Paper I · 4 Geography of India & AP · APPSC Paper I
4.1.5 Weather systems and world climates notes
10 notes, in reading order.
- 4.1.5.1Humidity and condensation: dew, frost, fog and types of clouds
Air holds an amount of water vapour that depends on its temperature; when moist air cools to its dew point, the vapour condenses on tiny nuclei or cold surfaces and appears as dew, frost, fog, mist or clouds.
Standard · 9 min · Full course - 4.1.5.2Precipitation: convectional, orographic and cyclonic rainfall and world distribution
Precipitation is the fall of condensed moisture to the ground as rain, snow, sleet or hail; air must rise and cool to give it, and the three ways air is lifted (heating, mountains and fronts) give convectional, orographic and cyclonic rainfall.
Standard · 9 min · Full course - 4.1.5.3Air masses and fronts: types and associated weather
An air mass is a huge body of air with nearly uniform temperature and moisture, taken from the surface over which it formed; where two unlike air masses meet, a front forms, and fronts bring the sudden weather changes of the middle latitudes.
Standard · 7 min · Full course - 4.1.5.4Tropical cyclones: formation, structure, naming and regional names
Tropical cyclones are violent storms that form over warm tropical oceans, draw their energy from the latent heat of condensation, and cause destruction by wind, rain and storm surge when they cross the coast.
Standard · 10 min · Full course - 4.1.5.5Temperate cyclones and anticyclones
Temperate (extra-tropical) cyclones are large low-pressure systems that form along the polar front in the middle latitudes and bring changeable, frontal weather; anticyclones are high-pressure systems of sinking air that bring calm, dry, settled weather.
Standard · 8 min · Full course - 4.1.5.6Thunderstorms and tornadoes
Thunderstorms and tornadoes are severe local storms: short-lived and small, but violent; thunderstorms grow from intense convection into cumulonimbus clouds, and the most severe of them can spawn tornadoes.
Standard · 8 min · Full course - 4.1.5.7El Niño, La Niña, ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole
El Niño is a periodic warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific, and La Niña its cold opposite; together with the linked see-saw of air pressure (the Southern Oscillation) they form ENSO, which shifts rain and drought across the globe, while the Indian Ocean Dipole plays a similar role in the Indian Ocean.
Standard · 9 min · Full course - 4.1.5.8Köppen climate classification: scheme and symbols
Köppen's scheme sorts the world's climates into five major groups and a highland group, using capital letters for groups and small letters for seasonal rain and temperature, all defined by mean monthly temperature and precipitation that match the pattern of natural vegetation.
Standard · 10 min · Full course - 4.1.5.9Tropical climates of the world: equatorial, savanna, monsoon and hot desert
The tropical climates (Köppen A and the low-latitude dry B types) range from the ever-wet equatorial belt, through the seasonally wet savanna and monsoon lands, to the hot deserts under the subtropical highs; rainfall, not temperature, is what separates them.
Standard · 10 min · Full course - 4.1.5.10Temperate and cold climates: Mediterranean, China type, west European, taiga and tundra
Poleward of the tropics, climates are shaped by the westerlies, the subtropical highs and the size of the continents: western margins get Mediterranean and west European climates, eastern margins get the China type, and the great northern landmasses carry the taiga and, beyond it, the tundra and ice caps.
Standard · 10 min · Full course
Practise Weather systems and world climates. Questions with answers explained, from the same topics.
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