Atmospheric Stability example

Atmospheric Stability Worksheet Example

1. The following environmental temperatures were used in this example. These data have been plotted in purple on the graph below

0 km    20^o C               4 km    -10^o C
1 km    12^o C               5 km    -17.5^o C
2 km    5^o C                6 km    -25^o C
3 km    -2^o C                7 km    -33^o C

2.   The average lapse rate between 0 and 7 km is 7.6^o C/km (note a positive value for the lapse rate means that temperature is decreasing with increasing altitude).

3.   In this sample problem we assume that moist unsaturated air at the ground becomes saturated when it cools to 10^o C. The temperatures in the rising parcel at 1 km intervals are shown to the right of the graph and plotted on the graph. The green portion of the line on the graph indicates unsaturated air, the orange portion is saturated air.

4.   The condensation level is 1 km.

5.   The level of free convection is 3 km.