STUDY GUIDE MOISTURE AND WHAT NOT

The surface tension of water and the behavior of water molecules in drawing toge
ther cause CAPILLARY actionthe ability of water to pull itself upward through sma
ll openings.
Water does contract until it is cooled below 4C (39F), but then it expands as the
crystal structure of ice develops. Expansion from crystallization during freezin
g makes ice about 9% less dense than liquid water, which is why ice floats on wa
ter.
The system that circulates water from one part of the overall Earth system to an
other is known as the HYDROLOGIC cycle. The hydrologic cycle contains six major
water storage areas: the atmosphere, the oceans, bodies of freshwater, plants an
d animals, snow and glacial ice, and the groundwater beneath the surface.
Rainwater may be absorbed into the ground, where it can either be stored in the
soil or flow through open spaces, called INTERSTICES; in loose surface materials
like sand, gravel, and silt; or through voids in solid rock.
Evaporation returns liquid water to the atmosphere as a gas, and ice can revert
directly to water vapor (gas) through SUBLIMATION. Once EVAPORATION returns liqu
id water to the atmosphere as gaseous water vapor, the cycle can be repeated thr
ough CONDENSATION and precipitation.
The Earth operates on a WATER BUDGET in which the total quantity of water remain
s basically the same and deficits balance gains throughout the entire system. Th
e atmosphere gives up a great deal of water by condensation into fog, dew, frost
, and various forms of precipitation (rain, snow, hail, sleet). A part of that b
udget is LATENT heat exchange, particularly release of latent heat through conde
nsation. This energy, of course, is originally derived from the sun. Solar energ
y is used in evaporation, stored in water vapor, and released during condensatio
n. Although the energy transfers involved in evaporation and condensation accoun
t for a small portion of the total energy budget, the actual amount of energy is
significant. This vast storehouse of energy, the latent heat of condensation, i
s a major energy source that powers storms, particularly hurricanes and thunders
torms.
The amount of water vapor that can be held by a parcel of air is limited, and ai
r temperature is a very important determinant of that amount. WARMER AIR can hol
d a GREATER quantity of Water Vapor compared with what can be held in COLDER AIR
. Therefore, we can make a generalization that air in the COLD Polar regions can
hold far LESS water vapor (approximately 0.2% by volume) than the air of the HO
T Tropical and Equatorial regions, which can contain as much as 5% by volume.
When air of a given temperature holds all the water vapor that it possibly can,
it is said to be in a state of SATURATION and to have
reached its moisture CAPACITY. If a constant temperature is maintained in a quan
tity of air, there will come a point, as more water
vapor is added, when the air will be saturated and unable to hold any more water
vapor. The excess water vapor will then CONDENSE.
If an unsaturated parcel of air is continually cooled, it will eventually reach
a temperature at which the air will become SATURATED. This critical temperature
is known as the DEW POINTthe temperature at which condensation takes place.
The cooling of air to below its dew point temperature brings about the Condensat
ion that precedes Precipitation.
Because the water vapor capacity of air increases with rising temperatures, warm
air in the equatorial regions has a higher dew
point temperature than the cold air in the polar regions. Thus, because the atmo
sphere can hold more water in the EQUATORIAL regions, there is a greater potenti
al for large quantities of PRECIPITATION compared with the precipitation of the
POLAR regions. Also, although there are some exceptions in places that have a dr
y summer, middle latitude locations generally have a greater potential for heavy
precipitation during the warmer summer months rather than the colder winter mon
ths.
The amount of water vapor in the air at a time and place is called HUMIDITY.
The measure of the of water vapor that exists within a given volume of air is c
alled ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY.
SPECIFIC HUMIDITY is the mass of water vapor (given in grams) per mass of air.
Because most water vapor gets into the air by the evaporation of water from the
surface, both absolute and specific humidity tend to decrease with altitude and
elevation. This relationship also occurs because the air is colder aloft and can
not hold as much moisture as the warmer air at lower altitudes.
Air COMPRESES as it SINKS, and EXPANDS as it RISES. Thus, a parcel of air will c
hange in volume as it moves VERTICALLY, but there may be no change in the amount
of water vapor in that quantity of air. What this means is that absolute humidi
ty, which measures the amount of water vapor by volume of air, can vary as the v
olume of the air parcel also changes as it moves up or down. Specific humidity,
which compares the mass of water vapor to the mass of the air, changes only as t
he quantity of the water vapor changes.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY is the ratio between the actual amount of water vapor in the a
ir and the maximum amount of water vapor that the air could hold at that tempera
ture expressed as a PERCENTAGE. The stated percentage expresses how close the ai
r is to being fully saturated with water vapor. Air that is at its moisture-hold
ing capacity, saturated with water vapor, has a relative humidity of 100%.
Two important factors are involved in the geographic distribution and spatial va
riations of RELATIVE HUMIDITY One of these is
availability of MOISTURE. The air above a water body is apt to contain more mois
ture than air (of similar temperature) over land because there is more water ava
ilable for evaporation. Conversely, the air over a region like the central Sahar
a Desert is usually
very dry in part because it is far from the oceans and little water is available
to be evaporated. The second factor that causes variations in relative humidity
is TEMPERATURE. In regions of higher temperature, relative humidity for air con
taining the same amount of water vapor will be lower than it would be in a coole
r region. The relative humidity will vary if the amount of water vapor increases
as a result of evaporation or if the temperature increases or decreases.
The relationship between TEMPERATURE and RELATIVE HUMIDITY: as TEMPERATURE INCRE
ASES, RELATIVE HUMIDITY DECREASES. Conversely, as TEMPERATURE INCREASES, RELATIV
E HUMDITY INCREASES.
Although water EVAPORATES into the atmosphere from many different places, the mo
st important are the Earths bodies of water.
Water also evaporates from wet ground surfaces and soils; from droplets of moist
ure on vegetation; from city pavements, building
roofs, cars, and other surfaces; and even from falling precipitation.
Plants give up water in a process called TRANSPIRATION, which can be a significa
nt source of atmospheric moisture. In some parts of the worldnotably the tropical
rainforests with their heavy, lush vegetationtranspiration accounts for a signif
icant
amount of atmospheric HUMIDITY. The combined effects of evaporation and transpir
ation are referred to as EVAPOTRANSPIRATION, which accounts for the majority of
the water vapor in the atmosphere.
The actual evapotranspiration that occurs does not match the POTENTIAL (maximum)
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION that would take place with an unlimited supply of water avai
lable. In a desert region with hot dry air, for example, the potential for evapo
transpiration may greatly exceed the water available to evaporate or transpire.
Various formulas have been derived for estimating the potential evapotranspirati
on at a location because it is diffi cult to measure directly. These formulas co
mmonly use temperature, latitude, vegetation, and soil character (permeability,
water-retention ability) as factors that could affect the potential evapotranspi
ration.
Several factors affect the RATES OF EVEPORATION. First, evaporation is affected
by the amount and TEMPERATURE of accessible water. Second is RELATIVE HUMIDITY,
the degree to which the air is saturated with water vapor. The drier the air and
the lower the relative humidity, the greater the evaporation rate will be. The
WIND is a third factor that affects evaporation rates. If there
is no wind, the air that overlies a water surface will approach saturation as mo
re and more molecules of water change to water vapor. Once saturation is reached
, however, evaporation will cease. If the conditions are windy, the wind will bl
ow the saturated or nearly saturated air away from the evaporating water source,
replacing it with lower humidity air. This allows evaporation to continue as lo
ng as the wind keeps blowing saturated air away and bringing in drier air. AIR T
EMPERATURE also strongly affects evaporation rates by influencing the first and
second factors listed earlier. As air temperature increases, so does the water t
emperature at the evaporation source. Temperature increases ensure that more ene
rgy is available to the water molecules, enhancing the transition from a liquid
to a gas, and more evaporation takes place. As the temperature of the air increa
ses, its moisture holding capacity also increases. As air becomes warmer its mol
ecules are increasingly energized, moving farther apart, and the air density dec
reases. With more energy and wider spacing between air molecules, additional wat
er molecules can enter the atmosphere, thus increasing evaporation.
CONDENSATION, the process by which water vapor changes into liquid water, occurs
when air saturated with humidity is cooled. Once the air temperature cools unti
l it has a relative humidity of 100% (meaning the air has reached the dew point
temperature), condensation will begin and continue with additional cooling. Whet
her condensation will occur depends on the relative humidity of the air and the
degree of cooling.
An atmospheric factor that reinforces the condensation process is the presence o
f CONDENSATION NUCLEI. These are minute particles in the atmosphere that provide
a surface upon which condensation can take place. Sea-salt particles in the air
are common condensation nuclei that come from the evaporation of saltwater spra
y from ocean waves. Other common nuclei include dust, smoke, pollen, and volcani
c material, ( and smog). Some particles are more hygroscopic than others.
FOGS and CLOUDS appear when water vapor condenses and forms a large number of dr
oplets. Not being transparent to light in the way that water vapor is, these mas
ses of condensed water droplets appear to us as fog or clouds, in a great variet
y of shapes and forms, usually in shades of white or gray.
FOUR TYPES OF FOGS:
A RADIATION FOG: results when the ground loses heat through radiation, usually
at night. The heat radiated away from the ground passes through the lowest layer
of air into higher areas. The air closest to the ground cools as heat flows con
ductively from it to the relatively cool ground, and fog condenses in the cooled
air at the dew point, often collecting in low areas.
AN ADVECTION FOG: developes when warm, moist air moves horizontally over a cold
surface, such as a snow covered ground or a cold ocean current. Air moving from
sea to land is the most common source of advection fogs.
An UPLOPE FOG, or OROGRAPHIC FOG is created by adiabatic cooling when humid air
climbs a topographic slope.
AN EVAPORATING FOG results when water wapor is added to cold air that is already
near saturation.
DEW usually originates from terrestrial radiation. Night-time cools objects (gra
ss, pavementm automobiles, or whatever) at Earth's surface, and the adjecant air
is in turn cooled by conduction. If the air is cooled enough to reach saturatio
n, tiny beads of water collect on the surface of the object.
BOUYANCY: The tendency of an objext to rise or sink in a fluid under the influen
ce of gravity is called the bouyancy of that object.
- If an object is less dense than the surrounding fluid, it will float or rise.
- If it is denser than the surrounding fluid, it will sink.
- If it is the same density as the fliud, it will neither rise nor sink.
STABLE AIR: If a parcel of air resist uplifr or is nonbouyant. A cold winter ni
ght is a highly stable situation.
UNSTABLE AIR: air is said to be unstable if it either rises without any external
force other than the bouyant force, or if it continues to rise after such an ex
ternal force has ceased to function. Typically when a mass of air is warmer than
its surrounding air.
CONDITIONAL STABILITY: Property of an ambient air layer that is stable for unsat
urated (clear) air parcels and unstable for saturated (cloudy) air parcels.
Atmospheric Stability depends on: TEMEPRATURE, LAPSE RATE and STABILITY.
We can define PRECIPITATION as any liquid or solid aqueous deposit that forms in
a saturated atmosphere (relative humidity equals 100%) and falls from clouds to
the ground surface. It is important to recognize that most clouds do not produc
e precipitation. In many clouds, water droplets and ice crystals are just too sm
all to overcome the natural updrafts found in the lower atmosphere. As a result,
the tiny water droplets and ice crystals remain suspended in the atmosphere unt
il they are converted back into vapor.
Water droplets and ice crystals can only fall to the Earth's surface if they gro
w to a size that can overcome updrafts. Conditions for growth can develop in clo
uds via two different processes. In clouds with temperatures above freezing, tur
bulent atmospheric mixing can cause droplets to grow through the processes of co
llision and coalescence. One initial condition, however, must be met for this pr
ocess to begin: droplet size in the cloud must be variable. This initial conditi
on allows larger and heavier droplets to collide and coalesce with lighter small
er droplets during downdraft periods. If enough atmospheric mixing occurs the la
rger droplets can expand by up to 250 times and can become heavy enough to fall
to the Earth's surface.
The other mechanism of precipitation development involves clouds whose temperatu
re is below freezing. In these clouds, large ice crystals grow due to the differ
ences in vapor pressure between ice crystals and supercooled water droplets. Vap
or pressure differences between ice and supercooled water causes a net migration
of water vapor from water droplets to ice crystals. The ice crystal then absorb
s the water vapor, depositing it on their surface. At the same time, the loss of
vapor from the water droplets causes them to shrink in size. A necessary initia
l requirement for this process is the presence of both condensation nuclei and d
eposition nuclei. While deposition nuclei form ice crystals at temperatures just
below zero degrees Celsius, condensation nuclei can remain liquid (supercooled)
to temperatures as low as -40 Celsius depending on size. Because of this phenome
non, cold clouds can contain both ice crystals and supercooled water droplets. T
he relative proportion of these two types of particles determines whether snow c
rystals grow to a size to overcome atmospheric updrafts.
The following list describes the various types of precipitation that can form in
the atmosphere:
RAIN is any liquid deposit that falls from the atmosphere to the surface and has
a diameter greater than 0.5 millimeters. The maximum size of a rain drop is abo
ut 5 millimeters. Beyond this size inter-molecular cohesive forces become too we
ak to hold the mass of water together as a single drop.
FREEZING RAIN takes place when falling liquid water droplets encounter a surface
with a temperature below 0 Celsius. Upon contact with this surface, the rain qui
ckly turns into ice. Another inportant condition required for freezing rain is t
hat the atmosphere where rain develops must be above freezing. A situation where
warm air is found on top of cold air is called a temperature inversion. Tempera
ture inversions are not the common state of the lower atmosphere. Usually, air t
emperature descreases with an increase in altitude in the troposphere. In the mi
d-latitudes, we often find temperature inversions developing along the moving fr
ont edge of a cold air mass that is overtaking warmer air. This condition causes
the less dense warm air to be pushed up and over the more dense cold air.
ICE PELLETS or SLEET are transparent or translucent spheres of frozen water. The
y have a diameter smaller than 5 millimeters. This form of precipitation develop
s first as raindrops in a relatively warm atmosphere where the temperature is ab
ove freezing. These raindrops then descend into a colder lower layer of the atmo
pshere where freezing temperatures occur. In this layer, the cold temperatures c
ause the raindrops to freeze into ice pellets during their transit to the ground
surface. Similar to freezing rain, an air temperature inversion is required for
the formation of ice pellets.
SNOW is a type of precipitation common to the mid and high latitudes. Snow devel
ops when water vapor deposits itself (skipping the liquid phase) directly on a s
ix-sided (hexagon) deposition nuclei as a solid crystals, at temperatures below
freezing. The unique form of snowflakes occurs because ice crystal growth is mos
t rapid at the six points associated with geometric shape of the deposition nucl
ei. These points are more directly exposed to the atmosphere and consequently co
nvert more water vapor into ice. Snow is usually generated by frontal lifting as
sociated with mid-latitude cyclones.
HAIL: pellets of frozen rain that fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds. Stro
ng updrafts in mature thunderstorm clouds provide the mechanism for hail formati
on. These updrafts move hailstone embryos (often large frozen raindrops) upward
through the storm cloud where they encounter layers of ice crystals, snow, and s
upercooled rain. Each encounter causes the hailstone to grow larger in size as i
ce, snow, and rain accretes to the surface. Hailstones can grow very large in si
ze when they are carried upward by more than one updraft. When the hailstone bec
omes too heavy to be supported by updrafts, it begins falling under the influenc
e of gravity.
CONVECTIVE LIFTING: the process of warming a parcel of air at the surface by con
duction, then the whole parcel rising into the atmosphere since it's warmer than
surrounding air.
OROGRAPHIC LIFTING: the process by which air is forced to rise over a mountain r
ange or other elevated land barrier and thus cool adiabatically; precipitation o
ccurs on the windward side of the mountain; little or no precipitation occurs on
the leeward side; may create Rain Shadow Desert
FRONTAL LIFTING is the process by which cold, dense air acts similarly to a moun
tain barrier forcing warmer, less dense air to rise over it; leading mass of col
d air is called cold front and leading mass of warm air is called warm front; th
is mechanism is known as a Mid Latitude Wave Cyclone (frontal system)
CONVERGENCE LIFTING: the process by which winds come together from opposite dire
ctions and are forced to rise due to compression or squeezing.
Collision-Coalescence Process: primary process in tropics for raindrop formation
; max size of raindrop = 5 mm (any bigger is pulled apart by friction); this is
the idea behind cloud seeding
CLOUDS: a form of condensation best described as a dense, visible aggregation of
minute droplets of water or tiny ice crystals; need condensation nuclei; formed
either by cooling the air temp to the dew point temp or by adding more water va
por.
Two criteria for classifying clouds:
1) height of cloud base above the surface
2) degree of vertical development
CLOUD TYPES:
Low Clouds: STRATUS
STRATUS clouds are uniform grayish clouds that often cover the entire sky. They
resemble fog that does not reach the ground. Usually no precipitation falls from
stratus clouds, but sometimes they may drizzle. When a thick fog "lifts," the r
esulting clouds are low stratus.
NIMBOSTRATUS clouds form a dark gray, "wet" looking cloudy layer associated with
continuously falling rain or snow. They often produce precipitation that is usu
ally light to moderate.
Middle Clouds: ALTOSTRATUS
ALTOCUMULUS clouds are middle level clouds that are made of water droplets and a
ppear as gray, puffy masses, sometimes rolled out in parallel waves or bands. Th
e appearance of these clouds on a warm, humid summer morning often means thunder
storms may occur by late afternoon.
ALTOSTRATUS clouds are gray or blue-gray middle level clouds composed of ice cry
stals and water droplets. These clouds usually cover the entire sky. In the thin
ner areas of the cloud, the sun may be dimly visible as a round disk. Altostratu
s clouds often form ahead of storms that will produce continuous precipitation.
High Clouds: CIRRUS
CIRRUS clouds are thin, wispy clouds blown by high winds into long streamers. Th
ey are considered "high clouds" forming above 6000 m (20,000 ft). Cirrus clouds
usually move across the sky from west to east. They generally mean fair to pleas
ant weather.
CIRROSTRATUS clouds are thin, sheetlike high clouds that often cover the entire
sky. They are so thin that the sun and moon can be seen through them.
CIRROCUMULUS clouds appear as small, rounded white puffs. The small ripples in t
he cirrocumulus sometimes resemble the scales of a fish. A sky with cirrocumulus
clouds is sometimes referred to as a "mackerel sky."
Clouds with Vertical Development: CUMULUS
CUMULUS clouds are puffy clouds that sometimes look like pieces of floating cott
on. The base of each cloud is often flat and may be only 1000 meters (3300 feet)
above the ground. The top of the cloud has rounded towers. When the top of the
cumulus resembles the head of a cauliflower, it is called cumulus congestus or t
owering cumulus. These clouds grow upward, and they can develop into a giant cum
ulonimbus, which is a thunderstorm cloud.
CUMULONIMBUS clouds are thunderstorm clouds that form if cumulus congestus cloud
s continue to grow vertically. Their dark bases may be no more than 300 m (1000
ft) above the Earth's surface. Their tops may extend upward to over 12,000 m (39
,000 ft). Tremendous amounts of energy are released by the condensation of water
vapor within a cumulonimbus. Lightning, thunder, and even violent tornadoes are
associated with the cumulonimbus.
Dry Adiabatic Rate (Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate) (DAR or DALR): when the air is uns
aturated; it is a constant rate of 1 degree C/100m or 10 degrees C/1000m; thus r
ising air cools/sinking air warms at 1 degree per 100m
Saturated Adiabatic Rate (Saturated Adiabatic Lapse Rate) (SALR or SAR): when th
e air is saturated; it is not a constant rate, but a variable rate: 5-9 degrees
C/1000m; this is because condensation releases latent heat, thus slowing the rat
e of cooling (or warming)
ADIABATIC Temperature Change: changing the temp of the air without adding or sub
tracting heat (simply the result of compressing the air or allowing it to expand
); temp changes without heat being subtracted or added; results are that rising
air expands and cools or sinking air is compressed and warms.
LIFTING CONDENSATION LEVEL: The lifted condensation level or lifting condensatio
n level (LCL) is formally defined as the height at which the relative humidity (
RH) of an air parcel will reach 100% when it is cooled by dry adiabatic lifting.