INSOLATION

The earth's atmosphere is very much a dynamic entity. Large volumes of air are continually being
moved both up and down and across the face of the Earth. As a proof, we feel air when it is in motion.
There must be some energy involved here. It needs to be understood that the atmosphere is not a
closed system. It is in contact with both the earth and with space, and receives energy from both
directions. However, Earth itself directly contributes only a negligible amount of energy to the
atmosphere, and its main role is to reflect energy from elsewhere. The ultimate sole source of
atmospheric energy is in fact heat and light received through space from the Sun. This energy is
known as solar insolation.

The Earth receives only a tiny fraction of the total amount of Sun's radiations. Only two billionths or
two units of energy out of 1,00,00,00,000 units of energy radiated by the sun reaches the earth's
surface due to its small size and great distance from the Sun. The unit of measurements of this
energy is Langley (Ly). On an average the earth receives 1.94 calories per sq. cm per minute (2
Langley) at the top of its atmosphere.

Factors Influencing Insolation

The insolation received on earth is not same everywhere. The amount and the intensity of insolation
vary from place to place, during a day, in a season and in a year. The factors that cause these
variations in insolation are:

1. Revolution of earth around sun - earth revolves in an elliptical orbit around the sun. Thus,
distance between the Sun and the earth vary. The earth is farthest from the sun on 4th July. This
position of the earth is called aphelion. On 3rd January, the earth is the nearest to the sun. This
position is called perihelion. Therefore, the annual insolation received by the earth at
perihelion is slightly more than the amount received at aphelion. However, the effect of this
variation in the solar output is masked by other factors like the distribution of land and sea and
the atmospheric circulation. Hence, this variation in the insolation does not have great effect on
daily weather changes on the surface of the earth.

2. The rotation of earth on its axis - earth rotates around its axis and makes an angle of 66½
with the plane of its orbit round the sun. This particular characteristic of earth has great
amount of influence on the amount of insolation received at different latitudes. The seasons
in each hemisphere are dictated not by the closeness to the sun but by the axial tilt of the earth.

3. The angle of inclination of the sun's rays - Since the earth is round, the sun's rays strike the
surface at different angles at different places. The angle formed by the sun's ray with the
tangent of the earth's circle at a point is called angle of incidence. It influences the insolation in
two ways as follows:

 When the sun is almost overhead, the rays of the sun are vertical. The angle of incidence is
large. Hence, they are concentrated in a smaller area, giving more amount of insolation at that
place. If the sun's rays are oblique, angle of incidence is small and sun's rays have to heat up a
greater area, resulting in less amount of insolation received there.

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INSOLATION AND TEMPERATURE

Figure : Effect of angle of inclination on Insolation

 The sun's rays with small angle traverse more of the atmosphere than rays striking at a large
angle. Longer the path of sun's rays, greater is the amount of reflection and absorption of heat
by atmosphere. As a result the intensity of insolation at a place is less (figure 1). Angle of
inclination of solar radiation depends on latitude of a place. The higher the latitude the less is
the angle they make with the surface of the earth resulting in slant sun rays.

4 The length of the day - the duration of day is controlled partly by latitude and partly by the
season of the year. The amount of insolation has close relationship with the length of the day. It
is because insolation is received only during the day. Other conditions remaining the same, the
longer the days the greater is the amount of insolation. In summers, the days being longer the
amount of insolation received is also more. As against this in winter the days are shorter the
insolation received is also less. On account of the inclination of the earth on its axis at an angle
of 23½° , rotation and revolution, the duration of the day is not same everywhere on the earth.
At the equator there is 12 hours day and night each throughout the year. As one moves
towards poles duration of the days keeps on increasing or decreasing. It is why the maximum
insolation is received in equatorial areas. Table 1 show the duration of day (in hours & minutes)
on winter and summer solstices in the Northern hemisphere.

5. The transparency of the atmosphere - The earth's atmosphere is more or less transparent to
short wave solar radiation which has to pass through the atmosphere before striking the earth's
surface. The transparency depends upon cloud cover, its thickness, water vapour and solid
particles, as they reflect, absorb or transmit insolation. High energy ultra-violet rays are
absorbed by the Ozone layer. Thick clouds hinder the insolation to reach the earth while clear
sky helps it to reach the surface. Water vapour absorbs insolation, resulting in less amount of
insolation reaching the surface. Very small-suspended particles in the troposphere scatter
visible spectrum both to the space and towards the earth surface.

6. Solar variation - It is the change in the amount of radiation emitted by the Sun. These
variations have periodic components, the main one being the approximately 11-year sunspot
cycle. Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly

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INSOLATION AND TEMPERATURE

as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. When there is an increase in sun spots it leads
to increase1 in the amount of solar radiation. But this change is almost negligible.

7. Aspect of Slope – in the northern hemisphere a south-facing slope (more open to sunlight and
warm winds) will therefore generally be warmer and dryer due to higher levels of
evapotranspiration than a north-facing slope. This can be seen in the Swiss Alps, where farming
is much more extensive on south-facing than on north-facing slopes. In the Himalayas, this
effect can be seen to an extreme degree, with south-facing slopes being warm, wet and
forested, and north-facing slopes cold, dry but much more heavily glaciated. Vegetation, human
activities are more visible on the slopes where insolation is more relatively.

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INSOLATION AND TEMPERATURE

TEMPERATURE
The temperature is the measurement in degrees of how hot (or cold) a thing (or a place) is. The
temperature of the atmosphere is not same across the Earth. It varies in spatial and temporal
dimensions. The temperature of a place depends largely on the insolation received by that place. The
interaction of insolation with the atmosphere and the earth's surface creates heat which is measured
in terms of temperature. It is important to know about the temperature distribution over the surface
of the earth to understand the weather, climate, vegetation zones, animal and human life etc.
following factors determine the temperature of air at any place.

1. The latitude of the place - Intensity of insolation depends on the latitude. The amount of
insolation depends on the inclination of sun rays, which is further depends upon the latitude of
the place. At the equator sun's rays fall directly overhead throughout the year. Away from the
equator towards poles, the inclination of the Sun's rays increases. In conclusion, if other things
remain the same, the temperature of air goes on decreasing from the equator towards poles.

2. The altitude of the place - the atmosphere is largely heated indirectly by re-radiated terrestrial
radiation from the earth's
surface. Therefore, the lower
layers of the atmosphere are
comparatively warmer than
the upper layers, even in the
same latitudes.

For example,

Ambala (30 21' N) and

Shimla (31 6') are almost at
the same latitude. But the
average temperature of shimla
is much lower than the
Ambala. It is because Ambala
is located in plain at an
altitude of 272 m above sea level whereas Shimla is located at an altitude of 2202 m above sea
level.

In other words, the temperature generally decreases with increasing height. The rate of
decrease of temperature with height is termed as the normal lapse rate. It is 6.5°C per
1,000m. That's why, the mountains, even in the equatorial region, have snow covered peaks,
like Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa.

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INSOLATION AND TEMPERATURE

3. Distance from the Sea - the land surface

is heated at a faster rate than the water
surface.

Specific heat difference, water is having

more specific heat than land, thus water
takes more time to heatup and more time
to cool down in comparison to land.

Thus the temperature of the air over land

and water surfaces is not the same at a
given time. In summers, the sea water is
cooler than the land and in winters,
land is much colder than the sea water.
The coastal areas experience the sea breezes during the daytime and the land breezes during
the night time. This has a moderating influence on the temperature of the coastal areas.
Against this the places in the interior, far away from the sea, have extreme climate. The daily
range of temperature is less near the coastal area and it increases with increase in distance
from the sea coast. The low daily range of temperature is the characteristic of marine climate.
That's why, the people of Mumbai have hardly any idea of extremes of temperature.

4. Ocean Currents - the effect of warm ocean

currents and the cold ocean currents is
limited to the adjoining coastal areas. The
warm ocean currents flow along the eastern
coast of tropical and sub-tropical regions
and western coast of higher latitudes. On
the other hand, cold ocean currents flow
along the eastern coast of higher latitude
and along the western coast of tropical and
sub-tropical areas. The North Atlantic drift,
an extension of Gulf Stream, warm the
coastal districts of Western Europe (such as Norway) and British Isles keeping their ports
ice-free.

5. Air-mass circulation – air masses in form of winds helps in the redistribution of temperature.
The places, which come under the influence of warm air-masses experience higher temperature
and the places that come under the influence of cold air masses experience low temperature.
The effect of these winds is, however, limited to the period during which they blow. Local winds
like cold Mistral of France considerably lower the temperature and Sirocco, a hot wind that
blows from Sahara desert raises the temperature of Italy, Malta etc.

The temperature rises at the time of arrival of temperate cyclones, while it falls sharply after
their passage. Sometimes, local winds can cause sudden change in temperature. In northern
India, 'Loo', a local hot wind, raise the temperature to such an extent that heat waves prolong
for several days in continuation and many people die of sunstroke.

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INSOLATION AND TEMPERATURE

6. Slope, Shelter and aspect - slopes of a

mountain facing the Sun experiences high
temperature than the slopes on the
leeward side due to more insolation. A
steep slope experiences a more rapid
change in temperature than a gentle one.
Mountain ranges that have an east-west
alignment like the Alps show a higher
temperature on the south-facing 'sunny slope' than the north facing 'sheltered slope'.
Consequently, there are more settlements in southern side and it is better utilized for
agricultural and other purposes.

The mountain ranges at certain places stop the cold winds and prevent the temperature from
going down. This is found in areas where mountains lie in the direction facing the winds as in
the case of Himalayas. In the absence of Himalayas, winters of India would have been very
different.

7. Nature of ground surface - the nature of surface in terms of colour, vegetation, soil, land use,
snow cover etc. affects the temperature of a place.

 In the tropical and subtropical deserts, the sandy surface record high temperature because
they absorb most of the solar radiations.

 Snow has very high albedo and thus, reflects much of the insolation without absorption.

 Thick vegetation (such as Amazon forest) cuts off much of the in-coming insolation and in
many places sunlight never reaches the ground. It is cool in the jungle and its shade
temperature is a few degrees lower than that of open spaces in corresponding latitudes.

 Light soils reflect more heat than darker soils.

 Dry soils like sands are very sensitive to temperature changes, whereas wet soils, like clay
retain much moisture and warm up more slowly.

 Urban areas have relatively higher temperature than the surrounding.

GEOGRAPHY 6