Abstract
The atmosphere is closely related to hydrology in a fundamental manner. It will, therefore, be appropriate to make a brief introduction to the subject of atmosphere. As pointed out in chapter 1, atmosphere is a thin shell of gases, which is held close to the earth by the gravitational attraction and is commonly called the air. These gases seem to have originated slowly over the geological ages from the interior of the solid earth by large scale volcanic activity. The atmosphere of the earth, therefore, consists of gases, water vapor as well as solid and liquid particles. All of the weather phenomena of the earth, such as winds, precipitation, clouds, haze, mist, fog, cyclones and anticyclones, tornados, thunderstorms, fronts and so on, are caused in this layer as a result of solar energy transfers and transformations that take place within the earth-atmosphere system. These weather phenomena associated with solar energy obey the laws of physics. It is necessary, therefore, to understand the relevant physical laws that govern the earth-atmosphere system. This chapter discusses the fundamental properties of the atmosphere.
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References
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Rakhecha, P.R., Singh, V.P. (2009). The Atmosphere. In: Applied Hydrometeorology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9844-4_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9844-4_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9844-4
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