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Module 1 The Atmosphere and Ocean 1.1 Weather and Climate Sun is the fundamental source of energy, which heats the atmosphere and creates air motions. These air motions distribute heat and moisture in the atmosphere and weather systems are created whenever energy from sun combines with moisture. Hence, weather pertains to a state of the atmosphere that is experienced at a given time (also reported at synoptic hours) that is defined by variables such as temperature, pressure, winds, rainfall, cloud cover (expressed in octas) and several other dynamical and thermodynamical variables. But, climate is the mean state of the atmosphere that arises from interplay of meteorological processes that constantly change the state of the atmosphere in motion. Thus, climate would refer to averages of weather elements obtained from their time series for a location or any region. In effect, the climate could imply monthly, seasonal or annual mean distributions of temperature, rainfall or for that matter of any other weather element of interest, depending on the averaging period. In this sense weather and climate are intimately linked together. The day-to-day variations in weather if persist for longer periods, leave invariably their footprints in the climate of a place or region. Putatively, climate could also refer to the probability of occurrence of a particular type of weather regime during a particular period of the year to which the reference has been made. To illustrate this point, consider the monsoon rainfall in India. The country receives nearly 75% of its annual rainfall during the 120-day monsoon season (June-September). The forthwith interpretation could be that the probability of rain water falling everyday during th