Moisture, Clouds, Stability and Precipitation

Geography 103 - Weather Summary notes. Moisture, Clouds, Stability and Precipitation. Humidity and Saturation in liquid water, molecules move around (not all at same speed – temperature is a measure of average speed of molecules). At surface those with enough speed evaporate. Some water molecules in air will reach liquid and condense. When rate at which molecules evaporate and rate at which they condense are equal, air is saturated. If you heat liquid, a greater fraction have enough speed to escape – warmer water evaporates quicker. If you cool air, speed of vapor molecules decreases and molecules are more likely to stick to surface of water and condense. measures of moisture content: vapor pressure, mixing ratio, relative humidity vapor pressure (vp) = pressure resulting from water vapor molecules in air (mb) saturation vapor pressure (svp) = amount of water vapor (measured as a vapor pressure) needed for saturation to occur (at this point the air can hold no more water and it will start to condense) mixing ratio (mr) = grams of water vapor per kg of air saturation mixing ratio (smr) = amount of water vapor (measured as a mixing ratio) needed for saturation to occur (at this point the air can hold no more water and it will start to condense) understand graphs of saturation vapor pressure (and mr) vs temperature saturation vapor pressure depends on temperature. The colder it is, the lower the svp. relative humidity = vapor pressure / saturation vapor pressure (measured as %) calculate relative humidity from vapor pressure and temperature calculate amount of water vapor (m.r. or v.p.) from relative humidity and temperature dew point = temperature at which the water vapor in the air would be saturated = temperature at which condensation starts If air is unsaturated there are 2 ways of bringing it to saturation: 1. cool it (keeping the amount of water vapor the same) 2. add water vapor to it (keeping the temperature the same) In 1. it would need to be cooled to the dew point. In 2. the vp would need to be increased to the sat vp. Low dew point = dry air High dew point = moist air If air’s wv content is constant then humidity is regulated by temperature changes: If temp. goes down, svp goes down and relative humidity increases if temp. goes up, svp goes up and relative humidity decreases measure relative humidity using wet-bulb and dry-bulb thermometer – understand mechanism by which this works (latent heat of evaporation cools wet bulb) latent heat – heat required to change the phase of a substance at the same temperature latent heat of melting (heat required to melt water) latent heat of evaporation (heat required to evaporate water into vapor) latent heat of condensation (heat released by condensing water) – provides heat to air when water condenses in clouds. This heat causes air to rise and provides energy to drive thunderstorms. latent heat of freezing (heat released by freezing water into ice) Condensation and Clouds air temperature must be at dew point for condensation to occur dew: calm, clear nights allow objects near ground to cool rapidly by emitting infrared radiation condensation occurs on cold surface at ground level (eg cold metal cars) air in contact with ground cools by conduction. water vapor condenses on grass, twigs etc. fog: = cloud on the ground nighttime cooling of earth’s surface – fog forms if air in contact with ground is moist or cooled a lot advection fog: movement of warm moist air over cool surface. surface cools air to its dew point, eg. advection fog over Golden Gate Bridge upslope fog: humid air forced to rise up side of a mountain – expands and cools adiabatically clouds form when air rises. Air expands as it rises, and thus cools. If it cools to dew point, condensation (and cloud) occurs. Adiabatic temperature changes adiabatic = without gain or loss of heat when air is compressed it heats up when air expands it cools when air rises it passes through regions of successively lower pressure, expands and cools. It cools at the dry (= unsaturated) adiabatic lapse rate (Τdry) = 10°C/km. If air rises enough it will cool to the dew point and condensation can occur. This is the lifting condensation level = base of cloud Upon condensation water releases its latent heat, so as this heat is added to the atmosphere the air will not cool as much when it rises from here. It now cools as it rises (inside the cloud) at the moist adiabatic lapse rate (Τmoist). This depends on the actual amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, but is ~ 6°C/km. These adiabatic lapse rates are not the same as the actual (measured) temperature changes as you go up in the atmosphere. This is because this “environmental” air is not moving up or down. The actual temperature falls off at the environmental lapse rate (Τenv). This rate is useful in determining stability, not in finding the temperature of a rising air parcel. When air rises it cools at the dry adiabatic lapse rate, when it sinks it warms at this same rate. However if it rains, the air will lose its moisture and then it is no longer saturated, then it will descend and warm at the dry rate not the moist rate. (See example of air going up and down a mountain.) This makes it warmer on the far (leeward) side of the mountain than on the near (windward) side of the mountain. The air on the east (leeward) side of mountains in the U.S. is generally warmer and drier than on the west (windward) side = rain shadow effect. Stability: If a rising parcel of air is warmer than the surroundings it will rise (“unstable air”) If a rising air parcel is colder than the surroundings it will sink (“stable air”) For a stable atmosphere the environmental lapse rate is small – ie. temperature falls slowly with altitude, or increases with altitude (“inversion”). A stable atmosphere has Τenv < Τmoist. Causes of stable atmosphere – air aloft is warm compared to air at surface – at sunrise/night surface air cold (radiational cooling), warm air above. Inversion layers are the most stable kind of atmosphere – tend to have inversion layers in Los Angeles (cold marine air underlying warm desert air) – this prevents air from rising and traps pollution. For an unstable atmosphere, the environmental lapse rate is large – i.e. temperature falls off rapidly with altitude. An unstable atmosphere has Τenv > Τdry. Causes of unstable atmosphere – air aloft becomes colder, surface air warmer – daytime solar heating of surface, air moving over warm surface, cold advection aloft. Causes summer thunderstorms in regions like Florida that have moist warm air converging. Cloud type depends on stability of atmosphere. With a stable atmosphere clouds are thin and layered (stratus). With an unstable atmosphere clouds are deep and have convective cells (puffy) – cumulonimbus. Processes that force air to rise: convective lifting: local surface heating, rising warm air, cool air sinks forming convective cell circulation orographic lifting: horizontally moving air forced to rise over a mountain (topographic barrier) frontal wedging: formed when masses of warm and cold air meet. warmer, less dense air forced to rise over colder denser air. convergence of air: low pressure at surface, collision of oppositely-moving air masses (e.g. Florida peninsula) Precipitation typical cloud droplets are too small to produce rain. cloud droplets require CCN (cloud condensation nucleus) to form. These are aerosol particles made of sand, clay, soil, dust, soot, sea salt etc.. About ~0.2 µm in size. typical cloud droplet size ~20 µm typical raindrop ~2 mm (2000 µm) droplet growth by vapor condensation is too slow to produce a raindrop (would take a day or more) cloud droplets grow to form raindrops by the process of collision and coalescence (or coagulation): some cloud drops are larger than others. these fall faster and collect smaller drops as they fall in strong updrafts (e.g. cumulonimbus clouds) drops can actually circulate up and down inside cloud for several cycles amount of time drop spends inside cloud is an important factor in determining how big droplets grow