MODULE2

WEATHERANDHYDROLOGY
2.
1THEATMOSPHERE,
WEATHERANDCLI
MATE

2.
1.1St
ruct
ureoft
heAt
mospher
e

 Theat mospherecanbeconsi der

edasahugecov eringofgases
andwat ervaporthatsur
roundsandper meatest
heear t
handt hat
extendsupwar dwit
hcontinuouslydecr
easi
ngdensi
ty,withoutany
sharplydef
inedupperl
imi
tt otheair
.

Ithasat
ot ghtof5725x1012t
alwei onneandhence,
inev
erysquar
e
centi
met
eroftheear
th’
ssurf
ace,t
hereisabout1.
05kgofai
r.

 The densi ty ofairincreases t owards t

he ground due tothe
gravit
ationalcompressionoft heairfr
om theoverl
yi
ngporti
ons.At
o
at emper at
ureof0Candt hepr essur
eof76cm Hg,t hedensit
yof
ai
ratt heear th’
ssurfacer esul
tingfrom thi
scompr essi
onis1.3
3
kg/ m.

 Thel owerpartoftheear
th’
satmospher eservesasat emporary
reservoirt
o hol
dt hemoi
stur
eev aporated f
rom land and water
sur f
acesandalsoasmeansf ortransport
ingthi
smoi stur
ei nall
directi
ons,
butwit
hanetmovementf r
om theseatotheland.

 Thedif
fer
entl
ayer
s(phy
sicalst
rat
if
icat
ion)oft
heat
mospher
ear
e
asfol
l
ows:

1.Tr opospher e– t helowestl ayeroft heatmosphere,whi chi s

i
mpor tantbecause i tcontains t he bulk oft he air. Iti s
char acter
izedbyanear l
yuniform decr easeintemperat ur
ef r
om
thel owertohi gheral
tit
udes.Mostoft heweat herchangesi nthe
airar elimitedtot hi
slowestl ayer,ingreatpartbecauseoft he
decr ease of t emperatur
e wi t
h el evati
on. Al t
hough t he
tropospher ehasanav eraget hicknessofabout11 km,i tis
thickestatt heequat orandthinnestatt hepoles.I t
sl owerand
upperboundar i
esaret heear th’
ssur faceandt het ropopause,
respect i
vely.
11
 2.Stratosphere–t hisi
sthenextlay
eroft heatmospherewhichlies
abov et he troposphere. Itis character
ized by a vert
icall
y
i
sot hermal( equaltemperat
ure)structur
ei nthelowerpor t
ion
foll
owedbyi ncr
easingtemperat
uresi ntheupperpor t
ion. Its
l
owerandupperboundar i
esarethet r
opopauseandst r
atopause,
respectivel
y.

3.Mesospher e– t hi
sl ayeroftheat mospherelyi
ng abovet he
str
atosphere,i
sidenti
fiedbyastr
ongt emperat
uredecr
easef r
om
themaximum t emperat ur
ezoneinitslowestport
ionjustabove
the str
atosphere. Itsl owerand upperboundar i
es aret he
str
atopauseandt hemesopause,respecti
vel
y.

4.Ther mospher e–t heout er mostshelloftheat mospher einwhi ch

thet emperaturer i
sesr apidlyfrom anini
ti
alconstantl owv al
ueat
about80 ki l
omet erst o a const anthi gh value about190
kilomet ers. Thi slay erext endsupwar dunt ilmergingwi tht he
sol arat mospher emanyt housandsofmi lesabovet heear t
h’s
sur face,ispar t
lyioni zedt hroughoutmuchofi tsextent.I nt he
l
owerpar toft het her mospher e,enri
chedi onzonesexi stint he
form ofdi sti
ncti onizedlay ersusedt obecal edi
l onospher e.Itis
from t hesei onizedl ayersoft heupperatmospher ewher el ong-
dist ance radio communi cat i
on is made possi bl
e by one or
mul ti
pleref
lectionsofshor t-waveradiobeams.

 Ther egionsurroundi
ngt hest r
atopausecont
ainsar el
ativel
yhigh
proportonofozone,whosemol
i ecul
arcomposi
tionisO3 compared
toO2f oroxygen.Inthickness,t
heozone-ri
chl
ayerisabout16t o30
kil
omet ers,the v al
ue bei ng approxi
mate because no shar p
boundar i
esarepresent.

 Ozone isav eryimpor t

antlayeroft he atmosphere because i
t
absorbstheul t
ravi
oletraysfrom thesun.Act ual
ly
,thi
sl ayerhas
beencreatedfrom oxygenbytheef fectofthisUVrays.Wi t
houtthe
ozone,theef f
ectsofconcentratedUVr adiat
ionshoul
dhav ebeen
l
ethaltoli
vingthi
ngsonear th.

2.
1.2Condi
ti
onsoft
heAt
mospher
e

12
 Thecondi ti
onoft heatmospher eatapar t
iculart i
meandpl aceis
termedasweat her.Itreferstotheshor t-periodv ar
iat
ionsi nthe
atmospher e.Theobser vedproperti
esoft heat mospheret hatare
subjecttoconst antchange,thei
rstateatanyt i
medet ermining the
state of t he weather,are ( a)temper ature,( b) humi dity
,(c)
cloudiness,(d)atmospher i
cpressure,and(e)wi nd.

 Weat herelement sareclosel yinter r

elat
ed.Oft hem,temperat
ureis
themostbasi candf undament al ,anditsvariati
onscausechanges
i
nt heot herelements,t
her esul t
sofwhi chweknowasweat her
.Itis
wellknownt hatwar m aircanhol dmor ewaterv aporthancoldair
.
Ifwar m airiscooledsufficientl
y ,excesswat erv aporcomesoutas
l
iquidwat erdr opl
ets.Thus,t emper aturechangesi ntheairarethe
dir
ectcauseofhumi dityv ari
ations,whi chint urny i
eldcl
ouds,fog
andpr ecipit
ation.

 The t emperaturev ariat

ions ar e also r esponsiblef orpr essur e
diff
erences. I fa par toft he airbecomes war mert han t he
surroundingair,i
twillexpand, becomel i
ght er
,andt endt or
isef rom
theear t
h. Col dai rsurroundingt hewar merai rwillber el
ativel y
heav y
.Consequent l
y,thewar m airwillhav elesswei ghtandshow
l
essdownwar d pressuret han thesur rounding cold airand wi l
l
therefor
e( ot
herthingsbeingequal )showl owerbar omet err
eadi ngs.
Whenev ersuchacondi ti
onar ises,aflowofai rtendst ostartalong
theear t
h’ssurfacef r
om t heregionofhi gherpr essure(heavierai r)
tot he region ofl owerpr essure( li
ght erai r
). Thi s horizont al
mov ementofai riscall
edwi nd.

I
nthePhi
l
ippi
nes,
theweat
hercondi
ti
oni
srepor
tedasf
oll
ows:

1.Fi
neWeat her–desi
gnat
esaweat
hercondi
ti
onoff
ew cl
ouds
andnor
ain.

2.Fair Weat her– cloudsarepresentandmayproducerainin

scatter
edpat ches,butt
hegreat
erport
ionoft
hedayissunnyor
withoutrai
n.

3.RainyWeat her–aweathercondi
ti
oninwhichrai
noccursduri
ng
a greaterporti
on oft
he day,the winds ar
e mostl
yl i
ghtto
moder ate.

13
 4.Stor
myWeather– aweat
hercondi
ti
onchar
act
eri
zedbyr
ains
andstr
ongwi
nds.

 Ont heot herhand,theaverageconditi

onoft heweat herinanar ea
foraper iodofy earsist medcl
er i
mat e. I
nor dertodescr ibethe
cli
mat eofagi venregi
on, monthl
yandseasonalav eragesar emade
ofrainfallandsuchpr opert
iesoftheat mosphereast emper at
ure,
humi dit
y, pressur
eandwi ndv el
oci
ty.Climatehasamaj oreffecton
humanact ivi
ti
es.Whatpeopl eeatandwearaswel lashow t hey
earnt heirli
veli
hoodsalldependtosomeext entont helocalclimate.
Adr asticchangei naregion’
sclimatehassomet imescont r
ibutedto
themi grat i
onoflargegroupsofpeople.

I
nt hePhil
ippi
nes,cli
matehasbeendescr i
bedintermsofr ai
nfal
l
dist
ri
but
ionrecei
vedinalocal
it
y.Onesuchcl imati
cclassi
fi
cati
onis
the Modif
ied Cor
onas’. Witht he use ofthe average monthl
y
dist
ri
but
ionofr ai
nfal
latdiff
erentstati
ons,fourtypesofclimate
weredefi
ned:

1.TypeI :Twopr onouncedseasons,dryfrom Decembert oMay

andwetf r
om Junet oNov ember.Maximum rainper i
odisfr
om
Junet oSeptember.Ar eascharact
eri
zedbythi
scl i
mat et
ypeare
generall
yex posed tot hesouthwestmonsoonand getaf ai
r
share oft he r
ainfal
lbr oughtaboutbyt he t
ropicalcycl
ones
occurri
ngespeciall
yduringthemaximum rai
nperiod.

2.TypeI I
:Nodr yseasonwi thav erypronouncedmax imum rai
n
peri
odinwi nter
.Maxi mum r ai
nfal
lgeneral
lyoccurinDecember
andJanuary ,alt
hought her
ei snotasi ngl
edr ymont h. Ar
eas
charact
eri
zedbyt hi
scl i
matet ypearegener al
lyalongorv er
y
neartheeasterncoast,
thusar eopentothenortheastmonsoon.

3.Ty peIII
:Nov erypr
onouncedmaxi mum rainperiod,withashor t
dryseasonl ast
ingonl
yfrom onet othr
eemont hs.Thi stypei s
i
nt er
medi at
ebet weentheprecedingtwo,althoughi tr
esembl es
thef i
rsttypemor eclosel
ybecausei thasashor tdryseason.
Areasoft hiscli
matetypearepartlyshi
eldedf r
om t henortheast
monsoonbutar eexposedtot hesouthwestmonsoonandar e
alsobenef i
tedbytherai
nfal
lcausedbythet ropi
calcy cl
ones.

14
 4.Ty peIV:Rai nf
allismoreorl essevenl
ydist
ri
butedthroughout
they ear
.Thisisal soi
ntermediat
ebetweenthefir
standsecond
types,al
thoughitresemblesthesecondmoreclosel
ysinceithas
nodr yseason.

2.
2HEATENERGYOFTHEATMOSPHERE

2.
2.1HeatandSol
arRadi
ati
on

 Heatistheenergyt
ransferr
edtoanobjectt
oraiseit
stemper
atur
e.
I
tonlyf lowsfrom highertolowertemperat
ures. Heatcanbe
r
egardedast heworkdonet oincr
easethetemperat
ureofabody.
Oncethef l
owofheatstops,t
heworkstops.

 Solarradiat
ion,theear
th’
schiefsourceofheatener gy,determines
weatherandcl i
mate. Bothearthandsunr adi
ateessent i
all
yas
blackbodies (
thatis,t
heyemi tforev er
ywav elengthal mostt he
theoret
icalmaximum amountofradiati
onfort
heirtemper atur
es).

 Maximum energyofsolarr
adiationisshortwavei nt hevi
sibl
erange
ofthe el
ectr
omagnet i
c spectrum ( Table 2.
1),about0. 4t o 0.
8
micr
ometer. Theearthconv er
t sthev isi
blesunlightintoinvi
sibl
e
l
ongeri
nfr
aredwav el
engths,about10mi cr
omet er(longwave).

Tabl
e2.
1.TheEl
ect
romagnet
icSpect
rum (
Rosenber
getal
.,
1983)

Ty
peofRadi
ati
on Fr
equency Wav el
ength
(
cycles/
sec) Range( cm)
El
ectricwav es 0–104 Inf.–3x106
Radiowav es 104–1011 3x106–0. 3
I
nfraredradiation 1011–4x1014 0.3–7. 6x10-5
Vi
sibleradiation 4x1014–7. 5x1014 6x10-5–4x10-5
7.
Ul
traviol
etradi ati
on 7.5x1014–3x1018 4x10-5–10-8
X-r
ayr adi
ation 3x1016–3x1022 10-6–10-12
Gammar adiation 3x1018–3x1021 10-6–10-11
15
 Therateatwhi
chsolarr adi
ati
onreachestheupperlimitsofear
th’
s
atmospher
eonasur facenor maltotheinci
dentr adiat
ionandat
eart
h’smeandist
ancef rom thesuniscall
edt hesol arconst
ant
.
Measurement
shaver angedf rom 1.
89to2.05Ly /
mi n,withamean
val
ueof1.97Ly/min.I npoweruni t
s,thi
sisequivalentto1350to
2 2
1400W/ m si
nce1Ly /mi nequal
s697.93W/m.

 TheDutchCommit
teeonPl
antIr
radi
ati
on(1953)discussedthe
si
gni
fi
cancet
opl
antgr
owt
hofthev
ari
ousbandsofthespectrum:

1.Fi
rstBand– r adi
ati
onwithwavel
engthl
ongerthan1.
0mi
cron.
Thi
sist r
ansformedintoheatwi
thouti
nter
fer
ingwit
h
bi
ochemicalprocesses.

2.SecondBand–r adi
ati
onwithwavel
engthbet ween1.0and0.72
mi cr
on. Thisi st heregi
onofspecifi
cel ongati
ngeffectupon
plants.The far-redregi
on(0.
7to0.92mi cron)i
salsoimport
ant
forphot oper
iodism,seedgerminati
on,controloffl
oweringand
colorat
ionoff r
uit.

3.Thir
dBand–r adiat
ionwi thwav el
engthbetween0. 72and0.61
micron.This spectralr egi
on is strongly absor
bed by the
chl
orophyll
.Itgeneratesstrongphotosynthet
icacti
v i
ty,i
nmany
casesalsoshowingintensephotoperi
odicacti
vity
.

4.FourthBand–radiati
on between 0.61and 0.
51mi cr
on.Thi
s
i
s aspect r
alr
egion oflowphot osynt
het
icef
fect
ivenessint
he
greenandofweakf or
mativ
eact i
vi
ty.

5.Fift
hBand–r adiati
onbet ween0. 51and0.40micron. Thisis
essenti
all
ythe region of st r
ongest chlor
ophyl
land y ellow
pigmentabsorpti
on.I ti
sal soaregionofstr
ongphotosyntheti
c
acti
vit
yintheblue-v
iol
et,andofstrongfor
mativeef
fect
s.

6.Sixt
hBand–r adiat
ion bet
ween 0.
40 and 0.
315 micr
on. This
band pr oducesformat
iveef
fect
s;pl
antsbecomeshorter
andleav
est
hicker.

16
 7.Sevent
hBand–radi
ati
onbetween0.
315and0.28mi
cron.Thi
s
ty
peofradi
ati
oni
sdet
ri
mentalt
omossplant
s.

8.Eight hBand– radiat

ion wi t
h wavelengt
h shorterthan 0.
28
mi cron. These wavelengths r
api
dly kil
lplants. The UV
radiation (
0–0.4mi cr on)al
soproducessigni
fi
cantgermi
cidal
act i
on.

2.
2.2Sol
arRadi
ati
onatEar
th’
sSur
face

 Al argepar tofthesolarr adi at i

onreachingt heout erlimit
soft he
atmospher eis scat
tered and absor bed i nt he atmospher e or
refl
ect ed f r
om clouds and t he ear t
h’s sur f
ace. Scat t
eri
ng of
radiati
on by ai rmol ecules i s mostef f
ect i
vef ort he shortest
wav elengt hs. With sun ov er head and cl earsky ,ov erhalft he
radiati
oni nt hebl
uerange( shor twavelengthsabout0. 45mi cron)is
scatter ed,thusaccountingf ort hebluesky .I thasbeenest i
mat ed
thattheamountofr adiati
onscat ter
edt ospacei sabout8per cent
ofthei ncidentsolarr
adiation( alsoknownasi nsolati
on).

 Cloudsr efl
ectmuchi ncidentsol
arradiat
iontospace.Theamount
refl
ected depends on t he amountofcl ouds and t
hei
ral bedo.
Albedo i st her at
iooft heamountofsol arradi
ati
on(usuall
yt he
visi
bler adiation)refl
ectedbyasur f
acet otheamountinci
dentupon
i
t,expr essedasper centage. Thealbedoofcl oudsvari
esgr eatl
y
wi t
ht hicknessandl iqui
d-watercontentandi nver
sel
ywi t
hsol ar
elevati
on.Ahi gh,thinov er
castmayr efl
ectl
essthan20percentof
i
nci dentr adiati
on,whi l
ea600m l ayerofstrat
usorstrat
ocumul us
cloudsmayr eflectover80percent.

 Abouthal fthe i nci

dentr adi
ati
on att he out er li
mi t
s of the
atmosphere eventuall
yr eaches eart
h’s sur
face. Much ofi tis
absor
bed and t ransmitt
ed,butsome i srefl
ect ed back tot he
atmosphereandt ospace. Theal bedoofear th’ssur f
acev ari
es
widel
y,dependingonsol aral t
it
udeandt ypeofsur facecov er
.Itis
l
essformoi stsoi lsurf
acest hanfordryandt endst obel essfor
hi
ghsolaralti
tudest hanf orlow.Theal bedo (i
nper cent)ranges

17
 fr
om 10t o20forgreenforest
s,15to30f orgrass-coveredplai
ns,
15t o20f ormarshylands,15t o25forcr op-cov
er edcult
ivat
ed
fi
elds,10to25fordarkbaresoil
swhendryand5t o20whenmoi st,
20t o45fordryli
ghtsandysoil
s,40to50forol ddir
tysnowand80
to95f orpurewhi
tesnow( thehi
ghestal
bedobei ngforfresh,
clean,
drysnowandl owsolaralt
it
ude).

2.
2.3Heat
ingt
heEar
thandt
heAt
mospher
e

 Theor
eti
cal
l
y,t
her
ear
ethr
eepr
ocessesofheatt
ransmi
ssi
on,as
f
oll
ows:

1.Radiation.The processofheatt ransf

erinwavef
orm,without
theuseornecessi tyofa t ransmit
ti
ng medi
um. The amount
of r adiati
on emi t
tedincreaseswiththetemper
atur
eoft he
radi
ating body. The St ef
an-Bol
zmann Radi
ati
on Law r
elates
temper atur
eandradiati
onbyt hef
ormula:

R=KT4 (
2.1)

wher 67x10-8W/
e:K=5. m2-
o 4
K

Thisl
aw st
atest
hat“t
heradi
antenergyRemit
tedbyabodyis
equalt
oaconst antKti
mest hefourt
hpowerofit
sabsol
ute
temper
atur
eT.”

2.Conduct
ion.Aprocessofheatt
ransmi
ssi
onthr
oughamedi
um
by contactoft
hemi nut
epart
icl
esofwhichthemedi
um is
composed.

3.Convect
ion. Thi
sprocessofheatt
ransmi
ssi
onbyt
heact
ual
moti
onoft heheat
edmat er
ial
.

 Theear thisbasi call

yheat edbyt hesunt hrought hepr ocessof
radiat
ion. The at mospher ei s heated by t he combi nati
on of
conductionandconv ecti
onr ef
erredt oast urbulentheatexchange.
Theheatf r
om theear th’
ssur facei sconductedt otheatmospher e
thatisindirectcontactwithit.Si nceairisav erypoorconduct orof
heatener gy
, onl
ythelowermostpar toftheatmospher eisheat edin
thisway .Howev er
,oncet heai riswar med,i texpandsandr ises,
transf
erri
ngt heconduct edheatt ohigherlev el
sbyt hepr ocessof

18
 convecti
on.Overoceansandotherlargewaterbodies,theai
rabov e
i
tmaybewar medbyt hel at
entheatt r
ansf
er( v
aporizati
on)thatis
rel
easedbythewat ervaporasitcondenses.Act ual
ly,whenwat er
evaporat
esfrom al i
quidt ogas,about540t o600cal or
iesar e
absorbedbyeachgram ofwaterconvertedt
ov apor.

 Theat mospher er ecei

v esal lofi tsnat uralheatdi r
ect l
yori ndi r
ect l
y
from t hesun,ex ceptf ort hecompar at i
velyi nsi
gni f
icantamountof
heatescapi ng f r
om t he ear th’
si nteriordue t or adioact ivity or
volcani sm.Ont heav er age,t heconcent rati
onofener gyi sgr eatest
attheequat orandl eastatt hepol es.Becauseoft hecur vat ur eand
seasonalef fect,thepol arregi onsr eceivesnosunl i
ghtdur i
ngwi nter,
whent heear th’
saxi si st il
tedawayf rom t hesun.Li kewi se,asa
consequence ofcur v
at ure and seasonalv ari
ations,l ow l atitude
zonesr eceivemor eheatt hani sl ostt hroughr adiationr esultingi na
heatsur plus;hi ghl atit
uder egionsr adi ateawaymor et hant hey
receive,pr oducingar adiati
ondef i
cit. Abal anceofheatr ecei ved
o
from thesunandheatl ostt hr oughr adiat i
onoccur sat35 l at itude.
Thisi nequal it
yofr adi
at ionl eadst oaf low ofheatf rom t hewar m
equat or i
alregiont othecool erpol arregi ons.I nthepr ocessofheat
redistributi
on,t hewi ndsoft hegl obeandt hest ormsoft hemi ddle
l
at i
tudesar egener ated.

 On t he otherhand,t he ear t
h’s surface radiates ata mean
temperatureofabout15degC.Thi semi ssi
onhasbeenest i
mat ed
tobeabout2. 5timest hesol arradiati
onabsor bed.Thi sisduet o
greenhouseef fectwher ei
nt heat mospherer eflect
sbackt ot he
earth’
ssur f
aceabout85% oft heemi ttedradiation. Gr eenhouse
effectistherecy cl
ingofheatbet weentheear th’
ssur faceandt he
atmospher ekeepingt heai rsomewhatwar mert hanitwoul dbei fit
dir
ectly absorbed and r e-r
adiated solarradi antener gy . Thi s
phenomenamai ntainsthet r
oposphereatawar mert emper ature
than –40 deg C,t he expect ed mean t emper ature oft he earth
withoutgreenhouseef fect.

2.
2.4Measur
ementofRadi
ati
on

Theinst
rumentscommonlyusedinthePhil
ippi
nest
o measur
e
t
hei
ntensi
tyofradi
antener
gyar
ethefol
lowing:

1.Py
ranogr
aph (
Fig.2.
1)– an i
nst
rumentf
ormeasur
ing sol
ar

19
 r
adi
ati
oni
ntensi
ty.

Fi
g.2.
1.Thepy
ranogr
aph.

2.Gunn-Bell
ani Solari
met er(Fig.2.
2)– an i nstrument whi ch
provi
des a t i
me- i
ntegrated assessment of sol ar radi
ati
on
fal
li
ng on a bl ackbody bymeasur i
ng the volume ofliquid
evaporat
ed byther adiat
ion. Thei nst
rumentisv er
ysimplet o
operat
eandismor edur ableandlessexpensivethan other solar
radi
ati
on i nstr
ument s; howev er, only dail
y sol arradi
ati
on
observat
ioni
srecommended.

20
 Fi
g.2.
2.TheGunn-
Bel
lanisol
ari
met
er.

3.Campbel l-
StokesSunshi neRecor der(Fig.2. 3)–a non- electr
ical
sunshinedur ati
onmet er.I toper
atessucht hatwhensunl i
ghtis
suffi
cientl
ystrong,aglobeact sasamagni fyi
nggl ass,focusingthe
beam ont o a specialrecor di
ngpaperwhi chcausesat racetobe
burnedont hi
spaperas t hesun mov est hrough t he sky .The
tr
ace i ndi
cates the duration ofbrightsunl ight.Thedept hoft he
burni sar ough indi
cat orofsol arr adiati
on i ntensi
ty. Thi s
i
nstrumentusest hr
eedifferentcar
dsf orthedi ffer
entper i
odsoft he
year(Fig.2.
4).

21
 Fi
g.2.
3.TheCampbel
l-
Stokessunshi
ner
ecor
der
.

Fi
g.2.
4.Thesunshi
ner
ecor
dercar
ds.

2.
3 TEMPERATUREOFTHEATMOSPHERE

► Theconti
nuousf
low ofsolarradi
ati
onfr
om thesuni nt
otheeart
h’s
sur
facecausesi
tstemperatur
et orse. Temper
i atur
ei sther
elat
ive

22
 hot
nessorcol dnessofabody .I ti
sal sotechni
cal
l
ydef i
nedasthe
measureoftheav er
ageenergyofmolecularmoti
on.Whent heear
th’
s
sur
faceisal
readyheated,
thi
sint
urnheat
st heat
mosphere.

► Temper atur
eisafundamentalweatherel
ement .Inresponset oi
rr
egul
ar
disposalofthesun’
senergy(i
nsol
ation)
,theairtemperaturesshowwide
vari
ations. These v
ari
ati
ons inturn cause othersignif
icantweat
her
changes.

2.
3.1Def
ini
ti
onofTemper
atur
eTer
ms

1.Meandai lytemper
ature–is gener
all
yt aken as the av
erage of
dail
ymaxi mum andmi ni
mum t emper
atures. Themostaccur ate
pract
icalmet hodi
st oaver
agehour l
ytemper atur
es. I tcanbe
comput edalsobyaver
agi
ng3-or6-hrobservat
ions.

2.Nor
maldai
lyt
emper
ature– i
stheaver
agedai
lymeantemper
atur
e
f
oragi
vendat
ecomputedf
oraspeci
fi
c30-y
earper
iod.

3.Dai
lyr
ange– ist he diff
erence bet
ween t he hi
ghest and
l
owest temper
aturesr
ecordedonapar
ticul
arday
.

4. Meanmonthl
ytemper
atur
e–ist he average of t
he mean
monthl
ymaxi
mum andmini
mum t
emper
atures.

5.Meanannualt
emper
atur
e–i
stheav
erageoft
hemont
hlymeans
f
orthey
ear.

6.Degr
ee-
day–i s a depar
tur
e ofonedegree foroneday inthe
meandail
ytemperat
urefr
om aspeci
fi
edbaset
emperatur
e.Usual
ly
,
degr
ee-
dayv al
uesar
ebasedondepartur
esbel
owandabov e18deg
C.

2.
3.2Measur
ementofTemper
atur
e

 Thet emperatureofanobj ectismeasuredbyat her mometer

,which
i
saseal edgl asstubehav ingav erysmallopeni ng–t hebore–
runningthroughthecent erfrom t
optobot t
om.Thebor eisgreatl
y
enlargedintoabul b-shapedopeni ngatthebot tom. Thebul bis
fi
ll
edwi thal i
quid,usuall
ymer curyoralcohol
,whi chri
sesintothe
narrow bore. Thespaceabov etheliquidisv acuum. War ming

23
 temper at
urescauseexpansi onofthel i
quidupt hetube;cooling
causescont racti
onandaf al
li
ngoftheleveloftheli
qui
d.Theout er
glass surface oft he thermometeris etched i
nt he f
orm ofa
graduated temper atur
e scale. Hence,t he hei
ghtoft he upper
surfaceoft heliquidint heboreofthethermomet eri
ndicat
est he
existi
ngtemper ature.

Inor dertomeasur eairt emper aturepr operl

y,ther momet ersmust
bepl acedwher eaircircul ati
oni sr el
ati
velyunobst ructed,andy et
theyshoul dbepr otectedf rom thedi r
ectraysoft hesunandf rom
precipit
ati
on.Ther momet ersarepl acedinwhi te,louvered,wooden
thermomet ershelter( Fig.2. 5)throughwhi cht heai rcanmov e
readily
.Theshel terlocat i
onmustbet ypicaloft hear eaforwhi ch
themeasur edtemper atur esar etober epresentative.Becauseof
mar kedv erti
caltemper atur egradientsjustabov et hesoi lsurf
ace,
allshelter
sshoul dbeaboutt hesamehei ghtabov et hegr oundfor
recordedt emperaturest obecompar abl
e.

Fi
g.2.
5.Thet
her
momet
ershel
ter
.

 Thesetofi
nst
rument
shousedi
nani
nst
rumentshel
terusual
l
y

24
consi
stsoft
hef
oll
owi
ng:

1.Mini
mum Thermomet er(
Fig2.6)–a t her momet
erof al
cohol
-
i
n-gl
asst
ypewhi chhasani ndexwhi chr emai
nsatthe l
owest
t
emperat
ureoccurr
ingsi
nceitslastsett
ing.

2.Maximum Ther mometer(Fig.2.

6)–a mer curythermometer
whi
ch has a constr
ict
ion nearthe bulb whi
ch preventsthe
mercur
yf r
om r
etur
ningtothe bulbasthetemperaturefall
sand
t
husregist
erst
hehighesttemperatur
esinceit
slastsett
ing.

3.Thermogr aph (Fi

g.2.7)– an i nst
rument whi ch records
t
he t emper at
ureconti
nuously
.I tconsists ofa substance
which expandsand contractswiththet emperaturev
ari
ations,
a clockwhi chrotat
esacy l
i
ndert owhi chasheetofpaperi s
f
ixed and si mpli
fyi
nglever
swi t
hapent hatwri
tesacurveon
t
hepaper .Therecordpaperi
scalledat hermogram.

Fi
g.2.
6.Themaxi
mum andmi
nimum t
her
momet
ers.

25
 Fi
g.2.
7.Thet
her
mogr
aph.

2.
3.3Ther
momet
erScal
es

 Threesy stemsoft emperatur

escal esoruni t
sar ei nr egularuse:
Fahrenhei t( F),Cel sius (
C)orf ormer l
y called Cent igrade,and
Absolute( K)
.Thef i
rstt
woar ei ncommonusewhi let het hir
di n
scient
if
icuse.I nt heFahrenheitandCel siussy stems,t hef r
eezing
and boiling poi nts ofwat erar et he impor t
antcr i
teri
a. I nt he
Absolute( K)sy stem,absolutezer o,ort het emper atureatwhi ch
random mol ecularmot i
on ceases,i st he st arti
ng poi nt. The
absolutezer oi s273degbel owt hefreezingpoi ntofwat er.Hence,
thef r
eezi ng poi ntint heAbsol ut
eSy stem is273 deg K. Thi s
absolutet emper atureunitdesi
gnatedKi saftertheBr i
tishphy si
cist
,
LordKel vin.

 Toconver
ttemperatur
er eadi
ngsf
rom onesy
stem t
oanot
her
,the
fol
l
owingequat
ionsareused:

C=5/9(
F–32)
(
2.2)

F=9/
5C+32 (
2.3)

K=C+273 (
2.4)

wher
eC,FandKar
etemper
atur
esi
ndegr
eesCel
sius,Fahr
enhei
t

26
 andKel
vi
n,r
espect
ivel
y.

2.
3.4Ver
ti
calTemper
atur
eVar
iat
ionorLapseRat
e

 Asoneascendsi ntheat mospher e,especi

all
yi nthet r
oposphere,
steadi
lydecreasi
ngt emperatur esareencount ered.Thisdecrease
oftemper at
urewit
hhi gheral
titudesintheairisknownasl apserate,
orv er
ti
calt emperat
ur egradient. Thisi sther at
eofchangeof
temperaturewithheightint hef reeatmospher e. Therearethree
essenti
alcausesforthisdecli
nei ntemper at
ure,asfoll
ows:

1.Themaj orsourceofheatf orairi

st heeart
h.Cl ear
ly,then,with
i
ncreasing distance f rom t he source of heat ,t he ai r
’s
temperaturemustdecl i
ne.
2.Thedensi t
yofwat ervapordecr easeswithelev
ationsot hatl
ess
heatcanhel di
nt heair.
3.Temper at
uredecr easesr esultfr
om expansionofairr i
singfrom
theeart
h’ssurface.

 Lapser at
ev ari
esthroughawi derange.Thegr eatestvari
ati
onsin
l
apser atearefoundi nthelayerofai rjustabov ethelandsurface.
Butatagi venplacethedif
ferentlapser atefigur
esobservedcanbe
averaged,giv
ingthenormallapser ate.Al thoughthelapserateata
gi
v en t
imeand pl acecan beobt ai
ned onl ybyobser vati
on,the
averageornor malratei
sabout7degr eesCel si
usperki l
ometeror
3.5degFper1, 000f eet
.

 Occasional
l
y,atsomeal t
itude,t
hetemperatureabr
uptlyincreases
i
nsteadofdecr easi
ng.Thi scanoccuronl yifawarml ayerofair
overl
i
esacol derlayer
. Thecondi ti
oninwhi chthisabr uptr i
se
i
nsteadoff allint emperatur
eoccursint heairist heso- cal
led
temperatur
einversi
on.At emperatur
einv
ersionmayr esult
:

1.whent heairneart
hegroundcool sof ff
astert
hantheover
lyi
ng
ai
rbecauseofheatlosstocoldland;
2.fr
om anactualwarmlayerofairpassingoveral
owercol
done;
3.fr
om war mi
ngbysubsidenceorfall
ing;
4.fr
om turbul
ence.

 Thetr
opopauseisalayerofmajort
emperat
ureinv
ersi
onbetween
thet
ropospher
e,char
acter
izedbydecl
i
ningtemper
atur
es,andthe

27
 ov
erl
yi
ngi
sot
her
mal
str
atospher
e.

Intheday ti
me, therei sat endencyf orsteeplapser at
esbecauseof
therelati
velyhight emper at
uresoft heai rnearthegr ound.Ast he
heating continues,t hel apser atei nthel owerl ayersoft heai r
steepensunt ilitmayr eacht hedr y
-adiabati
cl apserate( 1Cel sius
degreeper100m,or5. 4Fahr enheitdegreesper1000f t),whichi s
ther ateoft emper aturechangeofunsat ur
atedai rresulti
ngf rom
expansionorcompr essi
onast heairrises(loweringpr essure)or
descends ( i
ncr easing pr essure) withoutheatbei ng added or
remov ed.

 Airhav ing a dr y-adi

abati
cl apse rate mixes readi
ly,wher eas a
temperat ur
ei nversionindicatesast ablecondit
ioninwhi chwar m
l
ighterairov erl
iescolddenserai r.Underopt i
mum sur faceheat i
ng
conditi
ons, t
heai rnearthegr oundmaybeheat edsuff
icientl
yforthe
l
apse r at e in t he lowest l ayer
s t o become super adiabati
c
(exceeding 1 Cel siusdegr ee per100 m) . Thi sisan unst abl
e
conditi
onsi nceanypar celofai rlift
eddr y-
adiabat
icall
yr emains
warmerandl ighterthanthesur r
oundingairandthushasat endency
tocontinuerising.

Ifapar celofsaturatedai rislif

tedadi abati
call
y,it
stemper at
urewill
decreaseandi tswat erv aporwi llcondense,releasi
ngl atentheatof
vaporizati
on.Thi sheatr educest hecoolingrateoft heascendi ng
air
.Hence,t hesat urat
ed- adiabaticlapser at
ei slesst hanthedr y
-
adiabatic. I
tsav eragev aluef ort hel owerlayersatt emper at
ures
abovef reezi
ngisr oughlyhal fthedr y
-adiabati
c.

Ift
hemoi stureinther i
singai risprecipit
atedasi ti
scondensed, the
temperatur
eoft heai rwi l
ldecr easeatt hepseudo- adi
abat i
cl apse
rat
e,whichdi f
fersveryli
t t
lefrom thesat urated-adiabatic.Al ayerof
satur
atedai rhavingasat urated-orpseudo- adiabaticlapser ateis
saidtobei nneut ralequilibri
um.I fitslapser at eislesst hant he
satur
ated-orpseudo- adi
abat ic,theairisstable;ifgreater,unstable.

2.
3.5Hor
izont
alTemper
atur
eVar
iat
ion

 Themostfundamentalt
emper at
ureeff
ectovertheeart
h’ssurf
ace
i
sthegradi
ent(
change)oftemperat
urefrom t
heequat
ortowardthe
pol
es. Thi
simportantdecreaseoftemperatur
ewi t
hincreasein

28
 l
at i
tudeisaconsequenceoft hei ncr easi
ngsl antoft hesun’ srays
causedbyt hecurvat
ureoft heear th.Thi sl owertemper atureinthe
highl ati
tudesisar esultofnetheatl osswher east hewar mer
temper at
ureinthelowl ati
tudesresul tfrom netheatgai n.Howev er
,
despitethenetheatgai ninl owlatitudes,t hisr
egiondoesnotgr ow
steadilywarmer,nordohi ghl ati
tudesgr ow steadil
ycool erdespite
theirnetheatloss.Thi sismai nlyduet ot hetransferofheatf r
om
l
ow t ohighl at
it
udest oachi eveagl obalheatbal ance.I ti si
nt he
achievementoft his heat-t
ransferpr ocess thatt he atmospher e
producest hepri
mar ywindandweat hersy stemsoft heear th.

 To show t he horizont
aldi stribution ofai rt emper ature most
conv enientl
y ,i
sothermsar eused. I sothermsar elinesconnect ing
points of equalt emperature. I ft he eart
h wer e uni f
orm i n
composi t
ion, i
sothermswoul dbest rai
ghteast-westl i
nes, si
milarto
parallel
s ofl ati
tude. The i sot herms r epr
esent i
ng t he highest
temper atureswoul dbeneart heequat or.Thet emper aturechange
i
n a di rection normalt ot he i sother msi scal l
ed the hor i
zont al
temper ature gr adient. Foran i sotherm tor emai n on equal
temper aturepoi nts,itmustbedef lectedawayf rom t heequat or
duringwi nt
erwhenpassi ngf rom l andt oocean,andt owardt he
equat ordur i
ngsummer .Thisi sduet othefactt hatdur i
ngwi nter,
theoceansar ewar merwhi l
edur i
ngsummer ,t
heoceansar ecooler
thant heland.

2.
3.6Di
urnalandSeasonalTemper
atur
eVar
iat
ions

Ifwel ookintothet emper at ur ecur vetracedbyat hermogr aph,we

willnot i
cet hatasi mpl edi ur nalandr atherr hythmict emper ature
variat i
onexi sts. Thedai l
yv ar i
at ionoft emper aturesl ightl
yl ags
behi ndt hedai l
yvariati
onofsol arr adiation.Maxi mum t emper ature
occur si near l
ytomi d-after noonandmi nimum t emper aturejust
befor esunr i
se. Thet imeofmi nimum t emper aturef oll
owst he
radiat ionpat t
ern. Throughoutt he ni ght ,theear th’ssur f
aceand
atmospher e bothr adiate heataway . The l owestt emper ature
occur saboutt hetimeofsunr i
seaf t
erwhi chre-heatingbyt hesun
occur s.Theseobser vati
onscanbeat t
ribut edtot hef actthatfrom
sunr iseunt ilabout3P. M. ,t heheatgai nexceedst heheatl oss,
causi ngar i
seoft emper at ur eunt ilamaxi mum v al
uei sr eached.
From 3: 00 P.M.unt ilsunr i
se t he followi ng day ,the heatl oss
exceedst heheatgain,thust hef alloftemper at
ure.

29
  Thedailyr
angeoft emperatur
eisaffect
edbyt hestateoft
hesky .
Oncloudydays,
maxi mum temperat
ureislowerbecauseofr
educed
i
nsolat
ionandthemi nimum ishi
gherbecauseofreducedoutgoi
ng
radi
ati
on.Thedail
yr angei
ssmalloveroceans.

Ar elated patt

ern hol ds on an annualbasi s. On cont inents,
maximum t emper aturesoccurbet weenoneandt womont hsaf ter
thesummersol sticeandmi nimum temperatur
esf r
om onet ot wo
mont hs aft
er the wi nter sol
sti
ce. Ar eas withi
n a cont i
nent
experienceextr
emer angesoft emperatur
ef r
om summert owinter.
Regionswhosecl imat eiscont r
oll
edbymar ineinfl
uences,havea
smalleraveragetemper atur
erange.

2.
3.7Geogr
aphi
cVar
iat
ion

 Surfaceairtemper aturetendstobehi ghestatl owlati

tudesandt o
decreasepol eward.Thi strend,however,isgreatlydi
stort
edbyt he
i
nfluenceofl andandwat ermasses,t opogr aphyandv eget
ati
on.
Temper at
uresathi ghelev at
ionar ecolderthanatl ow level
sand
southern slopes hav e war mert emperatur
es t han t
he nor t
hern
sl
opes.For estedar eashav ehigherdai
lymi nimum butlowerdai l
y
maxi mum temper aturesthanbar r
enareas.

2.
4 ATMOSPHERI
CPRESSURE

2.
4.1TheSt
andar
dAt
mospher
e

 Gasmol eculesexer tforcesoneachot herandt heirenvironmentas

theycol li
de. Themagni t
udeoft heseforcesdepend upon t he
temper atur
eoft hegasand t henumberofmol eculesi nv ol
ved.
Thesecol l
isi
onf orcesar eexpressedintermsofquant itycalled
pressure. Pr essure differ
ences ar e princi
pally r elated t o
temper atur
edi fferencesandt ot henumberofmol eculesexer ting
pressuref or ces. At mospheric mot i
on result
sf rom pr essure
variatons. Theat
i mosphericpressureonagi vensur facei st he
force exertedbyanov erly
ingcolumnofai rextendingt ot heout er
l
imi toftheat mospher eperunitarea.

 Tr
adi
ti
onal
l
y,ai
rpr
essur
eisexpr
essedi
nuni
tsofl
engt
h,basedon

30
 l
onguseoft hemer cur
ialbar
omet erinwhi chfluctuati
onsoft he
hei
ghtofthemer curycolumnareaf uncti
onofchangi ngpr essurein
theatmosphere. Tomeett heneedf orapr essureuniti nvolv
ing
for
cer at
herthanlength,themill
ibarcamei ntomet eorol
ogi caluse
andstemsf r
om thebar ,whichistheconv enti
onalengineer i
ngunit
ofpressur
e.

 The pressur e exer

ted byt he enti
re atmosphere on one square
centi
met erisappr oximatelyonebar ,def
inedasaf or
ceofone
mill
i
on dy nes persquar e centimeter. Howev er,the st andar
d
atmospher e,wi t
hat emper atur
eof15degCandal ati
tudeof45
degrees,has a nor malpr essure of1,013.2 mil
l
ibars. Thi sis
equival
entt o29.92inchesor760mm ofmer cury.Thus, 1in.Hgis
equival
entto33. 86mi l
l
ibarsor25.40mm Hg.

2.
4.2Measur
ementofAt
mospher
icPr
essur
e

Tomeasur
eat
mospher
icpr
essur
e,t
hef
oll
owi
ngi
nst
rument
sar
e
commonl
yused:

1.Mer curi
alBaromet er(Fig.2. 8)–Thisi sasimpl ebaromet ermade
byf il
l
ingaglass t ube,32i ncheslong,withmer curyandinv erti
ngi t
sot hattheopenendoft het ubeisbelowthesur faceofmer curyi na
cistern.Thepr essureoft heout si
deairthenf orcesthemer curyi n
theci st
ernupwar dintot hev acuum chamberwi thi
nthetube.The
heightoft hemer curycol umn i smeasur ed bysl i
ding av ernier
attachedonascal e.Toobt ainaccuratemeasur ements,corrections
aremadef ortemper at
ureexpansi onoft heinstrument,grav i
tyand
l
at i
tude. Valuesar er ead i n mill
i
bars,mi l
l
imet ersori nchesof
mer cury.

2.Aner oidBar omet er(Fi

g.2. 9)– Thi samechani caldev i
cewhi ch
register
spr essure.Itcontainsacy lindr i
calvacuum wi thcor rugated
topsandsi desknownasasy lphonchamber .Astrongspr ingwi thi
n
thechamberpr event
sitfrom col l
apsi ngundert heai rpressur e.As
theout sidepr essurechanges,t hechamberwi lleitherexpandor
cont r
act.Bymeansofani ntricatesy stem ofleversandpul l
eyst his
changei smagni f
iedandconv eyedt oapoi nter.Thepoi nterswi ngs
aroundadi althatiscalibratedint hesameuni t
sasi namer cur i
al
baromet er.Thewhol eisencl osedinapr otecti
vebr asscasewi tha
glasswi ndow. Si nce airpr essure decr easeswi thi ncreasei n

31
 alt
it
ude,theaneroi
disusedt omakealti
meters.Ont healt
imeter
,
thescaleismarkedof
finhundredsandt
housandsoffeetormeters
aboveseal ev
el.Theal
ti
met eri
sabasicinst
rumenti
naeronauti
cal
stat
ionsandonboardanaircraf
t.

Owingtothetendencyoft hemechani calpart

st osti
ck,this
i
nstrumentshoul
dbet appedpr i
ortoeachr eadingandshouldbe
readwiththeeyedirectlyinf r
ontoft heneedl epoint
ertoav oid
paral
laxerr
or. Theaner oidismostof tenused becauseofi ts
compactnessandeaseofmount i
ngandr eading.Howev er
,oft he
two,themercuri
ali
st hest andardinst
rument,beingmor erel
iable
andaccurat
e.

3.Barograph( Fig.2. 10)–Thi sisar ecordinganer oidbar omet er.It

hasapenpoi ntthatmov esupordownbymeansofaser i
esof
l
ever sattachedt oaner oidcel lsintandem,t raci
ngt hepr essure
curveonapaperat tachedt othet i
me-controll
edr otat
ingdr um.The
aneroidcellsi ntandem pr ovideamor epr onouncedr esponset o
changesi nat mospher icpr essurethanwoul dbei ndicatedbya
si
ngl eaneroidoft hesamesi ze.Asensi t
ivebar ographhasbeen
developedwhi chper mitspressurereadingdirectlytoone- hundredt
h
ofani nch( one-tenthofami l
li
bar)caled mi
l crobarograph. The
barographr eadingsr equir
et hesamecor r
ectionsast heaner oi
d:
el
ev ati
oncor recti
onandi nstr
umentcor recti
on.

Fi
g.2.
8.Themer
cur
ialbar
omet
er.

32
 Fi
g.2.
9Theaner
oidbar
omet
er.

Fi
g.2.
10.Thebar
ogr
aph.

2.
4.3Cor
rect
ionst
oBar
omet
ri
cReadi
ngs

 Whenbar omet r
icr eadingsar eusedi ngener alweat heranal ysis,
theymustshow t ruedi ff
erencesi nat mospher icpr essur eandnot
diff
er encesr esult
ingf r
om v ari
edci rcumst ancesunderwhi cht he
readingsar et aken. Todot hi
s,al lr eadi ngsmustber educedt o
normalcondi ti
onsofseal evel
,l ati
tudeandt emper aturebecause
pressur e-measur i
ng st ati
onsar enotatt hesameel ev ati
on and
l
at i
tudeanddonothav et hesamepr evailingai rtemper atureatt he
ti
me of measur ement . Fur thermor e, pr essur e-measur ing
i
nst rument sarenoti denticall
yt hesamef oral lstations.Hence, the
foll
owi ngcor recti
onsar enecessar yaf tert hebar omet erisr ead:
elevat i
on cor r
ection,t emper ature cor rect ion,l atitude orgr avit
y
correct i
on,andi nstrumentcor rect i
on.Anobser vedpr essur ewhi ch
i
ncludesal lcorr
ect i
onsexceptel evati
oni st ermedst at i
onpr essure.
33
 Former cur
ialbar
omet
err
eadi
ngs,t
he f
oll
owi
ng cor
rect
ionsar
e
needed:

1.Elevati
onCor r
ect i
on.Unl essabarometerislocatedatseal ev el
,
i
twi l
lnatur
all
yshow al owerreadi
ngt hanatt hatlevel,since
pressure decreases wi t
h elev
ati
on. Al lbaromet r
icr eadings
should be reduced t o mean sea l
evelbyaddi ng the proper
correcti
onforel evat
ion.Thenor malpressurei sapproximat ely
30inchesHg.Compl etecorr
ecti
onsaregiveninTable2.2.

2.LatitudeorGr avi
tyCorr
ect
ion.Sincetheear t
hi sflat
tenedatthe
polesand bul ges attheequator,t
herewillbegr eaterpullona
mer curycolumnneart hepolesandal esserpul lattheequator,
producingincreasedanddecreaseddensiti
es,respect i
vely
.This
correcti
onist heref
oreposit
iveabove45degl ati
tude,negati
ve
below,andz eroat45deglatit
ude.Thesecor rectionfigur
esare
foundi nTable2.3.

3.Temper ature Cor r

ection. The mer curyi n a bar omet erwi l
l
expandorcont r
actj ustasi nat hermomet er .Thus,anar bit
rary
referencel evelmustbet aken;forthemer curialbaromet ert hi
si s
32degFor0degC. Hence,whent het emper atureisabov e
freezing,t he mer curyst ands too high int he tube,and t he
correction is negative and mustbe subt racted tol owert he
readingoft hemer curycol umnt onormal .I fbelowf reezing,t he
correctioni saddedi nor dertor ai
set her eadingoft henow
contract ed mer cury col umn t o normal . At f reezing,t he
correction iszer o. Cor recti
onsf ortemper aturear el isted in
Table2. 4.

4.I
nstr
umentCorrect
ion.Thiscor
rect
ionv
arieswi
ththepart
icul
ar
i
nstr
ument and isf ound by compar
ison wit
h a standard
bar
ometer. The NationalWeatherServi
ce wi
llmake such
compar
isons.

 On the otherhand,readi
ngs f r
om t he aneroi
d bar ometerhas
essenti
all
ytwocorr
ecti
ons:elevati
oncorrecti
on,whichi ssi
milarto
thatoft he mer
curi
al,and an instr
umentcor r
ecti
on. Al lgood
aneroi
ds compensatefort emperature and obviously,show no
gravi
tyeffect
.Shouldtheinstr
umenter rorbecomet oolarge,the

34
 point
ercanberesetaf
tercompar
isonbymeansofaset
scr
ew on
thebackoft
hecase.

Tabl
e2.
2.Reduct
ion of Bar
omet
ri
c Readi
ng t
o Mean Sea Lev
el(
Thi
sis
al
wayst
obeadded).

Hei
ght Temper
atur
eofAi
r(DryBul
b),
degF
(f
eet) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
5 0.
01 0.01 0.01 0. 01 0. 01 0.01
10 0.
01 0.01 0.01 0. 01 0. 01 0.01 0. 01 0. 01 0.
01 0.
01
15 0.
02 0.02 0.02 0. 02 0. 02 0.02 0. 02 0. 02 0.
02 0.
02
20 0.
02 0.02 0.02 0. 02 0. 02 0.02 0. 02 0. 02 0.
02 0.
02
25 0.
03 0.03 0.03 0. 03 0. 03 0.03 0. 03 0. 03 0.
03 0.
03

30 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03
35 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04
40 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04
45 0.
06 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05
50 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05

55 0.
07 0.
07 0.
06 0.
06 0.06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06
60 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.07 0.
07 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06
65 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07
70 0.
09 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07
75 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08

80 0.
10 0.
10 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08
85 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09

35
 90 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
09 0.
09
95 0.
12 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10
100 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
10 0.
10
SOURCE:Met
eor
ology(
Four
thEdi
ti
on)byWi
l
li
am Donn.

Tabl
e2.
3.Reduct
ionoft
heMer
cur
ialBar
omet
ert
oSt
andar
dGr
avi
t 45o)
y( .

LATITUDE CORRECTION LATITUDE CORRECTION

(degrees) (
inches) (degrees) (
inches)
0 -0.
08 45 0.00
5 -0.
08 50 0.01
10 -0.
08 55 0.03
15 -0.
07 60 0.04
20 -0.
06 65 0.05
25 -0.
05 70 0.06
30 -0.
04 75 0.07
35 -0.
03 80 0.08
40 -0.
01 85 0.08
45 0.00 90 0.08
SOURCE:Met
eor
ology(
Four
thEdi
ti
on)byWi
l
li
am Donn.

Tabl
e2.
4.Cor
rect
ionofMer
cur
ialBar
omet
erf
orTemper
atur
e.

Temper
atur
e Obser
vedReadi
ng(
inches) Temperat
ur Obser
vedReadi
ng(
inches)
e
(
degF) 28.
5 29.
0 29.
5 30.
0 30.
5 (
degF) 28.
5 29. 0 29. 5 30. 0 30.5
A D D
0 0.
07 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 16 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
04
1 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
08 0.
08 17 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03
2 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 18 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03
3 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 19 0.
02 0.
02 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03
4 0.
06 0.
06 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 20 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02
5 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
07 21 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02
6 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 22 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02
7 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 23 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02
8 0.
05 0.
05 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 24 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01
9 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 25 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01
10 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 26 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01
11 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 27 * * * * *
12 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
05 28 * * * * *
13 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 29 * * * * *
14 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 30 * * * * *
15 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04
SUBTRACT
31 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 66 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10
32 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 67 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
11
33 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 68 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
11 0.
11
34 0.
01 0.
01 0.
01 0.
02 0.
02 69 0.
10 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11
35 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 70 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11
36 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 71 0.
11 0.
11 0.
11 0.
12 0.
12
37 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 72 0.
11 0.
11 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12
38 0.
02 0.
02 0.
02 0.
03 0.
03 73 0.
11 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12

36
 39 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 74 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12
40 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 75 0.
12 0.
12 0.
12 0.
13 0.
13
41 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 0.
03 76 0.
12 0.
12 0.
13 0.
13 0.
13
42 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 77 0.
12 0.
13 0.
13 0.
13 0.
13
43 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 78 0.
13 0.
13 0.
13 0.
13 0.
14
44 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 79 0.
13 0.
13 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14
45 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 0.
04 80 0.
13 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14
46 0.
04 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 81 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14
47 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 82 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14 0.
15
48 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 83 0.
14 0.
14 0.
14 0.
15 0.
15
49 0.
05 0.
05 0.
05 0.
06 0.
06 84 0.
14 0.
14 0.
15 0.
15 0.
15
50 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 85 0.
15 0.
15 0.
15 0.
15 0.
16
51 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 86 0.
15 0.
15 0.
15 0.
16 0.
16
52 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 87 0.
15 0.
15 0.
16 0.
16 0.
16
53 0.
06 0.
06 0.
06 0.
07 0.
07 88 0.
15 0.
16 0.
16 0.
16 0.
16
54 0.
06 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 89 0.
16 0.
16 0.
16 0.
16 0.
17
55 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 90 0.
16 0.
16 0.
16 0.
17 0.
17
56 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
07 0.
08 91 0.
16 0.
16 0.
17 0.
17 0.
17
57 0.
07 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 92 0.
16 0.
17 0.
17 0.
17 0.
18
58 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 93 0.
17 0.
17 0.
17 0.
17 0.
18
59 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 94 0.
17 0.
17 0.
17 0.
18 0.
18
60 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
08 0.
09 95 0.
17 0.
17 0.
18 0.
18 0.
18
61 0.
08 0.
08 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 96 0.
17 0.
18 0.
18 0.
18 0.
19
62 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 97 0.
18 0.
18 0.
18 0.
18 0.
19
63 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
09 0.
10 98 0.
18 0.
18 0.
18 0.
19 0.
19
64 0.
09 0.
09 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 99 0.
18 0.
18 0.
19 0.
19 0.
19
65 0.
09 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 0.
10 100 0.
18 0.
19 0.
19 0.
19 0.
20
SOURCE:Met
eor
ology(
Four
thEdi
ti
on)byWi
l
li
am Donn.

2.
4.4Pr
essur
eVar
iat
ions

 Asi nthecaseoft emper

ature,atmospheri
cpressurealsoexhibi
ts
i
mpor tant var
iati
ons vert
icall
y, hori
zontal
l
y and per i
odical
l
y.
Pressurevar
iat
ionsovertheearth’ssurf
aceresult
edfrom thenon-
unif
orm heat
ingoftheear
th’ssurfaceandtheairabov
ei t
.

 Theat mospherei sami xt ureofgaseshel dt otheearthbygr av i

ty.
Since gases ar e compr essible,t he pressur e of overl
yi
ng ai r
compr esses the l ower ai r consi derably and t hereby gr eatly
i
ncr easest hedensityoft heai rneart hegr ound.Thi scompr ession
account sf ort he rapi
d decr ease in pressur e wit
hi ncr
ease i n
el
ev at i
onandi ncreaseinpr essurewi thdecr easeinelevati
on,ori n
shor t,withthev er
ti
calv ariati
onofai rpressur eintheatmospher e.
Thepr essureatanypoi nti nt heatmospher eisgivenbyt hesimpl e
hydr ostati
cformulacommont of l
uidsingener al:

p=hdg (
2.5)

where“h”i
st hehei
ghtofaircolumnabov et
hepoi
nt,“
d”i
sthe
av
eragedensi
ty,
and“g”i
stheacceler
ati
onduet
ogr
avi
ty.
37
 Thediff
erenceinpressurebetweentwopoi
nts(1and2)wi
tha
rel
ati
vel
ysmallv
ert
icalsepar
ati
onisal
sogi
venby:

p1–p2=(
h1–h2)dg
(2.
6)
or
p=hdg (
2.7)

wher
ehi
sthechangei
nel
evat
ion.

 Hori
zont
alv ari
ati
ons i
n at mospheri
c pr
essure ar
e shown ina
pr
essuref i
eld,thehori
zontaldist
ri
buti
onofpressure.Ananaly
sis
ofthepressuref i
eldi
st hefir
ststeptowards anal
yzi
ngprev
ail
ing
windmotion.Forsea-l
evelanalysi
s,i
sobar
saredrawn.

Isobars arel i
nesdr awnt hroughpoi ntsofequalpr essur e. The
pressurereadi ngsatseal evelar eent er edonmapsandpoi ntson
map showi ng t he same pr essur er eadi ngs ar e connect ed wi th
i
sobar s.Isobar sar eusual l
ydr awnatpr essureinter
valsofei ther3,
4or5mi ll
ibars.I fisobar
sar el i
nesofequalpr essure,thenadj acent
i
sobar sindicateachangei npr essur ef rom onei sobart oanot her.
Thischangei npr essurewi t
hhor izont aldi st
ancei sknownast he
pressuregr adi ent. A pr essur egr adienthasbot hdi recti
onand
steepness,measur edalongt hel i
neofgr eatestpressur echange.
Thisisindicatedbyt heper pendicul ardi stancebetweeni sobar s;the
shorterthedi stancebet ween i sobar s,t hest eepert hepr essure
gradient
. Thest eepert hepr essur egr adientbet weenpoi nt s,the
mor e numer ous and mor e closel yspaced wi llbe t he i sobar s.
Isobarsrelati
vel yfarapartshowav erysl i
ghtpressuredi ff
erenceor
gradient
.

Int he mi ddlel ati

tudes,i sobars displ
ay character
ist
ic shapes
i
ndicati
ngr elati
velylar
gear easofal t
ernatel
yhighandlowpr essur e.
Thesear easasshownbyi sobarsarerudelycir
cul
arorellipticali n
shapeandusual l
ycov ertensoft housandsofsquar ekilomet ers.
Anar eawhi chsur r
oundsapoi ntoflowestpressureist medal
er ow
pressurear eaordepr essionwher easanar easurroundi
ngapoi nt
ofhighestpr essureiscalledahi ghpressurearea.

 Theat
mospher
eisnotast
ati
cbody
.Ithasbeenobser
vedt
hata
38
 peri
odicpr
essur
echangeoccursdail
y.Theai rpressur
eshowst wo
hi
ghandt wolowpoi
ntseachday.Thepr essurepeaksoccurri
ngat
10A. M.and10P.M.whil
et helow poi
ntsar emi dwaybetween,4
P.M.and4A.M.Thisi
scausedbyt hesol
arort hermalti
de.

2.
5WATER,
WATERVAPORANDHUMI
DITY

2.
5.1Wat
erandWat
erVapor

 Wateri st he mostr emar kable componentoft he earth and

atmosphere.Itexi
stsi
nal lt
hreest atesofmatt
er(sol
id,
li
quid,gas).
Thisissobecauset het emper at
ureatwhi chwaterchangesf r
om
one stat
et o anot
herf allwithint he nor
malrange ofterrestr
ial
temperat
ures.

 Thedr yatmospher ei slargelycomposedofni trogen,oxygen,argon

andcar bondi oxi
de.Howev er,airmaycont ainupt oamaxi mum of
4%moi st
ure.I thasbeenest imat edt hat
,onagl obalaverage,t
her e
i
s1%wat ervapori namoi stai rv ol
ume.Thedi str
ibuti
onofwat er
vaporint heat mospher ei sdirect l
yr el
atedt ot hedistri
buti
onof
temperatures.Thehor i
zont almoi sturedistr
ibuti
onv ari
esaccor ding
tot he nat ure of t he under lyi
ng sur face. The decr ease of
temperaturewi t
hel evati
ondecr easest heabi li
tyofai rtor etain
moisturecar r
iedaloft.Act uall
y,theupperpar tofthetropospher eis
nearl
ydev oidofwat erv apor.

 Wat ervapori nt heat mospher eisdi rectlyresponsi blef oral lclouds

andpr eci pitation,andal sohasani ndirectbear i
ngonwi nds.The
wat erv aporcont entoft heat mospher ei smai ntainedt hr ought he
ent i
re pr ocess oft he hy dr ol
ogic cy cle. Thi s cy clei nv olves
ev apor ati
on( lossofwat erf rom sur facewat ersandl andsur faces),
transpi ration ( moi sturel oss f rom v eget ation) ,subl imat ion ( the
directt ransf ormat i
onf r
om i cet ovapor ),condensat i
on( conv ersion
ofai rbor newat erv aport opr ecipi
tablef or m) ,andpr ecipitationof
raindi rect l
yi ntooceanori tmay occurov er l
and,r equi r
ingsur face
runofforgr oundwat erseepage t o compl et et he cy cle. The
combi nedl ossofwat erfrom v egetation-cov er edl andar eat hrough
thepr ocessesofev aporationandt ranspi rati
oni stechni callyt ermed
asev apot ranspi rati
on.Ai rcont aini
ngsomequant ityofwat erv apor,
i
fcool edcont inuousl y,wil
l ev entual
lyr eachat emper aturecal ledt he

39
 dewpoi
nt,at whi ch i t becomes sat
urat
ed wit
h water v
apor.
Addi
ti
onalcool
ingf orcesthewatert
ocondenseandbecomevisi
ble
ascl
oudsorprecipitati
on.

 Ev aporati
onorv apor i
zationaddsheatt ot hel i
quidv aporizedwhi l
e
condensat ionr emov esheat .Theamountofheataddedt oauni t
massofsubst ance,wi thoutchangei nt emper ature,whi l
epassi ng
from thel i
quidt ov aporst ateiscal edl
l at entheatofvapor izat
ion.
Thechangeofv aport ol i
quidst ater eleasesanequi valentamount
ofheat ,knownast hel atentheatofcondensat i
on. Int hesame
manner ,t
heamountofheatr equiredt oconv er
tonegr am ofi cet o
vaporatt he same t emper ature wi t
houtpassi ng thr ough t he
i
nt ermediateliquidst ateisknownast hel atentheatofsubl i
mation.
Thi si
sequalt othesum oft helat entheatofv aporizati
onandl atent
heatoff usion. Thel atentheatoff usioni st hatamountofheat
requiredt oconv er
tonegr am ofi cet ol i
quidwat eratt hesame
temper ature.

2.
5.2Pr
oper
ti
esofWat
erVapor

 The l
atentheatofvapor
izat
ion (
Hv) in cal/gram can be
det
erminedaccur
atel
yupt
o40degreesCel
siusbythefor
mul
a:

Hv=597.
3–0.
564T (
2.8)

where: T i
st het
emperat
ureindegCel
sius. Fort
emper
atures
o
hi
gherthan40C,thelat
entheatofv
apor
izati
onmaybeobtained
fr
om Table2.
5.

In any mi xt
ure ofgases,each gas exer ts a parti
alpr essure
i
ndependentoft heot hergases.Thewat erv aporexertsapar tial
pressureknownasv aporpr essure.Thi sv aporpressure( e)isthe
diff
erencebetweent hepressur eofmoi stair(p)andt hatoft hedr y
air(pd). Whent hemaxi mum amountofwat ervaporf oragi ven
temperatureiscont ainedinagi venspace,t hespacei ssai dtobe
saturated.Thepr essur eexertedbyt hevapori nsaturatedspacei s
call
edt hesaturat
ionvaporpr essure(es)andi sthemaxi mum v apor
pressurepossibleatagi vent emper at
ure. Thesat ur
at i
onv apor
pressureatdi f
ferentai rt
emper at
uresareal sopr esentedi nTable
2.5.

40
  Thespecif
icgravi
tyofwat
erv aporis0.
622timesthatofdryairat
thesametemperatur
eandpressure.Thedensi
tyofwatervapor(v)
3
i
ngr ams/
cm i scomput
edbythef or
mula:

v=(
0.622e)
/(RgT) (
2.9)

where:Ti stheabsol
utetemperat
urei
ndegKandRg,t hespeci
fi
c
3 2 2o
gasconstantfordr
yair
,equalsto2.
87x10 cm /sec-Kwhent he
vaporpr
essure(e)i
sinmil
libar
s.

 Thedensi
tyofdr
yai
r(d)i
ngr cm3i
ams/ scomput
edbyt
hef
ormul
a:

d=pd/
(RgT) (
2.10)

wher
e:pdi
sthepr
essur
eofdr
yai
rinmi
l
li
bar
s.

 Thedensi t
yofmoi stair(a)isequalt
ot hemassofwat ervapor
plusthemassofdr yairi
nauni tvol
umeofmi xt
ure.Ifpaisthetotal
pressureofthemoi stai
r,pa –ewillbetheparti
alpressur
eoft he
dryairalone. Thus,thedensityofmoistairiscomput edbyt he
formula:

pa e
a=-
--
--
---(
1–0.
378--
---
) (
2.11)
RgT pa

Tabl
e2.
5.Pr
oper
ti
esofwat
eri
nmet
ri
cuni
ts.

Temperat
ure Heatof Satur
ati
onVaporPr
essure
o
(C) Vapor
izat
ion(
cal
/g) mm Hg Mil
l
ibar
0 597.
3 4.
58 6.
11
5 594.
5 6.
54 8.
72
10 591.
7 9.
20 12.27

41
 15 588.
9 12.
78 17.
04
20 586.
0 17.
53 23.
37
25 583.
2 23.
76 31.
67
30 580.
4 31.
83 42.
43
35 577.
6 42.
18 56.
24
40 574.
7 55.
34 73.
78
50 569.
0 92.
56 123.40
60 563.
2 149.46 199.26
70 557.
4 233.79 311.69
80 551.
4 355.28 473.67
90 545.
3 525.89 701.13
100 539.
1 760.00 1013.25

2.
5.1I
ndi
cat
orsofAt
mospher
icMoi
stur
eCont
ent

Thei
ndi
cat
orsofat
mospher
icmoi
stur
econt
entar
easf
oll
ows:

1.Capacit
yandSat ur
ati
on.Whenwat ervaporisi
ntheatmosphere,i
t
i
sr ef
err
edtoashumi di
ty,t
hemostimportantweat
herel
ement . At
any gi v
en t emperat
ure, themaximum amountofmoi stureis
cal
ledthecapacityoftheair
. When t hecapacit
yoftheairhas
beenreached,
theairi
ssaidtobeatsat
uration.

Sat
urati
on can beachieved byei t
herincreasi
ng thewater
cont
entordecreasing the t
emper atur
e. Incr
easing the water
cont
ent may occurt hr
ough evaporati
on orthrough mi xi
ng of
humid and less-humid ai
rbodies.Decr easi
ngt hetemperat
ure
mayoccurinanumberofway s:

a.Theai
rmaybecool
edadi
abat
ical
l
ybyr
isi
ngandexpanding;
b.I
tmaybecool
edbycont
actwi
thacol
dsurfacebeneat
h;

c.Themixingofwar m andcol dai

rmassesresul
tsi
nlower
ingof
thet
emperatureofthewar mermass;
and
d.
Radi
ati
onbyt heai
ritsel
fresul
tsi
nthecool
i
ngoftheai
r.

Atanyti
me,thedi
ff
erencebetweenthecapaci
tyoft
heai
rand
t
heactualhumidi
tyi
scal
ledthesat
urat
iondef
ici
t.

42
2.Dewpoint.Thisisthetemperat
ur eatwhichairbecomessat urated
becausefurt
hercool i
ng wil
lcause condensat i
on of moi sture.
The dewpointofrisi
ngairdecreases wit
h alti
tudeatt herateof
about2degCel si
usperkm (1degFper1000f t
)si nce t
he wat er
vaporconcent
rati
onperunitvol
umedecr easesast heai
rexpands.

 A greatv al
ue of thi
s dewpoi
nt pr
opert
y of theairisits
constancy.Asl ongasthewat
ercont
entofagivenquanti
tyof
theairr emainsconst
ant,t
hedewpoi
ntofthatairwi
llremain
practi
cal
lyconstant
.

 Dew pointhasbeenf oundt obehighl

ycorrel
atedwiththewet-
bulbdepr ession,whichist hedi
ff
erencebetweent hedry-
bulb
and wet -bulb temperatures. At a cer tain dr
y-bul
b (ai
r)
temperature,thedewpoi nttemper
aturedecreasedast hewet-
bulb depr ession incr
eased. The v ari
ation in dewpoint
temperature wi t
ht emperatur
e and wet-
bulb depressi
on are
showninTabl e2. 6.

3.Relati
veHumi di
ty(f).Thisistherati
ooftheamountofwatervapor
i
nt heairtotheamountt he aircanholdatthattemper
atur
e(orthe
capacit
yoft heai r
).Thisisalsot heper
centagerati
oofthe actual
tot he saturati
onv aporpressure. Thisrati
oisalway
sexpressed
asinpercent.

f=(
ea/
es)100
(
2.12)

wher
eeaist
heact
ualv
aporpr
essur
eandesi
sthesat
urat
ionv
apor
pr
essur
e.

 Relati
ve humi dit
y changeswhenev er t he amountofwat er
vaporint heairchanges andwhenev ert hecapaci
tyoft heair
changes. Thi salsovariesinversel
ywi thairtemperat
ure. A
decreasei ntemperat
uredecr easesthecapaci tyof theairt o
holdwat ervapor.When t hetemperature,hencet hecapaci
ty,
decreasessucht hatt
he relati
vehumidityis100%, t
heairwil
lbe
saturat
ed,and t he t
emper atur
e at whi ch t
his humidit
yi s
reachedi scall
eddewpoint .

 Justl
i
ket
hedew poi
ntt
emper
atur
e,r
elat
ivehumi
dit
yhasbeen

43
 found to be hi
ghl
ycor rel
ated wi t
ht he wet-
bul
b depressi
on.
Table 2.7 shows t he variation in rel
ati
ve humidi
ty with
temperatur
eandwet-bulbdepr essi
on.

2.
5.2Measur
ementofRel
ati
veHumi
dit
y

Themeasur ementof humidi

tyisoneof the leastaccur
ate
i
nstr
ument alprocedur
es in met
eorol
ogy. The di
ff
erenttypes of
humidit
yinst
rumentsare:

1.Non-
Recor
dingTy
pes

a.Sli
ng Psy chrometer( Fig.2. 11)– Thi si s a dev i
ce used t o
determi net hemoisturecont entoft heai
r.I t consistsof t wo
ordinaryt hermomet erspl acedsi debysi de,thedry -bulb and
wet-bulb.The wet -
bulbt hermomet erhasi tsbulbcov eredwi t
h
thi
nwetmusl incloth. The t hermometers ar ev entil
atedby
whirli
ngorbyuseof f an. Becauseoft hecoolingef fectof
evapor ati
on,thewet -bulbt hermomet err
eadsl owert hanthedr y-
bulb.The di ffer
ence bet ween air( dry
-bulb) and wet -bul
b
temper atures, known as wet -
bulb depression,i s hi ghl
y
correlatedwi t
hhumi dity
.

The st andard psychrometeri nv

ites manyobser vational
error
s. Usi ng t wo t hermomet ers double the chance of
misreading. Atl owtemper atur
es,mi sreadi
ngbyaf ewtent hs
ofadegr eecanl eadt oabsur dresult
s. Ther eis al way sa
chance t hat r eadi
ngs ar e not made when t he wet -bulb
thermomet erisati tsl
owestt emper at
ure.Inadditi
on,ther
ear e
error
s wi th a posi t
ive bias r esul
ting f r
om i nsuff
icient
venti
lat
ion,dirtyortoothickmuslinandimpur ewater.

44
 Fi
g.2.
11.Thesl
ingpsy
chr
omet
er.

b.Hai rHy gr
omet er(Fig.2.
12)–Thi sinstrumentmakesuseof
thef actthatt helengt hofhairvari
eswi t
hrelat
ivehumi di
ty.
Thiswasi nventedbyDeSaussur ein1783.Thi sinstrument
has a bundl eofhai r
s,theupperendofwhi chisfixedt oa
frameandt helowerendt oawei ght.Thewei ghtisconnect ed
by ampl i
fying levers to compensat ing cams whi ch, in
turn,ar econnect ed t o a pointer that mov es acr ossa
scaleandt her elat
ivehumi di
tyi
sindi
cated.

When the airi s dry,thecel

lsint hehai
rarecl
ose
together
,butwhen t heairishumid,t
hespacebetweenthe
cell
sabsorbswatervapor,andt
hehairthi
ckensandl
engt
hens.

Any i
nstr
umentusi ng a hai
relementi s subj
ectto
err
or. Thequalit
y of hai r may change. The hai r
expands wit
hi ncreasi
ngtemperat
ure and i
tsresponse t
o
changesinhumi dityisver
yslow,thelag incr
easing wit
h

45
 decreasi
ng t
emperatur
e unt
ili
t becomesal
mosti
nfi
nit
eat
about–40degCelsius.

Fi
g.2.
12.Thehai
rhy
gromet
er.

2.Recor
dingTy
pes

a.Hygr
ograph(
Fig.2.
13)–Thi
sisaself
-r
ecordi
nghy
gromet
er.
I
toperat
esapenmar ki
ngat
raceonachar
t.

Fi
g.2.
13.Thehy
grogr
aph.

b.Hygr
othermograph(
Fig.2.
14)–This i
nstr
ument combi ned
t
he f eatures of bot h the hairhygrogr
aph and
t
hermograph, and r ecor
ds bothr
elati
ve humidi
ty and

46
 t
emper
atur
eononechar
t.

Fi
g.2.
14.Thehy
grot
her
mogr
aph.

2.
5.3Geogr
aphi
candTempor
alVar
iat
ion

 Atmospher i
cmoist uretendst odecr easewi t
hincreasi
nglat
itude,
butrelati
vehumi dity,aninversefuncti
onoft emperatur
e,t
endst o
i
ncrease. At mospher i
c moistur
ei s greatestoveroceans and
decreaseswi t
hdi stanceinland. Italsodecreaseswi t
helevati
on
andisgr eat
eroverv egetat
ionthanoverbarrensoil
.

 Atmospher
ic wat
ervaporis ata mi
nimum in wint
erand ata
maximum i
nsummer.Unli
keactual
waterv
apor,
relat
ivehumi
dit
yis
ataminimum i
nsummerandatamaximum inwi
nter.

 Thedi urnalv ar
iati
onofat mosphericmoi st
ureisnor mall
ysmal l
,
except wher e l and and sea br eezes bri
ng ai r of di
ff
eri
ng
char acteri
sti
cs.Neart hegroundsurface,condensati
onofdew at
nightandr e-evaporat
ionduringthedaymayr esultinami ni
mum
moi sturecont entnearsunri
seandamaxi mum bynoon.Rel at
ive
humi dityi s maxi mum in early morning and mi ni
mum i nt he
afternoon.

2.
6WI
NDANDWI
NDOBSERVATI
ONS

47
2.
6.1Whati
sWi
nd?

Wi nd isthehor i
zont almot ionoft heairpastagi v
enpoi nt
.I tis
measur edi ntermsofdir ectionandspeed.I tisav eryinfl
uenti
alfactor
i
n sev er alhy drometeor ol
ogicalpr ocesses,such as ev aporat
ion,
tr
anspirat i
onandsnowmel t.Int hedeser tareas,windi sani mportant
agentofer osi
on.Itisalsoi mpor tantinthepr oducti
onofpr ecipi
tat
ion,
si
ncei ti sonlythroughsust ainedf l
ow ofmoi stairintoast ormt hat
preci
pit
at ioncanbemai ntained.

2.
6.2Wi
ndObser
vat
ions

 Wi
ndi
sobser
vedi
nter
msoft
hreei
mpor
tantpar
amet
ers,
asf
oll
ows:

1.Wind r
un i
st hetotalr
unofwi nd i
n24 hour
s,ex
pressed i
n
ki
l
ometersandtent
hsofkil
omet
er.

2.Wi nddi recti

oni sthedi r
ectionf rom wher ethewi ndisbl owingor
comes. Thedi recti
ont hati sf requent l
yrecor dedt hrought he
obser vationist ermedaspr evaili
ngwi nddi r
ect i
on.Thet er
ms
usedt odescr ibet hewi nddi rectionar enor th,east ,southand
west .I nt er
msofangul ardi splacement ,sai d directi
onsar e
i
ndi catedas360,90,180,and270degr eesf rom thet ruenorth
(zeropoi nt),r
espect i
v el
y.Si mply ,theeast,sout h,westandnor th
directionscanbewr i
ttenintensofdegr eesas09, 18, 27,and36,
respect i
v el
y.Hence,aneastwi ndhasadi rectionof90degr ees
(09)whi l
eanor thwi ndhasadi rectionof360degr ees( 36).In
common par l
ance,t he wi nd di recti
ons ar er ef
er r
ed t o as
compasspoi nts,suchasN, S,SW, etc.
,orinoldr ecords, t
heyare
expr essedint ermsofdegr ees( Tabl e2.8).

Iti
srecommendedt hatthe16compasspoi
ntsbeusedfor
sur
facewindsonlywhil
et hedegreesort
ensofdegr
eesshould
beusedforwindsal
oft
.

3.Windspeedistheappar entmotionoftheairmeasuredinm/ sec

orkm/ hr
.Howev er,t
heabsenceofappar entmotionintheairis
t medascal
er mness. Int aki
ngwi ndspeedobser vat
ions,the
observ
ershouldnott akemeasur ementsduringapeakorl ul
lin
gustywindsorsquals.Gust
l saresuddenintermi
ttenti
ncreases
i
nspeedwi t
hatl east9knot s(1knot=1. 85km/ hr
)v ar
iat
ion

48
 betweenpeaksandl uls.Squal
l l
sar esuddeni ncreasesinspeed,
withapeakspeedof8m/ secormor esustainedov eraperiodof
two or mor e mi nutes. Squal lisi ndicativ
e of t urbulent
atmospher e.Windshi ftsarewinddi st
urbancesassoci atedwi th
thepassageofcy clones,I
ntertr
opicalConv ergenceZone( I
TCZ)
andt hunderst
orms.I tisadef i
nitechangei nwi nddirect
iont hat
takesplaceinlessthan15mi nutes.

Tabl
e2.8. Wi
nd di
rect
ion bycompasspoi
ntsand i
ntensof
degr
ees.

DEGREES COMPASS TENSOF DEGREES COMPASS TENSOF

POI
NTS DEGREES POI
NTS DEGREES
355-
004 N 36 175-
184 S 18
005-
014 01 185-
194 19
015-
024 NNE 02 195-
204 SSW 20
025-
034 03 205-
214 21
035-
044 04 215-
224 22
045-
054 NE 05 225-
234 SW 23
055-
064 06 235-
244 24
065-
074 ENE 07 245-
254 WSW 25
075-
084 08 255-
264 26
085-
094 E 09 265-
274 W 27
095-
104 10 275-
284 28
105-
114 ESE 11 285-
294 WNW 29
115-
124 12 295-
304 30
125-
134 13 305-
314 31
135-
144 SE 14 315-
324 NW 32
145-
154 15 325-
334 33
155-
164 SSE 16 335-
344 NNW 34
165-
174 17 345-
354 35
SOURCE: ManualofI nst
ruct
ions: Meteorol
ogi
caland Phenol
ogicalObser
vat
ions i
n
Agri
cult
ureand
Forest
rybytheTechni calWor
kingGrouponAgrometeorology(
PCARRD Book
Seri
esNo.84)

 Themostcommonwi ndmeasur
inginstr
ument
sinmet
eor
ologi
cal
st
ati
onsi
nthePhi
l
ippi
nesar
ethefol
lowing:

1.Total
izi
ngAnemometer–ist
heinst
rumentusedtomeasur
ethe
tot
alrunofwi
ndperdayf
rom whi
chthewindspeedi
scal
cul
ated.

49
The WMO st andard inst
all
ati
on of thi
si nstr
ument i s at
evapor ationpanl evel(
about20cm abov et
herim),however,i
tis
al
so i nstal
led 2 met ers abovet he gr
ound. For v arious
applications,ifwinddat aisnotobservedat2met ersheight,a
correct i
onf actorisusedtocalcul
atethewindspeedat2met ers
height,asf oll
ows:

Observ
ati
on Hei ght 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.
0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
(m)
Corr
ecti
onFact
or 1.
35 1.
15 1.
06 1.
0 0.
93 0.
88 0.
85 0.
83

Ther
ear
esev
eral
typesoft
hisi
nst
rument
:

a.ThreeorFour-CupAnemomet er( Fi
g.2.15).Thisanemomet er
hast hr
eeorfourcupswhi char er otat
inghorizont
allyarounda
vert
icalaxi
sofr otat
ion.Thi si nstrumentiseasyt ooperat e.
Howev er,i
ttendst or egist
ert oohi ghameanspeedi na
vari
ablewindbecauset hecupsaccel erat
ef asterthant hey
l
osespeed.Ver ti
calcur r
ents( turbul
ence)tendt or ot
atet he
cupsandcauseov err egistr
ationofhor i
zontalspeeds.Most
cupanemomet er
swi llnotr ecor dspeedsbel ow 1or2mi /hr
becauseofstarti
ngfriction.

Fi
g.2.
15.Thet
otal
izi
ngcupanemomet
er.

b.Pr
opel
l
erAnemometer(Fi
g.2.
16). Thi
si sananemomet
er
whi
chhaspr
opel
l
ersrot
ati
ngar
oundahorizont
alax
is.

50
 Fi
g.2.
16.Thepr
opel
leranemomet
er.

2.WindVane( Fig.2.
17)–i
sani
nst
rumentusedt
oindi
cat
ethe
di
rect
ionofwind.

Fi
g.2.
17.Thewi
ndv
ane.

3.AerovaneWi ndSyst
em (Fig.2.18)– i
sani nstrumentusedt o
measurewi ndspeedanddirecti
onsimult
aneously.Itconsi
stsof
tworecordingcomponents,thedial
sandt herecorder
.Thedi al
s
onlyindi
catei nst
ant
aneouswi ndspeedanddi recti
on,butthe
recor
derr ecordsthedatai nt hechart. TheWMO st andard
i
nstall
ati
oni s10metersabovetheground.

51
 Fi
g.2.
18.Theaer
ovanewi
ndsy
stem.

Ifthereis no equi pmentt o measur e wi

nd directi
on,t hi
si s
determi
nedbyobser v
ingthemov ementoft wi
gs,l
eav es,f
lags,wind
cone,tr
eesandothermateri
als/
thingswhichfl
utt
erwi tht
hewi nd.If
i
nstrumenti
snotav ai
labl
etomeasur ewi
ndspeed,thenthismaybe
esti
matedusingt
heBeauf or
tScale( Tabl
e2.9)
.

Tabl
e2.
9.Wi
ndEqui
val
ent
-Beauf
ortScal
e.

BEAUFORT SPEED I
NTERNATI ONAL DETAI LED
NUMBER (
km/hr) DESCRI PTION DESCRI PTI ON
0 <1 Calm Cal m; Smoker i
sesv er
ticall
y
1 1-5 LightAi r Direct i
on of wi nd shown by
smoke dr iftbutnotby wi nd
vanes
2 6-12 Li
ghtBr eeze Wi ndf eltonf ace;leavesr ustl
e;
vanesmov edbywi nd
3 13-20 GentleBr eeze Leav es and smal lt wigs i n
const antmot i
on;wi ndext ends
l
ightf l
ags
4 21-30 Moder ate Raisesdust ,loosepaper ;smal l
branchesmov ed
5 31-39 Fr esh Smal lt rees begi n to sway ;
crest ed wav elets f orm on
i
nlandwat er
6 40-50 Strong Lar ge br anches i n mot i
on;
whi stli
ng hear d i n wi r
es;
umbr ell
asusedwi thdiff
iculty
7 51-62 NearGal e Whol e t r ees i n mot i
on;
i
nconv enience f el
ti n wal ki
ng
agai nstwi nd
8 63-75 Gal e Breakt wigsof ft r
ees;impedes

52
 progr
essinwal ki
ng
9 76-
88 St
rongGal
e Sli
ght st r
uctural damage
occurs
10 89-
102 St
orm Trees uprooted;consi
der
abl
e
damageoccur s
11 103-
116 Vi
olentSt
orm Widespreaddamage
12 117-
133 Hurri
cane
SOURCE:ManualofI
nstr
ucti
ons:Meteorologi
calandPhenologi
calObser
vat
ionsi
nAgr
icul
tureand
Forest
rybytheTechni
calWorkingGrouponAgr ometeorol
ogy(
PCARRDBookSeriesNo.
84)

2.
6.3Wi
ndVar
iat
ionWi
thHei
ght

 Wind speedsar er educed and direct i

onsdef l
ected int helower
l
ay ersoft heat mospherebecauseoff ri
cti
onpr oducedbyt rees,
buildings,andot herobstacles.Thi sl owerlayer,r
eferredt oasthe
fri
ctionl ayer,extendsupt o600met ersabov ethegr ound.I nthi
s
fri
ctionl ay
er ,t
hewi ndspeedv ari
essi gnif
icantl
ywi t
hhei ghtabove
thegr oundsur face. Thisv ari
ati
onofwi ndspeedwi thheightis
knownaswi ndpr of
il
e.Suchv ari
ationi susuall
yexpr essedbyone
oft het wogener alrelat
ionships,namel y,thelogarit
hmi cv el
ocit
y
profil
eandt hepowerl awpr ofi
l
e.

 Therear
etwocommonf
ormsoft
hel
ogar
it
hmi
cvel
oci
typr
ofi
l
eas
fol
l
ows:

1.Aconv
enientform oft
helogar
it
hmicv el
ocitypr
ofi
lef orr
elati
ng
meanwindspeed v hatsomeheightzh t
ot hemeasur edmean
wi
ndspeed vsh t
akenatsomestandar
dhei ghtzsh i
sexpressed
by

v
h/v
sh=[
ln(
zh/
zo+1)
]/[
ln(
zsh/
zo+1)
] (
2.13)

where“zo”i
stheroughnesslengt
hoftheunder
lyi
ngsurf
ace(see
Table2. .Roughnessl
10) engthisdef
inedasthathei
ghtabove
thegroundsur
faceatwhichwindspeedbecomeszero.

2.Anotherconveni
entformforcomputingmeanwindspeed v2at
somei nter
mediatehei
ghtz2 whenmeanwindspeeds v1andv3
atheightz1andz3,r
espect
ivel
y,ar
eknowni
sexpressedby

v
2=v
3–(
v3–v
1)[
ln(
z3/
z2)
/ln(
z3/
z1)
] (
2.14)

53
 Ont
heot
herhand,
thepowerl
awpr
ofi
l
eisusual
l
yexpr
essedas
k
v
h/v
sh=(
zh/
zsh) (
2.15)

wherev h,vsh,zh andzsh ar

easdef i
nedinEq.2.13and“ k”isan
exponent whose v al
ue v ar
ies wit
h surface r
oughness and
atmosphericst abil
it
y,usual
lyrangi
ngfrom 0.1to0.6(pl
easesee
Table2.11).

`
Thelogarit
hmiclaw hasbeenf oundgener al
lymor erepresentati
ve
ofthewi ndprofi
lei
nt helowest5t o8met er
sabov et hegr ound
whent heatmospher
ictemperaturelapseratewasadi abati
cornear
adi
abat i
c. The powerl aw pr ofi
l
ei s consi
dered t o be mor e
appl
icableofthewindpr ofi
l
ei nthel ayerfrom severalmet ersto
about100met er
sabov et
hegr ound.

Tabl
e2.
10.Roughnessl
engt
hofv
ari
ousl
andsur
faces.

TYPEOFSURFACE Hei
ghtof WindSpeedat2 Roughness
Plant
s metershei
ght Lengt
h
(
cm) (m/s) (cm)
Openwat er 2.
10 0.001
Smoothmudf l
ats 0.001
Wetsoil 1.
80 0.020
Deser
t 0.030
Mowngr ass 1.
5 0.200
3.
0 0.700
4.
5 2.
00 2.400
4.
5 6.
00-8.
00 1.700
Al
fal
fa 20-30 1.
90 1.400
30-40 1.
90 1.300
Longgr
ass 60-70 1.
50 9.000
60-70 3.
50 6.100
60-70 6.
20 3.700
Mai
ze 90.0 2.000
170.0 9.500
300.0 22.000
Sugar
cane 100.0 4.000
200.0 5.000
300.0 7.000

54
 400.0 9.000
Br
ush 135.0 14.000
Or
angeorchar
d 350.0 50.000
Pi
nefor
est 500.0 65.000
2,700.
0 300.000
Deci
duousf
orest 1,700.
0 270.000
SOURCE:Hy
drol
ogyf
orEngi
neer
s(Thi
rdEdi
ti
on)byLi
nsl
ey,
Kohl
er&Paul
hus.

Table2.
11.Val
uesof“k”f
ordiff
erentr
epr
esent
ati
vesur
facesat
var
ioust
emperat
urel
apser
ates.

Typeof Height Temper

atur
eLapseRate
Surf
ace (
met er Super
- NeutralSt
abl
eI nv
ersi
on
s) adi
abati
c
Meadows 10- 70 0.
25 0.
27 0.
61
Fl
atf i
eld 11- 49 0.
16 0.
20 0.
25 0.
36
Grassfiel
d 8-120 0.
14 0.
17 0.
27 0.
32-0.
77
Ai
rfiel
d 9-27 0.
09 0.
08 0.
18
Desert 6-61 0.
15 0.
18 0.
22
Near wooded 11-124 0.
19 0.
29 0.
35
ar
ea
SOURCE:Hy
drol
ogyf
orEngi
neer
s(Thi
rdEdi
ti
on)byLi
nsl
ey,
Kohl
er&Paul
hus.

2.
6.4Tempor
alandGeogr
aphi
cVar
iat
ionofWi
nd

I
nwinter,sur
facewindstendtoblowfr
om thecol
derint
eriorofland
massest owardthewar meroceans. Conver
sel
y,insummer ,the
wi
ndst endt oblow fr
om t hecool
erbodiesofwatert owardt he
war
merl and(monsoonwi nds)
.

 Wind speedsar ehi ghestand mostv ar

iabl
ei n winter,whereas
middleandl atesummeri sthecal
mestper iodoft hey ear. The
di
urnalv ar
iat
ionofwi ndissi
gni
fi
cantl
yonl yneart hegroundandi s
mostpr onouncedduringsummer.Sur facewi ndspeedi susuall
yat
ami nimum aboutsunr i
seandincreasest oamaxi mum i near l
y
aft
ernoon.Atabout300met er
sabov et hegr ound,themaxi mum
occursatnightandthemi ni
mum intheday ti
me.

2.
7CLOUDI
NESS

55
2.
7.1Cl
oudsandThei
rFor
mat
ion

 Acl oudisav isi

blebodyofmi nut
ewat erdr oplet
sandi cecrystals
suspendedi ntheat mosphere.Thesemi nutewat erdroplet
s,ori ce
crystal
shav eadi ameteroff ew thousandt hsofani nch. They
actuall
yf l
oatorr emainsuspendedi ntheat mosphereatv arying
distancesabovet heground.Sosmal lar
et hepar ti
clescompr ising
acl oudthatevent hesl
ight
estmov ementofai risusuall
ysuf fi
cient
tokeept hem afl
oat .

 Cloudsareimportantcomponentoft hedai
lyweat hercondi
ti
onofa
pl
ace. Theyi ndicatethe prevai
li
ng and pastcondi ti
onsint he
atmosphereand,mor eimport
antly,
theprobablefutureatmospher i
c
condit
ions. For maki ng shor t
-peri
od forecasts from l ocal
observati
onsalone,cloudsar e one ofthe two mosti mportant
cri
teri
aavail
abl
e(theothercri
ter
ioniswinddirect
ion).

 Nearlyallcloudsar ethepr oductsoftemper atur

eandhumi dity
changesinrisingandadiabati
call
ycooli
ngair.Whi chcloudgenera
form dependsont hemet hodbywhi cht heai rissetinv er
tical
mot i
onandont heheightatwhi chtheaircoolst othedew point.
Cloudsareusuallyf
ormedbyt hef ol
l
owingprocesses:

1.Surfaceheat i
ng whichr esul
tsi n ai
rr i
sing verti
cal
lyoverthe
heatedsurface,usuall
yoverar atherl
i
mi t
edar ea.
2.Topography,whichcausest heairtosteeplyri
se.
3.Fronts,which can produce eithergentlyorst eepl
yrisi
ng ai
r
dependingont hefrontal
type.
4.Conv er
gence,whi chusuallyresultsinairrisingsteepl
yov era
broadarea.

2.
7.2AmountofCl
oudi
ness

 Normal l
y,theamountofcl oudi
nessisei
therstatedi
nthenumberof
tenthsoftheskyobscur edbycloudsordescribedver
bal
ly.Theuse
ofspeci fi
cdeci malfract
ionst oindi
catecloud cover
agewi l
lof
coursegi v
eamor especif
icindi
cati
onofthisamount.Thedecimal
pointisusuall
yomi tt
edwhenwr iti
ngnumericaldesi
gnat
ions.Thus,
7indicatesthatseven-t
enthsoftheskyi
scov ered.

56
 I
fdescri
bedver
bal
ly
,twoset
sofdescr
ipt
ivet
ermsar
eof
tenused.
Thesear
egiv
eninTabl
e2.
12.

Tabl
e2.
12.St
atesoft
heSky
.

DESI
GNATI
ON AMOUNTOFCLOUDI
NESS
Clear Cl
ear Lesst
han1t enth,or1
Scatter
ed Part
lycloudy 1to5tenthsincl
usive,or1–5
Broken Cl
oudy 6to9tenthsincl
usive,or6–9
Ov er
cast Overcast Moret han 9 tenths,ormore
than9
SOURCE:Met
eor
ology(
SecondEdi
ti
on)byWi
l
li
am Donn.

2.
7.3Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionofCl
ouds

Inaccordancewi t
ht he1956Int
ernationalCloudAtlasoft heWorl
d
Meteorologi
cal Or gani
zat
ion, cl
ouds ar e classif
ied i nt
o 10
char
acterist
icf or
ms or genera whi ch are mutually excl
usi
ve.
Vari
ati
onswi thi
nmostgener aar
er ecognized.

 Three basic cloud forms ar er ecognized: ci rrus,cumul us and

str
atus.Al ltheot herstandardt ypesar eeitherthesepur ef or
m or
modifi
cat i
onsand combi nat i
onsoft hem atdi fferentelevat
ions,
wherev aryingai randmoi stureconditi
onsar eresponsiblefortheir
for
m.Muchmor ewaterv aporisav ai
labl
eatl owert hanathigher
l
evels.Cl earl
yt hen,t
hehi gheracl oud,thethinneri twil
lusuall
ybe;
thelowert hecl oud,thedenseranddar kerwi llitappear . The
descri
ptionoft hebasiccloudf ormsar easf oll
ows:

1.Cir
rus. Thi sform embr aces v
ery high,thi
n,separat
ed,or
detachedcloudsthatdevel
opdeli
cat
epat chesorl
ongextended
fi
bers,fr
equentl
ywithafeather
yappearanceandal
way swhit
ein
col
or .

57
2.Cumulus.Thisform alwaysexhi
bitsf
lat
-basedindi
vi
dualcl
oud
masses,withapr onouncedvert
icaldoming,andf r
equent
lya
caul
i
flower
-l
ikest
ructur
e.

3.Str
atus.Thisnameimpliesanext
endedsheetorlayerl
ikecl
oud
cover
ingallorlar
gepor ti
onsofthesky. Thi
st ypeisusuall
y
conti
nuousclouddeckandmayshowmi norri
fts,butnodefi
nit
e
i
ndivi
dualcl
oudunit
s.

58
Ifabasi ccl
oudform( exceptforcirrus)occursaboveit
snormal
l
ev el
,thecl
oudwil
lbethinandthepr efixal
toprecedest
hename.If
anycloudisassoci
atedwi thpreci
pitati
on,thewordnimbus(Lat
in
forrai
n)isoft
eni
ntr
oducedi ncombinat i
onwi t
hthename.

 Thedescr
ipt
ionoft
hev
erycommoncl
oudt
ypesar
easf
oll
ows:

1.Cirr
us( Ci)
.Thi scloudty pe,beingthehighestofal lt
heclouds,
usuall
yf or
m abov e10,000met ers.Theyar edetached,del
i
cate,
white cl
oud uni t
sappear i
ng in allseasons. Of t
en,theyare
feat
hery,fibrous,ort uf
tedi nappear ance,indi
cati
ngt hewell-
known“ mar e’
stail
s.”

2.Cir
rost
ratus(Cs).Thesecloudsf ormt ypical
lyasat hi
nwhitish
vei
lorsheet,of
tencover
ingall
oragoodpor ti
onofthesky.They
maybev er
yt hi
n,giv
ingtheskyasl i
ghtmi l
kywhit
eorv eil
ed
appear
ance,ortheymayf or
m adef i
nitewhi t
esheet. Thev ery
thi
nappearanceoft hesecloudsi ndicatest hegr
eatheightat
whichtheycommonlyoccur,whichisthesameasf orcir
rus.

3.Cirrocumulus(Cc).Thesecl oudsf orm assmal l

,whi t
e,fl
akyor
scal ygl
obularmassescov eri
ngsmal lorlargeporti
onsoft hesky
andhav enoshading.Thedel icategroupsoft hi
sty peofcloud
often appeart o be r
ippled,or ,atot hert imes,theymaybe
arranged in bands cr ossing t he sky . I ti st his banded
arrangementoft hedelicatewhi tecirrocumul uspackst hathas
resultedint heappli
cationof“ macker elsky”t othesecl ouds.
Theyar etheleastcommonoft hecl oudt ypes.

4.Al
tostr
atus(As)
. Thesecloudsareunifor
m blui
shorgray
ish-
whit
ecloudsheet
s,cover
ingallorl
argeport
ionsoft
heskyand

59
 somet imesoccur r
inginuniform br
oadbands.Thesunmaybe
totall
y obscur ed ormay shi ne thr
ough i n a weak,wat ery
condi t
ion.Thet ypicalwaterysunischaracteri
sti
cofal tost
rat
us.
Justhowt hickthesecl oudsaredependsont heheightatwhi ch
theyf orm. Ifv eryhigh,theymaygr adei ntocirr
ostratus.The
l
owert heyf orm,theheav i
eranddensert heybecome. These
cloudsy iel
dal argepercentageofpreci
pitati
on,part
icularl
yinthe
mi ddleandhi ghlatit
udes,beingcomposedofbot hwat erandice
par t
icl
es.

5.Alt
ocumulus(Ac).Thesecl oudsf or
m asel l
ipt
icalglobularuni ts
occur
ri
ngindivi
dual
lyori ngr oups.Wheni ngr oups, alt
ocumul us
may form as confused,and mor e orless cl osely grouped,
masses or in def i
nit
e bands,wi th clear sky al ternating.
Alt
ocumulus mayhav e grayshadi ng on theirunder surf
aces.
I
ndivi
dualal
tocumuluscl oudsar efr
equentlyelongat edelli
ptical
orlenti
cul
arunits di
stinguishablef r
om t he cumul usbyt hei r
hei
ghtandabsenceofv er
ticaldomi ng. Thewav yorpar al lel
bandsofalt
ocumulusar epar t
icul
arl
ycharacteri
sticoft hiscloud
ty
pe.

6.Stat
us( St) .Thi sisauni for
m graycloudsheetorlayer
.Thi s
cl
oudhasnopar t
icularf orm orstr
uctureandusual
lycompletel
y
coverthesky .Theuni form cloudsheetmaysomet i
mesappear
part
lybr okeni ntoel ongat edpatches. Thisisnor
mallythi
cker
anddar kert hant hehi gheral t
ostr
atuswhichmaybeov erl
yi
ng.
Thesecl oudsf requent l
ybecomebr okenandwind-
blown,being
moreorl essf or
ml essr aggedpatcheswhi charethencalled
fr
actostratusorscudcl ouds.

7.Nimbost ratus(Ns).Thesecl oudsaret hi

ck,darkgray,shapeless
cloud sheet s with irr
egular broken cl ouds beneat h and
surroundingt hem.Theyar ethecommonassoci atesofst eady
precipit
ati
on,whet herrainorsnow.Theyhav eapoor lydef i
ned
“wet”under surf
ace in contr
asttot he “dry”undersurface of
stratus clouds, and f r
equentl
y ar e under l
ain by r agged
fr
act ostr
atuswi t
hwhi chtheymaymer ge.

8.Stratocumulus(Sc).Thesecl
oudsmayformlar
ge,heavyrol
lsor
elongatedglobularmassesar
rangedi
nlong,gr
ayparal
lelbands
thatusuall
ycov eral
lormostofthesky
. Theyoftenformf r
om

60
 theflat
teni
ngofcumuluscloudswhichmaybear r
angedinbands,
ormaydev el
opasacont i
nuati
onofal t
ocumulusoccurri
ngat
l
ow al t
it
udes.Inthi
slatt
ercase,thestrat
ocumuluswi l
lappear
darker,l
owerandheavi
erthantherel
atedalt
ocumulus.

9.Cumul us( Cu).Thesecl oudsar ethemaj esti

c,bil
lowing,white
cloudssopr ominentint hesummer ti
me.But ,theymayoccurat
anyseason. Theyar et ypi
callyfl
at-based,withapr onounced
verti
calt hickness whi ch ext ends upwar d as a domed or
cauli
flowerort urr
etedmass. Theyar eforthemostpar tfair
-
weathercl ouds. Fr equent ly
,af t
era st or
m has passed,a
continuous t r
ain ofsmal lf l
atcumul us,withr el
ativel
ysmal l
verti
caldomi ngexhi bi
ted, wi
llfl
oatacrossthesky .I
rregularwind
-t
orn patches ofcumul us,f ormed bywi nd acti
on on l ar
ger
cumul usclouds, ar
ecal edf
l r
actocumul us.

10.
Cumul onimbus( Cb). Thesecloudsar isef r
om cumulust hat
havedev elopedi ntotr
emendoust oweri
ngcl oudswit
hav er
ti
cal
range,from baset otop,of3.2to8ki l
omet ers.Whengr ownt o
thi
shei ght,suchcloudsyi
eldrai
norshower s.Whenthunderand
li
ghtni
ngdev elop,thecumulonimbuscl oudsar er
eferr
edt oas
thunderstorm cloudsorathunderhead.

61
 Ni
mbus

Ni
mbost
rat
us St
rat
ocumul
us

62