Skip to main content

#ClimateChange & Precipitation

 

The average rainfall of the plains of Europe is 57.4 centimeters per year. In the mountainous regions, it is over 125 centimeters. Also along the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in the United States, the precipitation is abundant, reaching a total of about 340 centimeters a year in localities. While the interior of the United States, it is much lighter with a record of sometimes 40 centimeters a year in some states. The rainiest regions of the world are probably the lower slopes of the Himalayas. The village of Cherapunji in India, south of the main body of the Himalayas has an annual average rainfall of about 1,082 centimeters. A record breaking twelve month rainfall of 2,646.12 centimeters occurred at Cherapunji from August 1860-July 1861. Also, in August 1841, no less than 3,800 centimeters of rain fell in a five day period is the equivalent of almost four years of rain fall in the state of New York . 

The heavy rainfall in the tropics is due not so much as to condensation of moisture by mountain ranges as by the effect of cold winds pouring in from cooler regions. The line of meeting moves north and south with movement of the sun. When the sun is north of the equator, the cloud belt is in the Southern Hemisphere. The cloud movements from Northern and Southern Hemispheres and back again causes the tropical  wet and dry seasons. 

Now, temperature plays an important part in the precipitation process and if atmospheric temperatures increase due to the increase in the amount of solar energy reaching the earth’s surface, then regions on the earth prone to rainfall will dramatically experience an increased amount of precipitation.

The solar energy that falls on our planet in a single week is greater than the total energy produced by all the coal, gasoline and other fuels that man has ever burned. When it reaches the earth’s atmosphere, much of the radiant energy is reflected and scattered. But part of it passes through the land and oceans. These radiate much of the energy back into space as long wave heat energy as it radiates in the form of short wave radiation. If it didn’t, our climate would grow much warmer or colder over the years which is the case in recent times. 

The activities of man have led to pollution of the atmosphere and this has in turn affected its temperature in different ways . This,  also has brought about major changes in the climate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HYDROPOWER!

Can there be a green approach to this age old phenomenon which has powered our homes and businesses, and solved our energy quests and problems for decades?  Hydropower has encouraged the significant expansion of dams which has damaged and divided ecosystems according to a report from the ' Green New Deal' proposition for Europe by Diem 25(Democracy for Europe Movement 2025).                                                                                                       Another report shows that in the Balkans, some of the wildest rivers in Europe, and also a hot spot for fresh water biodiversity are under threat from around 2800 already planned hydropower plants projected to be constructed over the next few years. So bac...
Post a Comment
Read more

#Climate Action

  Climate can be defined as the atmospheric conditions of a place over a particular period of time. If conditions are altered even in the slightest bit, there is climate change. Most recently, in different parts of the world, climate change has become an increasingly growing problem, stemming largely from man’s quest to solve his energy problem and answering that quest by employing the use of three primary fossil fuel resources namely: coal, petroleum crude oil and gas.  Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel resource in the United States, China and major parts of Africa. As oil prices have   plummeted and the availability of oil is slowly declining, the use of coal again is most likely going to increase if the United Nations Decade On Ecosystem Restoration strategy isn’t strictly adhered to especially in oil producing nations of the world. And this has tremendous environmental problems and consequences caused by the sulfur content of coal and not to mention the release of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Green Transport

  With the world making a transition to greener energy alternatives, global transport is no exception. If we are going to successfully tackle the problems of poor air quality and air pollution, then adapting to cleaner energy as regards transportation cannot be however overemphasized. First of all, there is a need to redesign our urban cities and centers. Having an urban paradigm shift as regards urban and regional planning is what we need right now, to ensure that our cities are planned in such a way that we do not need to commute unnecessarily to meet our immediate and domestic needs. Residential housing, offices, schools, libraries, shopping malls, convenience stores, churches; post offices etc., can be built in such a way,  that we can reach these places within walking distances. The need to drive or travel would only be necessary when going on long trips.  Urban shift is a conference being organized by the Global Environment Facility on September 21, 2021, which has ...
Post a Comment
Read more