The gaseous envelop surrounding the earth is called atmosphere while the science dealing with the study of the atmospheric components and characteristics is called meteorology and climatology.
Climatology includes the systematic and regional studies of atmospheric conditions i.e. weather and climate.
Weather refers to the sum total of atmospheric conditions in terms of temperature, pressure, wind, moisture, cloudiness, precipitation and visibility of particular place of any given time.
On the other hand climate is defined as aggregation of weather condition of any region in long term perspective
According to Critchfield,’ climatology is that science which studies the nature of climate, the causes and interpretation of its spatial variations and its association with elements of natural environment and human activities.
Branches of Climatology
There are three distinct branches of climatology. These are given below-
Physical Climatology
Regional Climatology
Applied Climatology
Physical Climatology
Physical climatology deals with the interpretation of factors responsible for the spatial and temporal variations of exchange of air circulations, heat and humidity. It studies various elements of weather namely insolation, temperature, precipitation, fogs, visibility etc. Different elements are formed due to combinations of these weather elements. The occurrences of different combinations of these weather elements are accomplished through different processes and mechanisms. Thus, these processes of exchange o9f heat, humidity, and momentum between atmosphere and earth’s surface are also studied thoroughly. It is thus, evident that physical climatology studies the factors and processes of regional variations of climatic conditions.
Regional Climatology
Regional climatology includes the study of types, distribution, pattern and characteristics factors of world climates. Regional climatology is studied in three ways on the basis of spatial scale viz.
1. Macro-climatic region
2. Meso-climatic region
3. Micro-climatic region
Applied Climatology
Applied climatology studies the application of climatic knowledge to solve various problems faced by human society e.g. global warming and climate changes. It studies the interactions between climate and biosphere i.e. how does climate influence and control plants and animals including man and in turn how does man modify climate by introducing advertent and inadvertent changes in the physical environment and by making certain weather modification e.g. cloud seeding and induced precipitation. Further, applied climatology includes the study of variability of climate, climatic changes, air pollution, climate and comfort, climate and health, climate and society, extreme weather events (e.g. floods, drought etc.) and their impacts, climate and recreation, climate and urban planning, weather forcusting, climate and transport amd communication, weather modification etc.
The study of climate is also divided into three types based on influences of climatic environment on human health and behavior of different spatial scale viz.
1. Micro-climate
2. Eco-climate
3. Geoclimate
1. Micro-climate
Micro-climate, which represents weather conditions surrounding an individual organism.
2. Eco-climate
Ecological climate or eco-climate, which represents weather elements of the habitats of the organisms, in the case of man the habitat may be his house and working places like factory, office, mine, agricultural farm, pasture etc.
3. Geo-climate
Geographical or geo-climate, which represents weather conditions of larger areal unit and larger temporal span.
Reference
Physical Geography- Subindra Singh
Created by: Mithun Kumar
