Prediction of Rain on the Basis of Cloud Liquid Water, Precipitation Water and Latent Heat in the Perspective of Climate Change over Two Coastal Stations

Abstract

Prediction of rainfall and its dependence on meteorological elements like temperature, pressure, dew point temperature, precipitable water, cloud liquid water, latent heat etc. need to be explored in depth. It is necessary to know the interaction between these parameters leading to rain. Precipitable water is defined as the depth of water that would result if all the water vapour in a unit column of air was condensed to precipitation (Max, 2001). Precipitation water (PW) is the actual amount of water vapour in the atmosphere that has condensed to rain. Total precipitable water is known to be closely related to precipitation (Battan and Kassander, 1960). Cloud liquid water affects radiative properties of clouds as increased water content leads to higher cloud albedo and emissivity (Taylor and Ghan, 1992). This, in turn, affects the radiation budget of the atmosphere. Latent heat budget, on the other hand, affects global circulation which, in turn, governs the weather system. At the same time, latent heat released, or absorbed, in the atmosphere also seems to affect cloud liquid water as solar radiation absorbed by water bodies, and latent heat of condensation released at higher altitudes, trigger the entire mechanism of cloud formation. Thus, the study of cloud liquid water, precipitable water and latent heat is of immense importance in cloud physics.