 | Weather: Encyclopedia II - Weather - Terrestrial weather
Weather - Terrestrial weather
On Earth, regularly occuring weather phenomena include such things as wind, cloud, rain, snow, fog and dust storms. Less common events include natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes and ice storms. Almost all recognised weather phenomena on Earth occur in the troposphere (the lower part of the atmosphere). Weather does occur in the stratosphere and does affect weather lower down in the troposphere, but the exact mechanisms are poorly understood [1].
The Earth's atmosphere is one large chaotic system so small changes to one part can have large effects elsewhere. This makes it very difficult to accurately predict short term weather changes more than a few days in advance, though weather forecasters are continually working to extend this limit through the science of the study of weather, Meteorology.
Weather - Shaping the Planet
Along with plate tectonics and ocean circulation, weather is one of the fundamental processess that have shaped the Earth since its creation and will continue to do so as long as it exists. The process of weathering breaks down rocks and soils into smaller fragments and then into their constituent substances. These are then free to take part in chemical reactions that can affect the surface further (e.g. acid rain) or are reformed into other rocks and soils. Weather also plays a major, if indirect, role in erosion of the surface, moving surface constituents around.
Weather - Human History
Weather has played a large, and sometimes direct, part in human history. Aside from climatic changes that have caused the gradual drift of populations (for example the desertification of the Middle East, and Ice ages in Northern Europe), extreme weather events have caused smaller scale population movements and intruded directly on the course of human history. One such event that is celebrated is the saving of Japan from invasion by the Mongol fleet of Kublai Khan by the Kamikaze winds in 1281. The Little Ice Age of the 14th to 18th centuries had wide ranging affects in the northern hemisphere, including decimating the fledgling Viking colonies of Greenland, catalysing the formation of leagues among the American Indians and forcing the change of patterns of agriculture across Europe to accomodate the shortened growing season. A series of great storms throughout the 13th century caused the powerful English Cinque Ports to be silted up and hence lose their influence. More recently, Hurricane Katrina forced the temporary abandonment of the entire city of New Orleans in 2005.
Because of the large affect that weather has on day-to-day life and due to the impossibility of any type of forecasting before the advent of modern technology, a large body of folklore aimed at trying to explain the weather has grown up, some of which is fairly accurate, most less so. A well known example is the Groundhog Day celebrated near the end of winter in parts of the United States.
The effect of seasons on the life of primitive peoples also caused them to observe and celebrate certain events during the calendar, some of which, in adulterated form, are still observed today. Christmas, for example, is the Yule of the pagans, celebrated around the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year).
Weather - In the Future
It is the goal of some scientists to control the weather. Experiments have been carried out for many years, but the results are usually ambiguous. On a grander scale, science fiction authors have long posited the idea of terraforming other planets in order to make them habitable by human beings. While this may be possible in the distant future, this is far beyond current technology.
Other related archives1281, 13th century, 2005, American Indians, Cassini-Huygens, Christmas, Cinque Ports, Coronal Mass Ejections, Earth, Earth's atmosphere, Great Red Spot, Greenland, Groundhog Day, Hadley cell, Hurricane Katrina, Ice ages, Japan, Jupiter, Kamikaze, Kublai Khan, Little Ice Age, Meteorology, Middle East, Mongol, Neptune, New Orleans, Northern Europe, Sun, Titan, Venus, Viking, Weather, Yule, acid rain, air pressure, albedo, angle of incidence, anticyclonic, atmosphere, atmospheric circulation, aurorae, calendar, chaotic system, climate, cloud, coastal breezes, complex systems, control the weather, corona, desertification, dust storms, electricity grids, elevation, emergent behaviour, erosion, extreme weather, fog, folklore, forest, gas giants, human history, hurricanes, ice, ice storms, methane, natural disasters, ocean, ocean circulation, pagans, planet, planetary scientists, plate tectonics, precession, radio, rain, science fiction, seasons, snow, solar system, solar wind, space weather, stratosphere, sunlight, temperature, terraforming, tornadoes, troposphere, weather forecasters, weather phenomena, weathering, wind, winter solstice, year
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Terrestrial weather", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
