PRECIPITATION

LECTURE 3
CONTENTS
PRECIPITATION
FORMS OF PRECIPITATION
NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR PRECIPITATIONS
TYPES OF PRECIPITATION
PRECIPITATION

•All types of moisture reaching the surface of earth from the atmosphere or
Transfer of water from atmosphere to earth
•It replenishes surface water bodies
•It is the major input in hydrologic system
PRECIPITATION
•About 1/4th of continental precipitation is returned to sea by direct runoff and
underground flow
•About 1/3rd of total precipitation occurs at the land and remaining on the oceans
PRECIPITATION
•Initially believed that local evaporation causes rain mainly on some land
•Caspian sea annual evaporation is 500 to 600 Billion m3 and precipitation along
its shores is <250mm
•Now believed that evaporation from the oceanic surface is the main source of
precipitation
•Precipitation on global land surface is 90% due to evaporation from the oceans
and10% from the land.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE
PRECIPITATION
•Precipitation is derived from atmospheric
water
•Its from and quantity is influenced by other
climatic factors as wind, temperature and
atmospheric pressure
•Also geographic factors such as location of
region w.r.t to the general circulation, and
latitude are also responsible for quantity and
form of precipitation
 FORMS OF PRECIPITATION
Any product of condensation of air moisture in the air or at the surface of earth is called hydrometeor
Precipitation may have many physical forms some are listed below
I. Drizzle or mist
II. Rainfall
III. Snowfall
IV. Sleet
V. Glaze
VI. Hail
VII. Fogs
VIII. Dew drops
IX. Frost
X. Trace
DRIZZLE OR MIST
Precipitation in form of water drops
Diameter 0.1-0.5 mm
Intensity rarely exceeds 1mm/hour
RAINFALL
precipitation in form of drops
Diameter ranging between 0.5-6mm and
intensity>1mm/hr
Types of rainfall
 Light rain: intensity upto 2.5mm/hr
 Moderate rain: intensity 2.8-7.6mm/hr
 Heavy rain: intensity > 7.6 mm/hr
SNOWFALL
Precipitation in forms of ice crystals
Regions with temperature below or near freezing
point. For Pakistan such regions exist at elevations
more than 1500m
Chiefly complexed, branched, hexagonal form
Specific gravity <0.1
Density greatly varies
SLEET
Rain drops+ ice crystals
Generally when the temperature near ground is below
freezing
GLAZE
Smooth, clear ice coating
On exposed surfaces by freezing of super cooled
water
Specific gravity as high as 0.8-0.9
GLAZE
HAIL
Precipitation in form of balls/lumps
Diameter 5-125mm
Spheroidal, conical or irregular in shape
Specific gravity 0.8
Largest hailstone observed was in September
1970 was 44cm in diameter and 766 grams
weight
It can cause damage to buildings, vehicles and
even individuals
 FOGS
In the form of weak cloud near the surface of
earth
Particle size so small that it remains suspended
Causes visibility issues
DEW DROPS
In form of water droplets
Formed usually at nights
When the temperature falls and conditions
become favorable for prevalent vapor pressure
conditions
FROST
Freezing of dew drops
At below freezing temperatures
TRACE
Very less amount of precipitation <0.125mm
NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR
PRECIPITATION
Lifting Mechanism
Accumulation of
Clouds

Ascent,
Buoyancy/ Droplet
Water vapor Dirty air Expansion Saturation Condensation Precipitation
Cloudiness growth
and Cooling

Evaporation Formation of Growth of

Cloud Droplets Cloud Elements
NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR
PRECIPITATION
Moisture is always present in the air even on cloudless days. For precipitation to occur some
mechanism is required which involves following steps:

1. Lifting mechanism to cool the air

2. Formation of the cloud elements (cloud droplets/ice crystals)
3. Sufficient accumulation of cloud elements
4. Growth of cloud elements
1.LIFTING MECHANISM OF AIR
Some lifting mechanism is required to cool the
moisture laden air to bring it to saturation
As air moves up the pressure of surrounding air
decreases
So it expands in volume and cools down
Large scale cooling required for significant amount
of precipitation is achieved naturally
There are three main lifting methods
a) Convective Systems
b) Orographic Barriers
c) Convergent or cyclonic
a. CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS

 In convectional systems the air rises due

to heat transferred by the earth surface
through convection
b. OROGRAPHIC LIFTING
Since air has no way to go so it moves up with
the mountain
It rises and begins to cool and condense
As soon as it crosses the mountain it will begin
to sink and dry
c. CONVERGENT OR CYCLONIC
LIFTING
Low pressure area is formed
Winds move towards it
As air can not go into the ground so it rises up
2. FORMATION OF CLOUD
ELEMENTS
Condensation of water vapors occurs over a hygroscopic nuclei
Hygroscopic nuclei are particles very small in size and having high affinity to water
Generally sea salts (products of sulphuric acid or nitric acids) or dust particles
Diameter ranges from 0.1 to 10 μm
Sea salts generally produce water droplets
Dust particles (Kaolin) are freezing nuclei
Freezing nuclei initiate the growth of crystals
3. SUFFICIENT ACCUMULATION OF
CLOUD ELEMENTS
For occurrence of precipitation number of cloud elements should be increased
This might be achieved continued lifting process
In this process vapors converting to liquid droplets release heat that is called latent heat
This heat warms the air and its buoyancy increases relative to air and it further moves up and
tends to remain suspended in the air
Thickness and density of the cloud is indicated by its color. Darker clouds are denser and may
cause sufficient accumulation over the area for precipitation
 4. GROWTH OF CLOUD ELEMENTS
All clouds don’t produce precipitation that strikes the ground surface
Upon nucleation the droplet or ice crystal grows to visible size in fractions of seconds through diffusion of water vapor.
But growth thereafter is slow
Diffusion itself leads to formation of fog or cloud elements less than 10 μm in diameter
Due to small size of the particles the particles may take very long time to reach the surface of earth or may be
evaporated before reaching the surface
So it should grow in size to
 Move downward against the buoyancy of air and drag force
 It might not be evaporated before reaching ground

In nature there are two mechanisms for this purpose

a. Coalescence of cloud droplets
b. Co-existence of ice crystals and water droplets
a. COALESCENCE OF CLOUD
DROPLETS
Coalescence means collision or combination or joining
Particles when made are different in sizes
So their velocities are different too
Larger particles have high velocities than the smaller particles and they tend to collide and
combine with small particles coming in their way
It has been estimated that for heavy rain to occur there are 7 collisions per kilometer fall
Maximum particle size is 6mm if the size increases further it gets dispersed by air forces acting
over it
b. CO-EXISTANCE OF ICE CRYSTAL
AND WATER DROPLETS
Some growth is expected through diffusion
Because of the differences in the vapor pressure and particle temperature
Diffusion is most effective when ice crystals and crystals water droplets exist together, this is
called Bergeron's Effect
Saturation vapor pressure over ice is less than that over water
This results in transport of water vapors towards ice crystal
Deposition occurs increasing the size of crystal
The growth rate increases when water droplets outnumber the ice crsytals
TYPES OF PRECIPITATION
Commonly precipitation is categorized based on lifting mechanism.
Following are the three types of precipitation
1. Convectional precipitation
2. Orographic precipitation
3. Cyclonic precipitation
1. CONVECTIONAL PRECIPITATION
Sun is the main source of energy
Earth cover absorbs energy short wave radiations from sun
Air mass adjacent to surface becomes warmer lighter and unstable
Characteristics
 Convective systems usually begin at midday
 Reach maximum intensity by afternoon
 By late evenings such storms dissipate
 Thunderstorms and lightening are very common
2. OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION
If lifting mechanism is orographic barrier or
mountain resulting precipitation is called
orographic precipitation
Characteristics
 More rain on windward side
 Air on leeward side is drier
3. CYCLONIC PRECIPITATION
If lifting mechanism is cyclonic resulting precipitation is cyclonic precipitation
Cyclone:
 It is movement of air in nearly circular path
 Lowest pressure occurs at the center called as “eye of cyclone”
 As the radius of cyclone increases pressure increases
 Air moves parallel to isobars
 Velocity in circular paths is 80 to 140 km/hr
 Cyclones originate from the ocean and move towards the land surface by raising themselves
 In this way moisture laden air is lifted
 Examples are monsoon, katrina, nargis
3. CYCLONIC PRECIPITATION
Types of cyclones
 Tropical cyclones (easterlies, Summer monsoon)
 Extra tropical cyclones(westerlies, winter monsoon)

Major example of cyclonic precipitation in Pakistan is Monsoon

 It originates in May, from the bay of Bengal, Indian ocean
 It causes heavy rains in southern parts of India and Bangladesh, in the months of May, June and July
 Enters Pakistan in July and causes rains in north-eastern parts of Pakistan