Climate

Climatology is the study of the long-term state of the atmosphere, or climate.

Elements Of Climate

The long-term state of the atmosphere is a function of a variety of interacting elements.

Temperature
Humidity Wind Solar radiation Precipitation Cloud Cover

Temperature is defined as the thermal state of matter with reference to its tendency to communicate heat to the matter in contact with it. Temperature is an index of the thermal energy content of materials disregarding energies stored in chemical bonds and in the atomic structure of matter.

Temperature of air is measured in degree Celsius, degree Kelvin, degree Fahrenheit.

Instruments to measure temperature are Mercury or Alcohol Thermometer Maximum and Minimum Thermometer, Bimetallic Thermograph.

Differences in solar radiation gives rise to temperature variation.

Variation in temperatures affect the air pressure and gives rise to convectional winds.
Temperature variations affect the amount and nature of precipitation. In presence of water body, rise in temperature raises the humidity in the air.

Temperature data can be simplified by finding out following values.

Temprature Data For Important Cities In India

Mean monthly Temperature

Monthly mean Maxima Monthly mean Minima Monthly Extreme maxima Monthly Extreme minima

These five values give reasonably accurate picture of temperature conditions of the Location.

Humidity

of air can be described as the amount of moisture present in the air.

Absolute

humidity is defined as the weight of moisture in the unit volume of air. Unit Of Measurement is gram /cu.mt.
Relative

humidity is the ratio of actual amount of moisture present to amount of moisture the air could hold at the given temperature. It is expressed in percentage(%)
Humidity

is measured by Wet and Dry bulb Hygrometer.

Effects Of Humidity

The relative humidity depends on the air temperature and the water vapours present in the air. During the day, if the temperature at ground is high, The RH gets lowered. The rate of evaporation increases. And in presence of water, vegetation, more evaporation takes place and AH at ground increases.

At night, if the temperature at ground is low, The RH is high. The rate of evaporation decreases. The point of saturation is reached and with further cooling moisture condenses in dew.
Air movement increases the rate of evaporation. When humid air gets cooled by lowering temperature or by mixing of cool winds, the moisture gets condensed and the rate of precipitation increases.

 Humidity, vapour pressure, rainfall are mutually dependant factors. To give an indication of prevailing humidity conditions, it is sufficient to establish monthly mean maximum and monthly mean minimum relative humidity values. Early morning values are fairly high, the afternoon values are more characteristic of the given location. So they are used to brief humidity conditions.

Humidity Data For Important Cities In India

Winds are basically convection currents in the atmosphere tending to even out the differential heating of various zones. The pattern of air movements is modified by earths rotation. Wind refers to the horizontal motion of the air. Also unequal heating of the Earth's surface creates pressure gradients that result in wind. Wind velocity is measured by anemometer. Unit is m./s. or km./hr or knot (nautical mile per hour) The directions of wind can be established as N,S,E,W (cardinal poins) N-E, S-E, N-W, S-W (semi cardinal points), NNE, ENE, ESE ,SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW and NNW( tertiary points)

Effects on Macro level: The atmosphere rotates with the earth. Due to the thermal forces and Coriolis force, a pattern of wind is formed on the earths surface. Polar winds, westerlies and trade winds are the resulting wind patterns.

Effects on micro level: Mountain breeze, valley breeze. Sea breeze and land breeze

They occur due to difference in temperature over the respective areas.

Wind Data For Important Cities In India

By determining directions of the wind, daily or seasonal shifts and pattern of wind velocities one can know the calm period in each month.

Many different methods of graphical presentation of wind patterns, wind velocities, wind frequencies are evolved.

Solar radiation is the radiant energy from the sun. The Solar radiation which strikes the Earth is called as Insolation. *Solar radiation the most important element of climate. *The unit of measurement of solar radiation is W/sq.mt,Btu/sq.ft, kcal/sq.mt., mj/sq.mt. Solar energy can be measured with instruments like solarimeter, heliometer, actinometer, pyranometer. *It comprises of ultraviolet, visible and infra-red wavelengths. *It heats the Earth's surface which in turn determines the temperature of the air above. *The solar radiation is in the form of waves. The range of wavelengths is solar spectrum.

Average daily amount of solar radiation ( mJ/sq.mt.day) for each month of the year would give a fair indication of climatic conditions including seasonal variations of the location. *Solar radiation reaching the outer limits of the atmosphere depends on Energy output of the sun distance from the earth to the sun dust in the solar system. *Solar radiation reaching the earths surface depends on Transparency of earths atmosphere Duration of the day Angle at which the sunrays strike the earths surface. Unequal heating of the Earth's surface creates pressure gradients that result in wind. The spectral energy distribution varies with altitude due to the filtering effect of atmosphere. The receipt of solar radiation drives evaporation

The Case Of India

Precipitation

Precipitation is defined as water in liquid or solid forms falling to the earth. It s always preceded by condensation or sublimation or a combination of the two and is primarily associated with rising air. The common precipitation forms are rain, drizzle, snow and their modifications. Types of precipitation: Convectional precipitation eg. Rain, snow, etc. Orthographic precipitation -rains due to topography. Eg. Cherapunji. Convergence precipitation-mixing of opposite air currents.

Effects of precipitation

Cloud Cover
A cloud is physically an aerosol that is a suspension of minute water droplets or ice crystals and other particles in the air. Clouds are visible aggregates of water droplets, ice particles or a mixture of both along with varying amounts of dust particles. Clouds form when rising air cools to what is known as the dew point, where it can no longer hold its water vapor. The vapor then condenses around particles of dust forming tiny droplets which combine together, lifting into the air as a result of warm or cold fronts, convection or by encountering obstacles, such as hills and mountains. Cloud Cover is Measured in % Area occupied of Clear sky.