Lecture Notes on Overview of Physical Climatology for Integrated Meteorological Training Course

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Lecture Notes on Overview of Physical Climatology for Integrated Meteorological Training Course Lecture Notes on Overview of Physical Climatology For Integrated Meteorological Training Course By Dr. Medha Khole Scientist E India Meteorological Department Meteorological Training Institute Pashan,Pune-8 [Type0 a quote from the document or the Section 1: Earth-Sun Relationship, Elliptic and Equatorial Plane, Rotation and Revolution of Earth, Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, Aphelion, Causes of Seasons, Seasonal and Latitudinal variation of solar insolation 1. Features of the Sun The sun, having a mass about 330,000 times that of the earth and a radius about 110 times that of the earth’s, is at a mean distance of about 1.5 x 108 km with the earth and other planets in orbit around it. Only the solar atmosphere, representing a tiny fraction of its mass and volume, is accessible to observation, yet there are distinct layers in this atmosphere. The photosphere, having a depth of about 0.0005 solar radius, covers the normally visible disk and is the direct source of practically all the observed solar radiation. Surrounding it to an additional thickness of about 0.02 solar radius is the chromosphere consisting of relatively transparent gases in a more or less homogeneous layer from which emerge spikes of spicules. Beyond it and extending outward without fixed limits is the corona, a pearly veil of extremely hot gas, mostly in highly ionized, atomic form, seen only at times of eclipse or with a coronagraph, which is an instrument especially designed to display the corona without the aid of an eclipse. While the temperature at the center of the sun is estimated to be around 15 million Kelvin, the photosphere, from which most of the detectable radiation is emitted, has a temperature ranging from 7300 K at the bottom to 4500 K at the top. The effective blackbody temperature, which is the temperature a perfect radiator would have in order to produce the measured luminance, is about 5800 K. The sun emits radiation through the entire electromagnetic spectrum from x-rays and cosmic rays to radio waves up to wavelengths of 15 m or more. The Human eyes are constructed to make maximum use of the sun; we see in the part of the spectrum where the sun emits its maximum energy. 1 A layout of the electromagnetic spectrum, on a logarithmic scale, is displayed in Fig. 1. Fig. 1: The Electromagnetic Spectrum Some of the radiation is in what is called the visible range; that is, it can be detected by the human eye. That of a wavelength too short to be observed by eye may be classed as ultraviolet radiation, and the long-wave type as infrared radiation. Just as in the case of light radiation, all radiant energy travels in straight paths through space and, at all wavelengths, with the speed of light. The wavelengths of solar and terrestrial radiation are of the order of 10-6 m, called microns (abbreviated µm), but sometimes given in 10-9 m (nanometers, nm) or in a special radiation unit of 10-10 m called angstrom (Å). The visible range lies between about 0.4 and 0.7 µm (400 to 700 nm, 4000 to 7000 Å). In the main body of the atmosphere, the wavelengths of about 0.1 to 30 µm are the practically important ones, but in the high atmosphere, photons in the ultraviolet, x-rays, and particle radiations produce important reactions. 2 2. Motions of the Earth The most important movements of the earth are its rotation about an axis through the poles and its revolution in an orbit around the sun. Both these motions are in a counterclockwise direction if viewed from over the North Pole; that is, the rotation is from west to east, as is also the revolution. The 24-hr day on the earth and timepieces are based on the time required for the earth to make one rotation with respect to the sun. This unit of time is called the solar day. The earth rotates upon an imaginary axis, the ends of which are the North and South Poles. The time required for the earth to rotate once with respect to the sun determines the length of a day. During that time, places on the sphere are turned alternately toward and away from the sun. They go through a period of light and a period of darkness, and they are swept over twice by the circle of illumination (i.e. boundary between light and dark); at dawn and again at twilight. The direction of earth rotation is toward the east. This not only determines the direction from which the sun, moon, and stars appear to rise, but is related to other earth phenomena of far-reaching consequence, such as the prevailing directions of winds and ocean currents. The rotating earth revolves in a slightly elliptical orbit about the sun. The time required for the earth to pass once completely around its orbit fixes the length of the year. During the time of one revolution, the turning earth rotates on its axis approximately 365ŏ times with respect to the sun, thus determining the number of days in the year. The calendars on the earth are formulated on the basis of the period of the earth’s orbit around the sun i. e. 365.242 solar days. The rotation and revolution of the earth are the motions of most significance in meteorology. The rotation indirectly accounts for the diurnal changes in the weather, such as the warming up during the daytime and the cooling off at night. Furthermore, the rotation imposes on the earth and in the atmosphere an acceleration second in importance only to the gravitational acceleration, namely, the centripetal acceleration. 3 Because of the large distance of the sun from the earth, the rays of sunlight reaching the top of the atmosphere are essentially parallel. Since the surfaces of both the earth and the outer limits of its atmosphere are spherically shaped, the parallel rays of the sun will be inclined at different angles at different latitudes. Where the noon sun is directly overhead, the beam of solar energy is vertical (i.e. perpendicular to the surface) and the intensity of the solar energy is a maximum. At latitudes where the noon sun is not directly overhead, the solar rays are oblique and the solar radiation is spread over a greater surface area. The farther a given latitude is from the latitude at which the noon sun is directly overhead, the greater is the obliquity of the sun’s rays and the weaker is the intensity of the solar radiation. In addition, an oblique ray passes through a thicker layer of atmosphere, which absorbs and reflects some of the radiation, thus further reducing the intensity of the solar radiation received at ground level. Because the length of the day and the angle of the sun’s rays are equal along all parts of the same parallel, it follows that all places on a parallel receive the same amount of solar energy (except for differences in cloudiness and in transparency of the atmosphere). By the same reasoning, different parallels (i.e. latitudes) receive varying amounts of solar energy which decrease from equator to poles for the year as a whole. If the earth’s axis were not tilted, the angle of the sun’s rays and the length of day and night along a given parallel would not change during the year. However, because of the tilt of the axis, both the angle of the sun’s rays and the length of day change as the earth revolves around the sun. An imaginary plane passing through the sun and extending outward through all points in the earth’s orbit is called the plane of the ecliptic. The axis of the earth’s rotation is inclined about 66½o from the plane of the ecliptic (or 23½o from an imaginary line vertical to it). This position is constant, and therefore at any time during the yearly revolution the axis is parallel to the position that it occupies at any other time (Fig. 2). 4 Fig. 2: Solstices and Equinoxes 5 3. The Seasons The revolution of the earth is associated with the seasonal changes. If the plane of the orbit were in the plane of the earth’s equator, there would be very little seasonal change. At perihelion, when the earth describing its ellipse in space reaches the major axis at the end nearest the sun, the greatest intensity of solar radiation would be received; and when the earth is at aphelion, which is the farthest end of the major axis, a minimum of solar heating would be experienced. This difference in amount of solar radiation received over the earth as a whole is extremely small compared with the seasonal variations known to exist from a different cause. A study of Fig. 3 further reveals the explanation of the seasons. Fig. 3: The Revolution of the Earth around the Sun The plane of the equator is inclined at an angle of 23½o from the plane of the earth’s orbit. This means that the axis is inclined at an angle of 23½o from the perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. The direction toward which the axis is inclined is very nearly in the major axis of the ellipse. Therefore, the solstices, the places where this inclination is toward the sun, are very near the points of perihelion and aphelion. The winter solstice, when the Southern Hemisphere has its maximum exposure to the 6 sun, occurs just a few days before perihelion.
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