Atmospheric Stability and InstabilityPrecipitationELRELR & InversionInversion and no ELRGEO 155 1st Edition Lecture 9Last Lecture Moisture in the AtmosphereOutline of Current Lecture I. Atmospheric Stabilitya. About Stability and Instabilityb. Adiabatic and Environmental Lapse Ratesc. Examplesd. Conditions that Promote Stability or InstabilityII. Precipitationa. Environmental Lapse Rates and Types of PrecipitaionCurrent LectureAtmospheric Stability and Instability Stable – general conditions suppress changesUnstable – general conditions amplify changesI. Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate (DALR) – moves air particle up 100m and cools it by 1 degree CelciusII. Saturated Adiabatic Lapse Rate (SALR) – if air is saturated, it condenses, releases latent heat, does notcool as fast; on average – 0.6 degrees Celsius per every 100m III. Environmental Lapse Rate (ELR) – variable; to know if the atmosphere is stable, one needs to know the exact rate that the temperature is dropping as one moves higher up; measureda. Tells the amount of air that particle of air will be surrounded byi. Lower ELR – more likely to be stableii. Higher ELR – less likely to be stableiii. Surface heated – more likely to be unstableiv. Surface cooled – more likely to be stableb. Atmospheric inversion makes uplift virtually impossiblec. Convective uplift (or any kind of uplift) is more likely to occur when the surface is heated during unstable atmospheric conditionsPrecipitationVapor to saturation to condensation (clouds) to precipitationThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.ELRI. RAIN – vapor becomes water when it falls at above 0 degrees Celsius; vapor becomes ice when it leaves a cloud at temperature below 0 degrees Celsius, but when it falls, it melts and falls as liquidII. SNOW – vapor is less than 0 degrees Celsius and falls as iceELR & InversionIII. SLEET – vapor leaves below 0 degrees Celsius (ice) falls above 0 degrees Celsius (rain) and lands less than 0 degrees CelsiusIV. FREEZING RAIN – vapor leaves he cloud below 0 degrees Celsius (ice), falls above 0 degrees Celsius (rain) and lands at 0 degrees CelsiusInversion and no ELRV. HAIL – cannot be predicted by looking at ELR; unstable atmosphere and warm surface, air rises quickly, precipitation falls from the cloud, lifted back up by air, layer of ice builds on it, falls, lifted again until it is too heavy to melt when it fallsa. Often in the summer during surface
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