Atmospheric physics is the discipline concerned with the physical processes that occur in the Atmosphere, the gaseous or vaporous shell that surrounds the earth. When early man first sought to understand his physics environment, his greatest awe surely concerned the sun, moon, planets, and stars (which became the basis of the science of astronomy or astrophysics), and next he wondered at the winds and storms, rain and snom,ironment, his greatest awe surely concerned the sun, moon, planets, and stars (which became the basis of the science of astronomy or astrophysics), and next he wondered at the winds and storms, rain and snow, clouds, lighting, and thunder that collectively made up his weather. The Greek root atmos, meaning air or vapor, originally derived from the word for winds. The first impetus to meteorological theory was given by the puzzling behavior of the barometer in relation to the weather, but it remained for Vilhelm Bjerknes, a physics professor at Bergen, Norway, around 1900 to formulate weather systems mathematically in terms of high- and low-pressure areas, warm fronts, and cold fronts. In England, Napier Shaw began scientific research on atmospheric processes in 1885 at the Cavendish Laboratory, by 1918 weather forecasting had become a science, much as we know it today. Soon As well as the seasonal changes from summer to winter. The prevailing weather at a given location is called its climate, and climate varies with geographical latitude, terrain features, and altitude.
