Credits: 3 (3-0-0)
Description
Structure of the atmosphere; Hydrostatic equilibrium, Geopotential, Hypsometric equation and scale height, Altimetry; Adiabatic processes, Lapse rates, Static stability, dynamic stability; Atmospheric Boundary Layer Structure and evolution, turbulence etc.
Atmospheric Thermodynamics: Thermodynamic laws; Thermodynamics of water vapour and moist air: Moisture parameters, Saturated adiabatic and Pseudoadiabatic processes, Conditional and convective instability, Free and forced convection; Thermodynamic diagrams; Phase change and Clausius-Clapeyron equation; Clouds: Formation and classification, Precipitation; Atmospheric visibility: Dew, Frost and fog, smog etc.
The fundamental physics of radiation: solar and terrestrial radiation, radiation laws; absorption, emission and scattering in the atmosphere, Schwarzchild’s equation; Radiation in the earth- atmosphere system: Geographical and seasonal distribution, Radiative heating and cooling of the atmosphere, Surface energy budget, The mean annual heat balance.