1 Meteorology

Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting.

Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events which illuminate and are explained by the
science of meteorology.

Those events are bound by the variables that exist in Earth's atmosphere.

They are temperature, pressure, water vapor, and the gradients and interactions of each variable, and how
they change in time.

Relative humidity is the ratio (expressed as a percentage) of the amount of moisture actually in the air to
the maximum amount that can be present at that temperature. The dew point is the temperature at which a
given sample of air will have a relative humidity of 100 percent; hence, the saturation temperature. Relative
humidity changes when temperatures change. Because warm air can hold more water vapor than cool air,
relative humidity falls when the temperature rises if no moisture is added to the air.

The saturation vapor pressure is the pressure of a vapor when it is in equilibrium with the liquid phase. It is
solely dependent on the temperature. As temperature rises the saturation vapor pressure rises as well.

Example
If you fill a glass jar half-full of water and put the lid on it, the process of evaporation in the jar will proceed
until there are as many molecules returning to the liquid as there are escaping into the jar above the water.
At this point the vapor in the jar above the water is said to be saturated, and the pressure of that vapor is
called the saturated vapor pressure.

Temperature is a physical quantity expressing hot and cold. It is measured with a thermometer calibrated in
one or more temperature scales. The most commonly used scales are the Celsius scale (formerly
called centigrade) (denoted °C), Fahrenheit scale (denoted °F), and Kelvin scale (denoted K). The kelvin
(the word is spelled with a lower-case k) is the unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI),
in which temperature is one of the seven fundamental base quantities. The Kelvin scale is widely used
in science and technology.

Theoretically, the coldest a system can be is when its temperature is absolute zero, at which point
the thermal motion in matter would be zero. However, an actual physical system or object can never attain
a temperature of absolute zero. Absolute zero is denoted as 0 Kon the Kelvin scale, −273.15 °C on the
Celsius scale, and −459.67 °F on the Fahrenheit scale.
5

Lapse Rates

Lapse Rate is a term that refers to the rate at which temperature varies in the vertical. There are various
types of Lapse Rates.

Environmental Lapse Rate

The environmental lapse rate is the rate at which temperature changes in the vertical in the troposphere, as
observed by an upwards moving radiosonde. This varies greatly from day to day. When this lapse rate is
averaged out for all places and times, it is called the Standard (or Average) Lapse Rate, which is
around 3.0F/1000 ft. It's important to keep in mind that this lapse rate is determined by a vertically moving
radiosonde. The air itself is not moving up or down.

Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate

The lapse rate that occurs in a vertically moving air parcel in which no condensation is occurringl. The
temperature change is related to the expansional cooling (compressional warming) that occurs when the air
moves upward (downward). It is entirely deterined by the pressure distribution in the atmosphere in
question. For earth's atmosphere, in the troposphere, for example, the pressure is 200 mb at the top and
1000 mb at the bottom. Thus, the dry adiabatic lapse rate is constant, 5.5F/1000 ft (1C/100m). This is known
as the dry adiabatic lapse rate because no heat is added or subtracted from the moving air parcel (adiabatic)
and no moisture is condensing (dry).

Wet Adiabatic Lapse Rate

The lapse rate that occurs in a vertically moving air parcel in which condensation is occurring. For example,
although an upwards moving air parcel will always experience expansional cooling as a dominant effect, a
certain amount of heating offsets that cooling due to latent heat release associated with condensation. This
latent heat release is dependent upon temperature and pressure, so the wet adiabatic rate is not a constant.
It averages around 3.5F/1000 ft in the lower troposphere.

A monsoon is a seasonal change in the direction of the prevailing, or strongest, winds of a region. Monsoons
cause wet and dry seasons throughout much of the tropics. Monsoons are most often associated with the
Indian Ocean. Monsoons always blow from cold to warm regions. The summer monsoon and the winter
monsoon determine the climate for most of India and Southeast Asia.

A Western Disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden
winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern
driven by the westerlies. The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea and
the Atlantic Ocean. Extratropical storms are a global phenomenon with moisture usually carried in the
upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere.
In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters
the Himalayas.

Western Disturbances are important for the development of the Rabi crop, which includes the locally
important staple wheat.