Guido Cervone EOS 121 Lecture VI

1
Chapter 5

• Guido CervoneEOS 121 Lecture VI

2
Class Info

• Lapse Rate
• Atmospheric Stability
• Clouds

3
Weather Baloon
4
Radiosonde
5
Environmental Lapse Rate

• A "sounding, is the rate at which the
  temperature changes with height
• This change is called the ENVIRONMENTAL LAPSE
  RATE (ELR).

6
Adiabatic Processes

• When a parcel of air rises or sinks without the
  addition or extraction of heat, that process is
  said to be an adiabatic process
• When a parcel of air rises or sinks, it cools or
  warms at a specific rate known as the adiabatic
  lapse rate
• When a parcel of air rises, it expands, and the
  temperature decreases
• When air sinks, it compresses, and the
  temperature increases

7
Dry Adiabatic

• An unsaturated air parcel cools at a rate of
  about 10 C for every 1000 m of altitude (warms at
  the same rate if descending)

8
Moist Adiabatic

• As the water vapor condenses it goes from a
  higher energy state to a lower
• latent heat is released into the air
• A rising saturated parcel cools at a slower rate
  due to the release of latent heat
• A sinking saturated parcel heats more slowly due
  to the conversion of heat energy during
  evaporation

9
Moist Adiabatic

• A saturated parcel cools less rapidly with height
  because the release of latent heat creates
  sensible warming that counteracts the adiabatic
  cooling
• A saturated parcel cools at about 6 C for every
  1000 feet of altitude

10
Comparison

• If the parcel is rising, then it cools according
  to the dry adiabatic lapse rate until it reaches
  the dew point temperature
• We refer to the pressure where the actual
  temperature equals the dew point temperature as
  the Lifting Condensation Level (LCL)
• At the LCL, the cooling process becomes a moist
  or saturated adiabatic process.

11
Dry Vs Moist
12
Atmospheric Stability

• 1. Very stable Temperature increases with
  increase in altitude. This is a "plus"
  temperature lapse rate, or an inversion.
• 2. Stable Temperature lapse rate is less than
  the dry adiabatic rate, but temperature decreases
  with altitude increase.
• 3. Neutral Temperature lapse rate is the same
  as the dry adiabatic rate of 5.5 degrees
  Fahrenheit per 1000 feet increase.
• 4. Unstable Temperature lapse rate is greater
  than the dry adiabatic rate. It may be 6 degrees
  Fahrenheit or more.
• 5. Very unstable Temperature lapse rate is
  much greater than the dry adiabatic rate, and is
  called super-adiabatic.

13
Atmospheric Stability

• If the parcel cools more rapidly than the
  environment, the parcels tempearture is always
  colder at each altitude, and the parcel won't
  continue to rise on its own. The atmosphere is
  said to be STABLE
• When the rising parcel is everywhere WARMER than
  the environment, such an environment is said to
  be ABSOLUTELY UNSTABLE

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Stable or unstable?
19
Atmospheric Stability
20
Orographic Lifting

• When air in motion reaches a barrier that it
  cannot go through or around, it often goes over
  it
• We see this in nature when air lifts over a
  mountain

21
Orographic Lifting

• As air lifts over a mountain, the pressure and
  temperature decrease according to the dry
  adiabatic lapse rate until reaching the lifting
  condensation level (LCL)
• Above the LCL the temperature decreases
  according to the moist adiabatic lapse rate

22
Rainshadow
23
Rainshadow
24
Convergence

• If winds blowing in different directions meet
  each other, the different moving air masses
  become an obstacle to one another
• The air converges and has no place to go but
  upwards

25
Diabatic Heating
26
World Clouds
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
E. Precipitation Patterns
31
(No Transcript)
32
F. Global Measured Extremes of Temperature and
Precipitation NOAA National Weather Data
Center http//lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globale
xtremes.html
33
(No Transcript)
34
Wettest Places on Earth

• Mount Wai-ale-ale, Kauai 1569 m high and
  records on average 13,000mm to 11,684mm
• Mount Tutenendo, Columbia  - 11,770mm to 12,045mm
  
• Lloro, Columbia - estimated 13,299mm rain per
  year
• Cherrapunji,north-eastern India 10,820mm rain
• Mawsynram, India 11,871mm and 11,877mm

35
central Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S. Waialeale
("Rippling Water"), with a height of 5,148 feet
(1,569 m)
36
(No Transcript)
37
http//hi.water.usgs.gov/recent/images/waialeale.p
ic.jpg
38
(No Transcript)
39
http//earthbulletin.amnh.org/C/3/4/
40
G. Genetic Climate classification

• Instability Tropical Wet
• Subsidence 30 degree N/S Dry
• Frontal Mid Latitude Wet
• Inversion Polar Dry
• Hybrids transitions between these zones
• All types based on processes

41
Runoff

• Most carried by major rivers
• 70 rivers account for 50 of world's runoff
• Amazon River carries 25 of world's runoff!
• streamflow accounts for 85-90 of total sediment
  transport to the ocean basins (glaciers account
  for 7)
• Stored in lakes, wetlands, artificial reservoirs

42
(No Transcript)
43
(No Transcript)
44
(No Transcript)
45
Precipitation minus evapotranspiration for an
average January, 1959-1997
http//geography.uoregon.edu/envchange/clim_animat
ions/
46
Precipitation minus evapotranspiration for an
average July, 1959-1997
http//geography.uoregon.edu/envchange/clim_animat
ions/
47
http//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImage
s/Images/amazon_mouth.jpg Multi-angle Imaging
Spectroradiometer's (MISR's) vertical-viewing
(nadir) camera on September 8, 2000, during Terra
orbit 3862.
48
(No Transcript)
49
(No Transcript)
50
(No Transcript)
51
Cold and Warm Fronts
52
Cold and Warm Fronts
53
(No Transcript)
54
(No Transcript)
55
The Yellow River discharges over a billion tons
of sediment into the Bohai Bay. The river delta
is being extended steadily at a rate of 0.5 km
per year, adding roughly 40 sq km of land in the
process.
56
http//geography.uoregon.edu/envchange/clim_animat
ions/
57
http//www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/index.html
58
http//www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/flood_stats/flood_t
rends.JPG