CLIMATE AND HUMAN COMFORT

UNIT - 1

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 CLIMATOLOGY ?
• Climatology ) is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather
conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of
the atmospheric sciences.

• Basic knowledge of climate can be used within shorter term weather

forecasting using analog techniques such as the El Niño – Southern
Oscillation (ENSO).

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 WEATHER AND CLIMATE
• Weather is the fluctuating state of the atmosphere around us,
characterized by temperature, wind, precipitation, clouds and other
weather elements. Common examples of weather phenomena include
fog, dust storm, hailstorm, and so on. Weather is the result of rapidly
developing and decaying weather systems such as low and high pressure
systems , and so on.

• Climate refers to the average weather and its variability over a certain
time-span and a specified area. The World Meteorological Organisation
(WMO) suggests 30 years as a standard time span for defining climate of
a region.

• Common examples of climate are tropical, polar, marine, Mediterranean,

and so on.

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 DIFFERENCES
WEATHER CLIMATE
It is an instantaneous atmospheric It is an average atmospheric condition.
condition.

It can change rapidly, within even less It sustains over a period of 30 years, as
than an hour. defined by World Meteorological
Organization (WMO).

It prevails over a short area. It prevails over a large region.

It has only limited predictability. It is almost constant.

It depends primarily on density It depends on latitude, distance to the

(temperature and moisture) differences sea, vegetation, presence or absence of
between one place and another mountains, and other geographical factor.
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FACTORS THAT DETERMINE CLIMATE OF A PLACE

1. Distance From The Sea (Continentality)

2. Ocean Currents

3. Direction of Prevailing Winds

4. Topography (Relief)

5. Proximity To The Equator

6. El Nino

7. Human Influence

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FACTORS THAT DETERMINE CLIMATE OF A PLACE

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 1.Distance From The Sea (Continentality)

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 Distance From The Sea (Continentality)

 Coastal areas are cooler and wetter than inland areas.

 Clouds form when warm air from inland areas meets cool air from the
sea.

 The center of continents are subject to a large range of temperatures.

 In the summer, temperatures can be very hot and dry as moisture from
the sea evaporates before it reaches the center of the continent.

 Their winters can be very cold and snowy.

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 2. Ocean Currents

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 Ocean Currents

 Ocean currents can increase or decrease temperatures

 The main ocean current that affects the California is the Californian
Current. The Californian Current, a cool ocean current in the North Pacific
Ocean, flows from the Alaska, south along the U.S west coast.

 Since the Californian Current brings cool water temperature this will
create cooler air temperatures along California as well. This means that
the air coming from Alaska to California is also cool. However, the air is
also quite moist as it travels over the Pacific Ocean. This is one reason
why the West Coast often receives wet weather.

 The Gulf Stream (in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean) keeps the
west coast of Europe free from ice in the winter and, in the summer
warmer than other places
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 3. Direction of Prevailing Winds

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 Direction of Prevailing Winds

 Winds that blow from the sea often bring rain to the coast and dry
weather to inland areas.

 Winds that blow to California from warm inland areas such Mexico or
central U.S.A. will be warm and dry.

 Winds that blow to California from northern inland areas such as Canada
will be cold and dry in winter.

 These winds are all influences on the global winds and Coriolis Affect

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 4. Topography (Relief)

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 4. Topography (Relief)

 Climate can be affected by mountains.

 Mountains receive more rainfall than low-lying areas because the

temperature on top of mountains (high altitude) is lower than the
temperature at sea level.

 That is why you often see snow on the top of mountains all year
round. The higher the place is above sea level the cooler it will be. This
happens because as altitude increases, air becomes thinner and is less
able to absorb and retain heat.

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 5.Proximity To The Equator

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 5.Proximity To The Equator

 The proximity to the equator affects the climate of a place.

 The equator receives the more sunlight than anywhere else on

earth. This is due to its position in relation to the sun.

 The equator is hotter because the sun has less area to heat.

 It is cooler at the north and south poles as the sun has more area to heat
up. It is cooler as the heat is spread over a wider area.

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 6. El Nino

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 6. El Nino

 El Nino is a weather phenomenon that occurs every 3 - 7 years.

 El Nino affects wind and rainfall patterns, has been blamed for droughts
and floods in countries around the Pacific Rim.

 El Nino refers to the irregular warming of surface water in the

Pacific. The warmer water pumps energy and moisture into the
atmosphere, altering global wind and rainfall patterns.

 The phenomenon has caused tornadoes in Florida, smog in Indonesia,

and forest fires in Brazil (see below). In California, El Nino causes an
increase of rainfall and has been blamed for many of the landslides and
mudslides.

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 7. Human Influence

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 Human Influence

 We cannot forget the influence of humans on our climate. We have been affecting
the climate since we appeared on this earth millions of years ago.

 In those times, the affect on the climate was small. Trees were cut down to
provide wood for fires. Trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. A
reduction in trees will therefore have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere.

 The Industrial Revolution, starting at the end of the 19th Century, has had a huge
effect on climate. The invention of the vehicle has increased burning of fossil fuels
and has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The number
of trees being cut down has also increased, meaning that the extra carbon dioxide
produced cannot be changed into oxygen.

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 ELEMENTS OF CLIMATE
 Temperature is how hot or cold the atmosphere is, how many degrees
Celsius(centigrade) it is above or below freezing (0°C). Temperature is a very
important factor in determining the weather, because it influences or controls the
environment

 Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere.

 Precipitation is the term given to moisture that falls from the air to the ground.
Precipitation includes snow, hail, sleet, drizzle, fog, mist and rain.

 Atmospheric pressure (or air pressure) is the weight of air resting on the earth's
surface. Pressure is shown on a weather map, often called a synoptic map, with
lines called isobars.

 Wind is the movement of air masses from high pressure areas (highs) to low
pressure areas (lows). AR2204 - Climate and built up environment,
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 COMPONENTS OF CLIMATE

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 COMPONENTS OF CLIMATE

The main components in the Earth’s Climate System:

 Atmosphere

 Hydrosphere

 Lithosphere

 Cryosphere

 Biosphere

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 1.The atmosphere

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 1.The atmosphere

 It has different layers of gases surrounding Earth

 These gases reach more than 100km above the Earth’s surface; beyond
this height they are present in very low concentrations

 Air:
• 78% - Nitrogen Gas
• 21% - Oxygen Gas
• 1% - Other (i.e. Argon, Carbon Dioxide, and traces of Helium,
Hydrogen, and Ozone)
this proportion of gases changes at different levels in the atmosphere

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 1.The atmosphere

 The atmosphere reflects some of the Sun’s energy, absorbs and radiates
some of the energy, and transmits some of it to the Earth’s surface

 Once the energy of the Sun reaches Earth’s surface, the atmosphere traps
much of it, warming Earth.

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 Layers of the atmosphere

The atmosphere of the Earth may be divided into several distinct layers

 a) Troposphere

 b) Stratosphere

 c) Mesosphere

 d) Thermosphere

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 Layers of the atmosphere

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 a) Troposphere

 The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere.

 This is the layer where most weather takes place.
 Most thunderstorms don't go much above the top of the troposphere (about 10
km) .
 In this layer, pressure and density rapidly decrease with height, and temperature
generally decreases with height at a constant rate.
 The change of temperature with height is known as the lapse rate.
 The standard lapse rate for the troposphere is a decrease of about 6.5 degrees
Celsius (C) per kilometer (km) (or about 12 degrees F
 Near the surface, the lapse rate changes dramatically from hour to hour on clear
days and nights.
 Sometimes the temperature does not decrease with height, but increases. Such a
situation is known as a temperature inversion. Persistent temperature inversion
conditions, which represent a stable layer, can lead to air pollution .

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 a) Troposphere

 The other main characteristic of the troposphere is that it is well-mixed.

 The name troposphere is derived from the Greek tropein, which means to
turn or change. Air molecules can travel to the top of the troposphere
(about 10 km up) and back down again in a just a few days. This mixing
encourages changing weather.
 The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary
marked as the point where the temperature stops decreasing with height
and becomes constant with height.
 Any layer where temperature is constant with height is
called isothermal.
 The tropopause has an average height of about 10 km (it is higher in
equatorial regions and lower in polar regions). This height corresponds to
about 7 miles, or at approximately the 200 mb (20.0 kPa) pressure level.
 Above the troposphere is the stratosphere
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 The Greenhouse Effect

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 The Greenhouse Effect

 Heat from the Sun warms the Earth's surface but most of it is radiated and
sent back into space.

 Water vapour and carbon dioxide in the troposphere trap some of this
heat, preventing it from escaping thus keep the Earth warm. This trapping
of heat is called the "greenhouse effect".

However, if there is too much carbon dioxide in the troposphere then it

will trap too much heat.

 Scientists are afraid that the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide would
raise the Earth's surface temperature, bringing significant changes to
worldwide weather patterns ... shifting in climatic zones and the melting
of the polar ice caps, which could raise the level of the world's oceans.

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 b) Stratosphere

 This layer lies directly above the troposphere and is about 35 km deep. It
extends from about 15 to 50 km above the Earth's surface.
 The lower portion of the stratosphere has a nearly constant temperature
with height but in the upper portion the temperature increases with
altitude because of absorption of sunlight by ozone.
 This temperature increase with altitude is the opposite of the situation in
the troposphere.

The Ozone Layer:

The stratosphere contains a thin layer of ozone which absorbs most of the
harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. The ozone layer is being
depleted, and is getting thinner over Europe, Asia, North American and
Antarctica --- "holes" are appearing in the ozone layer.

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 Ozone in the Stratosphere

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 Ozone in the Stratosphere

 the Sun’s energy is sometimes dangerous, ozone,O3 in the atmosphere prevents

most of the harmful energy from reaching us.

 there is more naturally occurring ozone gas in the stratosphere than any other part
in the atmosphere.

 in the Stratosphere, ozone absorbs high-energy UV radiation from the Sun,

preventing it from reaching Earth’s surface.

 the decrease in the ozone in the Stratosphere is caused by human-made

compounds called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), it can be found in refrigerators and
air conditioners.

 CFCs belong to the family of chemical compounds called halocarbons.

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 Ozone in the Stratosphere

 Halocarbons: molecules made up of carbon atoms linked by chemical bonds to

fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine. In this case, chlorine and fluorine are linked
to the carbon atoms.

 In the Stratosphere the chlorine atoms from the CFCs react with ozone
molecules,destroying the protective ozone layer. Each CFC molecule can destroy
hundreds or thousands of ozone molecules.

 With the help of the Montreal Protocol (the world agreed with the protocol on
substances that deplete the ozone layer suggested by Montreal) the ozone layer is
slowly recovering; however it will take 50 years before the ozone layer return its
original thickness

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 c) Mesosphere

 Directly above the stratosphere, extending from 50 to 80 km above the Earth's

surface, the mesosphere is a cold layer where the temperature generally
decreases with increasing altitude.

 Here in the mesosphere, the atmosphere is very rarefied nevertheless thick

enough to slow down meteors hurtling into the atmosphere, where they burn up,
leaving fiery trails in the night sky.

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 d) Thermosphere

 The thermosphere extends from 80 km above the Earth's surface to outer space.

 The temperature is hot and may be as high as thousands of degrees as the few
molecules that are present in the thermosphere receive extraordinary large
amounts of energy from the Sun.

 However, the thermosphere would actually feel very cold to us because of the
probability that these few molecules will hit our skin and transfer enough energy
to cause appreciable heat is extremely low.

Thermosphere is divided in to two layers

 Ionosphere

 Exosphere

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 Thermosphere

Ionosphere

 The next layer is Ionosphere where the temperature rises to a very high level.

 This layer has a high concentration of ions of gases as the gases here are not in
their atomic or molecular state but they get ionized.

 It is this layer which reflects the long distance radio waves and thus makes radio
communications possible.

 The meteors get burnt in this layer due to the high temperature. Auroras are seen
in this very layer.

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 Thermosphere

Exosphere

 The uppermost layer of the atmosphere is the exosphere.

 This is in fact a part of the outer atmosphere of the earth.

 Above the exosphere there is a certain region upto where the magnetic field of
the earth is felt. This region is known as the magnetosphere.

 This layer may be a transition between the atmosphere of the earth and the
outer space or the atmosphere of the sun.

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 PAUSES

Between each layer of the atmosphere is a boundary.

 Above the troposphere is the tropopause;

 above the stratosphere is the stratopause;

 above the mesosphere is the mesopause; and

 above the thermosphere is the thermopause.

At these "pauses," maximum change between the "spheres" occur.

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 2. Hydrosphere

The part of the climate system that includes all water on and around Earth.
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 Hydrosphere

It includes the oceans, seas, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. The hydrosphere
covers about 70% of the surface of the Earth and is the home for many plants and
animals
Large Bodies of Water and Climate Zones
 large bodies of water have an effect on the climate of nearby regions

 water absorbs and stores more thermal energy than land, it also eats up and cools
down more slowly than land

 regions near an ocean or large lake tend to be cooler in the summer than inland
locations (the water takes a long time to warm up as it absorbs thermal energy),
they also tend to be warmer in the fall (as the water slowly emits stored thermal
energy)

 regions that are downward from a large body of water have more snowfall in the
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 Hydrosphere

Ice and the Climate System

 About 2% of all Earth’s water is frozen most of this ice located at the two poles

 Sea ice or pack ice, only a few meters thick, formed from frozen sea water, floats in
the ocean near the North and South Poles.

 Ice sheets are enormous areas of permanent ice several kilometres thick,
stretching over land of the Antarctic and Greenland.

 Surfaces covered in ice and snow reflect more radiant energy than surfaces
covered in soil, rock, or vegetation

 Most of the Earth’s polar regions are covered in ice, these regions reflect back a
great deal of the Sun’s energy, which is why the polar regions are so cold
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 3. Lithosphere

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 3. Lithosphere

 Part of the climate system made up of the solid rock, soil, and minerals of Earth’s
Crust.

 Together with the hydrosphere, the exposed lithosphere absorbs higher-energy

radiation from the Sun, coverts it into thermal energy, and then emits the energy
back as lower-energy infrared radiation

 Mountains and other land formations affect how air moves over an area as clouds
are blown upward over mountains, they lose their moisture as rainfall on the
windward side; the leeward side of the mountain receives little rain, this process is
called the rain shadow effect

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 4) Cryosphere

The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system. It has two major components:
continental or land ice and AR2204
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 Cryosphere

Continental Ice and Glaciers

 Continental ice includes the continental ice sheets of Greenland (about 2 - 3 km

thick), Antarctica (up to 4 km thick) and smaller ones in China and South America.
Continental ice also includes valley glaciers (generally 10 - 100 m thick) which are
found on every continent except Australia.

 Continental ice adjacent to large bodies of water can flow out from the continent
to the sea surface and begin to float on the ocean. This ice is called shelf ice (on
the order of 500m thick) and it continues to become thinner as it floats.

 Continental ice is formed from snow accumulating at the surface and compressing
over time into ice under the weight of the snow on the surface. Snow accumulates
at the top during the winter and begins to compress under the weight of new
snow. When the snow melts, the water percolates into the snow, filling available
air spaces and freezing at the snow-ice boundary.

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 Cryosphere

Sea Ice

 Sea ice includes frozen sea water, such as that in the Arctic Ocean and the oceans
surrounding Antarctica, and frozen lake and river water, which occur mainly in the
polar regions.

 Sea ice is formed by the direct freezing of the water on which it floats. If the water
is salty, as it is in the ocean and in seas, during the freezing process the salt is left
in the water, making the water more salty and denser and the sea ice less salty.
Lake and river ice is frozen from fresh water generally and is therefore, not salty.

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 5) Biosphere

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 Biosphere

 The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone
of life on Earth, a closed (apart from solar and cosmic radiation) and self-regulating
system.

 From the broadest biophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the

globalecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships,
including their interaction with the elements of the
lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.

 The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning through a process of

biogenesis or biopoesis, at least some 3.5 billion years ago.

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