HOLIDAY HOMEWORK

TOPIC - MECHANISM OF INDIAN CLIMATE

Index 1. Introduction2. Comprehensive map of

India 3. Meteorological chart4. Meteorological chart of

the world5. What is climate?6. Climate and Terrestrial

biomes.7. Where does the word

climate came from?8. Climatic zones

9. Asia: Climate map10.Temperature and

precipitation scales11.Precipitation Map12.Vegetation classification13.El Niño14.Indian climate15.Temperature map of

world16.Climatic map of India

INTRODUCTIONIndia (in Hindi, Bharat), officially Republic of

India, federal democracy in southern Asia and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, comprising, with Pakistan and Bangladesh, the subcontinent of India. India is the seventh-largest country in the world and the second most populous, after China. India is bordered on the north by Afghanistan (if Pakistan-controlled Kashmir is included), Tibet, Nepal, China, and Bhutan; on the south by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar, which separate it from Sri Lanka.

The Indian Ocean; on the west by the Arabian Sea and Pakistan; on the east by Myanmar (Burma), the Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh, which almost cuts off north-east India from the rest of the country. With Jammu and Kashmir (the definitive status of which has not been determined), India has an area of 3,165,596 sq km (1,222,243 sq mi). The capital of India is New Delhi, and the country’s largest cities are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).

comprehensive map of India

Meteorological chartsMost people are familiar with meteorological

charts from daily weather forecasts on television and in the newspapers. The charts are compiled using a system of mathematical equations, known as numerical weather prediction (NWP), that are combined into a complex, computer-based model of the atmosphere’s behaviour. The model is applied to observations of real weather events in particular areas, or points, on the Earth’s surface; each point includes several levels, or “parcels”, of air up through the atmosphere. The movement of these parcels through time is calculated to provide the forecast.

Meteorological chart of world

What is climate?Climate, the long-term effect of the Sun's

radiation on the rotating Earth's varied surface and atmosphere. It can be understood most easily in terms of annual or seasonal averages of temperature and precipitation.

  Land and sea areas, being so variable, react in many different ways to the atmosphere, which is constantly circulating in a state of dynamic activity. Day-by-day variations in a given area constitute the weather, whereas climate is the long-term synthesis of such variations (both can be viewed as subdisciplines of meteorology).

Weather is measured by thermometers, rain gauges, barometers, and other instruments, but the study of climate relies on statistics. Today, such statistics are handled efficiently by computers. A simple, long-term summary of weather changes, however, is still not a true picture of climate. To obtain this requires the analysis of daily, monthly, and yearly patterns. Investigation of climate changes over geological time is the province of palaeoclimatology, which requires the tools and methods of geological research.

Climate and Terrestrial biomes

Regional climates may be described in

terms of five different types of

biomes. A biome is characterized by

the particular combination of temperature,

humidity, vegetation, and

associated animal life in an area. This

map shows the distribution of the

world’s major biomes: rain forest and savanna, mixed

forest and grasslands, needle-

leaf and mixed forests, steppe and desert, and tundra

and icecaps.

Click icon to add picture

Where does the word climate came from?

The word climate comes from the Greek klima, referring to the inclination of the Sun. Besides the effects of solar radiation and its variations, climate is also influenced by the complex structure and composition of the atmosphere and by the ways in which it and the ocean transport heat. Thus, for any given area on Earth, not only the latitude (the Sun's inclination) must be considered but also the elevation, terrain, distance from the ocean, relation to mountain systems and lakes, and other such influences.

Climatic zonesClimates are described by agreed-upon

codes or by descriptive terms that are somewhat loosely defined but nevertheless useful. On a global scale, climate can be spoken of in terms of zones, or belts, that can be traced between the equator and the pole in each hemisphere. To understand them, the circulation of the upper atmosphere, or stratosphere, must be considered, as well as that of the lower atmosphere, or troposphere, where weather takes place.

Upper atmospheric phenomena were little understood until the advent of such advanced technology as rocketry, high-altitude aircraft, and satellites. Ideally, hot air can be thought of as rising by convection along the equator and sinking near the poles. Thus, the equatorial belt tends to be a region of low pressure and calms, interrupted by thunderstorms associated with towering cumulus clouds. Because of the calms, this belt is known as the doldrums. It shifts somewhat north of the equator in the northern summer and south in the southern summer.

Asia: Climate mapAsia experiences virtually every climatic condition on earth. With such an expansive, varied terrain, comprising so many striking topographical features, the continent is at once warm, cold, wet, and dry.

Temperature and precipitation scales.

Temperature is an important aspect of climate and can be used to grade climatic zones on a scale of five: (1) Tropical, with annual and monthly averages above 20° C (68° F); (2) Subtropical, with 4 to 11 months above 20° C, and the balance between 10° and 20° C (50° to 68° F); (3) Temperate, with 4 to 12 months at 10° to 20° C, and the rest cooler; (4) Cold, with 1 to 4 months at 10° to 20° C, and the rest cooler; and (5) Polar, with 12 months below 10° C.

Within each hemisphere, eight basic climatological zones can also be recognized in terms of precipitation: (1) Equatorial: rain in all seasons; (2) Tropical: summer rain with winters dry; (3) Semi-arid Tropical: slight summer rain; (4) Arid: dry in all seasons; (5) Dry Mediterranean: slight winter rain; (6) Mediterranean: winter rain, summers dry; (7) Temperate: precipitation in all seasons; (8) Polar: precipitation sparse in all seasons.

Precipitation Map (Annual)

Vegetation classificationBoth of the above meteorological

parameters fail to meet the need for a true and universal climatic description. Vegetation, however, offers a useful guide, particularly in special cases, such as the selva, or equatorial rainforest belt, hot with tropical rain much of the year; the savannah, warm-hot, with strong seasonality; and the tundra, cold, with strong seasonality.

Satellite Picture of El Niño

This image of the Pacific Ocean was taken by the French-American satellite TOPEX/Poseidon on December 18, 1997. It shows the height of the sea surface—an indication of the heat present in the waters—taking into account normal conditions in the same area on December 10. The volume and area of the warm zone is a manifestation of El Niño, the unusually warm southward current that appears in the region every three to seven years. In this image, the red and white areas indicate unusual patterns of heat storage. In the white zones, the marine surface is between 14 and 32 cm higher than normal, and is correspondingly warmer; in the red zones it does not surpass 10 cm. The green areas indicate normal conditions, while the purple area in the western Pacific indicates a height of at least 18 cm below normal sea level.

It is a particularly helpful system for a person who wants to know the nature of an area and what it is like to live there. Because temperature relates to precipitation in terms of potential evaporation, a classification based on the latter two provides an excellent guide, with four fundamental divisions: hot-dry (arid), cold-dry (polar or glacial), hot-wet (selva), and moderate-warm to cool-humid (temperate).

Indian climateBecause of the peninsularity, unusual

topography, and geographical position of India, climatic conditions are widely diversified, on both a seasonal and regional basis. The diversity ranges from tropical to temperate zonal extremes; the temperature extremes are confined largely to the slopes of the Himalaya. Except in the more mountainous regions, most of the rest of India has a uniformly tropical climate. Seasonal variations, resulting from the south-western and north-eastern monsoons, profoundly influence temperature, humidity, and precipitation throughout the subcontinent.

For general purposes, the seasons of India may be classified as rainy and dry. The rainy season, which generally extends from June to November, is the season of the south-western monsoon, a moisture-laden wind blowing off the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Beginning early in June on the western coast of the peninsula, the monsoon gradually affects almost the entire country. During this season, rainfall can be very heavy—along the slopes of the Western Ghats it often reaches more than 3,175 mm (125 in).

Cherrapunji in the Khasi Hills of north-eastern India ranks as one of the wettest places on Earth—the village received a record-breaking 22,987 mm (905 in) of rain in 1861 and its average yearly rainfall is about 10,920 mm (430 in). The nearby village of Mawsynram holds the record of the world’s highest average annual rainfall with 11,873 mm (467 in) a year. Mean annual precipitation along the southern slopes of the Himalaya is about 1,525 mm (60 in).

The south-western monsoon fails at times, causing droughts and occasionally famine. However, the rains are a mixed blessing. They lead to the proliferation of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, while the contrast between day- and night-time temperatures encourages respiratory disorders. Normally, the power of the monsoon diminishes in September. The cool season of the north-eastern monsoon, extending from early December until after the end of February, is usually accompanied by extremely dry weather.

although severe storms, attended by slight precipitation on the northern plains and heavy snowfalls in the Himalaya, sometimes cross the country. The hot season, beginning about the middle of March and extending until the onset of the south-western monsoon, is most oppressive during May, when temperatures as high as 51.7° C (125° F) are not uncommon in central India.

In the vicinity of Kolkata, the mean annual temperature is about 26.1° C (79° F). The mean annual temperature in the west-central coastal region of the peninsula is about 27.8° C (82° F). Around Chennai (formerly Madras) temperatures range between about 24.4° and 33.3° C (76° to 92° F), with an annual mean of about 28.9° C (84° F).

Climate

Temperature map of world recorded in January 2007

Temperature (January)

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Climatic map of India and neighboring countries

limate