Altitudes Effect on Humidity

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Altitudes Effect on Humidity

• Does the atmospheres humidity increase or
  decrease with elevation?
• Is humidity most affected by
• temperature,
• staying nearer the ground because heat rises?
• or collecting in cooler spots of air to form
  patches?
• or gravity,
• staying nearer the ground because of its weight?

Allie Scrivener, Diana Nguyen, and Emmanuel
Duarte-Rojas Independence High School Team Chaos
Theory
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Relative Humidity vs. Absolute Humidity

• Absolute Humidity
• Measured as mass of vapor per unit volume
• Is the exact quantity of water in the air

• Relative Humidity
• Measured as a ratio the quantity of vapor
  present in the air, over the maximum possible
  quantity of vapor at the same temperature.
• At each temperature, there exists a maximum
  quantity of vapor that can be present in the
  atmosphere.
• The higher the temperature, the higher the
  maximum capacity.

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• Procedure
• We programmed the LogTag recorders for the
  flight, setting them to take the temperature and
  humidity readings every 30 seconds.
• We attached the recorders to the balloon and let
  the balloon into the air a hundred feet at a time
  (using team member Dianas five-foot arm span to
  measure off a hundred feet).
• We recorded the time for each altitude so that
  when we retrieved the data, we would have an
  altitude for each temperature and humidity
  measure.

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1132-0 / 1133-100 / 1134-200 / 1135-300 /
1136-350 / 1137-450 / 1138-500 / 1139-550
/ 1149-900 / 1209-0
Temperature and Humidity, April 21
Conditions overcast chance of rain little wind
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Day 3 May 13 Conditions -850-900 Chilly,
foggy, and slightly windy -900 on Sunny and
warm

• Conclusions
• Relative humidity is dependent on both altitude
  and temperature.
• -As temperature increases, relative humidity
  decreases.
• -As altitude increases, relative humidity
  decreases.

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Sources and Interesting Sites

• http//brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/catalogo/genappr.as
  p?applSIMxslapprofondimentolinguaENGchiave1
  00418
• relative/absolute humidity description
• http//www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8c.h
  tml
• humidity capacity diagram
• http//ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?requestget-a
  bstractdoi10.11752F1520-0450(1986)0253C1996EO
  EAAO3E2.0.CO3B2
• manuscript Effect of Elevation and aspect on
  Wind, Temperature, and Humidity
• http//www.newscientist.com/article/mg18825212.400
  .html
• article Atmospheric humidity increases global
  warming
• http//wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_da_rh.htm 
• density calculator