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Nature and Scope of Climatology

Presentation · August 2018

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Sitender Malik
Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University (JIND)
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Nature and Scope of Climatology
Dr Sitender Malik
Atmospheric Science
• Comprehensive study of atmosphere
• It can be divided into following sub-branches
• Aerology
– Study of the chemical and physical characteristics of
the composition of atmosphere
– A branch of meteorology
• Meteorology
– Studies the characteristics and behavior of the
atmospheric conditions based on the study of
individual phenomena and motions of the atmosphere
involving the principles of physics
Introduction
• Atmosphere is a thick gaseous envelope which
surrounds earth from all sides and is attached to
earth’s surface by gravitational force
• It plays important role in
– Existence of life on earth
– Providing all necessary gases for biosphere
– Filtering incoming solar electromagnetic radiation
– Providing energy to earth’s biospheric ecosystem
– Distribution and redistribution of energy on earth’s
surface
Atmospheric Science
• Climatology
– It is the branch of atmospheric science that deals with
• Systematic and regional studies of atmospheric conditions
i.e. weather and climate
• Weather is the sum total of atmospheric conditions in terms
of temperature, pressure, wind, moisture, cloudiness,
precipitation and visibility of a particular place at any given
time
• Climate is the study of aggregate weather conditions of any
region in long term perspective
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 Climatology
• Definitions
– “Climatology is the science which studies the nature of
climate, the causes and interpretation of its spatial
variations and its association with the elements of
natural environment and human activities” Critchfield
– “it is a science really an applied science whose
methods are strictly meteorological but whose aims
and results are geographical” Oliver and Hidore, 2003
Nature of Climatology
• Climatology tries to study the
– Identification, demarcation and distribution of
different types of climate
Climatology
• Definitions
– It may also be defined as “study of long term weather
conditions of a place or an area of varying spatial
scales over long period of time, of frequent and
infrequent weather phenomena, systematic study of
climate and its distribution on the earth’s surface both
horizontally and vertically, effects of human economic
activities on different components of atmosphere
leading to weather and climate changes and effects of
weather and climate on man and his activities in
particular and other flora and fauna in general”
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 Nature of Climatology Scope of Climatology
• Climatology tries to study the • The subject matter of climatology may be
– Identification, demarcation and distribution of described through its major branches
different types of climate – Physical and dynamic climatology
– Mode of origin of different types of climate – Regional climatology
– Causes and processes responsible for climatic – Applied climatology
variations both horizontally and vertically
– Different elements of weather and climate
– Interaction of weather and climate with human society
– Impacts of climate on human health and activities
including physiological and psychological aspects

Physical Climatology Physical Climatology

• It deals with the study of • In other words it studies the systematic
– Elements of weather namely insolation, temperature, description and analysis of
air pressure, wind, evaporation and humidity, – Energy balance of atmosphere and earth
precipitation, fogs, visibility etc – Atmospheric temperature
– Combination of these elements that formed different – Humidity and precipitation
climates
– Atmospheric motions and air circulation
– Processes that forms various combinations of these
– Air masses
weather elements like exchange of heat, humidity and
interaction of atmosphere and earth’s surface – Atmospheric extreme events (atmospheric
disturbances, droughts, floods, etc.)

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 Regional Climatology
• The spatial variations in the combinations of
elements of weather and climate causes different
types of climate in different region of the world
• The size of region over which similar climatic
conditions are observed varies from a micro area
(crop field) to macro area (a continent)
• Thus regional climatology studies the differences
in climatic conditions of the areal units having
different spatial scales like Microclimate, local
climate, meso climate and macro climate.
Regional Climatology
• Local Climate
– Its horizontal extension is from 100 meters to 1000
meters and vertically from ground surface upto 1000
meters
– It may represent the climate of a forest cover, a
orchard, a village, an urban area etc.
Regional Climatology
• Microclimate
– It varies in size from 1 meter to 100 meter horizontally
and from ground surface to 100 meter vertically
– It may represent the climate of a single crop field,
single household, area around a single tree
– Data related to such climates are collected from
ground and it enables the investigator to generalise
variation of microclimatological processes operating
over varying ground surfaces and their impact on
human being
– Thus, it may also be included as part of applied
climatology
Regional Climatology
• Mesoclimate
– It has horizontal extent from 100 meters to 20 km and
vertical extent from ground surface to 6 km in
atmosphere
– It may represent the climate of Ganga delta, Konkan
coastal plain, middle Ganga plain, Sundarban, Rewa
plateau etc.
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 Regional Climatology
• Macroclimate
– It is also known as geoclimate or geographical climate
– Its horizontal distance is more than 20 km to several
hundred km and vertical extent from ground surface to
more than 6 km
– It may represent the climate of a country or a continent
like USA, China, Russia, India etc.
– It may be divided into descriptive climatology (study
of climatic characteristic of ground surface) and
synoptic climatology (analysis of dominant patterns of
atmospheric circulation) based on approach of analysis
Satellite Climatology
• It deals with
– Climate data obtained through satellite
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Applied Climatology
• It deals with
– Climatic controls of human activities
– Application of climatic principles and knowledge to
solve various problems faced by human society
– How does man modify climate by introducing
advertent and inadvertent changes in physical
environment
– Weather modifications by man e.g. cloud seeding and
induced precipitation
– Human biometeorology (reaction of human bodies to
change in atmospheric environment)
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