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Thermal Lore - Part 1

by Dennis Pagen (copyright © 2002), published in USHPA’s publication “Paragliding” November 2002.
All illustrations and figures are from USHPA.

Soaring pilots live and dream under the

thrall of thermals. Sure, ridge lift lets us
zoom around and play local hero, waves
are a gift from the gods and convergence
is a magic carpet when you find it. But
only thermals are consistently present
and readily exploitable by even newly
fledged novice pilots. Thermals are
intriguing because they are mostly
invisible and they can take us to dizzying heights, in some cases higher than big
brother wants our tender wings to go.
Another aspect of thermals is that they reward the development of certain
skills, but involve an element of dumb luck. Just as with fishing or picking up a new
romance at a party, you can never be 100% sure about what you’re going to
come up with when you go trolling. It is that element of expectation and surprise
that adds spice to the endeavor. With thermals, we cast our net based on
knowledge and how much height we have to spend, then hope for the best. The
fact that it so often pays off is a tribute to our glider’s performance, the wealth of
knowledge that has accumulated in the flying community and the abundant lift that
nature affords. Many of us wish that fishing for seafood or mates had such a high
rate of return.
This series of articles is intended to illuminate the many aspects and peculiar
behavior of those elusive entities we know as thermals. The idea is to promote
better flying through knowledge. Hopefully pilots of all skill levels will find some
nuggets to carry with them into the wild blue yonder. My approach will be to try to
avoid too much technical detail, but offer references for those who wish to delve
deeper. I believe this format is appropriate for the vast majority of pilots, since
much of thermal flying is (and should be) intuitive. But we do need a solid
groundwork on which to let our intuitive nature roam free.
Much of what we discuss will come from conversations with the world’s top
pilots, but also an important source has been research papers written on
micrometeorology. These papers most notably appear in the OSTIV publications,
which is dedicated to the technical aspects of soaring (sailplanes). In the last
decade or so there has been much interest in micrometeorology because of the
development of drones, surveillance aircraft and other small flying objects. I’m
dubious about the uses of these craft, but grateful for the advancement in

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understanding.
In the course of this series we will visit the subjects of thermal development,
shapes, behavior, types and ways to exploit them. We will also look at special
thermal situations such as the cause of cloud suck, the “dead zone,”
high-pressure thermals, East and West differences and inversion encounters.
Hopefully we will touch on some of the very core material that will make each of
us a better thermal pilot, or at least informed enough to know why we hit the
ground while others are scribing taunting zeros high over our heads.

THE THERMAL DAY

Without going deeper into matters such

as lapse rate and insolation right now,
let’s look at the broad picture of how a
thermal day develops. Most of us know
that the air mass sitting over our area
must be relatively unstable for thermals
to exist in abundance or usable form.
What we mean by unstable is a certain
temperature change in the air with
changing altitude. On an unstable day,
thermals rise spontaneously once solar
heating gets underway and heats the
surface adequately. Here’s the
sequence:

1) The sun’s energy, in the form of visible light and ultraviolet radiation, mostly
passes through the atmosphere and strikes the ground. The solid molecules
on the ground catch the solar radiation and convert it to molecular vibrations
and much longer wavelengths — infrared. We detect vibrations and infrared
radiation as heat, and so does the overlying air. It is the transfer of heat from
the sun to the ground and then to the air that allows the creation, birth and
growth of thermals. Thus, solar energy gives rise to all life, including thermals
that are born in the heat of the day.

2) In the morning, as the air overlying the surface gets heated, not much
happens as a thin layer thickens and grows warmer. A slight sloshing around
may occur here and there, but no real thermal activity happens until suddenly,
all heaven breaks loose — thermals happen everywhere. What’s going on
here? The answer is that ground inversions stop the release of thermals until
they have penetrated to the top of the inversion (we’ll discuss the nature of
inversions in a later part). However, once this penetration occurs, the thermal
release comes all of a sudden and from widespread sources.

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3) The abundant release of thermals may continue for half an hour or so, then
frequently it shuts down for a spell before thermals reappear in earnest. After
that, a more sparse but regular production of thermals occurs. This is when
the thermal day sets in properly and we are apt to be successful when we cast
our fate to the wind. The mechanism that causes the thermal production
pause, then the more regular succession of thermals is as follows: The
warming ground in the morning heats a large area (almost the entire layer) of
air over the surface. Thus, there is a large reservoir of warm air to go up as
thermals. But this air can’t release because of the ground inversion. When the
bonds of the inversion are broken, the thermals release with a vengeance.
These early thermals may not be all that strong because the sun isn’t yet
beaming down all that hard, but they come in rapid succession and often are
fairly continuous streams as the warm air on the ground seeks restitution aloft.
But when the
warm air is
depleted, it has
been replaced by
cooler air from aloft
that takes time to
heat. So we have a
pause. In addition, without the presence of the widespread ground inversion,
the thermals that do build can release when they grow to a certain size, or
they are induced to do so by triggering mechanisms. The most common
triggers are downdrafts impelled by the rise of other thermals in the area.
Thus, we have a picture of a steady-state growth and release of thermals as
long as the sun’s heat continues in sufficient strength. The size of the thermals
depends on (among other things) how long they sit on the ground and grow
before release. The initial release, then pause in thermal production, is often
seen in the ridge and valley systems in the eastern U.S.

4) As the day progresses, thermals tend to climb higher and peak in strength
just a bit after the peak solar heating. Then they dwindle in strength and
frequency but still retain their maximum height. Finally, only a few anemic
old-maid thermals rise as the sun wanes and our soaring prospects dim. In
the end, only dreams of the day’s glory remain unless special situations occur
that continue to result in the artificial release of heat from the surface. (The
artificial matters may be buildings with internal heat sources, fires or water
heated by some means other than the sun’s rays.)

5) As evening falls, the moon rules and the earth loses what it has taken from
the sun. The heat re‑radiates off as infrared, and this effect sustains the
warmth of the air for a while, but with no new solar heat to tickle the earth’s
surface, the surroundings soon grow colder. Then, the air stills, chills, and a

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ground inversion layer develops. This layer thickens throughout the night until
the sun again peeks over the peaks and warming begins again. The cycle is
complete.

ADDING DETAILS

Ground inversions can be anything from a few feet to a few thousand feet in
thickness in extreme cases. The thickest inversions occur in deep valleys in
desert conditions. The reason for this situation is that desert conditions result in
rapid and extensive radiation of heat from the surface because of the clear, dry
air, and thus a much colder overlying layer. The high mountains surrounding the
valleys drain these layers of cold air down into the valleys all night long until a
blanket of cold air is pooled deeply in quiet repose.
The thicker the ground inversion layer in a given area, the longer it takes to
reach trigger temperature, which is where thermals break through the inversion
in the morning. However, in desert conditions the sun’s heating is comparatively
more intense, so trigger temperature is reached relatively sooner than in humid
areas. In addition, thicker inversions often result in a longer initial release of
thermals, and in this case there may be no pause between initial release and the
onset of regular thermal production. The reason for this latter factor is that the
thermals developing in a thick inversion are already rising high enough to
promote the vigorous downdrafts that can trigger other thermals building on the
ground. Thus, once the thermals begin their initial rise to full potential, the
process continues unabated. This situation is often noticed in the Owens Valley
and the Alps.

THERMAL STRENGTHS

There are a number of factors that affect thermal strength. These are in two main
categories: the temperature profile of the air and the intensity of the solar
heating. Let’s look at the heating factor first.
The more readily a surface on the ground is heated, the more it imparts this
heat to the overlying air. Thus, we should expect to get good thermals above
such surfaces. Take a barefoot walk across the landscape on a sunny day and
see what you feel. Did your feet get burned on that blacktop? Did you enjoy the
cool of the grass? How about the medium heat of bare dirt or fields in crops?
We know from experience and common sense that the surfaces that heat most
are more likely to produce the best thermals. But we also know that no surface
stands alone. Everything is affected by everything else surrounding it, because
the atmosphere is a dynamic system. It is moving and three dimensional, so
sometimes an area that would normally be excellent for thermal production is
constantly being swept with cooler winds or stable air and thus does not live up

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to its potential. One such situation is beach areas. We have all burnt our feet on
those littoral sands, but beaches are rarely great thermal producers because the
constant inflow of the cool, stable sea breeze attenuates the effects of the
heated surface.
A big factor in intensity of heating is the humidity in the air. When the
atmosphere is dry, the solar influx goes right to the ground with nearly its full
power. But in humid conditions, a good portion of the solar radiation gets
scattered by the suspended water molecules, so the air itself takes up heat and
less is available to heat the surface. You might think, “That’s okay, what we want
is heated air and we just bypass the surface exchange in this situation.”
Unfortunately, that’s not true. What happens in the case of humid air is that the
sun’s beaming heat is scattered deeply throughout the air’s layers, so we don’t
have the potentially unstable situation of a warm blob at the bottom of cooler
overlying air pressing down. In fact, the hot, humid, summer doldrums are what
we Eastern pilots dread, because the few thermals that do develop are weak. In
the case mentioned here it should be apparent that there are many factors that
affect both the amount of surface heating and the lapse rate.
Two more factors that affect the solar heating of the surface are the sun’s
position and the amount of cloud cover. We acquire an almost unconscious
knowledge of the sun’s diurnal variation. We all know that only mad Englishmen
and dogs go out in the heat of the day in the heart of Africa. So we know that the
peak heating at the peak of the day provides peak thermal production. But put a
little fudge factor in there because there is a lag in the whole process, so peak
thermal production usually occurs a half hour to an hour after maximum sun
height. Speaking of sun height, we should all be aware that June 21, when the sun
is at its peak height, and December 21 when it is at its low point, are the acme
and nadir of thermal production, all other factors being equal.
Clouds affect solar heating of the surface and thus thermal production simply
by blocking the sun’s rays and scattering or absorbing the energy. Cumulus
clouds denote thermals rising, so we are happy to see them around as long as
they don’t throw a wet blanket on our fun by overdeveloping into sunshine-
robbing shrouds. Clouds in general reduce the strength of thermals, as well as
their abundance. They also alter thermal behavior. A broad, weak, stratus cover
may make the day less punctuated with thermal exclamation points, but also make
the thermals more regular as the thermals spend more time building on the
ground and are less interrupted by vigorous, cool downdrafts. We’ve also seen it
happen that the approach of a stratus layer is accompanied by pre-frontal unstable
air, so the thermals actually get stronger even as the solar insolation weakens.
So, you can never talk absolutes in this game, which is what makes it a game in
the first place.

WHAT YOU CAN USE

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This article speaks mostly in generalities in order to set the stage for our later
discoveries. However, we can still glean a few straws of learning from the
general discussion. Perhaps the main point to recognize is that at many sites it is
a normal process for the first thermals of the day to happen in the morning,
anywhere from 10:00 AM to 11:59 AM. Then, after a flurry of thermal activity,
things die down and nobody stays up until a bit later when the thermal day begins
in earnest. It is important to recognize this occurrence, because you don’t want
to be the early bird who gets to be in the landing field feeling like a worm. Learn
to understand the behavior of your own site(s) in this regard. Does it happen
nearly every good thermal day? Does it never happen? What are the conditions
when it does happen? (Hint: Clear nights with little upper wind, so a deep ground
inversion forms. Note that these are the same conditions conducive to dew and
frost formation.)
Once you have figured out your sites, carry your newfound awareness with
you when you visit other sites. As you gain knowledge and experience you will
perhaps be able to
predict thermal behavior
at other sites. It is this
type of understanding that
helps create great pilots,
for after all, a great pilot
is just like you and me but
with more skill, more
knowledge and more
luck. I just wish there
were some way to work on the luck factor.
We bypassed the discussion of lapse rates to avoid over-complicating
this first installment. But next time we will give the subject its due, because it is
important to the understanding of how thermals really work. For more information
on the matter of solar heating, and thus thermal production daily variation, see
Understanding the Sky, beginning on page 189.

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Back to Thermal Lore : Article series.

Thermal Lore - Part 2

by Dennis Pagen (copyright © 2002), published in USHPA’s publication “Paragliding” December 2002.
All illustrations and figures are from USHPA.

Thermals are children of the sun. They

cavort and leap about on a bright day like
a schoolboy full of piss and vinegar after
long sessions of math, Latin and
etiquette. They dance in the hall of the sky
to the tune called by the wind and clouds.
To understand the dervish tempo and
raucous nature of their dance, we must
know details of their upbringing and
surroundings. To illuminate our metaphor, we must comprehend the meaning and
effects of the lapse rate.
I have tried to put off discussing the subject of lapse rate for as long as
possible, for you have no doubt heard the expression, “He who lapse last, lapse
best.” But we can no longer dodge the inevitable: To really know the heart and
soul of thermals, we need to grasp their intimate involvement with lapse rate.

MEANING REVEALED
It is not hard to understand the
basics of the lapse rate if we
simply realize it is a graph of
the air’s temperature at heights
from the surface upward. We
can also call such a graph the
air’s temperature profile.
A typical morning lapse rate
or temperature profile may
appear as in Figure 1. Let’s
look at some details to see
what we can learn. First, we
notice that near the ground the
air’s temperature is cool (55°
Fahrenheit in this example). As
we go higher, the temperature
actually gets warmer up to the
1,000-foot level (70° F), in this
example. Then the air cools off

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with altitude up to 3,000 feet.

Following this, it cools rapidly
with altitude until we reach an
altitude of 5,000 feet where it
actually gets warmer with altitude again. Finally, above 5,500 feet, the air again
cools off with increased altitude.
The air’s normal temperature change with increasing altitude is to get cooler.
That’s because nearly all the heat in the air comes in at the bottom from surface
heating. But moisture, movement and pressure systems serve to alter this
“normal” picture as we shall see next month. For now, note that when the air
cools off rapidly with height, the conditions are known as unstable because they
promote the rise and continuation of thermals. In other words, the atmosphere is
folding itself inside out as thermals climb and cool air plummets.
The opposite atmospheric condition — when the air warms with height, or
doesn’t cool significantly — is known as a stable condition. In this case, thermals
are suppressed faster than tort reform talk at a lawyer’s convention. Any
wayward upward puff quickly dies out so the atmosphere is not active vertically
(even though a wind may be blowing). It lies there limp as an overly liquored
lover and is about as disappointing to a soaring pilot.
Why do thermals rise in an unstable environment and fall back to earth when
it’s stable? For an answer free of numbered (or numbing) details, note that the
air pressure falls off with increasing height because there is less air above
pushing down. You can feel that effect when your ears pop as you go up in an
airplane, a tall elevator or ski lift. A rising glob of air (a thermal, for example)
experiences the reduced pressure as it rises as well, and thus it expands. Its
head swells so to speak. As it swells it cools off because the same amount of
heat energy is distributed throughout a greater volume.
But the reason it began its rise in the first place was because it was heated
at the surface, expanded and became less dense than its surroundings.
Consequently, the glob will rise as long as it remains less dense than the
surrounding air, which in general means warmer. Thus, when the air’s
temperature drops quite a bit with increasing altitude, the glob always remains
warmer or less dense than its surroundings and continues to rise, even though it
is cooling as it is rising. The glob in this type of environment is what we call a
thermal.
In the opposite condition — when the surrounding air doesn’t cool off at the
rate the glob is cooling with increased height — the glob eventually reaches the
same temperature and thus density as the surrounding air and is no longer
buoyant. This condition is the stable situation.
Note 1: Lapse rates can be quite varied, so conditions can be anything from
extremely unstable to neutral to extremely stable. You can imagine the different
buoyancies or upward impetus of thermals in these varied air conditions. The
amount of available heating and wind in combination with the lapse rate is what
determines the nature of the thermals of the day.

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Note 2: For details on actual temperatures and changes of thermals with

height, see Understanding the Sky.
Now let’s return to our figure. In view of our previous discussion, we see
that the lower layer (to 500 feet) is very stable because it gets warmer with
height. We call such a layer an inversion because the situation is the inverse of
the normal cooling with altitude. The inversion that occurs at the ground is called
(what else?) a ground inversion.
A bit higher in our figure, the air cools off quite a bit with altitude, and is
labeled unstable. Higher still its cooling is reduced to the point that the air is
stable. Then we come to another layer that warms with altitude (at 5,000 feet)
which is another inversion.
Finally, above that the air is again unstable.

LAPSE RATE CHANGES

Since we know the
thermal prospects change
from day to day, it doesn’t
take an Airistotle to figure
out that the lapse rate
itself changes. Let’s see
how these changes occur
and how they affect
thermals.
The most obvious
change in the lapse rate is
caused by the sun’s great
variation in heating as the
24-hour day progresses.
At night, as the earth’s
heat radiates off, the air at
the surface is cooled so
the ground inversion of
Figure 1 is formed. The
thickness of this inversion
depends on the extent of
cooling (how clear the air
is and whether or not clouds block the radiation process). Also, in mountainous
areas, additional cool air will cascade down the mountain sides to increase the
pooling of cool surface air.
In the morning, this surface air begins to heat from the bottom up. Small
plumes of warmed air rise a bit and mix the warm air upward. This process is
shown in Figure 2. In our example, the lapse rate is being changed from the
bottom and appears as a dashed line at various times in the morning. By 11:30
AM, we see that the spreading of warm air upward by convective mixing has

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wiped out the ground inversion. In fact, it no longer exists once the surface
temperature has reached about 73° F (in this example). As the surface heats
even more, any warm blob rising from the surface finds itself warmer than its
surroundings well past the 1,000-foot level and continues on upward. The
warmer the blob, the higher it goes, as shown.
When the surface temperature reaches 73° F in Figure 2, thermals rise
rapidly in height. This magic number is called the trigger temperature. (Of
course, the trigger temperature varies daily and from place to place, depending
on the thickness and temperatures of the ground inversion.)

THERMAL HEIGHTS

How high do the thermals go? Figure 3 illustrates the possibilities. In case 1,

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they rise until their cooling results in their temperature equaling (approximately)
that of the surrounding air. The warmer the surface gets, the higher they go. You
can see one reason why thermals in the Western U.S. are much taller than their
Eastern counterparts.
In case 2, the thermal never cools to the point of equaling the surrounding air
temperature, but gradually erodes to nothing as it climbs higher. The erosion
process is due to the mixing caused by friction at the thermal’s edges and
entrainment of outside air into the thermal (more on this process in a later
installment). The situation in this case often occurs when there are weak
thermals (those produced under a layer of high cirrus, in hazy conditions, over
water or in winter). In this case, the larger the thermal, the higher it will climb.
In case 3, the thermals reach an inversion layer and get the brakes put on as
if they were trying to penetrate molasses. We have also shown one situation
where the thermal enters an inversion layer, gets slowed, but bursts through the
top, then continues rising. In this case it may continue upward until it erodes
away, meets another (higher) inversion or forms a high cloud. Only the strongest
thermals will burst through a thick inversion in this manner, so the clouds and
thermals above an inversion will usually be few and far betwixt.
Finally, we have case 4, in which the thermal reaches the dew point level and
forms a cumulus cloud. The dew point is the temperature at which the water
vapor contained in the thermal condenses to water droplets. The millions of
water droplets are visible as cloud. Once cloud forms, great reserves of heat
energy are released (this energy is the latent heat of vaporization stored up
when the surface moisture evaporated) so the thermal becomes roiled and
mixes rapidly with its surroundings. This mixing with cool ambient air soon spells
the demise of the lift in that particular area unless a continuous font of thermals is
feeding the cloud.
What determines the height of the dew point, and thus cloud base? The
answer is the humidity of the air and the actual air temperature (warm air can
hold more water vapor than cool air). With talent we can learn to predict the
height of cloud base (or whether or not clouds will form) by taking the surface
dew point displayed on a chart called a skew T or a tephigram. By running the
surface relative humidity value up a line called the constant energy line, we find
the dew point where it crosses the lapse rate. However, this technique is beyond
the scope of this series.
We should note that cases 1, 2 and 3 result in blue days (no cumulus clouds
forming from ground sources). Thankfully, case 4 occurs often enough to give us
frequent skies marked with soft, white stepping stones guiding our aerial paths.
Hopefully the above concepts give you the idea that we can predict the
thermal height of the day if we know the air’s temperature profile (now available
on the Web for most of the country), the maximum predicted surface
temperature, the surface dew point and how much a thermal cools as it rises.
This latter value is 5.5° F per 1,000 feet of rise. (You knew we’d slip numbers in
eventually, didn’t you?)

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Now here are a couple of wrinkles in the process. As the day progresses,
the earth’s surface tends to dry out as thermals wick moisture upward.
Consequently, cloud base rises higher (the dew point moves up) since the
thermals’ water vapor content is less. A typical daily process is shown in Figure

4. We have already seen that thermals rise higher as the surface temperature
rises, so these combined effects produce higher rising lift until a peak at about
3:00 PM. Of course, this typical cycle may vary if heating is delayed, or excess
clouds reduce heating. Next month we’ll see the effect such a process has on
inversion layers.
The final point to understand is that thermals are like massive hot-air balloons
that have great inertia. It takes a while to get them started and they are reluctant
to slow down once they are buoying upward. As a result, they penetrate quite
readily as much as 1,000 feet above the height where they are no longer warmer
than their surroundings. They always penetrate a distance into inversions (while
usually becoming broken) and may punch through a weak one. In fact, many
studies have shown that by the time a thermal has reached two-thirds to three-
fourths of its maximum climb, it is no longer warmer than its surroundings,
although it still rises by virtue of its inertia and water vapor content which makes it
a bit less dense than its surroundings. As a result of these factors, determining
the height of the lift based on the lapse rate chart will always underestimate the
actual experienced level. It takes a practiced predictor to guess the correct
values.

WHAT YOU CAN USE

Think about how the lapse rate changes from night to day and realize that just
because the night is clear and cold doesn’t mean that the next day will be one of
great thermal production. What is important is the (in)stability of the air above the
ground inversion. I recall one day during the East Coast Championships in the
Sequachie Valley. Everyone thought we were going to have a great day since the
air was clear, crisp and cool. A few anemic morning thermal currents came up to
stir our juices, but the air mass was stable and we sled rode all day long.
Someone could have written a thesis on group depression that day.

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Part of the fun of flying engine-free is taking what you can find and making
the most of it. However, if you are a pilot with limited time resources (read family
obligations), and you have to choose your days, it behooves you to learn to read
the lapse rate diagrams to predict the days with good conditions. In order to do
this effectively, you must understand the principles.
Another useful point is to note that the nature of thermals of the day is greatly
determined by the nature of the surrounding air. So, the sooner you figure out
what the thermals are like (wide, narrow, short, tall, turbulent, smooth, tilted,
shifty, multi-cored, strung out downwind, continuous, short-lived, pumping,
infrequent, etc.), the better you will be able to exploit their gift of lift. The lapse
rate changes slowly during a day’s progress, so the nature of the thermals
changes slowly as well.
Finally, when you begin your flight, it is very wise to scope out the type of “top
conditions” you encounter. If you determine that an inversion is stopping the
thermals, you can work hard to punch through it and possibly get hundreds or
thousands of feet above those bouncing up against the ceiling. The technique for
doing this will be discussed in our final installment.

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Thermal Lore - Part 3

by Dennis Pagen (copyright © 2003), published in USHPA’s publication “Paragliding” February 2003.
All illustrations and figures are from USHPA.

My first thermal encounter was unwitting, as in, “What the hell is this?” The experience occurred at a dinky
450-foot former ski area in the spring of 1975. We flew that northwest slope nearly every weekend and I
eventually opened a school there. I was flying a standard hang glider (four poles and a rag wing) that weighed
only 35 pounds. We would hump the gliders up the hill and take as many sled rides as our youthful exuberance
could stand. I had learned to ridge-soar the previous winter and knew that I needed a stiff breeze to stay up,
given the typical 400 fpm sink rate of our gliders. So on that day it was sled rides in the 10-mph wind wafting
straight in. It was my turn to launch and I edged to the edge. Just as I began my launch lunge, a major gust
caught my wing and carried me and the whole ensemble upward. Naturally, I was going too slow and was
turned. In a jiffy I was aiming back at the mountain, but lifted above the tops of the trees. Yikes!
I recovered from my surprise and completed the 360 to fly out to the front of the mountain. The lift was so
strong, that by the time I cleared the ridge I was easily 100 feet above and climbing. Wanting no part of this
robust air, I white-knuckled the bar and flew straight ahead to safety. The funny thing was, I kept climbing and
climbing under a long roll of clouds. The farther I went, the higher I got. Eventually, I climbed to about 2,000
feet above the ridge and continued forward to land more than a mile upwind. By turns, I was surprised, then
scared, then relieved, then full of bravado by the time my friends arrived to marvel at the flight. We were sure it
was a record of some sort. Looking back, I realized that we all learned a lot from that experience, and someone
even mentioned the possibility of something he had heard about called thermals. Now I know I was under a
street, strung out for miles. In hindsight I also know that it was one of the best-looking X-C skies I have ever seen
in these parts.
My first witting (as in intentional) thermal flight came in June of 1976. 1 was attending the first invitational
meet at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. Several of us were soaring in light air on the northwest-facing
cliff. The wind wasn’t strong, but plenty of buoyant lift was sliding up the mountain from the warm valley.
Most of us were running back and forth along the half-mile ridge, but I noticed that two pilots, Steve Moyes and
Rollie Davies, were flying out in front and turning a series of 360’s. By the time they were back near the
mountain, they were hundreds of feet above us. The light bulb went off in my head. I realized exactly what they
were doing, and the next time they went looking for a thermal, I followed. We didn’t have varios back then, but
could feel the surge of lift and tell I was climbing by watching the mountain. I tried to match their circles and,
miraculously, I was thermalling. I can’t describe the thrill of that moment. I repeated the experience for nearly an
hour, but can honestly say that I learned to thermal in the first 15 minutes of realization and exploration and have
been a devotee of augering upward ever since.
Sometimes it only takes forming the correct model in your head to let you catch on to a skill or concept. In
fact, the main thing we are trying to do with this series of articles is to form a good working model of thermals
in our image databank. The better images we hive to work with, the better we will perform when globular lift
beckons. So, we continue with our exploration of the world of thermals where we left off last time.

INVERS ION BEHAVIOR

Last month we investigated lapse rate and inversions, as well as their effect on thermals. We’ll begin here
with a bit mire about inversions and then look at some details of thermal creation. The first question we should

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answer is, How are inversions formed?

As we learne4 in the previous installment, inversions are layers of air in which the air temperature does not
decrease with increasing altitude, at least to the degree necessary for instabi1ity to occur. We also saw how this
feature most readily occurs near the ground through the process of nighttime cooling. But we also encounter
inversions aloft. At competitions, the air’s sounding (lapse rate graph) is often presented. It is not uncommon to
see three inversion layers at different levels up to the altitude of common local cloud base. (Whether or not the
clouds reach that altitude depends on whether or not the thermals can punch through the various inversions.)
These inversions are very important for thermaling and cross-country prospects. They can gradually disappear or
intensify.
Many inversions higher in the air come from the sliding of warmer air over cooler air that inhabits an area.
This is the case when a warm front approaches. But even with a cold front, a layer of warmer air aloft is
usually left as the cooler air plows under the warm. Cold fronts are typically limited in vertical extent, so on top
they are capped by a warmer flow. If you look at charts or the wind flow near a front at different levels, you
will see that aloft, the warm air is not being pushed out of the way by the cold air as much as it is at the surface.
Another cause of inversions is sea breezes moving inland. Usually these sea breezes act like mini cold fronts
and move cooler air in under the existing warm air. Multiple sea breezes on succeeding days can cause
inversions at different levels. Next we should mention the effect whereby mountains block lower flows and
allow warm air moving into an area to pass over the mountain and thus above the cooler air on the other side.
All of these causes may come into play in certain areas so that a complicated lapse-rate profile with multiple
inversions of different strengths and thicknesses occurs. Below we’ll describe how thermals create inversions,
which is perhaps the most important cause.

INVERS ION CONVERS ION

There are
two
factors
that
affect

inversions. The first is the widespread vertical movement of the air, and the second is thermals themselves.
There’s a general rule that you can bank on: The air rises in and around a low-pressure system, and it sinks in
and around a high-pressure system. In most of the U.S., the passage of a cold front means the arrival of cooler,
unstable air driven by a high. Typically, one to three days of good thermal production follows the front and then
things get more stable as the high approaches. What’s happening here?
First we should note that although thermals may be rising vigorously in a high-pressure system, the general
air mass is sinking at a rate of about an inch or two per minute. This sinking is caused by the air at the bottom

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of a high-pressure system flowing outward. This effect is shown in Figure 1. As a layer of air sinks, it becomes
warmer due to compression caused by greater pressure. It also becomes more stable. When the opposite happens
— a layer is lifted by some mechanical process, such as due to frontal movement or over a mountain — it
becomes cooler and less stable. The cause of “mackerel sky,” with its array of alto-cumulus or cirro-cumulus
clouds, is the result of thermals that are born high in the sky due to the lifting of a layer until it auto-convects.
But right now we are
interested in highs (the
weather kind, so we can
achieve the glider kind).
The effect of the sinking air
is to compress the layers of
air (as they move lower
they have more weight
above them), alter the lapse
rate and narrow the
inversion layer while at the
same time lowering it and
essentially intensifying it.
These effects are shown in
Figure 2. Here we see the
lapse rate on three
successive days. On the
second day, the general
lapse rate isn’t as sloped as
on the first. That means it
has become more stable.
Also, it is moved to the right which indicates that the temperature is warmer at any given altitude (this warming
is exaggerated for clarity). We can clearly see that the inversion has moved lower, and become narrower and
intensified. This intensification is the result of it having become more stable (slanted more to the right).
Most of us know that high-pressure systems bring stable air and usually weak, nonexistent or punchy
thermals. Now you see why. The mass is stable, and normal thermals simply die out in the stable air, or are
stopped by the inversion layers that get lower and lower. Particularly strong heating at the ground may produce
a thermal that rises for a good ways, but it will be quickly eroded, so only the strongest portions push upward
and these portions will be well mixed (read turbulent). These high-pressure thermals should also seem familiar to
coastal pilots, since they are very similar to thermals after a sea breeze has passed. The sea breeze is a thick layer
of stable air moving inland from the sea. The reason this mass is stable is precisely for the same reason
high-pressure masses are: the air has sunk from aloft to the surface (out to sea in this case). Sea breezes are
beyond the scope of this series, so those who want to know more about this important facet of our flying should
consult Understanding the Sky.
Readers with good memories may recall the story we told last month describing the day a hopeful flock of
pilots expected the clear, crisp weather to deliver them a cornucopia of thermals. All they found was a bright,
sunny, dreary day of dead air. This occurrence was precisely due to a big fat high squatting over the Eastern
states. The air was cold and heated well from below, but since it was stable, thermals didn’t rise very high. It
should be clear to us that lingering highs are a bane to good, wholesome thermal flying.
But there is some solace in high-pressure systems. The fact is, since they lower an inversion layer within the
high, eventually the inversion reaches the ground and becomes part of the ground inversion, to be wiped out by
the next day’s surface heating. In that way, a couple of days after a high-pressure system has hung over an area,

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conditions may suddenly get better again. Of course, we have described a weeklong process, considering the one-
to three-day good soaring followed by stable air, then the return of good unstable conditions. The one thing we
are all aware of is the variability of the weather, so the scenario we described is only a common possibility, not
something on which you can rely. Often there is only one day of good soaring post cold front. Equally often, the
inversions don’t have a chance to reach the ground because some other weather disturbances move through to
start the cycles of warm front, cold front, warm front, etc., all over again.

THERMAL EFFECTS

As indicated above, thermals also have an effect on inversion layers as well as lapse rate. Think about the
curriculum vitae, the résumé of a thermal. It is designed solely to wick heat away from the surface on a sunny
day. Without thermals, heat would build up to an unbearable level (our northern climes would be like the
steamy tropics, which themselves would be unbearable without thermals). So where does all this heat go? Up in
smoke, of course. It gets transplanted to the air at various levels. Let’s start from the bottom up to get the picture.
We saw in the last installment of this
series how the warming of the surface
and convective stirring eradicates a
ground inversion, usually sometimes in
the morning. Then, when thermals
trigger, the mixing begins higher and
higher as the thermal ceiling rises. So,
thermals distribute heat upward, mix
with the surrounding air as they rise,
and thereby alter the lapse rate. But we
learned last time that thermals are no
longer warmer than their surroundings
after they rise to two-thirds or three-
fourths of their maximum height. Thus,
the heat redistribution doesn’t go as high
as the thermals. In Figure 3 we have
illustrated some of the principles
described.
It should he clear that the lower few
thousand feet above the surface will be
warmed by the constant passage of thermals. The presence of downdrafts bringing cool air from aloft toward
the surface spreads out the heating and mixes the air, so the change in the lapse rate is not as great as it would be
if this mixing did not occur. But the net effect is to warm the lower atmosphere and actually make the lapse rate
more unstable as shown. But the rub is, a thermal must be heated to a greater temperature in order to begin
rising in this more unstable environment. So the thermals take longer to heat, become farther in between, but rise
more vigorously once they do rise. This effect and the change in heating as the sun moves accounts for the
difference in thermal strength and frequency as we go from morning abundance of weak thermals to afternoon
increase in strength but decrease in frequency. The sudden evening cutoff of thermals occurs when the sun’s
radiation no longer can raise the ground temperature above the trigger temperature. Residual heat may still
release an occasional late thermal if something can trigger an initial rise. That something is usually cool air
sliding down a slope in shadow or out of a canyon.
When thermals enter
an inversion layer

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they can intensify it,

if it is sufficiently
low (so the thermals
still have excess heat)
and strong (so the
thermals don’t punch
through it). On the
other hand, thermals
can wipe out or
reduce the strength of
an inversion. To see
how this happens,
look at Figure 4.
Here we see some
thermals strong
enough to pass
through the inversion,
and some being
stopped in its
clutches. The strong
ones pass through,
entrain air with them and produce a general mixing that can thicken an inversion and thus make it less intense.
Even the thermals that are halted produce some mixing with the layers of air above and below the inversion, so
the inversion is rendered less intense if the thermal isn’t warmer than its surroundings.
But the major effect that thermals have on inversions is to create them in the first place. Remember, we noted
that thermals lose much of their excess heat as they rise and may simply erode away to nothing. However, often
they reach the dew point or condensation level and form cloud. When cloud forms, the water vapor changing to
water droplets releases a good deal of heat energy (called the latent heat of vaporization). This heat raises the
temperature of the surrounding air as the cloud mixes with it vigorously. Now, this heat is not free money in the
bank, but is only on loan, for as soon as the cloud starts evaporating, heat is again taken in the evaporation process
and the surrounding air cools, then often sinks. That would be the end of the story, since the cooling would be as
much as the initial heating, except for our good friend, the sun. Water vapor is greatly invisible to the sun’s rays,
but water droplets are not. The sun heats the clouds itself and thus provides added heat energy to the area. So
there is some residual heat left when the cloud evaporates. This heat builds up at the cloud formation level
throughout the day and, voila, we have an inversion layer.
You can readily see that an inversion layer formed in this manner will persist through the night (there is
nothing to cause an exchange of heat) and into the next day. If thermals don’t reach as high the next day (perhaps
the mass has moved over more moist ground so cloud base is lower), a separate and lower inversion may be
formed. In this manner, multiple inversion layers will be created.
No doubt inversion layers, like most things in the atmosphere, are more complex than we normally think, but
they are extremely important to successful and excellent flying, so it behooves us to understand them as much as
possible.

OUR WES TERN FRIENDS

We have been speaking of fronts, relatively low cloud bases and multiple inversions. The last two factors are
often rare in the high desert area of the U.S. West, so let’s see what modifications are needed for our model to

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apply. To be sure, near the West Coast, you can encounter inversion layers accompanying the sea breeze,
producing the famous LA smog which contributes to road rage and the genetic defects that result in Valley
Girls. But further inland the inversions occur mainly when mountains trap cool evening air in a layer so thick
that the day’s heating cannot produce thermals strong enough to bust through. This effect happens most often in
the winter with weaker sunshine. Picture Salt Lake City for a model of this behavior.
For the most part,
Western conditions
create what is
known as a heat
low. This process
is very similar to
that which takes
place in the sea
breeze. A local
area gets heated.
The air expands
and flows away
high aloft due to
the “bulge” effect
(see Figure 5).
Once air flows away aloft, the pressure at the surface is reduced (thus the term “heat low”) and a lower-level
inflow occurs. The process continues as long as the. heating continues. There is a net effect of slowly-rising air
over a widespread area. This slow rising would be an anathema to flying in the moist East, since cloud would
soon form and block the sun. However, in the thirsty West, the rising air produces little cloud and thermals are
greatly enhanced.
The general rising air, in combination with the dryness of the air (more solar heat), and the often bare ground
is what accounts for the vigorous (and sometimes violent) thermals compared to their Eastern kin. There are few
inversions formed in the high desert because the thermals don’t often reach a dew-point level, and if they do, the
gradual rise of the air mass weakens them or puts them out of the reach of the next day’s thermals. Note that heat
lows can be as small as a single field, or multi-state in expanse. In the summer, a heat low typically sets up that
covers the entire front range of the Rockies, for example.

WHAT YOU CAN US E

Perhaps the main idea to take away from this installment is that inversions are a common enough occurrence
that we should understand their cause and effect. If you only fly in the Owens Valley in the middle of summer,
then perhaps you can ignore inversions, but the rest of us need to study them so we can avoid their worst
disappointments. By learning how inversions change from day to day, we know better what to expect on a given
day according to what went before. If you have access to the soundings (lapse rate) for your area, you can look
at what was displayed compared to what you experienced. In time you will be able to see how thick and intense
an inversion is, and figure how likely it is to stop thermals at its level. This judgment in turn lets you know
whether or not it is worth your effort to try to punch through the inversion.
If you are in the area of the country where fronts and high-pressure systems affect your flying, you are also
in prime inversion territory. Learn how the high changes the stability of the air as it lingers in the area. Watch for
the times when instability returns to the area and judge where the high is and how long it took for the change to
occur. You don’t have to go flying to detect these changes since you can judge thermal production by the
gustiness on the ground, as long as strong winds aren’t around (which they probably aren’t since a high

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typically brings light winds). Now you have a good reason to be staring out the window while at work. Tell
your boss I said it was okay.
Almost all thermal pilots have flown through inversions. That’s what’s happening when the thermal slows
down and things start to get bumpy. There are real useful techniques for staying with the thermal and hopefully
punching through the inversion. We’ll describe those techniques when we get to the flying part of this series.
We have struggled through perhaps the driest part of thermal lore. But a good basis in how all this works
will help you figure things out on the fly so you can make good decisions when things go awry. In the next
installment we will moisten matters up by looking at real thermals.

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