Atmospheric Stability, Temperature Inversions, and Cloud Formation
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12 Terms
Absolute stability
When a column of air in the atmosphere has a lapse rate in which the temperature is less than the moist adiabatic lapse rate
Neutral Stability
When a column of air in the atmosphere has a lapse rate in which the temperature is the same as the moist adiabatic lapse rate
Absolute Instability
When a column of air experiences a superadiabatic lapse rate of temperature, the parcel is cooler than the air around it
Conditional instability
The state of column of unsaturated air in the atmosphere is a lapse rate for temperature less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate, but greater than the moist adiabatic lapse rate
What changes atmospheric stability?
Inverse of temperature changes with altitude
How does temperature lapse rate affect stability?
When lapse rate increases, stability decreases and the inverse
How can wind effect stability?
can change temperature lapse rate
What is a temperature inversion?
A layer in which the temperature increases with altitude
What is a surface based temperature inversion?
Develops over land on a cool night, when winds are light. When the ground cools quicker than the air, the temperature within the first couple hundred feet does not change
Where are inversions common?
The stratosphere
What must happen for a cloud to form?
The air must become fully saturated
What is a superadiabatic rate?
an atmospheric condition where the actual air temperature drops faster with an increase in altitude than the dry adiabatic lapse rate