Meteorology Ch 4-6

Front 1

adiabatic process

Back 1

if a parcel of air expands and cools, or compresses and warms, with no interchange of heat with its surrounding

Front 2

dry adiabatic rate

Back 2

rate of heating or cooling about 10 degrees C for every 1000m of change in elevation and applies only to unsaturated

rising air cools

sinking air warms

Front 3

moist adiabatic rate

Back 3

air no longer cools at the dry adiabatic rate, but at a lesser rate, because the heat added during condensation offsets some of the cooling due to expansion

Front 4

absolutely stable

Back 4

the rising air is colder and heavier than the air surrounding it

Front 5

the cooling of the surface air may be due to:

Back 5

-nighttime radiation cooling of the surface

-an influx of cold surface air brought by wind

-air moving over a cold surface

Front 6

subsidence inversions

Back 6

form as air slowly sinks over a large area

Front 7

neutral stability

Back 7

if the lapse rate is exactly equal to the dry adiabatic rate, rising or sinking unsaturated air will cool or warm at the same rate as the air around it

Front 8

When does neutral stability exist for saturated air?

Back 8

when the environmental lapse rate is equal to the moist adiabatic rate

Front 9

When does absolute instability result?

Back 9

when the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic rate

Front 10

absolutely unstable

Back 10

once the air parcels start upward, they will continue to rise on their own because the rising air parcels are warmer and less dense than the air around them

Front 11

conditionally unstable

Back 11

once the parcel is given a push upward, it will tend to move in that direction

depends on if the rising air is saturated or not

Front 12

When does conditional instability occur?

Back 12

whenever the environmental lapse rate is between the moist adiabatic rate and the dry adiabatic rate

Front 13

convective instability

Back 13

associated with the development of severe storms

Front 14

responsible for the development of the majority of clouds:

Back 14

-surface heating and free convection

-uplift along topography

-widespread ascent due to convergence of surface air

-uplift along weather fronts

Front 15

entrainment

Back 15

the vertical development of a convective cloud depends upon the mixing that takes place around its periphery

Front 16

cirrus

Back 16

thin, wispy clouds blown by high winds into long streamers

-move across the sky from west to east, fair, pleasant weather

Front 17

cirrocumulus

Back 17

small, rounded, white puffs that may occur individually or in long rows, most beautiful

Front 18

cirrostratus

Back 18

thin, sheetlike, high clouds that often cover the entire sky, sun and moon can be seen through them

-halo

Front 19

altocumulus

Back 19

middle clouds that are composed mostly of water droplets and are rarely more than 1 km thick

-appear as gray, puffy masses

-little castles

Front 20

altostratus-

-

Back 20

a gray or blue-gray cloud composed of ice crystals and water droplets

-cover the entire sky across an area that extends

-cant produce shadows

-gray, heigh, dimness of sun

Front 21

nimbostratus

Back 21

dark gray, wet looking

-rain or snow

Front 22

sratocumulus

Back 22

-low lumpy clouds that appear in rows, in patches, or as rounded masses with blue sky visible b/w the individual cloud elements

-appear near sunset

Front 23

stratus

Back 23

a uniform grayish cloud that often covers the entire sky

Front 24

cumulus

Back 24

puffy, variety of shapes, floating cotton with sharp outlines and a flat base

-white to light gray

Front 25

cumulonimbus

Back 25

thunderstorm cloud