Water Resources
Engineering &
Management
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Contents
How Precipitation occurs
Types of Precipitation
Forms of Precipitation
Precipitation
"Water reaches to Earth surface from
the atmosphere in the form of either
liquid or solid"
Precipitation
Precipitation is the fall of water in various forms on the earth from the clouds.
The usual forms of the precipitation are rain and snow, although it may also occur in the
form of sleet, glaze, hail, dew and frost.
Air in the atmosphere can easily absorb moisture in the form of water vapour.
The amount of water vapours absorbed by air depends upon the temperature of air. The
greater the temperature of the air, the more water vapours it can absorb.
The amount of water vapour present in the air is indirectly expressed in terms of vapour
pressure.
The water vapour exerts a partial pressure on the water surface. This partial pressure
exerted by the water vapour is called vapour pressure.
Hail
Precipitation
Dew
Sleet
Frost
Conditions for Occurrence of
Precipitation
Moisture in the form of vapour is
always present in the atmosphere,
although it may not be visible on a
cloudless day.
Precipitation may occur only when
there is some mechanism to cool the
atmospheric air to bring it to
saturation.
Even saturation of air does not
necessarily lead to precipitation.
The Conditions
Precipitation occurs when the following four conditions are satisfied.
1. A lifting mechanism to produce cooling of air masses.
2. A mechanism to produce condensation of water vapour and formation of clouds.
3. A mechanism to produce growth of cloud droplets to sizes capable of falling to the ground against the
lifting mechanism.
4. A mechanism to produce sufficient accumulation of moisture to account for observed heavy rainfall
rates.
1. A lifting mechanism to
produce cooling of air masses.
Cooling occurs when air ascends from the
earth surface to the upper levels in the
atmosphere.
The decrease in temperature of the
undisturbed atmospheric air with an increase
in altitude is called lapse rate.
The precipitation depends upon the rate and
amount of cooling.
Depending upon the process causing lifting and
cooling, the precipitation is classified as
orographic, convective etc.
2. Formation of clouds due to
condensation :
Condensation occurs when the water vapour in the
atmosphere is converted into liquid droplets or into
ice crystals when the temperature is quite low.
Clouds are formed due to condensation.
The clouds are nothing but liquid water droplets (or
the ice crystals) floating in air.
It is worth noting that saturation of water vapours
does not necessarily result in condensation and
formation of clouds.
Small solid particles, called condensation nuclei or
the hygroscopic nuclei, are essential for the
conversion of water vapours into water droplets.
Fortunately, condensation nuclei (Tiny suspended particles , upon which water
vapour condensation begins in atmosphere) which are of the size 0.001 micron to 10
micron (1 micron=10-6 m), are usually present in the atmosphere due to combustion
of solids and due to salt particles from the sea. However, the number of nuclei per
cm3 varies between a few to several millions in different regions of the atmosphere.
The rate of condensation increases as the number of nuclei increases. In general,
there are usually sufficient condensation nuclei in the air to cause condensation as
soon as the saturation occurs.
3. Growth of water droplets :
The size of water droplets in a cloud is usually very small. The weight of
these droplets is so small that even an upward air current of 2-5 mm/s
will not allow them to fall on the ground.
It is therefore necessary that the size of these droplets must increase
before the precipitation can occur.
Coalescence (Merging of elements to form on whole mass) of droplets
occurs to form larger rain drops which are large enough to overcome air
resistance when falling. The coalescence takes place due to difference of
velocity of the larger droplets and small droplets, and due to coexistence
of ice crystals and water droplets in clouds.
The boundary line between the water droplets and the rain drop is
usually taken as 0-2 mm. However, the diameter of most of rain drops
reaching the ground is much greater than 2 mm.
4. Accumulation of moisture :
The air must contain sufficient amount of moisture so that appreciable precipitation can occur after
meeting the evaporation losses between the clouds and the ground. Accumulation of moisture in
atmosphere occurs due to evaporation from land, vegetation and water surfaces.
Types of precipitation
Depending upon the factors responsible for lifting and cooling of air, there are five types Of
precipitation:
Convective precipitation
Cyclonic precipitation
Orographic precipitation
Frontal precipitation
Precipitation due to turbulent ascent.
Convective precipitation :
Convective precipitation occurs due to heating of air. The air close to the earth surface gets
heated, and its density decreases. Consequently, the air rises upward in the atmosphere and it
gets cooled adiabatically to form a cloud. Precipitation caused by such clouds is called convective
precipitation.
Convective precipitation is usually of very short duration. Convective precipitation covers a small
area, usually less than 50 km2.
The rainfall intensity (i.e. rainfall per unit time) may be very high; sometimes it may even reach
10 cm/hour.
Orographic precipitation :
Orographic precipitation occurs due to lifting of
moist air over mountains.
It results in cooling, condensation and
precipitation.
Heavy precipitation occurs on the windward
side of the mountain, whereas on the leeward
side, there is very little precipitation.
Contd.
Cyclonic/Non-Frontal
precipitation :
A cyclone is a large zone of low pressure which is
surrounded by circular wind motion. Air tends to move
into the low pressure zone from surrounding areas and
displaces low-pressure air upwards. The winds blow
spirally inward counter-clockwise in the northern
hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
It occurs due to displacement of air in the upward
direction. The normal extent of a cyclone is about 100 to
200 km in diameter. The centre of the storm called the eye
which may extend up to about 10 to 50 km, is relatively
quiet; but outside the eye, very strong winds blow with a
speed as high as 200 km/hr. The rainfall is usually quite
heavy in the entire area occupied by the cyclone.
Frontal precipitation
A frontal surface (or a front) is a surface which separates a
warm air mass and a cold air mass.
A front is called a warm front when warm air displaces cold air.
It is called a cold front when cold air displaces warm air.
Because the two types of fronts have different temperature
and density, frontal precipitation occurs when they clash with
each other.
There is lifting of warm air over cold air, which results in
cooling.
Contd.
Frontal precipitation may be subdivided in to two types .
(1) Warm front precipitation : In this case, the warm air replaces the cold air mass. The warm
air moves upwards over a -relatively stationary wedge of cold air. Warm front precipitation is
spread over a large area, which may extend to 300 to 500 km ahead of the warm front.
However, the precipitation is usually light to moderate. The precipitation continues even
after the passage of the warm front
Contd.
(ii) Cold front precipitation: In this type of precipitation, the cold air mass replaces a warm air
mass. Thus the warm air is forced upwards by an advancing wedge of cold air. Cold front
precipitation usually occurs over a small area, which may extend to only 100 to 150 km ahead of
the front. However, the precipitation is usually intense.
Non-frontal precipitation
Non-frontal precipitation occurs when a low pressure zone develops in a region. Air from an
adjacent high pressure region flows into the low pressure zone and it causes the lifting of the air
of the low pressure zone to higher altitudes. Consequently, precipitation occurs due to
condensation.
Precipitation Due to Turbulent
Ascent :
This type of precipitation occurs when an air mass is forced to rise up due to friction of the earth
surface. The friction of the earth surface is greater than that of the water surface. The air mass,
after its travel over ocean, rises up because of increased turbulence and friction.
Precipitation occurs after cooling and condensation.
In nature, the various methods of cooling get intermixed and hence the resulting precipitation
cannot be identified as being of any one particular type.
Forms of Precipitation
Drizzle — a light steady rain in fine drops (<=0.5 mm) and intensity <1 mm/hr
Contd.
Rain — the condensed water vapour of the atmosphere falling in drops (>0.5 mm, maximum size
—6 mm) from the clouds.
Contd.
Glaze — freezing of drizzle or rain when they come in contact with cold objects.
Contd.
Sleet — frozen rain drops while falling through air at subfreezing temperature.
Contd.
Hail — small lumps of ice (>5 mm in diameter) formed by alternate freezing and melting, when
they are carried up and down in highly turbulent air currents.
Contd.
Snow — ice crystals resulting from sublimation (i.e., water vapour condenses to ice)
Snow flakes — ice crystals fused together.
Contd.
Sublimation — in Physics, conversion of a
substance from the solid to the gaseous state
without its becoming liquid. An example is the
vaporization of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) at
ordinary atmospheric pressure and temperature.
Contd.
Dew — moisture condensed from the atmosphere in small drops upon cool surfaces.
Contd.
Frost — a feathery deposit of ice formed on the ground or on the surface of exposed objects by
dew or water vapour that has frozen
Contd.
Fog — a thin cloud of varying size formed at the surface of the earth by condensation of
atmospheric vapour (interfering with visibility)
Mist — a very thin fog
Contd.
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
Thank you !!
