The nature of water: commonplace but unique
- H2o is common on earth’s surface (71%)
- Pure h2o has no taste, color, or smell
- Has a high heat capacity
- Can defy gravity by flowing upward in narrow openings (capillary action)
The Hydrologic Cycle
- Transfer of h2o b/t oceans, land surface water systems, ground water systems & through
atmosphere
- Chemistry of water
o Atoms and molecules
o 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen molecule (h2o)
o Covalent bonds
o Electrical polarity of h2o molecule
o Hydrogen bonds
- Important properties of water
o Exists as a liquid at most points on earth’s surface
o Expands when it freezes; less dense than liquid water; ice floats in water
o Hydrogen bonding creates surface tension, a “skin” of molecules giving h20 a
stick quality
o Capillarity action
o Good solvent
o High specific heat (the way it transfers heat)
Phase changes of water
- Water can exist in 3 states in the earth system
o Solid – ice
o Liquid – liquid water
o Gas – water vapor
- Latent heat required to convert water to its different states
- Phase change processes:
o Condensation – gas to liquid
o Evaporation – liquid to gas
o Freezing – liquid to solid
o Melting – solid to liquid
o Sublimation – solid to gas
o Deposition – gas to solid
- Sensible or latent heat required for each process
- Latent heat as a source of atmospheric energy
Water vapor and evaporation
- Properties of water vapor
o Colorless, odorless, invisible
o Moist air feels sticky
o Humid air is less dense than dry air
- Evaporation
o Warmer temps. Increase evaporation
o Windiness increases evaporation
o Evapotranspiration
(a portmanteau)
Measures of Humidity
- Humidity - Amount of water vapor in the air
- Absolute humidity - Mass of vapor for a given volume of air (g/m^3)
- Specific humidity - Mass of vapor for a given mass of air (air that includes the vapor;
g/kg)
- Mixing ratio - Mass of vapor for a given mass of dry air (g/kg)
- Vapor pressure - Contribution of vapor to a total atmospheric pressure (dependent on
both density and temperature of vapor; mb or kPa)
- Relative humidity - How close the air is to saturation (temp. Dependent), measured in %
- Saturation - When air has max amount of vapor it can hold (dependent on temp)
- Saturation specific humidity - Mass of vapor for a given mass of air when air is fully
saturated
- Saturation mixing ratio - Mass of vapor for a given mass of dry air when air is fully
saturated
- Saturation vapor pressure - Contribution of vapor to total atmospheric pressure when air
is fully saturated
- Temperature and Relative Humidity (RH) are inversely related
- Highest RH occurs in the morning (when its coolest)
- Lowest RH occurs in afternoon (when its warmest)
- Dewpoint temp – temp at which air becomes fully saturated and therefore must condense
the excess vapor into liquid cloud droplets
- Sensible temp – how warm/ cold the air feels
Questions
- What does RH = 100% mean?
o 100% of the air able to hold water vapor holds it
- What does RH = 0% mean?
o 0% of the air bale to hold water vapor holds it
- So the definition of RH is:
RH = actual amount of h2o(v) in the air/ amount of h2o(v) in the air when saturation occurs
Condensation
- Conversion of vapor to liquid
- Surface tension makes it nearly impossible to grow pure water droplets
o Need supersaturated air
- Need a particle to grow the droplet around – condensation nuclei
- Liquid h2o can persist at temps colder than 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) without an ice
nuclei – supercooled
Adiabatic processes
- Dry adiabatic lapse rate (DAR/DALR; average 10 degrees C/km or 5.5 degrees F/ 1000’)
- Lifting condensation level (LCL)
- Saturated adiabatic lapse rate (SAR/SALR; avg 6 degrees C/km or 3.3 degrees F/1000’)
- Parcel lapse rates vs. Environmental lapse rate (ELR; avg 6.5 degrees C/ km or 3.6
degrees F/1000’)
Lapse Rates
- Air that rises cools at a pre-determined rate. We know it. We can study it in a lab
- The dry adiabatic lapse rate
o Has a value of 10C per 1000 meters
o Is used when not saturated
- The saturated adiabatic lapse rate
o Has a value of 5C per 1000 meters
o Is used when saturated
Adiabatic Processes
- Importance of adiabatic processes
o Example of an air parcel moving up and down over a mountain
Cloud Types
- Definition of clouds
- Influence on radiant energy
- Classification (3 primary cloud forms)
- Cirrus, meaning “a lock of hair” - are thin and high and composed of ice crystals rather
than water droplets
- Stratus, meaning “spread out” - appear as grayish sheets that over most or all the sky,
rarely broken up into individual cloud units
- Cumulus, meaning “heap” or “pile” - ae massive and rounded, usually with a flat base
and limited horizontal extend but often billowing upward to great heights
- Cloud types
o High clouds (>6 km)
o Middle clouds (2-6km)
o Low clouds (<2 km)
o Clouds of high vertical development
Cumulonimbus
Grow upward from low bases to heights of over 15km occasionally
Clouds: Unusual Clouds
- Unusual clouds: not easily categorized, occur in a variety of situations
o Lenticular clouds – form in turbulence downwind of mountains, lens shaped
o Banner clouds – like lenticular but anchored to individual mountain peaks
o Mammatus – sack-like protrusions from base of cloud, indicate moist downdrafts
common in cumulonimbus
o Nacreous clouds, composed of supercooled water or ice, are stratosphere clouds
sometimes called mother of pearl
o Noctilucent clouds form in the mesosphere, typically illuminated after sunset
o Contrails form when hot, moist jet exhaust mixes with cold air to form ice crystals
o Fog - a surface cloud
Fog forms when air at earth's surface cools to below its dew point
temperature or when enough water vapor is added to the air to saturate it
- Dew and frost
o Moisture condensation on surfaces that have been cooled to saturation
o Frozen dew is frost
- Role of clouds on climate change
Atmospheric Stability
- Buoyancy – the tendency of any object to rise or sink in a fluid under the influence of
gravity
- Stable air
o Nonbuoyant; remains immobile unless forced to rise
o If clouds develop, tend to be flat (stratiform) but can be thin or thick
o If precipitation occurs, tends to be drizzly or light steady rain
- Unstable air
o Buoyant; rises without outside force
o If clouds develop, tend to be puffy and have vertical development (cumuliform)
o If precipitation occurs, tends to be showery or a downpour
- Determination of stability via temp and lapse rate
Precipitation
- Originates from clouds
- Overcome both turbulence and evaporation
- Condensation is insufficient to form rain drops big enough to overcome uplift or be
attracted by gravity, so other processes important
- Collision/ coalescence (warm and cool clouds): tiny cloud drops collide and merge to
form larger drops
- Ice crystal formation
o Bergeron process (cool and cold clouds):
Ice crystals and supercooled droplets coexist in cold clouds
Ice crystals attract vapor from supercooled cloud droplets w/ high
curvature, so ice crystals grow at the expense of cloud droplets; some
supercooled droplets evaporate to replenish the vapor
Ice crystals fall as either snow or rain, depending on the ambient air temp
below the cloud
- Types of precipitation
o Rain – liquid water
o Snow – cloud ice crystals
o Sleet – snow melted and frozen again before hitting land; ice pellets
o Glaze (freezing rain) - water falls as liquid, then freezes to cold surfaces
(sometimes as black ice)
o Hail
Requires strong updrafts
Roughly concentric layers of clear and cloudy ice
Size depends primarily on amount of supercooled water in cloud and
strength of updraft