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Bsce 5a - Hydrology - Assignent #2

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HYDROLOGY – ASSIGNMENT #2:

CHAPTER 2: WEATHER BASICS (METEOROLOGY): ATMOSPHERIC WATERS

1. The Atmosphere: Composition, General Characteristics and Stability


Composition and General Characteristics of the atmosphere
The atmosphere is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelope a planet, and is
held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. In addition to containing the oxygen you
need to breathe; the atmosphere protects you from the sun’s damaging rays. The atmosphere
is always changing.

Earth’s atmosphere is composed of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 0.93%
argon. The remainder, less than 0.1%, contains such trace gases as water vapor, carbon
dioxide, and ozone. All of these trace gases have important effects on Earth’s climate. The
atmosphere can be divided into vertical layers determined by the way temperature changes
with altitude. The layer closest to the surface is the troposphere, which contains over 80% of
the atmospheric mass and nearly all the water vapor. The next layer, the stratosphere,
contains most of the atmosphere’s ozone, which absorbs high-energy radiation from the sun
and makes life on the surface possible. Above the stratosphere are the mesosphere and
thermosphere. These two layers include regions of charged atoms and molecules, or ions.
The upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere are called the ionosphere, this region is
important to radio communications, because radio waves can bounce off the layer and travel
great distances. It is thought that the present atmosphere developed from gases ejected by
volcanoes. Oxygen, upon which all animal life depends, probably accumulated as excess
emissions from plants that produce it as a waste product during photosynthesis. Human
activities may be affecting the levels of some important atmospheric components, particularly
carbon dioxide and ozone.

Water is also found in the atmosphere. Liquid water (water droplets) and solid water
(snow and ice crystals) are found in clouds. But most water in the atmosphere exists as an
invisible gas called water vapor. When atmospheric conditions change, water vapor can
change into solid or liquid water, and rain or snow might fall from the sky.

Atmosphere Stability

The degree of stability or instability of an atmospheric layer is determined by


comparing its temperature lapse rate, as shown by a sounding, with the appropriate adiabatic
rate. A temperature lapse rate less than the dry adiabatic rate of 5.5°F. per 1,000 feet for an
unsaturated parcel is considered stable, because vertical motion is damped. A lapse rate
greater than dry-adiabatic favors vertical motion and is unstable. In the absence of
saturation, an atmospheric layer is neutrally stable if its lapse rate is the same as the dry-
adiabatic rate. Under this particular condition, any existing vertical motion is neither damped
nor accelerated.

In the case of a saturated parcel, the same stability terms apply. In this case,
however, the comparison of atmospheric lapse rate is made with the moist-adiabatic rate
appropriate to the temperature encountered.

Layers of different lapse rates of temperature may occur in a single sounding, varying
from superadiabatic (unstable), usually found over heated surfaces, to dry-adiabatic (neutral),
and on through inversions of temperature (very stable). In a saturated layer with considerable
convective motion, the lapse rate tends to become moist-adiabatic.

The Adiabatic processes do not exchange heat and they are reversible. Just as air
expands and cools when it is lifted, so is it equally compressed and warmed as it is lowered.
Hence, adiabatic processes and stability determinations for either upward or downward
moving air parcels make use of the appropriate dry- or moist-adiabatic lapse rates. The
temperature structure of the atmosphere is always complex. As mentioned above, the moist-
adiabatic lapse rate is variable-not constant as is the dry-adiabatic rate.

2. Introduction of Cloud physics: Nucleation, Growth and Distribution

Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation,
growth and precipitation of atmospheric clouds. These aerosols are found in the troposphere,
stratosphere, and mesosphere, which collectively make up the greatest part of the
homosphere. Clouds consist of microscopic droplets of liquid water (warm clouds), tiny
crystals of ice (cold clouds), or both (mixed phase clouds). Cloud droplets initially form by the
condensation of water vapor onto condensation nuclei when the super saturation of air
exceeds a critical value according to Köhler theory. Cloud condensation nuclei are necessary
for cloud droplets formation because of the Kelvin effect, which describes the change in
saturation vapor pressure due to a curved surface. At small radii, the amount of super
saturation needed for condensation to occur is so large, that it does not happen naturally.

Nucleation is the first step in the formation of either a new thermodynamic phase or
a new structure via self-assembly or self-organization. The initial process that occurs in the
formation of a crystal from a solution, a liquid, or a vapor, in which a small number of ions,
atoms, or molecules become arranged in a pattern characteristic of a crystalline solid, forming
a site upon which additional particles are deposited as the crystal grows. Nucleation is
typically defined to be the process that determines how long an observer has to wait before
the new phase or self-organized structure appears. For example, if a volume of water is
cooled (at atmospheric pressure) below 0 °C, it will tend to freeze into ice, but volumes of
water cooled only a few degrees below 0 °C often stay completely free of ice for long
periods. At these conditions, nucleation of ice is either slow or does not occur at all.
However, at lower temperatures ice crystals appear after little or no delay. At these
conditions ice nucleation is fast.
Nucleation processes are classed as heterogeneous or homogeneous. In
heterogeneous nucleation the surface of some different substance, such as a dust particle or
the wall of the container, acts as the center upon which the first atoms, ions, or molecules of
the crystal become properly oriented. And in homogeneous nucleation, a few particles come
into correct juxtaposition in the course of their random movement through the bulk of the
medium. Heterogeneous nucleation is more common, but the homogeneous mechanism
becomes more likely as the degree of supersaturation or supercooling increases. Substances
differ widely in the likelihood that they will crystallize under conditions in which the crystalline
state is the inherently stable one; glycerol is a well-known example of a compound prone to
supercooling.

GROWTH

Aerosols are vital for cloud formation because a subset of them may serve as cloud
condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN). An increased amount of aerosols may
increase the CCN number concentration and lead to more, but smaller, cloud droplets for
fixed liquid water content. This increases the albedo of the cloud, resulting in enhanced
reflection and a cooling effect, termed the cloud albedo effect. Smaller drops require longer
growth times to reach sizes at which they easily fall as precipitation. This effect, called the
cloud lifetime effect, may enhance the cloud cover and thus impose an additional cooling
effect. However, the life cycles of clouds are controlled by an intimate interplay between
meteorology and aerosol-and-cloud microphysics, including complex feedback processes,
and it has proven difficult to identify the traditional lifetime effect put forth by Albrecht (1989) in
observational data sets.

Absorbing aerosols also have the potential to modify clouds properties, without
directly acting as CCN and IN, by: (1) heating the air surrounding them while reducing the
amount of solar radiation reaching the ground, which stabilizes the atmosphere and
diminishes the convection and thus the potential for cloud formation, (2) increasing the
atmospheric temperature, which reduces the relative humidity, inhibits cloud formation, and
enhances evaporation of existing clouds. This is collectively termed the semi-direct aerosol
effect.

DISTRIBUTION

Clouds are composed of countless tiny water droplets. These water droplets are
typically 5-50 microns in diameter and come in a variety of sizes. The distribution of sizes is
quite important for a number of processes related to clouds. For example, a greater variety of
sizes will generally lead to faster formation of rain-sized water drops. Even if the mean cloud
droplet size is the same, a greater variety of sizes in the cloud droplet population will mean
that the cloud will evaporate more slowly along its edges and be less reflective of shortwave
radiation. These examples illustrate why understanding then what processes control the
variety of cloud droplet sizes is important for both weather and climate.

3. Solar Radiation and Earth’s Energy Balance


Solar radiation, often called the solar resource or just sunlight, is a general term for
the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun. Solar radiation can be captured and turned
into useful forms of energy, such as heat and electricity, using a variety of technologies.
However, the technical feasibility and economical operation of these technologies at a specific
location depends on the available solar resource.

Every location on Earth receives sunlight at least part of the year. The amount of
solar radiation that reaches any one spot on the Earth's surface varies according to
geographic location, time of day, season, local landscape, and local weather.

Because the Earth is round, the sun strikes the surface at different angles, ranging
from 0° (just above the horizon) to 90° (directly overhead). When the sun's rays are vertical,
the Earth's surface gets all the energy possible. The more slanted the sun's rays are, the
longer they travel through the atmosphere, becoming more scattered and diffuse. Because
the Earth is round, the frigid polar regions never get a high sun, and because of the tilted axis
of rotation, these areas receive no sun at all during part of the year.

The Earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit and is closer to the sun during
part of the year. When the sun is nearer the Earth, the Earth's surface receives a little more
solar energy. The Earth is nearer the sun when it is summer in the southern hemisphere and
winter in the northern hemisphere. However, the presence of vast oceans moderates the
hotter summers and colder winters one would expect to see in the southern hemisphere as a
result of this difference.

The 23.5° tilt in the Earth's axis of rotation is a more significant factor in determining
the amount of sunlight striking the Earth at a particular location. Tilting results in longer days
in the northern hemisphere from the spring (vernal) equinox to the fall (autumnal) equinox and
longer days in the southern hemisphere during the other 6 months. Days and nights are both
exactly 12 hours long on the equinoxes, which occur each year on or around March 23 and
September 22.

The rotation of the Earth is also responsible for hourly variations in sunlight. In the
early morning and late afternoon, the sun is low in the sky. Its rays travel further through the
atmosphere than at noon, when the sun is at its highest point. On a clear day, the greatest
amount of solar energy reaches a solar collector around solar noon.

Diffuse And Direct Solar Radiation


As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, some of it is absorbed, scattered, and
reflected by Air molecules, Water vapor, Clouds, Dust, Pollutants, Forest fires and Volcanoes.
This is called diffuse solar radiation. The solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface
without being diffused is called direct beam solar radiation. The sum of the diffuse and direct
solar radiation is called global solar radiation. Atmospheric conditions can reduce direct
beam radiation by 10% on clear, dry days and by 100% during thick, cloudy days.

Earth’s Energy Balance

The earth-atmosphere energy balance is the balance between incoming energy from
the Sun and outgoing energy from the Earth. Energy released from the Sun is emitted as
shortwave light and ultraviolet energy. When it reaches the Earth, some is reflected back to
space by clouds, some is absorbed by the atmosphere, and some is absorbed at the Earth's
surface.

However, since the Earth is much cooler than the Sun, its radiating energy is much
weaker (long wavelength) infrared energy. We can indirectly see this energy radiate into the
atmosphere as heat, rising from a hot road, creating shimmers on hot sunny days.

The earth-atmosphere energy balance is achieved as the energy received from the
Sun balances the energy lost by the Earth back into space. In this way, the Earth maintains a
stable average temperature and therefore a stable climate.

4. General Circulation: Thermal Circulation and Earth’s Rotation

The general circulation of the atmosphere, hot air rises in the tropics, moves north or south,
descends and returns in the equatorial "Hadley cells". Its path along the surface is bent into
the trade winds by the Earth's rotation (Coriolis Effect). Two other cells in each hemisphere
work similarly. This general pattern was observed in the nineteenth century, but cannot be
understood with any simple or mathematical explanation: it can only be calculated with digital
computers.

Thermal circulations are usually a small-scale phenomenon. Thermal circulation is a


circulation generated by pressure gradients produced by differential heating. It tends to be
shallow - do not extend up through the depth of the troposphere.

Examples of thermal circulations:

 Sea Breeze
 Land Breeze
 Monsoons
 Mountain And Valley Breezes

Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own axis, as well as
changes in the orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in prograde
motion. As viewed from the north pole star Polaris, Earth turns counterclockwise.

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole,
is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This
point is distinct from Earth's North Magnetic Pole. The South Pole is the other point where
Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica.

Coastal currents are affected by local winds. Surface ocean currents, which occur on
the open ocean, are driven by a complex global wind system. To understand the effects of
winds on ocean currents, one first needs to understand the Coriolis force and the Ekman
spiral.

If the Earth did not rotate and remained stationary, the atmosphere would circulate
between the poles (high pressure areas) and the equator (a low-pressure area) in a simple
back-and-forth pattern. But because the Earth rotates, circulating air is deflected. Instead of
circulating in a straight pattern, the air deflects toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere
and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in curved paths. This deflection is
called the Coriolis effect.

5. Temperature: Geographic Distribution, Time Variation and Measurement

Temperature is the measure of hotness or coldness expressed in terms of any of


several scales, including Fahrenheit and Celsius. Temperature indicates the direction in which
heat energy will spontaneously flow—i.e., from a hotter body (one at a higher temperature) to
a colder body (one at a lower temperature) Temperature is a measure of the average heat or
thermal energy of the particles in a substance.

Geographic Distribution of Temperature

Distribution of temperature varies both horizontally and vertically.

A distribution of temperature across the latitudes over the surface of the earth is
called its horizontal distribution. On maps, the horizontal distribution of temperature is
commonly shown by isotherms. Isotherms are line connecting points that have an equal
temperature. When we analyze an isotherm map, it can be seen that the horizontal
distribution of temperature is uneven.

Vertical Distribution of Temperature - temperature in the troposphere decreases with


an increase in the altitude. This vertical gradient of temperature is commonly referred to as
the standard atmosphere or Normal Lapse Rate. However, this normal lapse rate varies with
height, season, latitude and other factors. Indeed, the actual lapse rate of temperature does
not always show a decrease with altitude.

Time variation of Temperature

The amount of solar energy received by any region varies with time of day, with
seasons, and with latitude. These differences in solar energy create temperature variations.
Temperatures also vary with differences in topographical surface and with altitude. These
temperature variations create forces that drive the atmosphere in its endless motions.

 Diurnal Variation

Diurnal variation is the change in temperature from day to night brought


about by the daily rotation of the Earth. The Earth receives heat during the day by
solar radiation but continually loses heat by terrestrial radiation. Warming and cooling
depend on an imbalance of solar and terrestrial radiation. During the day, solar
radiation exceeds terrestrial radiation and the surface becomes warmer. At night,
solar radiation ceases, but terrestrial radiation continues and cools the surface.
Cooling continues after sunrise until solar radiation again exceeds terrestrial
radiation. Minimum temperature usually occurs after sunrise, sometimes as much as
one hour after. The continued cooling after sunrise is one reason that fog sometimes
forms shortly after the sun is above the horizon.

 Seasonal Variation

In addition to its daily rotation, the Earth revolves in a complete orbit around
the sun once each year. Since the axis of the Earth tilts to the plane of orbit, the angle
of incident solar radiation varies seasonally between hemispheres. The Northern
Hemisphere is warmer in June, July, and August because it receives more solar
energy than does the Southern Hemisphere. During December, January, and
February, the opposite is true; the Southern Hemisphere receives more solar energy
and is warmer.

How is Temperature Measured?

Temperature is measured with thermometers that may be calibrated to a


variety of temperature scales. In most of the world (except for Belize, Myanmar,
Liberia and the United States), the Celsius scale is used for most temperature
measuring purposes. Most scientists measure temperature using the Celsius scale
and thermodynamic temperature using the Kelvin scale, which is the Celsius scale
offset so that its null point is 0 K = −273.15 °C, or absolute zero. Many engineering
fields in the US, notably high-tech and US federal specifications (civil and military),
also use the Kelvin and Celsius scales. Other engineering fields in the US also rely
upon the Rankine scale (a shifted Fahrenheit scale) when working in thermodynamic-
related disciplines such as combustion.

6. Humidity: Geographic Distribution, Time Variation and Measurement


Humidity refers to the amount of moisture (water vapor) in the surrounding air. Humidity
indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew or fog. Higher humidity reduces the effectiveness
of sweating in cooling the body by reducing the rate of evaporation of moisture from the skin.
Atmospheric water vapor is an important factor in weather for several reasons. It regulates air
temperature by absorbing thermal radiation both from the Sun and the Earth. Moreover, the
higher the vapor content of the atmosphere, the more latent energy is available for the
generation of storms. In addition, water vapor is the ultimate source of all forms of
condensation and precipitation.

Three Types of Humidity

 Absolute Humidity – is used to describe the actual amount of water vapor that is
saturating the air. Absolute humidity is calculated by finding the mass of water in an
area and dividing it by the mass of air in the same area.
 Relative Humidity – is the measure of the amount of moisture in the air compared
with the amount of moisture the air can hold. Relative humidity is expressed as a
percentage of the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold at the same
temperature.
 Specific Humidity – is used as a ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air to the
amount of dry air in the area.

Geographic Distribution & Time Variation of Humidity


Water vapor enters the atmosphere primarily by the evaporation of water from the
Earth’s surface, both land and sea. The water-vapor content of the atmosphere varies from
place to place and from time to time because the humidity capacity of air is determined by
temperature. At 30 °C (86 °F), for example, a volume of air can contain up to 4 percent water
vapor. At -40 °C (-40 °F), however, it can hold no more than 0.2 percent.

The geographic distribution of the humid subtropical region is all over the world.
Common places to find this climate are southeastern China, United States, and South
America. Humid subtropical climate is really high in humidity. Monsoons occur in Asia.
Countries like eastern India and southeastern Asia gets influenced by Monsoons. Countries
that get effected by Monsoons get 30 to 65 inches of rainfall.

The humid subtropics are known for the warm summer weather and the mild
weathered winters. The summer's temperatures go from 21 Celsius to 26 Celsius on average
and the winter's temperatures are below 0 Celsius on average. The rainfall on humid
subtropics is usually affected by the warm maritime tropical air masses. The summers are
usually more wet than the winter because of the high humidity of the climate. The humid
subtropics evenly distributes the precipitation throughout the year.

How is Humidity Measured?

Hygrometer is the instrument used in meteorological science to measure the humidity, or


amount of water vapor in the air. Several major types of hygrometers are used to measure
humidity.

Types of Hygrometers:

 Mechanical hygrometers – make use of the principle that organic substances


(particularly finer substances such as goldbeater’s skin [ox gut] and human hair)
contract and expand in response to the humidity. Contraction and expansion of the
hair element in a mechanical hygrometer causes the spring to move the needle on
the dial.
 Electrical hygrometers – measure the change in electrical resistance of a thin layer of
lithium chloride, or of a semiconductor device, as the humidity changes. Other
hygrometers sense changes in weight, volume, or transparency of various
substances that react to humidity.
 Dew-point hygrometers – typically consist of a polished metal mirror that is cooled at
a constant pressure and constant vapor content until moisture just starts to condense
on it. The temperature of the metal at which condensation begins is the dew point.
 Psychrometer – is a hygrometer that utilizes two thermometers—one wet-bulb and
one dry-bulb—to determine humidity through evaporation. A wetted cloth wraps the
wet-bulb thermometer at its enlarged end. By rapidly rotating both thermometers, or
by blowing air over the bulbs, the temperature of the wet-bulb thermometer is cooler
than that of the dry-bulb thermometer. The difference in temperature between the
wet- and dry-bulb thermometers can be used to compute the amount of water vapor
in the air.

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