AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
Why is stability important?
Vertical motions in the atmosphere are a
critical part of energy transport and
strongly influence the hydrologic cycle
Stability Without vertical motion, there would be no
and Cloud Development precipitation, no mixing of pollutants away
from ground level - weather as we know it
Please read Chapter 6 in Ahrens would simply not exist.
There are two types of vertical motion:
forced motion such as forcing air up over a hill, over colder
air, or from horizontal convergence
buoyant motion in which the air rises because it is less
dense than its surroundings - stability is especially
important here
Stability & Instability Stability in the atmosphere
An Initial Stable Unstable Neutral
Perturbation
A rock, like a parcel of air, that is in stable equilibrium
will return to its original position when pushed. If an air parcel is displaced from its original height it can:
Return to its original height - Stable
If the rock instead accelerates in the direction of the Accelerate upward because it is buoyant - Unstable
Stay at the place to which it was displaced - Neutral
push, it was in unstable equilibrium.
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 1
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
Buoyancy Vertical Motion and Temperature
An air parcel rises in the atmosphere when its density Rising air
is less than its surroundings expands, using
Let env be the density of the environment. From the energy to push
Equation of State/Ideal Gas Law outward against
env = P/RTenv
its environment,
adiabatically
Let parcel be the density of an air parcel. Then
cooling the air
parcel = P/RTparcel
Since both the parcel and the environment at the same A parcel of air
height are at the same pressure may be forced to
when T parcel > T env parcel < env (positive buoyancy) rise or sink, and
when T parcel < T env parcel > env (negative buoyancy) change
temperature
relative to
environmental air
Lapse rate
rate Trading Height for Heat
The lapse rate is the change of There are two kinds of static energy in
temperature with height in the the parcel: potential energy (due to its
atmosphere
height) and enthalpy (due to the motions
There are two kinds of lapse rates: of the molecules that make it up)
Environmental Lapse Rate
What you would measure with a weather balloon
Parcel Lapse Rate !S = c p !T + g !z
The change of temperature that an air parcel
would experience when it is displaced vertically
This is assumed to be an adiabatic process Change in
(no heat exchange occurs across parcel boundary) Change in Change in
gravitational
static energy enthalpy
potential energy
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 2
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
Trading Height for Heat (cont
(contd) Stability and the
dry adiabatic lapse rate
Suppose a parcel exchanges no energy
with its surroundings we call this Atmospheric stability
state adiabatic, meaning, not gaining depends on the
environmental lapse rate
or losing energy A rising unsaturated air
0 = c p !T + g !z parcel cools according to
the dry adiabatic lapse
rate
c p !T = " g !z If this air parcel is
warmer than surrounding
air it is less dense and
"T g (9.81 ms !2 ) buoyancy accelerates the
=! =! !1 !1
= !9.8 K km !1 parcel upward
"z cp (1004 J K kg ) colder than surrounding
air it is more dense and
buoyancy forces oppose
Dry adiabatic lapse rate the rising motion
Stability and the
A saturated rising air parcel cools moist adiabatic lapse rate
less than an unsaturated parcel Atmospheric stability
depends on the
environmental lapse rate
If a rising air parcel becomes saturated A rising saturated air parcel
cools according to the moist
condensation occurs adiabatic lapse rate
Condensation warms the air parcel due to When the environmental lapse
the release of latent heat rate is smaller than the moist
adiabatic lapse rate, the
So, a rising parcel cools less if it is atmosphere is termed dry
absolutely stable
saturated Recall that the dry adiabatic
Define a moist adiabatic lapse rate lapse rate is larger than the
moist
~ 6 C/1000 m
What types of clouds do you
Not constant (varies from ~ 3-9 C) expect to form if saturated
depends on T and P air is forced to rise in an
absolutely stable
atmosphere?
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 3
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
What conditions contribute to a Absolute instability
stable atmosphere?
Radiative cooling The atmosphere is absolutely unstable if the
of surface at environmental lapse rate exceeds the moist
night and dry adiabatic lapse rates
Advection of cold This situation is not long-lived
air near the Usually results from surface heating and is
surface confined to a shallow layer near the surface
Air moving over a Vertical mixing can eliminate it
cold surface Mixing results in a dry adiabatic lapse rate in
(e.g., snow)
the mixed layer, unless condensation (cloud
Adiabatic warming formation) occurs (in which case it is moist
due to
compression from adiabatic)
subsidence
(sinking)
Absolute instability (examples) Conditionally unstable air
What if the
environmental lapse
rate falls between the
moist and dry
adiabatic lapse rates?
The atmosphere is
unstable for saturated
air parcels but stable
for unsaturated air
parcels
This situation is
termed conditionally
unstable
This is the typical
situation in the
atmosphere
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 4
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
What conditions enhance Cloud development
atmospheric instability?
Cooling of air aloft Clouds form as air
Cold advection aloft rises, expands
Radiative cooling of and cools
air/clouds aloft Most clouds form
Warming of surface air by
Solar heating of ground
Surface heating
Warm advection near and free
surface
convection
Air moving over a warm
surface (e.g., a warm body of Lifting of air over
water) topography
Contributes to lake effect Widespread air
snow lifting due to
Lifting of an air layer and surface
associated vertical convergence
stretching Lifting along
Especially if bottom of layer weather fronts
is moist and top is dry
Fair weather cumulus Fair weather cumulus cloud
development schematic
cloud development
Air rises due to
surface heating
RH rises as rising
parcel cools
Cloud forms at
RH ~ 100%
Rising is strongly
suppressed at base of
subsidence inversion
produced from sinking
motion associated with
high pressure system
Sinking air is found
between cloud
elements
Why?
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 5
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
What conditions support taller Determining Convective
cumulus development ? Cloud Bases
Dry air parcels cool at the dry adiabatic rate
(about 10oC/km)
Dew point decreases at a rate of ~ 2oC/km
This means that the dew point approaches the air
parcel temperature at a rate of about 8oC/km
If the dew point depression were 4oC at the surface,
a cloud base would appear at a height of 500 meters
Cloud base occurs when dew point = temp (100% RH)
A less stable atmospheric (steeper lapse rate)
Each one degree difference between the surface
profile permits greater vertical motion temperature and the dew point will produce an
Lots of low-level moisture permits latent increase in the elevation of cloud base of 125 meters
heating to warm parcel, accelerating it upward
Determining convective cloud top
Dry adiabats
Cloud top is defined by the upper limit to air parcel
d rise
The area between the dry/moist adiabatic lapse
rate, showing an air parcels temperature during
ascent, and the environmental lapse rate, can be
d divided into two parts
A positive acceleration part where the parcel is
warmer than the environment
A negative acceleration part where the parcel is
colder than the environment
The approximate cloud top height will be that
altitude where the negative acceleration area is
equal to the positive acceleration area
Drier air produces higher cloud bases;
moist air produces lower cloud bases
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 6
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
Orographic clouds
Forced lifting
along a topographic
barrier causes air
parcel expansion
and cooling
Clouds and
precipitation often
develop on upwind
side of obstacle
Air dries further
during descent on
downwind side
Cumulus Clouds & Clear Sky
Lenticular clouds
Stable air flowing over a
mountain range often
forms a series of waves
Think of water waves
formed downstream of a
submerged boulder
Air cools during rising
portion of wave and warms
during descent
Clouds form near peaks of
waves
A large swirling eddy
forms beneath the lee
wave cloud
Observed in formation of
rotor cloud
Very dangerous for
aircraft
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 7
AT 350 Introduction to Weather and Climate Atmospheric Stability and Vertical Motion
Cumulus to Cumulonimbus
Changing cloud
forms
Differential heating/cooling
of top and bottom of a
continuous cloud layer can
cause it to break up into
smaller cloud elements
Cloud top absorbs solar
radiation but cools more
quickly by radiative cooling
Bottom of cloud warms by
net absorption of IR
radiation from below
The result is that the layer
within the cloud becomes
less stable and convection
may ensue
Scott Denning CSU Atmospheric Science Spring 2008 8
