APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY
Applied Climatology looks at the rapidly growing scientific investigation that combines
the use of climatic data with problem in human activities. This sub-field of climatology is
relatively new, but has gained wide acceptance with the general public and political
circles.
Today, applied climatology often incorporates both climatology and meteorology. In
fact, it is often hard to separate the two. For example, a study of 100’s of cyclones may
yield a unique weather type that is characteristic of blizzards. This weather typing is a
climatic procedure. Now we can forecast blizzards when such a weather type appears,
which then is a meteorological endeavor.
Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and its behavior. Weather describes the
state of the atmosphere at a given time in terms of meteorological variables, ie.,
temperature, wind, precipitation, humidity and clouds. Climate is the collective state of
the atmosphere for a given place within a particular period of time.
Climatology, which is the study of the Earth’s climates, can be divided into sub-fields
or specialties:
Physical climatology describes climates according to the physical processes (climatic
controls) responsible for creating them.
Dynamic climatology describes climates in terms of atmospheric circulation and
disturbances.
Regional or descriptive climatology organizes climatic data so as to describe climate
along geographic or political lines.
Synoptic climatology studies local or regional climates by examining relationships
between weather elements and atmospheric circulation.
Paleoclimatology deals with past climates.
Applied climatology has been defined as “the use of both archival and real-time
climatic information to solve a variety of social, economic, and environmental problems
raised by clients or managers in fields such as agriculture, industry, and energy (Hobbs
1987).” But the study of applied climatology is more than that, though the 1980’s and
1990’s this definition holds for much of its activities. It also includes increasing
knowledge about how the climate affects the natural and social environments. It tries to
maximize the beneficial side to climate and minimize its detrimental aspects, including
better ways of coping with climatic disasters. Included in applied climatology is also
bioclimatology, which deals with climate and its relationship with the biosphere. The
above description shows a rather broad spectrum of fields that can come under the
heading of applied climatology. Clients can come from agriculture, industry, soil science,
marine studies, or even the law courts. Present technology not only allows a more
sophisticated set of climatic information, but also provides more complex problems. See
Table 1 on the handout (p. 66 Encycl. Of Climatology) for the scope of applied
climatology.
Applied climate studies are used to:
1. improve efficiency of various economic activities influenced by weather & climate
2. aid in the needs of societal activities-agricultural, architecture, contruction, etc.
3. reduce losses incurred from climatic hazards (impact assessment)
Scales of time and space:
Macroclimatology studies climates on a global scale.
Mesoclimatology looks at climates over a few square miles in extent.
Microclimatology deals with the lowest few meters of the atmosphere and the insolation
of the factors controlling features near the ground. Local climatology deals with micro
and meso-scale features.