 Atmospheric Circulation

 Water Vapor and measures

 Water vapor in a static

atmospheric column

 Precipitable water
Atmospheric Water
 Of the many processes occurring continuously, the processes of precipitation and
evaporation in which the atmosphere interacts with surface water are the most
important for hydrology

 Much of the precipitation occurring over land is derived from moisture

evaporated from the oceans and transported long distances by Atmospheric
Circulations

 Basic driving forces of circulation:

 Rotation of earth
 Transfer of heat energy from the equator and the poles
Atmospheric Circulation
 Constantly receives heat from Sun through radiation and emits back
through re-radiation

 Polar
Uneven heating of earth regions: More
radiation loses than
receives
 Perpendicular near the
Deficit Energy Tropical regions:
equator  270 W/m2
More radiation
 Obliquely near the receives than loses

poles at an average Surplus Energy

rate of 90 W/m2

Deficit Energy
 Atmospheric Circulation
 Latitudinal energy imbalance is maintained by huge transfers of heat
from the tropics to polar areas  winds and oceans currents
 Earth acts as vast heat engine
Atmospheric Circulation for non-rotating
earth

 Air would rise near the equator and

travel in the upper atmosphere
towards the poles, then cool,
descend into the lower atmosphere,
and return toward the equator

 HADLEY Circulation
Distribution of Pressure
 Under the thermal control, pressure tends to rise from equator to poles

 Air in the equatorial regions is thrown away from the earth while in the
polar areas, it is pulled inward.

 Equatorial area will have low pressure and the polar areas will have higher
pressure

 Two belts of high pressure, one

over each polar region and one belt
of low pressure around the equator
are produced.
Distribution of Pressure
 Air rising in the equatorial regions descends around 300 North and South 
Two belts of high pressure on the subtropical regions of both
hemispheres

 Due to the rotation of earth, air is

pulled inwards in the polar regions
 causes a rarification of the
atmosphere in the sub-polar latitudes
 Produces two belts of low
pressure centered around 600
North and South in both
hemispheres
Distribution of Pressure
 A total of seven pressure
belts

 Equatorial low

 Two belts of subtropical

highs

 Two belts of subpolar

lows

 Two belts of polar highs

Distribution of Pressure
 Called as Planetary distribution of pressure
 Assumes uniformity of surface conditions all over the earth

Mainly determined by TWO

factors :
 Thermal factor
 Dynamic factor
While equatorial belt of low
pressure and polar belts of high
pressure are mainly a result of the
thermal control, the subtropical
belts of high pressure and
subpolar belts of low pressure are
primarily a result of dynamic
control

Modifications in the Planetary Distribution
of Pressure
 Influenced by the local variations of temperature and surface conditions
Two major modifications

I. Seasonal migration or swing

of pressure belts  Shift in the
position of vertical rays of Sun 
Pressure belts move slightly
northwards during summer
solstice and towards south during
winter solstice
Modifications in the Planetary Distribution
of Pressure
II. Differential heating of land and sea at any given latitude  While
continents are centres of high temperature and low pressure during summer,
Oceans have a relatively higher pressure

 Vice versa during winter

 Consequently, pressure belts are divided
into alternating cells of high and low
pressure each centeres over a major
ocean or a continent
 Interruption of pressure belts
 More conspicuous in Northern
Hemisphere where land and ocean
distribution is more uneven
Planetary Winds
 Planetary winds are permanent winds blowing in response to the planetary
distribution of pressure
 Each of the belts of high pressure gives rise to winds that blow towards the
area of low pressure on both of its sides

Equatorial winds or Doldrums

 In the equatorial trough of low pressure,
intense heating causes the air to rise
continuously in the form of convective cells.
This zone between 50N and 50S 
Equatorial belt of variable winds or
Doldrums
Planetary Winds
Trade Winds
 Zones roughly between 50N and 300N (50S
and 300S)

 Caused by pressure gradients from the

subtropical highs and equatorial low

 Northeast trades in NH and Southeast

trades in SH or Tropical easterlies
Planetary Winds
Westerlies
 Zones roughly between 350N and 600N (350S and 600S)
 Blows from subtropical high pressure centres towards the subpolar lows
 Southwesterly in NH and Northwesterly in SH
 Southwesterly in NH  Disrupted due to
existence of continents and oceans 
Reduces wind velocities
 Northwesterly in SH  No disruption by
continents  Gains strength 
Expressions “roaring forties”, ‘furious
fifties” and “screaming sixties”
Planetary Winds
Polar Easterlies
 Artic and Antartic latitudes
 Simplified concept  Predominant easterlies (Actually radial winds in
polar regions)

 Planetary Wind belts also shift due to

temperature and pressure belts shifting
 Seasonal and Local Winds (Eg.
Monsoon winds)
Air Masses and Fronts
Air mass: Large body of air in which the horizontal and vertical
distribution of temperature, pressure and moisture is almost uniform.

 An air mass develops when a body of air remains for a sufficiently long
period of time over an area of uniform surface conditions  Source
regions  so that the air attains uniformity in terms of temperature and
moisture.

 Example of source regions: Extensive water bodies

 Air mass carry the characteristics of source regions

 Affect & modify the climate of regions it visits

Classification of Air Masses
 On the basis of temperature & moisture conditions

I. Temperature

 Tropical (Warm) and Polar (Cold) air masses

II. Moisture conditions

 Continental (Dry) and Maritime (Humid) air masses

Classification of Air Masses

Source Regions of Global Air Masses

 First letter  moisture properties, “c” for continental air masses (dry) and “m” for
maritime air masses (moist).
 Second letter  thermal characteristic of its source region: T for Tropical, P for
Polar, A for arctic or Antarctic, E for Equatorial
Fronts
 When two air masses with contrasting thermal characteristics converge 
Do not mix readily  A boundary zone is produced

 Zone of separation  Fronts

 Fronts are the zone in which one air mass is replacing other air mass

 Cold air mass being denser tends to remain

in contact with the ground

 Warm air mass has a tendency to rise up in

the front zone
Types of Fronts
Based on advancing air mass  Warm and Cold fronts

Warm Front:
 Warm air mass advances and replaces the cold air mass

 Lighter warm air tends to

ride above the cold air

 While the cold air may be

pushed back only to a small
extent, warm air spreads
over, to a greater extent

 Very gentle sloping front

Fronts
Cold Front:
 Cold air replaces the warm air
 Denser cold air being denser tends to stay near to the ground
 Warm air is bodily uplifted
 Cold air advance as a sharp wedge under the warm air
 Due to the higher density
of the cold air, the cold
front advances at a rate
faster than the rate of
advace of warm front
 Slope is much steeper
Fronts
Stationary Front:
 A front formed between two air masses and none of the two may be
advancing into the zone of other
Fronts
Occluded Front:
 Existing warm front between
warm air and cooler air mass
 A cold air mass hit the warm air
mass from behind  Cold front
develops
 Generally cold air mass move
more rapidly than warm air masses
 Cold front may overtake warm
front from behind, lifting the warm
air mass off the ground
Water Vapor
 Fraction of water vapor in the atmosphere is very small

 Largely responsible for prevailing weather conditions

 Consider a closed container containing water and air.

 Air is dry initially

 Evaporation takes place and quantity of water

vapor in the air increases

 A measurement of pressure in the air space will

reveal an increase in the air pressure as
evaporation proceeds
 Partial pressure exerted by the vapor  Vapor Pressure
Water Vapor
 Evaporation continues until the vapor pressure of the overlying air equals
the surface vapor pressure

 At this point, evaporation ceases

 Air space is said to be saturated

 Open container  Equilibrium would not have

reached and all the water would eventually have
evaporated

 Eg. Atmosphere
Measures of Water Vapor
 Vapor Pressure

 Dew Point Temperature

 Absolute Humidity

 Specific Humidity

 Relative Humidity
Measures of Water Vapor
Vapor Pressure
 Dalton’s law of partial pressure

 Pressure exerted by a gas is independent of the presence of other gases

Pressure exerted by the vapor on the air  Vapor Pressure, e

Higher temperature → More amount of water vapor in the air → Increased

vapor pressure
For a given air temperature, there is a maximum moisture content the air can
hold.

Corresponding vapor pressure is called saturation vapor pressure, es

Measures of Water Vapor
Saturation Vapor Pressure, es
æ ö
Saturation pressure, es = 611exp ç 17.27T ÷
è 237.3+ T ø
where es is in Pa and T is in C.

Saturated vapor pressure vs Temperature – Psychrometric curve

Psychrometric curve
Measures of Water Vapor
Gradient of the saturated vapour pressure curve

Differentiating eqn for es

d es 4098es
D= =
dT (237.3+ T )2

Point C has a vapor pressure ea and

the saturated vapor pressure is es

Vapor pressure deficit = es – ea.

→ Evaporative capacity of air

22/10/2019
Measures of Water Vapor
Dew point temperature, Td
Temperature to which air is to be cooled to make it saturated
Measures of Water Vapor
Absolute Humidity

 Mass of water vapor contained in a unit volume of space (Unit: g/cm3)

 Determined using equation of state for an ideal gas

 Usual form of equation of state

pV = nRT

 R = Universal gas constant

 T = absolute temperature
Measures of Water Vapor
If ‘M’ – Mass of volume, V which has a gram molecular weight ‘m’, then the
number of gram molecules ‘n’ contained in volume V

n=M/m

Usual form  pV=nRT

Substituting value of n

pV=MRT/m

By definition, density, ρ = M / V

Therefore, p = ρ R T / m  Commonly used in meteorologic work

Measures of Water Vapor
p=ρRT/m

Occasionally, R/m is called R’  Individual gas constant

Ideal gas law for water vapor

e = ρv Rv T

where T = absolute temperature in Kelvin

Rv = Gas constant for water vapor

Measures of Water Vapor
If the total pressure exerted by moist air is ‘p’ , then the partial pressure

exerted by dry air is ‘p – e’

Ideal gas law for dry air

p - e = ρd Rd T

where ρd = density of dry airabsolute temperature in Kelvin

Rd = Gas constant for dry air (287 J/kg.K)

Measures of Water Vapor
Density of moist air is the sum of the densities of dry air and
water vapor,

ρa = ρv + ρ d
Ratio of molecular weight of water vapor to the average molecular weight of
dry air = 18.02 / 28.97 = 0.622

Gas constant for water vapor, Rv = Rd / 0.622

Now combining p - e = ρd Rd T & e = ρv Rv T

p = [ ρd + ρv / 0.622 ] Rd T
Measures of Water Vapor
Specific Humidity, qv

 Mass of water vapor contained within a unit mass of moist space

 Expresses as g/g or g/kg

qv = Ratio of densities of water vapor (ρv) and moist air (ρa)

qv = ρv / ρa

e rv RvT
=
p æ r + rv ö R T
ç d ÷ d
è 0.622 ø
Measures of Water Vapor
e rv RvT =
rv Rd T
= æ
p æ r + rv ö R T rv ö
ç d ÷ d 0.622 ç rd + ÷ Rd T
è 0.622 ø è 0.622 ø

rv rv ra
= =
æ 0.622 rd + rv ö
0.622 ç ÷ ( 0.622 rd + rv ) ra
è 0.622 ø

e qv    ra
=
p ( 0.622 rd + rv )

0.622  e e
qv = » 0.622 Ra = Rd (1+ 0.608qv )
p - 0.378e p
Measures of Water Vapor

e
qv » 0.622
p

Ra = Rd (1+ 0.608qv )
Ra increases with qv ; but even for a large qv the difference
between Ra and Rd ~ 2%

Ra » Rd
 Measures of Water Vapor
Relative Humidity, Rh

ea
Rh =
es
- Ratio of actual vapor pressure to the saturated value at a given temperature
 Water Vapor in a Static Atmospheric
Column
Amount of moisture in an atmospheric column  Precipitable water

Consider a column of atmosphere of area “A”. Consider an element of height

“dz” in the column

Two laws govern the properties of water vapor in a static

column

1. Ideal Gas law: p = ρa Ra T ------------------ (1)

2. Hydrostatic Pressure law: dp = -ra g             (2)

dz
Water Vapor in a Static Atmospheric
Column
Consider two levels, at elevation (1) and at (2)

Variation of air temperature with altitude

dT
= -a    ;  a  = lapse rate
dz

T2 = T1 - a  ( z2 - z1 )
Water Vapor in a Static Atmospheric
Column
p
From (1) ra =
RaT

dp
Substituting in (2) = - r a g 
dz
pg
     = -
RaT
dp g
=- dz
p RaT
dT dT
Now, = -a    Þ dz = -
dz a
dp g
= dT
p RaaT
Water Vapor in a Static Atmospheric
Column
dp g
= dT
p RaaT
Integrating on both sides between levels (1) and (2) in the atmosphere

p2 g T2
ln = ln
p1 Raa T1
g
æ T2 ö Raa
 p2 = p1 ç ÷
è T1 ø
Water Vapor in a Static Atmospheric
Column
Water Vapor in a Static Atmospheric
Column
Mass of air in the element “dz” is

ra  A dz
Mass of water contained in the air is
qv   ra  A dz
Total mass of precipitable water in the column between (1) and (2)
z2
m p =  ò qv   ra   A dz
z1

For intervals of Δz, incremental mass of precipitable water

Dmp = qv   ra  A Dz