Atmospheric Moisture, Air Masses & Fronts By: Neetu Singh
ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE, AIR MASSES & FRONTS BY: NEETU SINGH Atmospheric Moisture The fourth element of weather and climate is moisture. This might seem a familiar feature because everyone knows what water is. In actuality, however, most atmospheric moisture occurs not as liquid water but rather as water vapour, which is much less conspicuous and much less familiar. One of the most distinctive attributes of water is that it occurs in the atmosphere in three physical states – solid (snow, hail, sleet, and ice), liquid (rain, water droplets) and gas (water vapour). Of the three states, the gas state is the most important insofar as the dynamics of the atmosphere are concerned. The impact of Atmospheric Moisture on the Landscape When the atmosphere contains enough moisture, water vapour may condense to form haze, fog, cloud, rain, sleet, hail, or snow, producing a skyscape that is both visible and tangible. Precipitation produces dramatic short-run changes in the landscape whenever rain puddles form, streams and rivers flood, or snow and ice blanket the ground. The long-term effect of atmospheric moisture is even more fundamental. Water vapour stores energy that can galvanize the atmosphere into action, as, for example, in the way rainfall and snowmelt in soil and rock are an integral part of weathering and erosion. In addition, the presence or absence of precipitation is critical to the survival of almost all forms of terrestrial vegetation. Water Vapour and the Hydrologic Cycle Water vapour is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, invisible gas that mixes freely with the other gases of the atmosphere. We are likely to become aware of water vapour when humidity is high because the air feels sticky, clothes feel damp, and our skin feels clammy, or when humidity is low because our lips chap and our hair will not behave.
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