AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY

(PART - 7)
(UNIT- 4)
ATMOSPHERE

1. INTRODUCTION
Hello viewers, today in this part of the program we are going to discuss
about the atmosphere, what are the different components and structure
of atmosphere, then we will have the discussion on pressure, what
exactly the atmospheric pressure is, how it can be measured and then
what is the difference between weather and climate.

2. MEANING, USEFULNESS, COMPOSITION AND COMPONENTS

OF ATMOSPHERE
Now first is what exactly the atmosphere is? Atmosphere; it is the
dynamic layer surrounding the earth above its surface containing various
gases, moisture, aerosols etc. Atmosphere extends over about 400 km
height and many metrological events and effects occur in it. The
thickness of gaseous envelop is equal to 1% of the earth mean radius. So
atmosphere basically is the surrounding envelops of the gaseous mass
over the earth and it extends to the long height in the sky that is about
400 km and it is very important with respect to agriculture because so
many phenomenons occur in the atmosphere. Now the usefulness of
atmosphere, it fulfills the biological oxygen demand of animal life, plant
life. Many physical chemical and hydrological processes responsible for
weather and climate occur in atmosphere only and we all know that
atmosphere is a big reservoir of the nitrogen. So study of the atmosphere
is very important because so many gases and specially oxygen and

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nitrogen is present in the atmosphere which is responsible for so many
activities and which decides the life on the earth. Now the composition of
atmosphere; the atmosphere consists of the gases, the moisture, the solid
impurities or the aerosols. Among the gases, there are nitrogen, oxygen,
argon, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, ammonia so
many gases are there but overall if we see the composition in this graph
as shown here that oxygen contributes 21% to the total composition, then
nitrogen 78% and other gases like argon 0.9%, 0.03%. Besides these
gases, there is moisture in the form of the water vapor, then there are
solid impurities or the aerosols which includes the dust particles, carbon
particles, salt particles, water droplets and ice crystals, spores, pollen
grains, smoke etc. These all together make the atmosphere. Now we have
learnt that the atmosphere basically it consists of two important gases
that is the nitrogen and oxygen and besides that there are traces of other
gases. Now what are the non-variable and variable components in the
atmosphere? Non-variable components; some gases of atmosphere remain
constant at surface of the globe to the height of the 80-88 km, this is due
to transportation of the gases on continental level, diffusion of the gases,
turbulent mixing and convection and that’s why this particular part of the
atmosphere that is up to the height of 88 km there is almost constant
composition of gases and that’s why these components are called as non-
variable components. Another is the variable component some gases or
components of the atmosphere changes with change in the time, place
and the season and these components are therefore called as the variable
components. So in the atmosphere the different gases are there and some
impurities are there and they change over the time and the place but
there are certain gases and impurities which don’t change are as called
as non-variable components.

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 3. STRUCTURE OF ATMOSPHERE
Now structure of the atmosphere can be studied on the basis of chemical
composition and on the basis of vertical temperature gradient; so first on
the basis of the chemical composition, atmosphere may be divided as
Homosphere or Heterosphere. Based on the vertical temperature
gradient, the structure of the atmosphere is divided as the troposphere,
the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere. So to understand about
the atmosphere it is very important to learn about the structure of the
atmosphere and it may vary according to its composition as well as its
characteristics. Now based on the chemical composition first is the
Homosphere. In the lower region up to the height of 88 km various gases
are thoroughly mixed and are homogenous by the process of turbulent
mixing and diffusion, it is called as homosphere. But in case of
heterosphere, the gaseous composition changes and various gases form
separate compositional layering individually and that’s it varies in their
characteristics and that’s why it is called as heterosphere. So we can
study the structure of atmosphere based on the composition of the
different gases. So up to certain height that is 88 km, the gaseous
composition because of turbulent mixing is almost constant so it is
Homosphere but above this height there is a separate layering of the
different composition of the gases so it is Hetrosphere.

4. STRUCTURE OF ATMOSPHERE CONTD…

So second is based on vertical temperature gradient. On the basis of the
vertical temperature difference, the atmosphere can be divided into four
horizontal layers or the cells. In case of lowest atmosphere these layers
are troposphere and stratosphere. In case of upper atmosphere, these
layers are mesosphere and thermosphere. So atmosphere structure can
further be studied on the basis of temperature gradient in the sky or the
atmosphere, and based on this, there are four layers of the atmosphere.
Now the first important layer is the troposphere. It has an elevation of
about 16 km at the equator and only 8 km at the poles. Its average

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altitude is about 11 km. It contains near about 75% of the gaseous mass of
the total atmosphere, water vapor and aerosols. It is the realm of the
clouds, storm and convective motion. The outstanding characteristic of
the troposphere is the uniform decrease in the temperature with increase
in altitude until the minimum temperature of to is
reached. The isothermal layer marking the end of temperature decrease
is called as tropopause. So when we study the structure of atmosphere,
the first very important layer is the troposphere and troposphere is very
important layer because it involves so many activities and there is
particular temperature gradient. Now the second important layer is the
stratosphere. This is the second atmospheric layer above tropopause
which extends upwards up to 50 km. The density of the ozone is
maximum at 22-25 km height. The ozone at the upper layer of this sphere
absorbs the ultraviolet rays from the sun and the temperature may
exceed C. In the stratosphere, the temperature increases with increase
in height. The stratosphere contains much of the total atmospheric
ozone. So second important layer of atmosphere is the stratosphere and
it extends up to the height of 50 km. This layer is very important with
respect to the existence of the ozone gas in this particular layer. Next
layer is the mesosphere. This is the third layer of the atmosphere; a thin
isothermal layer called stratospause is the boundary layer which
separates stratosphere and mesosphere. Above the warm stratopause,
temperature decreases with increase in height to a minimum of - C at
about 80 km height. Pressure in this layer is very low and decreases from
1 milibar at 50 km to 0.01 milibar at 80 km. The thin isothermal layer
which separates mesosphere from the thermosphere is called as
mesopause. So third important layer of the atmosphere is the mesosphere
and mesosphere is very important because in this particular layer, the
atmosphere is further rarified and the temperature gradient is increased.
The next layer is the thermosphere. Thermosphere is the outermost shell
of the atmosphere and it lies above 80 km height and it may extend up to
the 400 km or more. In this sphere the atmospheric densities are
extremely low. In this layer temperature increases with increase in height
due to absorption of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun, probably it

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reaches to C at 350 km to C at an undefined upper limit, but
these temperatures are essentially theoretical. So the last layer which is
called as the outmost layer of the atmosphere, is the thermosphere.
Thermosphere is again very important because it is a layer in which the
activities are normally rare and temperature rise is very high in this
particular layer but it has been found that when astronomer puts its hand
outside in the sky, it rarely experiences such a very high temperature.

5. CLIMATE, WEATHER AND AIR PRESSURE

Now next is about the climate. We know that climate is a generalised
weather or the summation of the weather conditions over a given region
during a comparatively longer period. Climate is weather conditions
related to larger areas like Zone, State, Country part of continents or
whole of continents for longer duration of time like month, season or
year and best described by the normal and averages that is arid climate,
tropical climate etc. Here climate means it is the long-term average of
climatic variables and it refers to the long-term average weather
conditions in a particular area for the particular time. Now next is
weather. Weather is a state or condition of atmosphere at a given place
and at a given time. It is daily variation or condition of lower layer of
atmosphere. Weather pertains to smaller area like village, city or even
district for smaller duration of time that is part of day or complete day
and is expressed by numerical values of meteorological parameters. Some
examples are hot day, rainy day, cloudy day or dry weather. So weather
is the instant condition of the atmosphere and different variables of the
climate and it varies from place to place at a particular time so there is a
difference between the climate and weather. Climate means long-term
average while weather means instant condition of the weather
parameters. The importance of the elements of weather means climate
which summarises the long-term weather impact regulates and
determines the stability of crop plants for a region while weather decides
the growth and development and ultimately the yield of crop grown in
that region under the prevailing conditions. We have known the
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difference between the climate and the weather but both have their own
influence on the agriculture and growth and development of the plants.
Climate decides the distribution of the crop plants or the type of the
crops to be grown in region but weather decides the growth and
development of the plants which are being grown in a region. Next is the
air pressure. Technically, pressure is defined as the force per unit area.
The atmospheric pressure is defined as pressure exerted by a column of
air with the cross-sectional area of a given unit extending from the
earth's surface to the uppermost boundary of the atmosphere. With
increase in elevation the atmospheric pressure decreases. Atmospheric
pressure does not have direct influence on crop growth. It is, however an
important parameter in weather forecasting. We know that atmospheric
pressure is an important variable of the weather and as such it doesn't
affect the crop growth and production but it affects directly to the
movement and the distribution of the different weather variables. The
standard atmospheric pressure can be measured in the different units
that is millibars or bars. The standard atmospheric pressure is given at
mean sea level at 45° latitude and the temperature of 270° Kelvin. The
standard atmospheric pressure is equal to 29.92 inches or 76 cm or 760
mm or it is also equal to the 1013.25 millibar or 101.3 kPa or it may be
represented in terms of 14.7 pound per square inch. So these are the
units of the measurements of the atmospheric pressure. Now isobar is
very important in the study of atmospheric pressure. Any line joining the
places of equal atmospheric pressure on the weather map is known as
isobar where isobars are closely spaced, a rapid and steep change in the
pressure is indicated when isobars are widely spaced, slow change in
pressure is indicated. Two isobars are never cross each other. So in the
atmospheric pressure, study of isobar is very important because these are
the lines which indicate the lines of the atmospheric equal pressure in
the atmosphere.

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 6. MEASUREMENT OF AIR PRESSURE
Now factors affecting atmospheric pressure; the different factors
affecting the atmospheric pressure are temperature of air, altitude,
water vapor in air, revolution and gravitation of the earth. We know that
as we studied in case of the structure of atmosphere the atmospheric
pressure comes down as we go on the higher elevation, so there are the
different factors like altitude is very important which affect the
atmospheric pressure. Now we discuss about measurement of the air
pressure. This can be measured by an instrument called barometer. There
are two types of barometers mercury barometer and aneroid barometer.
Of these two, the most accurate instrument is the mercurial barometer.
This is used as a standard for calibrating others and there are two types
of the mercurial barometers- Forin’s barometer and Kew Pattern
barometer. So atmospheric pressure or air pressure can be measured with
the help of instrument called as barometer and it is necessary to know
about it. A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to
measure atmospheric pressure. Mercury barometer is a device that uses
the various physical properties of mercury contained in a tube to measure
barometric pressure, also known as air pressure or atmospheric pressure.
When the barometric pressure drops for example, it is possible that
storms, rain, or wind are on the way and an increase in the barometric
pressure on the other hand could indicate that dry and fair weather could
appear soon. So here barometer pressure will indicate that if there is a
decrease in pressure, there may be storms or rains, if there is an increase
in the atmospheric pressure means almost constant or stable atmosphere
would be there. There would be no much changes in the weather. Then
another is the barograph. It is a recording type of the aneroid barometer.
The changes in the atmospheric pressure are reflected on a vacuum
chamber either by contraction or expansion. These changes are magnified
by a system of levers and communicated through a long pan arm which
marks on a graph paper. The graph sheet is wrapped around a drum which
rotates through clock-work mechanism. The graph sheet is calibrated
vertically in pressure units and horizontally in time. The atmospheric
pressure is expressed in millibars. So another important instrument for
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measuring the pressure is the barograph. It measures the atmospheric
pressure automatically. Now these are the different units of
measurement means bar, millibar and Pascal. One bar is equal to the
dynes per square centimeters. One millibar equals to dynes per
square centimeter Nowadays Pascal is also being used that is 1 Newton
per square meter. The SI unit for pressure is Pascal and this is equal to
the force of 1 Newton per square meter. Now the standard atmospheric
pressure at mean sea level and latitude of 45° at a temperature of 0°C is
1 atmosphere. Now it is also important to know about the isobar that is
the line drawn on map connecting the points having equal atmospheric
pressure. Similarly, isallobar means a map line connecting places of equal
atmospheric pressure gradient. So the atmospheric pressure can be
measured in terms of the bar, millibars or the Pascal and isobar is used to
show the equal lines of atmospheric pressure and isallobars are used to
show the pressure gradient.

7. SUMMARY
Hello viewers, in this part of the lecture we have learnt about the
atmospheric pressure, then structure of the atmosphere and then
weather and climate and measurement of the atmospheric pressure. We
learnt that the atmosphere consists of the four basic layers and the first
important layer is troposphere where the important activities of the
atmosphere take place. The last layer is the thermosphere which is a
rarified layer in which the temperature is very high and it is out of the
possibility of reach of many activities of the human being. Further we
have learnt about the pressure that is very important for so many other
weather variables which affect the weather and climate of a region and
we have also known that there are the barometer and barographs which
are generally used for the measurement of the atmospheric pressure. It is
important that the effect of both pressure and weather & climate, can be
known largely, when we are fully aware about the structure of the
atmosphere and different activities which are taking place in the
atmosphere. I hope you might have enjoyed this lecture, thank you.
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