Convection - UW-Madison Department of Atmospheric and …对流-麦迪逊大学部大气….ppt

Absolute Instability The atmosphere is absolutely unstable when the ELR is greater than the DALR ELR DALR MALR An unsaturated OR saturated parcel will always be warmer than the surrounding environment and will continue to ascend, if raised Conditional Instability The atmosphere is conditionally unstable when the ELR is greater than the MALR but less than the DALR MALR ELR DALR An unsaturated parcel will be cooler and will sink, if raised A saturated parcel will be warmer and will continue to ascend, if raised Conditional Instability Example: parcel at surface T(p) = 30°C, Td(p) = 14°C (unsaturated) ELR = 8°C/km for first 8km Parcel is forced upward, following DALR Parcel saturated at 2km, begins to rise at MALR At 4km, T(p) = T(e)…this is the level of free convection (LFC) Conditional Instability Example continued… Now, parcel will rise on its own because T(p) T(e) after 4km The parcel will freely rise until T(p) = T(e), again This is the equilibrium level (EL) In this case, this point is reached at 9km Thus, parcel is stable from 0 – 4km and unstable from 4 – 9km LCL - Lifting condensation level Lifting by Convection As the earth is heated by the sun, thermals (bubbles of hot air) rise upward from the surface The thermal cools as it rises, losing some of its buoyancy (its ability to rise) The vertical extent of the cloud is largely determined by the stability of the environment Lifting by Convection A deep stable layer restricts continued vertical growth A deep unstable layer will likely lead to development of rain-producing clouds These clouds are more vertically developed than clouds developed by convergence lifting Lifting by Convergence Convergence exists when there is a horizontal net inflow into a region When air converges along the surface, it is forced to rise Lifting by Convergence Large scale convergence can lift air hundreds of kilometers across Vertical motions associated with convergence are generally much weaker than ones due to convection