Specific humidity is a method of expressing the amount of aqueous vapor in air by using a ratio of aqueous vapor to dry air. Absolute humidity expresses the same thing by using weight, while relative humidity expresses it by using a percentage value.
The relative humidity method is the most convenient method by far, since the figures are ascertained beforehand and placed on a chart or onto a slide rule which may be manipulated to match the current conditions of the air, which are the dry bulb temperature, the wet bulb temperature, and the barometricair pressure. Only a few seconds are needed to set the slide rule and to obtain the percentage of relative humidity in the air.
Both the absolute humidity method and the specific humidity method of expressing the quantity of aqueous vapor in air are valuable to scientists.
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Glossary definition of specific humidity (http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/glossary/specific_humidity.html)
Humidity is a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air.
"Specifichumidity" is the mass of water vapor per unit mass of combined dry air and water vapor, generally expressed in grams per kilogram.
Relative humidity compares the actual concentration of water vapor in the air with the concentration of water vapor that the atmosphere could hold (if the atmosphere were at saturation).
SpecificHumidity measures the water vapor content of the air using the mass of the water vapor for a given mass of air.
Relative humidity is a ratio that compares the amount of water vapor in the air with the amount of water vapor that would be present in the air at saturation.
Relative humidity is given as a percentage: the amount of water vapor is expressed as a percent of saturation.
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