APPSC Prelims and Mains Notes, APPSC Test Series
The greenhouse effect is a natural process that warms the Earth’s surface. When the Sun’s energy reaches the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases. It is the process by which radiation from a planet’s atmosphere warms the planet’s surface to a … Read more Greenhouse effect
Climatic Regions of India : Koeppen’s Classification Climate Type Climatic Region Annual Rainfall in the Region Amw (Monsoon type with shorter dry winter season) Western coastal region, south of Mumbai over 300 cm As (Monsoon type with dry season in high sun period) Coromandel coast = Coastal Tamil Nadu and adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh … Read more Classification of climates, (Koppen and Thornthwaite)
Soil is defined as upper layer of the earth composed of loose surface material. It is a mixture of many substances including endless variety of minerals, remnants of plants and animals, water and air. It is the end product of continuing interaction between the parent material, local climate, plant and animal organisms and elevation … Read more Major types of Soils.(ICAR classification) and their distribution. Soil degradation and conservation
Drainage: Flow of water through well-defined channels. Network of such channels is called a drainage system . Drainage basin: An area drained by a river and its tributaries. Watershed: Boundary line separating one drainage basin from other. River basins are larger watersheds. Drainage pattern of an area depends on the geological time period, nature and … Read more Drainage System of India
The atmospheric disturbances which involve a closed circulation about a low pressure centre, anticlockwise in the northern atmosphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere are called cyclones. They fall into the following two broad categories: (a) Extra-tropical or Temperate and (b) tropical cyclones. (a) Temperate Cyclones Temperate cyclones are formed along a front … Read more Tropical and temperate cyclones
Airmasses An airmass is a large body of air with relatively uniform thermal and moisture characteristics. Airmasses cover large regions of the earth, typically several hundred thousand square kilometers. Airmasses can be as deep as the depth of the troposphere or as shallow as 1 to 2 km. Airmasses form when air remains … Read more Air masses and fronts
They are aggregates or physical mixture of one or more minerals. Minerals on the other hand are made up of two or more elements in a definite ratio. They have a definite chemical composition. Crust is made up of more than 2000 minerals, but out of these, 6 are the most abundant and … Read more Major types of rocks and their characteristics
The temperature is the measurement in degrees of how hot (or cold) a thing (or a place) is. The temperature of the atmosphere is not same across the Earth. It varies in spatial and temporal dimensions. The temperature of a place depends largely on the insolation received by that place. The interaction of insolation … Read more Horizontal and vertical distribution of temperature, inversion of temperature
The ultimate source of atmospheric energy is in fact heat and light received through space from the Sun. This energy is known as solar insolation. The Earth receives only a tiny fraction of the total amount of Sun’s radiations. Only two billionths or two units of energy out of 1,00,00,00,000 units of energy … Read more Insolation,heat budget of the earth
An atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding a planet or other material body, that is held in place by the gravity of that body. Many of the planets in this solar system have atmospheres, but none that we know of have an atmosphere quite like ours – one that can support life. The … Read more Composition, Structure and Stratification of the atmosphere