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Humidity

Humidity

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Mohamed Ahmed
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62 views

Humidity

Humidity

Uploaded by

Mohamed Ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HUMIDITY

The amount of water vapour that is present in atmosphere is known as atmospheric moisture or
humidity.

Absolute humidity
The actual mass of water vapour present in a given volume of moist air. It is expressed as grams
of water vapour per cubic meter or cubic feet.

Specific humidity
Weight of water vapour per unit weight of moist air. It is expressed as grams of water vapour per
kilogram of air (g/kg).

Relative Humidity
The ratio between the amount of water vapour present in a given volume of air and the amount of
water vapour required for saturation under fixed temperature and pressure. There are no units
and this is expressed as percentage. In other terms it is the ratio of the air’s water vapour content
to its maximum water vapour capacity at a given temperature expressed in percentage. The
relative humidity gives only the degree of saturation of air. The relative humidity of saturated air
is 100 per cent.

Dew Point temperature


The temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled in order to become saturation at
constant pressure and water vapour content. In this case, the invisible water vapour begins to
condense into visible form like water droplets.

Vapour Pressure deficit


The difference between the saturated vapour pressure (SVP) and actual vapour pressure (AVP) at
a given temperature. This is an another measure of moisture in the atmosphere which is useful in
crop growth studies. When air contains all the moisture that it can hold to its maximum limit, it is
called as saturated air, otherwise it is unsaturated air, at that temperature. The vapour pressure
created at this temperature under saturated conditions is vapour pressure or saturated vapour
pressure (SVP).

Importance of Humidity on crop plants


The humidity is not an independent factor. It is closely related to rainfall, wind and temperature.
It plays a significant role in crop production.
1. The humidity determines the crops grown in a given region.
2. It affects the internal water potential of plants.
3. It influences certain physiological phenomena in crop plants including transpiration.
4. The humidity is a major determinant of potential evapotranspiration. So, it determines the
water requirement of crops.
5. High humidity reduces irrigation water requirement of crops as the evapotranspiration losses
from crops depends on atmospheric humidity.
6. High humidity can prolong the survival of crops under moisture stress. However, very high or
very low relative humidity is not conducive to higher yields of crops.
7. There are harmful effects of high humidity. It enhances the growth of some saprophytic and
parasitic fungi, bacteria and pests, the growth of which causes extensive damage to crop plants.
8. High humidity at grain filling reduces the crop yields.
9. For almost all the crops, it is always safe to have a moderate relative humidity of
above 40%.

Variation in Humidity:
1. Absolute humidity is highest at the equator and minimum at the poles.
2. Absolute humidity is minimum at sunrise and maximum in afternoon from 2 to 3 p.m. The
diurnal variations are small in desert regions.
3. The relative humidity is maximum at about the sunrise and minimum between 2 to 3 p.m.
4. The behaviour of relative humidity differs a lot from absolute humidity. At the equator it is at
a maximum of 80 per cent and around 85 per cent at the poles. But, near horse latitudes it is
around 70 per cent.

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