2. Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and short term forecasting (in contrast with climatology). Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century. The nineteenth century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries. Breakthroughs in weather forecasting were achieved in the latter half of the twentieth century, after the development of the computer. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events which illuminate and are explained by the science of meteorology. Those events are bound by the variables that exist in Earth's atmosphere: They are temperature, air pressure, water vapor, and the gradients and interactions of each variable, and how they change in time. The majority of Earth's observed weather is located in the troposphere.Different spatial scales are studied to determine how systems on local, region, and global levels impact weather and climatology. Meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics, and atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Meteorology and hydrology compose the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology.
3. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote Meteorology. Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. One of the most impressive achievements described in the Meteorology is the description of what is now known as the hydrologic cycle. The Greek scientist Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs. The work of Theophrastus remained a dominant influence in the study of weather and in weather forecasting for nearly 2,000 years. In 25 AD, Pomponius Mela, a geographer for the Roman Empire, formalized the climatic zone system. Around the 9th century, Al-Dinawari, a Kurdish naturalist, writes the Kitab al-Nabat (Book of Plants), in which he deals with the application of meteorology to agriculture during the Muslim Agricultural Revolution. He describes the meteorological character of the sky, theplanets and constellations, the sun and moon, the lunar phases indicating seasons and rain, the anwa (heavenly bodies of rain), and atmospheric phenomena such as winds, thunder, lightning, snow, floods, valleys, rivers, lakes, wells and other sources of water.
4. Research of visual atmospheric phenomena. - It shows that the twilight is due to atmospheric refraction and only begins when the Sun is 19 degrees below the horizon, and uses a complex geometric demonstration to measure the height of the Earth's atmosphere as 52,000 passuum(49 miles (79 km)),which is very close to the modern measurement of 50 miles (80 km). He also realized that the atmosphere also reflects light, from his observations of the sky brightening even before the Sun rises.
5. 2) Instruments and classification scales In 1441, King Sejongs son, Prince Munjong, invented the first standardized rain gauge. These were sent throughout the Joseon Dynasty of Korea as an official tool to assess land taxes based upon a farmer's potential harvest. In 1450, Leone Battista Alberti developed a swinging-plate anemometer, and is known as the first anemometer. In 1607, Galileo Galilei constructs a thermoscope. In 1611, Johannes Kepler writes the first scientific treatise on snow crystals: "Strena Seu de Nive Sexangula (A New Year's Gift of Hexagonal Snow)". In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli invents the mercury barometer. In 1662, SirChristopher Wren invented the mechanical, self-emptying, tipping bucket rain gauge. In 1714, Gabriel Fahrenheit creates a reliable scale for measuring temperature with a mercury-type thermometer. In 1742,Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer, proposed the 'centigrade' temperature scale, the predecessor of the current Celsius scale. In 1783, the first hair hygrometer is demonstrated by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. In 1802-1803, Luke Howard writes On the Modification of Clouds in which he assigns cloud types Latinnames. In 1806, Francis Beaufort introduced his system for classifying wind speeds. Near the end of the 19th century the first cloud atlases were published, including the International Cloud Atlas, which has remained in print ever since.
6. 3) Atmospheric Composition Research. - In 1648, Blaise Pascal rediscovers that atmospheric pressure decreases with height, and deduces that there is a vacuum above the atmosphere.In 1738, Daniel Bernoulli publishes Hydrodynamics, initiating the kinetic theory of gases and established the basic laws for the theory of gases. In 1761, Joseph Black discovers that ice absorbs heat without changing its temperature when melting. In 1772, Black's student Daniel Rutherford discovers nitrogen, which he calls phlogisticated air, and together they developed the phlogiston theory.In 1777, Antoine Lavoisier discovers oxygen and develops an explanation for combustion. In 1783, in Lavoisier's book Reflexions sur le phlogistique, he deprecates the phlogiston theory and proposes a caloric theory. In 1804, Sir John Leslie observes that a matte black surface radiates heat more effectively than a polished surface, suggesting the importance of black body radiation. In 1808, John Daltondefends caloric theory in A New System of Chemistry and describes how it combines with matter, especially gases; he proposes that the heat capacity of gases varies inversely with atomic weight.
7. Research into cyclones and air flow. -In 1735, an ideal explanation of global circulation through study of the Trade winds was written by George Hadley. In 1743, when Benjamin Franklin is prevented from seeing a lunar eclipse by a hurricane, he decides that cyclones move in a contrary manner to the winds at their periphery. Understanding the kinematics of how exactly the rotation of the Earth affects airflow was partial at first. Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis published a paper in 1835 on the energy yield of machines with rotating parts, such as waterwheels.
8. Observation networks and weather forecasting. - In 1832, an electromagnetic telegraph was created by Baron Schilling. The arrival of the electrical telegraph in 1837 afforded, for the first time, a practical method for quickly gatheringsurface weather observations from a wide area. This data could be used to produce maps of the state of the atmosphere for a region near the Earth's surface and to study how these states evolved through time. To make frequent weather forecasts based on these data required a reliable network of observations, but it was not until 1849 that the Smithsonian Institution began to establish an observation network across the United States under the leadership of Joseph Henry. Similar observation networks were established in Europe at this time. In 1854, the United Kingdom government appointed Robert FitzRoy to the new office of Meteorological Statist to the Board of Trade with the role of gathering weather observations at sea. FitzRoy's office became the United Kingdom Meteorological Office in 1854, the first national meteorological service in the world.
9. 5) Numerical Weather Prediction. - Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of the computer andcomputer simulation that computation time was reduced to less than the forecast period itself. Manipulating the vast datasets and performing the complex calculations necessary to do this on a resolution fine enough to make the results useful requires some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. A number of forecast models, both global and regional in scale, are run to help create worldwide forecasts. The development of global forecasting models led to the first climate models. The development of limited area (regional) models facilitated advances in forecasting the tracks of tropical cyclone as well as air quality.
11. Rain Gauge - A rain gauge (also known as a udometer or a pluviometer [Pluviograph ] or anombrometer or a cup) is a type of instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation (solid precipitation is measured by a snow gauge) over a set period of time.
12. Anemometer An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed, and is a common weather station instrument. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind. The first known description of an anemometer was given by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450. Anemometers can be divided into two classes: those that measure the wind's speed, and those that measure the wind's pressure; but as there is a close connection between the pressure and the speed, an anemometer designed for one will give information about both.
13. Hygrometer A Hygrometer is an instrument used for measuring the moisture content in the environmental air, or humidity. Humidity is difficult to measure accurately. Most measurement devices usually rely on measurements of some other quantity such as temperature, pressure, mass or a mechanical or electrical change in a substance as moisture is absorbed. From calculations based on physical principles, or especially by calibration with a reference standard, these measured quantities can lead to a measurement of humidity. Modern electronic devices use temperature of condensation, changes in electrical resistance, and changes in electrical capacitance to measure humidity changes.
