The Environment of Pakistan
Hi TOPOGRAPHY + CLIMATE
WEATHER
Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation
activity.
CLIMATE
Climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer
periods of time (30 years etc)
FACTORS AFFECTING TEMPERATURE
Angle of Sun
Temperature is dependent either directly or indirectly on the influence of
the sun.
As it is evident the Polar Regions or regions far away from the Equator are
generally cooler than the ones nearer the Equator. This is because for solar
radiation to reach the poles and heat them it has to travel a larger distance
in space, thus it loses its intensity (energy).
Also near the poles the radiation arrives at an oblique angle so solar energy
spreads over a large area. Since Pakistan lies in subtropical areas it does
receive most of intense solar radiation concentrated on a small area thus the
temperature in general is warmer. So in general terms Faisalabad will be
cooler than say Hyderabad
The Environment of Pakistan
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Influence of large water bodies
Water has a high specific heat capacity as compared to land, meaning that
water has to absorb more heat to have an increase in temperature as
compared to land.
Thus land gets hotter quickly than sea etc.
Since the land gets hot quickly, the air over it also absorbs heat and gets
less dense.
This hot air rises and creates a low pressure.
The sea on the other hand absorbs less heat and moist air over it gets less
hot.
Thus it is denser as compared to the air over land and as much
as the air over land does, which results in the persistence of high pressure
over the sea.
Winds travel from high pressure area to low pressure area, thus in this case
wind blows from sea towards land.
This is known as a sea breeze, which is cool and moist
On the contrary at night when there is no solar radiation, the land looses
heat quickly and air over it gets cooler and denser.
The sea retains its heat and air over it is generally hotter and less dense.
So a land breeze occurs when wind blows from land to sea
During the summers, the land is much hotter than the Arabian Sea, thus
convection currents of air are setup. Cool air from sea flows inland thus
regulating the temperature and making summers a bit cooler than it would
have been without the influence of the sea
In winters, the sea retains its warmth and thus cold air from coastal areas
flows towards sea. To replace the air in coastal areas whose rising has
created a low pressure, dry warm air from interior Sindh and Punjab
flowstowards the coast, thus making winters less cold than they would have
been without the influence of the sea
continental climate, which is characterized by hot summers and cold winters.
USUALLY THOUGH NOT ALL THE TIMES, most of the rainfall in these
continental climate areas occurs in the winters
The Environment of Pakistan
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Altitudes
Altitude also has a big impact on the average temperatures experienced by
an area.
The solar radiation is a short-wavelength radiation, which does not heat the
atmosphere directly when it passes through it.
This is because it is poorly absorbed by the air particles (gases and water
vapours).
Instead the atmosphere is heated from the bottom by long-wave radiation
from the earth's surface.
The surface reflects the short wavelength radiation as long
wavelength radiation.
This long wave radiation is better absorbed by gas molecules and water
vapours as compared to the short wavelength radiation.
The temperature of the atmosphere decreases with increase in altitude, as
short wavelength has to pass its heat to a lot of air particles to transfer
heat to the high altitude areas.
Also as the altitude increases the amount of atmosphere decreases (air gets
thinner and thinner), thus there are less gas molecules and water vapours
present to absorb the long wavelength radiation.
Thus overall a smaller proportion of the total heat energy is passed on to the
higher parts of the atmosphere
On average dry air loses around 9.8 °C per every Km rise in height, meanwhile
moist air loses around 10 °C for every Km rise in height
Valley
Most of the rays are blocked from reaching the lower parts of valleys
due to the presence of mountains, which surround the valley.
This lowers the average temperatures of these valleys, as less solar
radiation reaches the surface of the valley to be reflected and then
absorbed.
Cloud Cover
Temperatures decrease when clouds appear and block out the rays,
which are then reflected back into space.
The Environment of Pakistan
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However cloud formation only takes place when air contains sufficient
moisture and has been sufficiently cooled.
Thus cloudy days are much cooler than sunny days during the same months.
However cloudy nights are hotter than cloudless nights because the clouds
space when no clouds exist but when they do exist this heat is reflected
These two reasons help us explain why a day in desert is very hot 50°C but
night is cool/cold 5°C
MONSOON RAINFALL
Monsoons are seasonal winds that blow from sea towards land from July to
August (summers).
After it they reverse their direction and blow from land towards the sea
(winters).
During the summers due to the high angle of sun, Punjab and Sindh plains get
heated up, thus an area of very low pressure develops here as the hot air
rises.
There are two monsoon systems, one originating from the Bay of Bengal and
other from the Arabian Sea.
During summer low air pressure is developed over Pakistan.
While high air pressure prevails over sea (Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and
Arabian Sea) so moist (humid/wet) wind from Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea
blow towards land to fulfill the low air pressure.
Wind from Indian Ocean reaches Pakistan after crossing India called
primary monsoon.
Monsoon winds from Arabian Sea are called secondary Monsoon which causes
less rain.
These winds cause rain from July to September.
The amount of rain decreases from northern area to Southern areas.
Monsoon of Bay of Bengal affect northern Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,
Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir
On the other hand another monsoon system that originates in Arabian Sea
because of a temperature inversion layer