above 18 Celsius. The isotherm of 18 C for the coolest month forms the equatorward boundary of C climate. Occasional frosts occur in its continental parts, but the marine locations are frostless. Cfw. Subtropical humid climate. On the eastern side of continents. This climatic type has no distinct dry season. During winter it is influenced by the temperate climates poleward. D. Temperate Climate. Also known as the microthermal climatic type. Its poleward and equatorward boundaries are formed by average temperature of 10 Celsius for 4 and 8 month respectively. Found in the middle-latitudes between the subtropical and boreal climates. There are the following two types: Do. Temperate marine climate: In this type of climate, winters are mild. Average temperature for all the 12 months is 0 Celsius or above. It is found on the western windward side of the continents in the temperate zone. This is a humid climate with adequate precipitation at all seasons. Dc. Temperate continental climate: The temperate continental climate is found in the continental interiors or leeward areas of the middle-latitude continents. This type of climate is land-controlled. It is confined to the northern hemisphere with a latitudinal spread of about 10 to 20. This climatic type is characterized by severe winter and summers. During winter the ground is covered with snow. Precipitation occurs in all the months of the year with maximum concentration during the summer months. E. Boreal Climate: Boreal climate is found in the higher middle latitudes. It is super-continental

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in temperature features. The summers are short and cool. The winters are long and very cold with a very short forest-free season. One to three months during the year have average temperatures of 10C or above. Average temperatures for the rest of the year are below 10 Celsius. Even though boreal climates are classified as humid, annual precipitation is generally meager. Precipitation occurs throughout the year. Coniferous forest is the predominant natural vegetation F. Polar climates: Polar climates are found in the high latitudes. These climates are confined to the northern hemisphere only. The average temperature of no month exceeds 10 Celsius. There is no summer season. The Polar climates are classified into the following two climate types: Ft. Tundra climatic: Found only in the northern hemisphere, where it occupies the coastal fringes of the Arctic Ocean, and many Arctic islands. The equator ward boundary of this climate is determined by the 10 Celsius summer isotherm. Tundra region is characterized by the absences of trees. It is essentially a region of grasses, mosses, and Iichens. The average temperature of the warmest month is recorded between 0 and 10 Celsius. Annual temperature ranges are small. This is a region of permafrost where the subsoil is permanently frozen. However, the warmest season gets the maximum precipitation. Snowfall is usually dry and powdery. Fi. Ice-cap Climate. In ice-cap climate, the average temperature for all the months is below freezing. There is no vegetation of any kind. The landscape is one of permanent ice and snow. It is exclusively confined to the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica. Precipitation in meager, and falls as snow.

Climatic Group Based on Precipitation Criteria B. Dry Climate. The boundaries of the dry type of climatic group are fixed by precipitation values. The characteristic feature of a dry climate is that the loss of moisture through evapotranspiration is far in excess of the annual receipt of water gain from precipitation. Because of clear and calm weather and the dry atmosphere, the dry climates are severe for their latitudes. Extreme seasonal temperatures cause large annual ranges to temperature. Annual average precipitation in these climates is always meager and highly variable. Other salient features of the dry climates are low relative humidity, high potential evaporation, abundant sunshine, and small cloudiness. In Trewarthas classification, the isotherm of 8 months with a temperature of 10 Celsius or above taken to be the boundary between hot and cold (h/k) dry climates. According to Trewartha, the middle latitude cold deserts are considered as mere poleward extension of the hot deserts. These cold deserts are generally positioned in the leeward of high mountains or in the continental interiors. Trewarthas climatic classification tends to emphasize only two principal climatic elements especially temperature and precipitation. Trewartha also makes use of words or phrases to designate the main climatic types. The primary objective of this classification is to divide the world into climatic regions so as to provide a framework for the study of pattern of land use and human settlement as well as organized geographical description. Because of its simplicity and usefulness, this classification is widely used by geographers. The boundaries of the climatic regions in this classification are based on the average of the climatic conditions over a 30-year period. Lastly this climatic classification has been kept quite simple and recognizes only limited number of principal climatic types.

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TOPIC-XVI

CLIMATE AND URBAN PLANNING


The construction and design of new buildings demand that the full consideration should be given to the relationship between climate and architecture. Besides, the field of urban climatology is mainly concerned with planning to reduce urban thermal excesses and air pollution. Planner must take into account the timing and effects of urbanization on the various weather elements. In order to cope with the problem of air pollution and the thermal stresses, certain remedial measures have been suggested. The most effective means of reducing the urban temperature excess is, indeed, the properly spaced green areas in the city. A careful selection of the building materials of different compositions and of different colours will have their effects on albedo and heat absorption. Thus they are able to create temperature differences within the city, which in turn, encourage mixing and ventilation. Similarly water bodies in the vicinity of a city may help to minimize the effect of maximum temperature. Concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere above a city produces urban aerosols. These aerosols have their own effects on several climatic elements in the city. The aerosols are in greater concentrations when there is stability in the lower layers of the atmosphere and there is calm. The urban aerosols are selective because they reduce the proportion of ultraviolet radiation more than the long wave radiation. They also adversely affect the bright sunshine hours and reduce horizontal visibility. Because of the concentration of aerosols over the cities, the diurnal ranges of temperature are less over there than in the country side. In addition, the nighttime inversions over the urban settlements are weaker. To the leeward side of the cities the rural inversions tend to intensify. The impact of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding pollution sources in more congested areas or in areas prone to frequent low inversions. Large chimneys which are high penetrate the inversion layer. These high chimneys should be build as far as possible, downwind from residential and business districts. The mean wind speed within the city is lower than in the nearly rural areas. The city should lie in a linear orientation across the direction of prevailing winds. The development planning of a rapidly growing city makes the application of climatology and meteorology more relevant. Urban Heat Island The temperatures are highest near the centre of a city and diminish slowly towards the suburbs. In the central area of a metropolitan city and temperatures are 1 to 2 degrees warmer in the winter than the surrounding countryside. The heat is generated by the concentration of objects and activities in the city, such as factories, motor vehicles, and homes. The surface materials such as brick, concrete, and pucca houses and streets of the city retain heat better than do the grass and fields in the rural areas. Warm air cools as it rises from an urban centre and begins to circulate. An urban dust dome is created by dust, soot, and smoke carried by the wind. It retards the outflow of heat from the city, further enhancing the heat island effect. The particulates in the dust dome produce a level of rainfall about 10 percent higher in the city than in the surrounding countryside. Cities also have 50 percent more fog in winter and 30 percent more in summer. Heat island has a shape and size that depend on the layout of the urban area, buildings and industries. It results from urban heat generation and storage. The difference in temperature is greater at night than during the day. Normally the heat islands are larger and more intense over big cities; the relationship is not direct. The heat island development is influenced by the spacing of buildings, and the various kinds of economic activities. Thus, the intensity of a heat island depends on the density of buildings as well as that of population. Temperatures are normally higher where buildings are closely built and where there are narrow lanes and streets.

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TOPIC-XVII

PROXY EVIDENCE AND GEOCHRONOLOGY


Reconstruction of climates prior to the record of human history depends on proxy data, which are inferred from natural climatic indicators. Plant and animal fossils in various sedimentary deposits are the primary clues to duration and geographical extent of temperature and moisture conditions since the beginning of the Cambrian Period nearly 600 million years ago, when forms began to develop rapidly and the free oxygen content of the atmosphere increased. It follows that the range of paleoclimatic fluctuations must fall within the limits allowable to support sea life and probably within the limits for plant life on land as well. For estimates of temperature and precipitation from fossils, it is assumed that environmental conditions required by a given species today were also favorable for the species in the past. This principle, known as uniformitarianism, governs a wide variety of geologic and climatic studies that involve organic residues. Inorganic deposits of alluvial, aeolian, glacial, or volcanic origin also reflect past climates, although they often contain organic materials that enhance interpretation. Erosional landforms offer corroborative evidence of climatic processes such as flooding, glaciations, or wind action. Shoreline feature indicate changing lake and ocean levels in response to climatic fluctuations. Glaciology consists of trends in precipitation and temperatures that are revealed by the areal extent of glaciers and in the resulting landforms. Hans Ahlmann first correlated measurements of ice ablation (reduction of glacier volume by evaporation, sublimation, and melting) and simultaneous weather observations. Ahlmann and his followers have shown that the climate of the arctic and sub arctic became warmer in the first part of the twentieth century, the major changes being at the higher latitudes. Application of the oxygen isotope method of paleo-temperature analysis to deep cores from the ice of Greenland and Antarctica has yielded temperature estimates for approximately the last 100,000 years. The technique of oxygen isotope analysis, discovered by Harold C. Urey, entails determination of the ratio between oxygen-18 and oxygen-16 isotopes in the H2O molecules by means of mass spectrometry. When air temperatures are high, more of the heavier oxygen-18 isotope is evaporated from the ocean and subsequently precipitates on ice caps. Conversely during cold periods a greater proportion of the lighter oxygen-16 is transferred to polar ice layers. In either case the ocean water undergoes a compensating change in the 18O/ 16O ratio. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the shells of marine microorganism reflects the ratio, thus making it possible to derive a record of past temperatures and periods of glaciation from deep-see organic sediments. Oxygen isotope analyses of deep-sea cores provide a continuous temperature record for more than a million years. Geochronology paleo-climates are accomplished primarily with reference to decay rates of radioactive (unstable) isotopes in geological formations and deepsea deposits. Paleo-soils, ancient peat bogs, residues from evaporation of water bodies (evaporates), ice cores and calcium carbonate deposits in caves are other types of proxy records that can be dated by radiometry. Techniques for dating organic remains are especially valuable for correlation the evidences in life forms and geological strata. The carbon-14 method, developed by Willard F. Libby, is applicable to plant and animal matter and even to carbon dioxide in air or water, but its range of accuracy is acceptable for only about the last 50,000 years. One of the most detailed chronologies for the past few thousand years lies in varves, the annual layers of silt and clay deposited on the bottoms of lakes and ponds that are subject to freezing in winter and thawing in summer. The only material being deposited in a frozen lake is the fine suspended clay; the surface ice prevents other material from entering. When thawing begins, fresh water and coarse sediments are introduced in parts; because of climatic fluctuations, no two successive years have the same thickness of deposits. Thus, parallel dating of lake beds in the same region is possible through matching of varve thickness. Varves cannot be formed under glaciers because of the necessity for annual freezing and thawing. A proxy technique known as dentrochronology is based on the annual increment of the growth, mainly in the middle and high latitudes. Records in tree rings go back mare than 3,000 years in living tress and another 5,000 years or more in fossil wood and ruins. A close relation between annual rainfall and the growth rings of tress under climatic stress was demonstrated by A.E. Douglass in studies have shown that temperature, pressure, and atmospheric circulation patterns also correlate with tree-ring widths, making it possible to characterize major climatic fluctuations. A global paleoclimatic calendar, reconstructed from proxy data, shows a sequence of low temperature and intermittent glaciation from 800 to 600 million years ago, followed by warmer ice-free conditions through the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian Periods. During the late Carboniferous and early Permian, approximately 300 million years ago, cool-wet climates produces extensive much of present day Africa, India, Australia, Antarctica, and South America. Through the Mesozoic Era, warm and dry conditions were dominant, and there were no polar ice caps. Beginning in the early Epochs of the

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Cenozoic Era, polar ice advanced and receded in concert with a succession of temperature fluctuations, culminating in the glacial ages of the Quaternary. During the Quaternary the subtopic highs gradually shifted from 50 or 60 latitude toward their present positions. The last major ice advance reached its maximum about 18,000 years ago and halted by rapid melting and recession that continued until about 6,000 years ago at the height of the Holocene, or most recent interglacial epoch. Concurrently, mean sea level rose approximately 100m. Continuity of local instrument exposure and observational precision is essential to essential a reliable record of true climatic change. In order to achieve this objective, the World Meteorological Organization has recommended that reference climatological (benchmark) stations be established permanently at representative sites where local changes in the environment can be kept to a minimum. World temperature trends were upward from about 1885 to 1940, rising by about 1C in winter and less than 0.6 for the year. The greatest increases were in winter over the arctic regions, where rises in excess of 3C characterized the period 1917 to 1937. After 1940 the rate of increase slowed and then began a reversal. Low-latitude regions experienced comparable trends, but of smaller magnitude. Additional information on climatic trends, partly inferred from proxy data, indicates a greater warming in eastern Greenland and northern Scandinavia, where mid-century winters averaged 4 to 7C higher than in 1900. This warming was expressed in the oceans also, codfish were found farther north in the Atlantic than ever before in history. There have been climatic fluctuations in historic times, but the regularity of climatic cycles is less certain. Analyses of both proxy and instrumental data have suggested great number of supposed cycles, few of which have a dependable regularity. Evaluations of hypothetical climatic cycles often are more productive when cause and effect are treated together. Even if climatic fluctuations were found to occur randomly, it is likely that they are the result of random causes. The relentless search for periodicities in solar activity, earth-sun relations, composition of the atmosphere and other phenomena that may influence climate will no doubt continue as long as there as there is even a remote hope of identifying cycles, which would be valuable aids to climate forecasting. Recent climatic data have intensified the debate among the international scientific community on whether global warming is a result of the periodically changing energy equations of the solar system or a consequence of variations in magnitude of cosmic rays in the atmosphere or due to mankind continued destruction of the environment. If all these factors together contributed for global warming then now can their contribution be quantified? Till now the current

rise in global temperature has been presented as a consequence of mans unplanned developmental processes. The emission of green house gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) methane (CH4) nitrous oxide (W2O) and chlorofluorocarbons are mainly being held responsible for it. This one sided and crude scientific statement has now met with criticism. Cities say that scientists and environmentalists have underestimated the contribution of suns output, role of cosmic rays volcanic activates and ocean current circulation. Our preoccupation with global warming neglects the fact that the climate of our planet has continuously changed over time. Geological history of climate change For the construction of the geological history of climate change and temperature variation of our planet, our scientists have mainly relied on secondary and indirect data. The geological history of earth has been divided into main four periods (1) Pre-cambrian (2) Paleozoic (3) Mesozoic (4) Cenozoic and it dates back to 4 lakh thousand years, for which the estimation of temperature variation is very difficult. During Pleistocene era which refers to last 20 million years on our planet, glacial and inter glacial periods occurred roughly around every 1 lakh years. Between these glacial and interglacial epochs, temperature varied by 4-6 C. Last glacial epoch occurred around 18000 years ago and today we are living in interglacial warm period. The last glacial epoch which ended around 10,000 years ago, was followed by a Holocene sub era during which temperature varied by 2C. The striking feature of this era was the Holocene Maximum with warm climatic conditions which occurred nearly 5000 years ago. Climatic history of last 1000 years is characterized by medieval warm period and little ice age. The little ice ended around the mid 19th century. During this time temperature was 0.5 less than that prevailed at the dawn of the 20th century. We have definite instrumental records of temperature only for the last 100-200 years. Analysis of the temperature from 1860 to 1980 shows that the world temperature has increased by 0.5 C during last 100 years. And this has been the disturbing trend in temperature variation. This sudden increase in global temperature made the scientists to conclude that the industrialization and other phenomena related to fossil fuel burning have led to the present phenomenon of global warming. But some recent studies by Dr. F. Christensen, Brian Tinsley and other scientists have challenged the above mentioned explanation and have showed some role of cosmic rays in current global warming trends. Systematic understandings of the current debates make it essential for us to discuss the different theoretical perspective on climate changes which have developed till now.

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Theories of climate change The main theories of climate change which have been developed so far are orbital theories, theories of variation in solar radiation and theories analyzing atmosphere composition. Orbital theories The orbital theories of climate change mainly reason the premises of variations in the obliquity of the earths axis, eccentricity of earths orbit around sun and the precession for the explanation of the climatic changes. These theories seem to the more relevant in explaining the climatic changes. Earths axis which is currently inclined at an age of 23.50 changes its inclination from 22.1 to 24.5 in a cycle of 41000 years. These changes in the angles of inclination lead to the variation of temperature difference between summers and winters. Secondly, atmosphere phenomena which explain the climatic or temperature variations is the variations in eccentricity of the earths orbit around its shape from elliptical to circular or vice-versa in a period of 40,000 to l lakh years. In more circular orbit, the difference between the solar radiation received by earth at perihelion and aphelion positions is not more than 6%. But this variation gets increased to 20-30% in case of more elliptical orbit. Thus this change in the magnitude of solar radiation received by earth leads to temperature variation. Thirdly, it is the precession which leads to the temperature variation. Today our earths axis is pointing towards the North Star, but after 12000 years in 14000 A. D. it will point towards star Vega and again it will come back toward North Star in the same time period. This precession of 26000 years leads to great climatic changes and summers will be more warmer and winters will be more cooler when axis will point towards star Vega. Theories of variation in solar radiation These theories rake into consideration the total output of solar radiation and its variation with time. Two important theories of such kind are variable sun theory and sunspots. Variable sun theory argues that the amount of energy produced by sun varies with time and this increased or decreased output brings about corresponding climate changes. Sunspots are back spots on the surface of the sun and they appear in cyclic phase. These sun spots are associated with increased solar radiation and thus with climate change. Theories analyzing atmospheric composition These theories have attained great significance and have been presented as the most appropriate explanation for current global warming trends. CO2 theory and volcanic dust theory have been the two most important theories of this group. CO 2 theory which was propounded by T.C. Chambellin holds that CO2 the greenhouse gas which

is transparent to incoming solar radiations and radiates back the long wave radiations emitted by the earth, is helpful in maintaining atmospheric temperature and any increase or decrease in its atmospheric composition will bring corresponding temperature variations in earths atmosphere. The supporters of this theory believe that the current rise of temperature is due to increased CO2 concentration in atmosphere and the current rate of increase in CO2 will lead to an increase of temperature by 2 C by 240 A.D. Volcanic dust theory holds that the increased concentration of volcanic dust particles in atmosphere lead to the lowering of atmosphere temperature because atmospheric volcanic dust deflects the incoming solar radiation back but is transparent to outgoing long terrestrial radiations. This increased concentration of volcanic dust seems to be the most probable cause of the advent of the little ice age. Though these different theoretical perspectives hold different factors responsible for global warming, emphasis has been placed on the green house effect. They have shown the correlation between increased concentration of green house gases and increased global temperature. As per Watsons report, supported by many other scientists, the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse CO2 , CH4 , N2O and CFCs has been increasing and the estimates are:Carbon Dioxide (CO2): As per indirect estimates from polar ice sheets, the CO 2 concentration in pre-industrial era was 280 ppm. In 1993, it has got increased to 358 ppm with an annual growth rate of 5%. The main reason responsible for it is fossil fuel burning. Methane (Ch4): The atmospheric concentration of methane has increased from 8000 ppb in pre-industrial era to 1720 ppb in 1900 at an average of 6 to 8% per annum. It is emitted to atmosphere from wetlands, animals termites, water bodies, paddy fields, land fills and bio-mass burnings. Nitrous Oxide (N2O): N2O concentration in atmosphere has not shown quick increase and annul rate is between 0.2% to 0.3%. Its concentration in 1990 was 310 ppb. Till now the sources of N2O increase have remained very uncertain and different studies have given different contradictory results about sources. But now different studies have tried to link the increased concentration with human activity. Halocarbons: Halocarbons which include most dangerous CFC 11 and CFC 12 have more detrimental effects on the environment. Their concentration has been increasing more than any other greenhouse gas at a rate of 3.4% per annum. They are not naturally occurring and are used as refrigerants, solvents etc. Now their production has been restricted by the 1987 Montreal protocol.

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Green house gases and climate changes While analyzing the relationship between green house gases and climate we depend on two types of resources (1) The geological records and (2) The instrumental records. The geological records show a positive relationship between green house gases concentration and climate change. But still it remains uncertain whether green house gases are cause or effect of the climate change. The instrumental records are more disturbing in analyzing the relationship between concentrations of green house gases and climate change. During the last 100 years global temperature has risen by around 5.C and concentration of green house gases has also increased during the same time period. But the correlation between increased concentration of green house gases and increase in temperature has been objected on two grounds: Till 1940 rate of global warming was very high but increase in the green house gas concentration was low. During the last three decades increase is green house gas concentration was very high, but global temperature fluctuation did not give positive correlation with such increase. But the supporters of the increased green house effect theory argue that these recent disturbing trends are because of increase in the concentration of sulphate aerosols in atmosphere. But controversies about these explanations are going on and very recently some more theories have been put forth to explain the current global warming trends. Recent theories Very recently two types of studies have come forward with some new dimensions to explain the current global warming trends. One supports atmospheric composition theory, with some new meteorological developments while the other supports solar radiation theory with some new additional dimension in form of cosmic rays. One study is by Mr. Michale Manu & Raymond Bradley, which used written records and information from tree rings ice cores and coral reefs and constructed a systematic record of words climate of last 600 years. The study in which data from more than 100 sites were used says that the extraordinary global warming of recent years is indeed a direct result of burning of fossil fuels and other human activities that add CO2 to the atmosphere. This study included other variables like volcanic dust and variations in sunspots brightness also, but it concludes that these factors indeed showed a strong relationship with temperature variations in ancient times but during 20th century there were hardly any such correlations. Contrary to it, there are some recent studies which show that the global warming to a much extent is not humanitys fault. The study by E.P Christensen of Danish Metrological Institute, found a loose correla-

tion between temperature and the number of sun spots but the same study found a strong correlation between length of the sunspot cycle and temperature variation. The shorter the cycle, the more spotter is the sun and more warmer the planet. To explain why short sun spot cycle leads to the increased heating of our planet, some good insights have been provided by the recently discovered strange interaction between cosmic rays and clouds. It had already been found that during a short sun spot cycle, the electrically charged gas (solar wind) which flows out of the suns surface becomes stronger than that during a normal cycle. This strong solar wind protects or shields the earths atmosphere from cosmic rays and thus reduces their entry into earths atmosphere. The current finding of Dr. F. Christensen is that occurrence of more cosmic rays in the atmosphere has been associated with more clouds in the atmosphere and thereby cooling the earth. While fewer cosmic rays, with fewer clouds, tend to cool the earth. This association has been observed by the Dr. Christensen by using the data of the last 20 years. But why more cosmic rays lead to more clouds is not yet very clear, but two theories have been proposed. One theory says that in atmosphere, water vapors get condensed around tiny particles known as aerosols which are produced by algae to form the clouds. These aerosols have characteristics to get attracted towards charged ions to make condensed clouds. These charged ions are produced by the interaction between cosmic rays and gas molecules. Thus more cosmic rays lead to more charged particles and thus more clouds. The second theory has been propounded by Brin Tinsley, which is known as theory of elector freezing. Theory says that the ions created by the cosmic rays increase the current which flow from top to bottom by making atmosphere more electrically conducive and this flow of current charges the clouds which lie in the way. This charge helps in forming small ice crystals, which become centers of condensation instead of aerosols. Though further research has been going on how more cosmic rays lead to more clouds; the cosmic rays and cloud interactions have added another dimension to the explanations of secular temperature changes. Finally though it may be possible that as Dr. Michael Manu argues the current rise in temperature is associated with or caused by increased concentration of the green house gases in the atmosphere, yet it also cant be refuted that the current rise in temperature is not associated with the long term changes in solar output and a varied cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere. Further studies are required which can check the validity of the contributions of green house gases and cosmic rays and their contribution needs to be quantified for understanding the exact contributions of these forces. As of now the greenhouse theory is the most accepted cause for the current trends in global warming.

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