Geography & History Notes | KCSE, NECTA, ZIMSEC & GCSE

  Some of the most significant consequences of temperature inversions are the extreme weather conditions they can sometimes create. One example of this is freezing rain. This phenomenon develops with a temperature inversion in a cold area because snow melts as it moves through the warm inversion layer. The precipitation then continues to fall and passes through the cold layer of air near the ground. When it moves through this final cold air mass it becomes "super-cooled" (cooled below freezing without becoming solid). The super-cooled drops then become ice when they land on items like cars and trees and the result is freezing rain or an ice storm. Intense thunderstorms and tornadoes are also associated with inversions because of the intense energy that is released after an inversion blocks an area’s normal convection patterns. Smog Although freezing rain, thunderstorms, and tornadoes are significant weather events, one of the most important things impacted by an inversion la...

  what is the earth's atmosphere? The Atmosphere can be defined as the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth. The atmosphere can also be defined as a grand body from the earth's surface to outer space and composed of a number of gases. The estimated mass of the atmosphere is 5.6 × 1014 metric tonnes. It extends over about 400 km height and meteorological events and effects occur in it. The thickness of the gaseous envelope is equal to 1% of the earth’s mean radius. The usefulness of the atmosphere: It fulfills the biological oxygen demand (BOD) of animal life.  It supplies the necessary precipitation or moisture .   It protects the biological life on the planet from harmful extraterrestrial radiations like UV, by absorbing it through the ozone.   It maintains the warmth of the planet through its greenhouse effect, avoiding the temperature to fall to two extreme limits.(The earth’s temperature in the absence of an atmosphere would have been +950C (...