Notes of Ch 10 Atmospheric Circulation and

Weather Systems| Class 11th Geography

 30 May, 2020

Notes of Ch 10 Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems|

Class 11th Geography
• Air expands when heated and gets compressed when cooled. This results in
variations in the atmospheric pressure.

• The result is that it causes the movement of air from high pressure to low pressure,
setting the air in motion. air in horizontal motion is wind.

• Atmospheric pressure also determines when the air will rise or sink.

• The wind redistributes the heat and moisture across the planet, thereby, maintaining
a constant temperature for the planet as a whole. The vertical rising of moist air cools
it down to form the clouds and bring precipitation.

Atmospheric pressure

• The weight of a column of air contained in a unit area from the mean sea level to the
top of the atmosphere is called the atmospheric pressure.

• The atmospheric pressure is expressed in units of milibar. At sea level the average
atmospheric pressure is 1,013.2 milibar. Due to gravity the air at the surface is denser
and hence has higher pressure.
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 • Air pressure is measured with the help of a mercury barometer or the aneroid
barometer

• The pressure decreases with height. At any elevation it varies from place to place and
its variation is the primary cause of air motion, i.e. wind which moves from high
pressure areas to low pressure areas.

Vertical Variation of Pressure

• In the lower atmosphere the pressure decreases rapidly with height. The decrease
amounts to about 1 mb for each 10 m increase in elevation. It does not always
decrease at the same rate.

• The vertical pressure gradient force is much larger than that of the horizontal
pressure gradient. But, it is generally balanced by a nearly equal but opposite
gravitational force. Hence, we do not experience strong upward winds.

Horizontal Distribution of Pressure

• Small differences in pressure are highly significant in terms of the wind direction and
velocity.

• Horizontal distribution of pressure is studied by drawing isobars at constant levels.

• Isobars are lines connecting places having equal pressure. In order to eliminate the
effect of altitude on pressure, it is measured at any station after being reduced to sea
level for purposes of comparison.

• Low- pressure system is enclosed by one or more isobars with the lowest pressure in
the centre.

• High-pressure system is also enclosed by one or more isobars with the highest
pressure in the centre.

World Distribution of Sea Level Pressure

• Near the equator the sea level pressure is low and the area is known as equatorial

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 low.

• Along 30° N and 30° S are found the high-pressure areas known as the subtropical
highs.

• Further pole wards along 60° N and 60° S, the low-pressure belts are termed as the
sub polar lows.

• Near the poles the pressure is high and it is known as the polar high.

• These pressure belts are not permanent in nature. They oscillate with the apparent
movement of the sun.

• In the northern hemisphere in winter they move southwards and in the summer
northwards.

Forces Affecting the Velocity and Direction of Wind

• The air is set in motion due to the differences in atmospheric pressure.

• The air in motion is called wind. The wind blows from high pressure to low pressure,
addition, rotation of the earth also affects the wind movement.

• The force exerted by the rotation of the earth is known as the Coriolis force.

• The horizontal winds near the earth surface respond to the combined effect of three
forces - the pressure gradient force, the frictional force and the Coriolis force. In
addition, the gravitational force acts downward.

Pressure Gradient Force

• The differences in atmospheric pressure produces a force. The rate of change of

pressure with respect to distance is the pressure gradient.

• The pressure gradient is strong where the isobars are close to each other and is weak
where the isobars are apart.

Frictional Force

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 • It affects the speed of the wind.

• It is greatest at the surface and its influence generally extends upto an elevation of 1-
3 km. Over the sea surface the friction is minimal.

Coriolis force

• The rotation of the earth about its axis affects the direction of the wind. This force is
called the Coriolis force after the French physicist who described it in 1844.

• It deflects the wind to the right direction in the northern hemisphere and to the left
in the southern
hemisphere. The deflection is more when the wind velocity is high.

• The Coriolis force is directly proportional to the angle of latitude. It is maximum at

the poles and is absent at the equator. The pressure gradient force is perpendicular to
an isobar.

• The higher the pressure gradient force, the more is the velocity of the wind and the
larger is the deflection in the direction of wind. As a result of these two forces
operating perpendicular to each other, in the low-pressure areas the wind blows
around it.

• The low pressure gets filled instead of getting intensified. That is the reason why
tropical cyclones are not formed near the equator.

Pressure and Wind

• The velocity and direction of the wind are the net results of the wind generating the
upper atmosphere, 2 – 3 km above the from frictional effects of the surface and are
the pressure gradient of the Coriolis force.

• Straight and when there is no friction, the pressure gradient force is Coriolis force
and the resultant wind blows. This wind is known as the geostrophic wind.

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 • The velocity and direction of the wind forces. The winds in surface, are free
controlled mainly by when isobars are balanced by the parallel to the isobar.

• The wind circulation around a low is called cyclonic circulation. The direction of
winds around such systems changes according to their location in different
hemispheres.

• The wind circulation at the earth’s surface closely related to the wind circulation at
higher level. Over high pressure area the air will subside from above and diverge at
the surface.

General circulation of the atmosphere

• The pattern of planetary winds largely depends on:

(i) latitudinal variation of atmospheric heating;
(ii) emergence of pressure belts;
(iii) the migration of belts following apparent path of the sun;
(iv) the distribution of continents and oceans;
(v) the rotation of earth.

• The pattern of the movement of the planetary winds is called the general circulation
of the atmosphere.

• The general circulation of the atmosphere also sets in motion the ocean water
circulation which influences the earth’s climate.

• The air at the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) rises because of convection
caused by high insolation and a low pressure is created.

• The converged air rises along with the convective cell. It reaches the top of the
troposphere up to an altitude of 14 km. and moves towards the poles.

• This causes accumulation of air at about 30 N and S. Down below near the land
surface the air flows towards the equator as the easterlies.

• Cells : Such circulations from the surface upwards and vice-versa are called cells.

• Ferrel cell : At the surface these winds are called westerlies and the cell is known as

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 the Ferrel cell.

• Polar cell : At polar latitudes the cold dense air subsides near the poles and blows
towards middle latitudes as the polar easterlies. This cell is called the polar cell.

General Atmospheric Circulation and its Effects on Oceans

• Warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean is most important in terms of general
atmospheric circulation.

• The warm water of the central Pacific Ocean slowly drifts towards South American
coast and replaces the cool Peruvian current. Such appearance of warm water off the
coast of Peru is known as the El Nino.

• The El Nino event is closely associated with the pressure changes in the Central
Pacific and Australia.

• This change in pressure condition over Pacific is known as the southern oscillation.
The combined phenomenon of southern oscillation and El Nino is known as ENSO.
• In the years when the ENSO is strong, large-scale variations in weather occur over
the world. The arid west coast of South America receives heavy rainfall, drought
occurs in Australia and sometimes in India and floods in China.

Seasonal Winds

• The pattern of wind circulation is modified in different seasons due to the shifting of
regions of maximum heating, pressure and wind belts.

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 • The most pronounced effect of such a shift is noticed in the monsoons, especially
over southeast Asia. The other local deviations from the general circulation system
are as follows.

Local Winds

• Differences in the heating and cooling of earth surfaces and the cycles those develop
daily or annually can create several common, local or regional winds.

Land and Sea Breezes

• The land and sea absorb and transfer heat differently.

• During the day the land heats up faster and becomes warmer than the sea.
Therefore, over the land the air rises giving rise to a low pressure area, whereas the
sea is relatively cool and the pressure over sea is relatively high. Thus, pressure
gradient from sea to land is created and the wind blows from the sea to the land as
the sea breeze.

• In the night the reversal of condition takes place. The land loses heat faster and is

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 cooler than the sea. The pressure gradient is from the land to the sea and hence land
breeze results.

Mountain and Valley Winds

• In mountainous regions, during the day the slopes get heated up and air moves
upslope and to fill the resulting gap the air from the valley blows up the valley. This
wind is known as the valley breeze.

• During the night the slopes get cooled and the dense air descends into the valley as
the mountain wind.

• The cool air, of the high plateaus and ice fields draining into the valley is called
katabatic wind.

• Another type of warm wind occurs on the leeward side of the mountain ranges. The
moisture in these winds, while crossing the mountain ranges condense and
precipitate.

• When it descends down the leeward side of the slope the dry air gets warmed up by
adiabatic process. This dry air may melt the snow in a short time.

Air Masses

• When the air remains over a homogenous area for a sufficiently longer time, it
acquires the characteristics of the area.

• The homogenous regions can be the vast ocean surface or vast plains.

• The air with distinctive characteristics in terms of temperature and humidity is

called an airmass. It is defined as a large body of air having little horizontal variation in
temperature and moisture. The homogenous surfaces, over which air masses form,
are called the source regions.

• The air masses are classified according to the source regions. There are five major
source regions. These are:
(i) Warm tropical and subtropical oceans;
(ii) The subtropical hot deserts;

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 (iii) The relatively cold high latitude oceans;
(iv) The very cold snow covered continents in high latitudes;
(v) Permanently ice covered continents in the Arctic and Antarctica.

• These types of air masses are recognised:

(i) Maritime tropical (mT);
(ii) Continental tropical (cT);
(iii) Maritime polar (mP);
(iv) Continental polar (cP);
(v) Continental arctic (cA).

• Tropical air masses are warm and polar air masses are cold.

Fronts

• When two different air masses meet, the boundary zone between them is called a
front. The process of formation of the fronts is known as frontogenesis.

• There are four types of fronts:

(a) Cold;
(b) Warm;
(c) Stationary;
(d) Occluded

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 Extra Tropical Cyclones
• The system developing in the mid and high latitude, beyond the tropics are called
the middle latitude or extra tropical cyclones.

• The passage of front causes abrupt changes in the weather conditions over the area
in the middle and high latitudes. Extra tropical cyclones form along the polar front.

• Initially, the front is stationary. In the northern hemisphere, warm air blows from the
south and cold air from the north of the front.

• When the pressure drops along the front, the warm air moves northwards and the
cold air move towards, south setting in motion an anticlockwise cyclonic circulation.

• The cyclonic circulation leads to a well developed extra tropical cyclone, with a warm
front and a cold front.

Tropical Cyclones

• These are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move
over to the coastal areas bringing about large scale destruction caused by violent
winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges. These are one of the most devastating
natural calamities.

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 • They are known as Cyclones in the Indian Ocean, Hurricanes in the Atlantic,
Typhoons in the Western Pacific and South China Sea, and Willy-willies in the
Western Australia.

• Tropical cyclones originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans.

• The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical storms
are:
(i) Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C;
(ii) Presence of the Coriolis force;
(iii) Small variations in the vertical wind speed;
(iv) A pre-existing weak- low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation;
(v) Upper divergence above the sea level system.

• The energy that intensifies the storm, comes from the condensation process in the
towering cumulonimbus clouds, surrounding the centre of the storm.

• The place where a tropical cyclone crosses the coast is called the landfall of the
cyclone. The cyclones, which cross 20° N latitude generally, recurve and they are
more destructive.

• A mature tropical cyclone is characterised by the strong spirally circulating wind

around the centre, called the eye.

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 • The diameter of the circulating system can vary between 150 and 250 km. The eye
is a region of calm with subsiding air.

• Around the eye is the eye wall, where there is a strong spiralling ascent of air to
greater height reaching the tropopause. The wind reaches maximum velocity in this
region, reaching as high as 250 km per hour. Torrential rain occurs here.

• From the eye wall rain bands may radiate and trains of cumulus and
cumulonimbus clouds may drift into the outer region.

• The diameter of the storm over the Bay of Bengal, Arabian sea and Indian ocean is
between 600 - 1200 km. The system moves slowly about 300 - 500 km per day.

Thunderstones and Tornadoes

• Other severe local storms are thunderstorms and tornadoes. They are of short
duration occurring over a small area but are violent.

• Thunderstorms are caused by intense convectio on moist hot days. Such a

phenomenon is called a tornado.

• Tornadoes generally occur i middle latitudes. The tornado over the sea is called
water sprouts.

• These violent storms are the manifestation of the atmosphere’s adjustments to

varying
energy distribution.

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