ICAR AIEEA-PG — Physical Science group (sub-subject 3.6 Environmental Science) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersRadiation, heat, moisture and motion in the atmosphere, and how weather and climate are measured and used on farms. ICAR AICE subject 60 Agricultural Meteorology examines it in depth.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF subject 60 (whole paper); ICAR AIEEA-PG 3.1 Agricultural Meteorology; GATE ES Section 6 (meteorology for dispersion)
ICAR AIEEA-PG — Physical Science 3.1 Agricultural Meteorology
Undergraduate-level agrometeorology: definitions, instruments, Indian monsoon facts, cloud types, climatic classification, crop–weather relations and simple numericals on radiation, humidity and heat units.
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG spread across the units of Atmospheric Science & Agrometeorology. Difficulty: 26 easy, 21 medium, 1 hard.
| Monsoons, air masses, fronts and cyclones | 6 | |
| Radiation laws: Planck, Stefan-Boltzmann, Wien, Kirchhoff, Beer-Lambert | 5 | |
| Clouds, precipitation processes and forms | 5 | |
| Pressure systems, winds and general circulation | 5 | |
| Weather instruments and observatories; automatic weather stations | 5 | |
| Layers of the atmosphere and their characteristics | 4 | |
| Atmospheric humidity: vapour pressure, relative humidity, dew point, VPD | 4 | |
| Climatic classification: Köppen and Thornthwaite | 4 | |
| Crop-weather relations: growing degree days, photoperiod, thermal stress | 4 | |
| Solar radiation, albedo and the surface energy balance | 2 | |
| Latent and sensible heat; temperature inversions | 2 | |
| Atmospheric stability and adiabatic processes | 1 | |
| Evapotranspiration estimation and crop water needs | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A leaf surface at 300 K has an emissivity of 0.95. Using σ = 5.67 × 10⁻⁸ W m⁻² K⁻⁴, how much longwave radiation does it emit?
A. 436 W m⁻²
E = εσT⁴ = 0.95 × 5.67 × 10⁻⁸ × 300⁴ = 436 W m⁻². 459 ignores emissivity; using T³ gives 1.45; using 27 °C instead of kelvin gives a negligible value.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
A solar beam strikes level ground at 60° from the vertical. Compared with a beam at normal incidence, the energy received per unit area is
C. half, by Lambert's cosine law
Irradiance ∝ cos(zenith angle); cos 60° = 0.5. The inverse-square law concerns distance from the source, and Stefan–Boltzmann concerns emission, not incidence angle.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
Which surface has the highest albedo?
A. Fresh snow
Fresh snow reflects about 80–90% of sunlight; green crops about 20–25%; water at high sun about 6%; forests about 10–20%.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
The dew point temperature is
C. the temperature at which cooled air saturates at constant pressure and moisture
Dew point is defined by cooling at constant pressure and vapour content to saturation; ea = es(Tdew). It is not the night minimum, the time dew evaporates, or the wet-bulb reading (which is higher than the dew point in unsaturated air).
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
Drizzle is precipitation consisting of fine drops with diameter
D. less than 0.5 mm
Drizzle drops are smaller than 0.5 mm and fall from stratus; raindrops are larger than 0.5 mm.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
What is the India Meteorological Department's normal date of southwest monsoon onset over Kerala?
A. 1 June
IMD's normal onset date over Kerala is 1 June, with a standard deviation of about seven days.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
Which weather systems bring winter rain and snow to north-west India and the western Himalaya, important for rabi wheat?
B. Western disturbances
Western disturbances are extratropical systems moving eastward from the Mediterranean region in winter. Bay of Bengal cyclones and monsoon depressions affect other seasons and regions; the north-east monsoon mainly affects south-east India.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
A sequence of cirrus, cirrostratus, altostratus and then nimbostratus with prolonged light rain typically signals the approach of
A. a warm front
Warm air rising gently over cold air ahead of a warm front gives a broad, lowering cloud sequence with prolonged rain. Cold fronts give a narrow band of cumulonimbus and showers; highs give clear skies.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
Wheat (base temperature 5 °C) experiences Tmax = 30 °C and Tmin = 16 °C with 11.5 h of day length. What are the photothermal units for the day?
B. 207 °C day h
GDD = (30 + 16)/2 − 5 = 18; PTU = GDD × day length = 18 × 11.5 = 207. 18 is GDD alone; 264.5 forgets the base; 432 uses 24 hours instead of day length.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
What is vernalisation?
A. A requirement for a period of low temperature before a plant can flower
Vernalisation is the cold requirement for flowering in crops such as winter wheat. Photoperiod, hardening and dormancy-breaking are different processes.
Further reading: See the manual sources: FAO-56, WMO Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices, and the textbooks named there
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