LAPSE
RATES
Presence of continents and oceans
Influences weather phenomena
Human activities
Creation of large settlements
Cultivated lands
Influenced atmospheric conditions in specific
areas (microclimates)
HUMAN ACTIVITY
Significantly influenced earths atmospheric
conditions
Accelerating natural climate change by varying the
composition of the air
Carbon pollution
Leads to global warming
Rising sea level
Unpredictable weather
ADIABATIC PROCESS
Precipitation results from adiabatic cooling
Parcel of air
Body of air
Has specific temperature and humidity characteristics
(Like a "balloon of air" without the balloon)
Uplift of a parcel of air may be initiated by:
Convection
Relief
Cyclonic triggers
ADIABATIC PROCESS
Temperature changes in parcel of air do not involve
heat exchange with atmosphere
Temperature changes in parcel are due to expansion
and contraction/compression
ADIABATIC PROCESS
Atmospheric pressure decreases with height
Parcel of air expands
Parcel of air loses heat
Parcel of air sinks through atmosphere
Parcel of air is compressed
Parcel of air warms adiabatically
LAPSE RATE
Rate at which atmospheric temperature decreases with
an increase in altitude
Influenced by
Cooling/warming of air
Humidity of air
Faster the temperature decreases with height
Steeperthe lapse rate
More unstable atmosphere becomes
LAPSE RATE
Positive lapse rate
Temperature decreases with height
Negative lapse rate
Temperature increases with height
Lapse rate of zero
Temperature is constant with elevation
LAPSE RATE
Two types:
Environmental/ normal
Adiabatic
Moist/ wet/ saturated
Dry
NORMAL/ ENVIRONMENTAL LAPSE RATE
Lapse rate of nonrising/ still air
Highly variable
Affected by:
Radiation
Convection
Condensation
ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
May be DRY
OR
MOIST/ WET/ SATURATED
Temperature changes
Due to rising/ sinking of air parcel
DRY ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
10 C per kilometre
Air parcel is NOT SATURATED
MOIST ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
Wet/ saturated
Saturated air parcel rises
Water vapour condenses
Latent heat is released
Parcel cools more slowly than it would if it were not
saturated
MALR varies considerably
Amount of water vapour (absolute humidity) in air is
highly variable
Average is 5C / km
Average range is 3 6oC/ km
ADIABATIC LAPSE RATES
MALR rate of cooling
Slower than DALR
Large amount of water vapour
Small adiabatic lapse rate
ADIABATIC LAPSE RATES
Air rises and cools
Air becomes saturated
Water vapour condenses to form clouds
Latent heat is released
Source of energy in development of thunderstorms
Lapse rate changes from dry below the cloud to
moist in the cloud
ADIABATIC LAPSE RATES
As an air parcel rises and cools, it may condense
and lose its moisture
Lapse rate increases and approaches dry
adiabatic value
ATMOSPHERIC
STABILITY/
INSTABILITY
STABLE/ UNSTABLE CONDITIONS
Relationship between adiabatic lapse rates of rising
parcel of air and environmental lapse rate of the
surrounding stationary column of air determines
whether the parcel will continue to rise (unstable)
after its initial trigger or sink back to earth (stable)
Lapse rate is important to meteorologists in
forecasting certain types of cloud formations, the
incidence of thunderstorms, and the intensity of
atmospheric turbulence
STABILITY
Level of stability determines
Clouds
Precipitation
Thunderstorms
CATEGORIES OF STABILITY
Stable air (absolute stability)
Unstable air (absolute instability)
Conditionally unstable air
Neutral stability
STABLE CONDITIONS
If rising parcel cools at faster rate than surrounding
air it will be colder and will be unable to rise further
and will sink back to the ground/ point of origin
Atmospheric stability
Anticyclonic weather
Lapse rate
Less than 5.5-6.0 degrees C/km ("moist" adiabatic)
ABSOLUTE STABILITY
At 1 km
Rising parcel of air is 4 oC
Environment is 6 oC
Air is cooler than environment
Air sinks back to earth
ABSOLUTE STABILITY
EXAMPLE OF STABILITY
Rising unsaturated parcel of air starts out at ground level at 15
C
o
Cools at the DALR of 10 oC/ km
At 1 km, it would have a temperature of 15 10 = 5 oC
Surrounding stationary air is cooling at the average ELR of 6.5
C/ km
o
At 1 km, the environment would have a temperature of 15 6.5
= 8.5 oC
Rising parcel of air will be cooler than its environment
Air will sink back to earth
Atmospheric stability
UNSTABLE CONDITIONS
If parcel cools at slower rate, it will be warmer than
the surrounding air and continue to rise
If dew point is reached there may be clouds and
thunderstorms
Absolute instability
Lapse rate
Near 9.5 degrees C/km ("dry" adiabatic)
ABSOLUTE INSTABILITY
At 1 km
Rising parcel of air is 12 oC
Environment is 7 oC
Parcel of air is warmer
Parcel of air will rise
ABSOLUTE INSTABILITY
CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE
Stability depends on moisture content
Dry conditionally stable
Moist or close to saturation conditionally
unstable
Lapse rate
Values greater than 5.5-6.0 degrees C/km and
less than 9.5 degrees C/km
Between the DALR and MALR
NEUTRAL STABILITY
Air has neither the tendency to rise or sink
ASSESSING STABILITY
Parcel method
Lapse rate method
LAPSE RATE METHOD
Comparing the ELR to the DALR and MALR numerically. If...
ELR < WALR = absolutely stable example: ELR=4C / km < WALR=6C
/ km
ELR < DALR stable conditions
ELR > DALR = absolutely unstable example: ELR=13C / km >
DALR=10C / km
ELR > MALR unstable conditions
DALR > ELR > WALR = conditionally unstable example: 10C / km >
7C / km > 6C / km
ELR = DALR or ELR = WALR both situations would be neutral stability
PARCEL METHOD
Compare the temperature of the parcel to the surrounding
environmental temperature:
Stable: parcel is always colder than environment
Unstable: parcel is always warmer than environment
Conditionally unstable: depends on whether or not the
parcel is saturated. Check the temperature of the parcel
against the environment
Neutral: parcel is the same temperature as environment
Starting at the ground, if the air is unsaturated,
rising air cools at the DALR
Cooling will continue until the dew point is reached
(Lifting Condensation Level)
At this point the air is saturated and further cooling
results in condensation (clouds form)
From this point on up, the air cools at the MALR
Windward side of mountain faces wind
Leeward side faces away from wind
Air rises up the windward side
Air cools at the DALR until the dew point is reached
Point of saturation, RH = 100%
Cloud base is reached
After this point until the top of the mountain is reached, air
cools at the WALR
As the air sinks down the leeward side of the mountain, it
warms at the DALR
Rising air leads to cloudiness and precipitation making the
windward side the wetter and cooler side
The leeward side with air warming as it descends, leads to
cloudless skies and dry conditions
Sparse vegetation
Semi-arid
Desert
THE RADIOSONDE
Package of instruments launched by a weather
balloon into the atmosphere
Measures:
Temperature
Pressure
Relative humidity
THE RADIOSONDE
Contains GPS receiver
Allows location to be identified
Data transmitted back to ground receiver for
encoding
Balloon ascends at 5 m/s
Reaches a height of about 25 km
Takes more than two hours
THE RADIOSONDE
Pressure decreases with height
Pressure difference inside and outside of balloon
Causes balloon to expand as it rises
Balloon eventually bursts
Instrument package returns to earth borne by
parachute
THE RADIOSONDE
Produces vertical profile of weather parameters in
the area above which it was launched
At precisely the same time each day (0000 and 2400
UTC), weather personnel across the planet release
radiosondes to the sky
Data are processed, correlated with data from other
radiosondes, and used to create an instantaneous
picture of weather conditions throughout the world
The data are used not only to understand current
weather patterns but also as inputs for longer-range
computer-based forecasting models