Atmospheric Thermodynamics

(Consult 3rd chapter of Wallace and Hobbs)

1st Law of Thermodynamics

Application of conservation of energy principle to heat and
thermodynamic processes
The change in internal energy of a system is equal to the heat
added to the system minus the work done by the system

du = dq dw
dq = du + pd
dq = cp dT - dp (at constant pressure)
dq = cv dT + pd (at constant volume)

Adiabatic Process
Change in the physical state (i.e. pressure, temperature,
volume) without any heat being exchanged with the surrounding
Air parcel expands when rises work involved kinetic
energy converted to potential energy Temperature of the air
parcel decreases
Dry adiabatic lapse rate :

Potential Temperature
of an air parcel is defined as the temperature that the parcel
would have if it were expanded or compressed adiabatically from
its existing state to a standard pressure (generally taken as
surface pressure)

The equation is known as Poissons equation

Thermodynamically it is more important than the actual
temperature
is a useful measure of the stability of the atmosphere

Thermodynamic Diagram

Volume Ratio Molecular Mass Components in

Molecular Mass
compared to Dry
M
Dry Air
in Air
Air
(kg/kmol)
Oxygen

0.2095

32.00

6.704

Nitrogen

0.7809

28.02

21.88

Carbon Dioxide

0.0003

44.01

0.013

Hydrogen

0.0000005

2.02

Argon

0.00933

39.94

0.373

Neon

0.000018

20.18

Helium

0.000005

4.00

Krypton

0.000001

83.8

Xenon

0.09 10-6

131.29

Total Molecular Mass of Air

28.97

Moist Air
Moist air has smaller apparent molecular weight than dry air
Parameters
Mixing ratio (w) = mv/md
Specific Humidity (q) = w/(1+w)
Saturation vapour pressure
Saturation mixing ratio (ws) = 0.622 es/p
Relative Humidity, Dew Point and Frost Point

Solve using Thermodynamic Diagram

1. An air parcel has -500 C temperature at 240 hPa. What is its
potential temperature?
2. If an aircraft is flying at 300 hPa and outside temperature is 450 C. By how much the temperature has to be cooled inside
an aircraft to maintain comfortable environment at 200 C, if the
cabin pressure is maintained at 900 hPa?
3. Calculate the saturation vapour pressure (es) of the air parcel
at 240 hPa.
4. Air at 1000 hPa and 180 C has mixing ratio of 6 g kg-1. What
are the RH and Dew point temperature?

Pressure level
(hPa)

T (0C)

Td (0C)

1000

30.0

21.5

970

25.0

21.0

900

18.5

18.0

850

16.5

16.5

800

20.0

5.0

700

11.0

-4.0

500

-13.0

-20.0

Plot the T and Td profiles on thermodynamic diagram. Are the

layers AB, BC and CD stable, unstable or neutral?
What happens at point D?

Lifting Condensation Level (LCL)

The level to which an unsaturated air parcel can be lifted
adiabatically before it becomes saturated with respect to a plane
surface of pure water
w and of the air parcel remain constant during the lifting
However, ws decreases until it becomes equal to w
If the air parcel continues to rise, water vapour will start
condensing and latent heat will be released
This is the primary condition to form clouds, hence clouds
cannot form below LCL

Solve using Thermodynamic Diagram

5. An air parcel has initial temperature 150 C and dew point temperature
20 C. If it is adiabatically lifted from 1000 hPa, determine the LCL
and the temperature at LCL. What is the wet-bulb temperature?
6. If it is lifted further by 200 hPa, how much liquid water is condensed
and what is the final temperature?
7. An air parcel at 950 hPa has temperature 140 C and mixing ratio of 8
g kg-1. What is the wet-bulb-temperature? Lv = 2.25 106 J kg-1.
What is the equivalent potential temperature and wet-bulbtemperature?
8. The parcel is lifted to 700 hPa by passing over a mountain and 70%
of the water vapour is removed by precipitation. Determine the
temperature, potential temperature, mixing ratio and RH of the air
parcel after it has descended to 950 hPa on the other side of the
mountain.

Saturated adiabatic and pseudo-adiabatic

processes
When an air parcel rises in the atmosphere, its temperature
decreases with altitude at the dry adiabatic lapse rate until it
becomes saturated
Further lifting will cause condensation of liquid water releasing
latent heat
The process is no longer adiabatic (in strict sense) and hence
is referred to as pseudo-adiabatic
Saturated adiabatic lapse rate (s) is smaller than dry adiabatic
lapse rate (d)

Equivalent Potential Temperature

Lv ws

e exp

c
T
p
e is the temperature of the air parcel when all the water
vapour has condensed so that its ws is zero
Air is expanded pseudo-adiabatically until all of its water
vapour has condensed, released the latent heat and fallen out.
The air is then compressed dry adiabatically to the standard
pressure (typically 1000 hPa), at which point it will attain the
temperature e

2nd law of Thermodynamics

ds = change in entropy, where entropy is a measure of energy

available for work
Entropy is related to potential temperature:

Clausias-Clapeyron Equation
The equation quantifies how the saturation vapour pressure
varies with temperature:

1
es Lv M w 1

ln
=
*
6.11 1000 R 273 T
where, es is the saturation vapour pressure at temperature T, 6.11
hPa is the saturation vapour pressure at 273 K, Lv is the latent
heat of vapourization/condensation = 2.25 106 J kg-1, R* is the
universal gas constant (8.3145 J kg-1 mol-1), Mw is the molecular
weight of water (18.016)

Q1. What is the saturation vapour pressure of a moist air parcel at

210 C?

Q2. If the saturation mixing ratio is 19.6 g/kg, locate the position of
the air parcel on the thermodynamic diagram.

Cloud Formation
Growth of cloud drops depend on two factors:
1. Curvature effect curved surface require higher es to maintain
equilibrium relative to plane surface, and since cloud drops are
spherical in shape, this effect opposes growth of small drops.
But as the drops grow large, the effect diminishes

2. Solute effect occurs when a condensation nucleus dissolves

in water. This reduces the fraction of water molecules available
for evaporation and thus favours growth.

Raindrop formation
Further growth occurs by two processes:
1. Bergeron process in the parts of clouds, where T is in
between -100 and -400 C, both ice crystals and supercooled
liquid water drops exist. The saturation vapour pressure
around an ice crystal is lower that around a liquid drop. As the
clouds get colder due to further ascent, more and more liquid
water is converted into ice and the growth process
accelerates. Finally, when the drop grows large enough to be
attracted by gravity, rainfall is initiated.
2. Collision-coalescence process the ice crystals or liquid rain
drops collide with each other and combine as they fall and thus
further grow.