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9 The slopes of KnZhynZ, Beskydy Mountains, 4 April 1994: ‘‘cemetety

a of trees” @horngraph by Rwdolf ratnot)

Federal Committee for the Environment (1992) AtZas of the Czech Republic (1994) The health in the Czech
the environment and health of the populatia of the Republk in statistical data. Prague
CSFR. Prague Minismy of Environment (1990) The envimment ofthe
Institute of Health Information and Statistics of Czech Republk. Prague

Back to basics:
Atmospheric stability: Part 1 - basic concepts

R. Brugge
Centre for Global Atmospheric Modelling, University of Reading

This is the first of a series of three articles that concise manner. The reader should refer to
will explain some basic concepts of at- elementary introductory textbooks on meteor-
mospheric thermodynamics and stability, and ology for more comprehensive derivations of
will introduce the concept of the tephigram (a the equations quoted in the text. Inevitably,
means of visualising the vertical temperature however, some of the formal explanations are
and moisture structure of the atmosphere). somewhat technical in nature. These are given
Many of the concepts raised in this series are in passages of small type, and may be skipped
regularly to be found in Weather, and this series by the reader if desired.
can, therefore, be used as a handy reference/
guide. The use of mathematics has been kept to
Adiabatic temperature changes
a minimum in this series, and is used mainly for
defining physical quantities/relationships in a Stirring a liquid results in a uniform tempera-
134
ture distribution becoming established energy and its temperature consequently de-
throughout the liquid; when a gas, or a mixture creases. Conversely, the atmosphere does mechan-
ical work on a descending parcel of air - the parcel
of gases (such as the atmosphere), is stirred
is compressed (the surrounding air exerts an in-
then a temperature lapse rate (or decrease of ward pressure), its internal energy increases and its
temperature with height) is established within temperature rises. This latter case is similar to the
it. The difference between the two cases is due situation encountered when a bicycle tyre is in-
to the very different compressibilities of the two flated; the hand pump gets hot because air is
compressed (in this case by the piston of the pump
types of fluid. A liquid is, to all intents and which does the mechanical work on the air flowing
purposes, incompressible - its density may be into the tyre).
considered as being independent of pressure
and temperature. In the atmosphere (a gas) this Such vertical motions are usually rapid
is not the case - the density can vary widely, enough to make these temperature changes
especially in the vertical. occur much more rapidly than any interchange
The way in which the density (p) of a gas of heat between the parcel and its surround-
varies as the pressure (p) changes has been ings, by conductive or radiative processes. The
established by laboratory experiments. The res- changes may then be said to be adiabatic -
ult, summarised by Boyle’s law that is there is no interchange of heat between
P I X - 1, the parcel and its surroundings.
V
P

tells us that, if the temperature of a gas is held The adiabatic equation

constant, the gas density is proportional to the For adiabatic temperature changes, then, there
gas pressure and inversely proportional to the appears to be a relationship between the tem-
volume (v) occupied by the gas. Pressure de- perature (7“) and the pressure (p). Another
creases with height because the amount of fundamental law describing the behaviour of
overlying gas decreases with height - this means gases is Charles’s law, namely that if the pres-
that the density of the atmosphere also de- sure of a gas is held constant then the gas
creases with height, according to Boyle’s law. A density is inversely proportional to the tem-
rising air parcel will cool as it expands into the perature of the gas.
surrounding (less dense) air, while a descend- For dry air (the effects of moisture will be
ing air parcel will, conversely, be warmed as it considered later), we can combine the effects
contracts (being compressed by the surround- described by Charles’s law and Boyle’s law to
ing, denser air). give us the ideal gas law, which can be written
in the form
A fundamental law governing the energy of gases pV = R,T
(and, indeed, other substances) is the first law of
thermodynamics. This law states that when a small where V is the specific volume (i. e. volume per
quantity of heat (de) is supplied to a unit mass of unit mass) of the gas and Rd is the gas constant
gas, then it will be partitioned between an increase
in the internal energy (dU) of the gas and the for dry air. To determine the relation between
external work done by the gas (dW) on its sur- pressure and temperature for adiabatic
roundings. This is simply a statement of the princi- changes, it is useful to note two further quan-
ple of the conservation of energy: tities. These are the specific heat of air at
dQ = d U t d W. (1) constant pressure (C,) and the specific heat of
Temperature can be visualised as a measure of the air at constant volume (C,).
internal energy of the gas. The symbol d is used in
this series of articles to denote a small change, Mathematically, the specific heat of air at con-
following mathematical calculus notation. Thus stant pressure is defined according to
dQ denotes a small change in heat.
A rising air parcel expands because the inward
pressure on it (exerted by the surrounding air)
decreases with height - the work done by the parcel
cP= (g) P
while the specific heat of air at constant volume is
in expanding is at the expense of the internal given by

135
 warmer if the two parcels were to move
adiabatically such that they ended up at the
same pressure - it is simply the parcel with the
Translated, these denote the heat required to raise highest potential temperature. This is why met-
unit mass of gas by one degree at constant pressure eorologists talk in terms of potential tempera-
and constant volume, respectively. For adiabatic
changes, we need to combine p V = R,T with Eq. ture when considering vertical motions - any
(1) when dQ = 0 to evaluate the variation of temperature changes due to expansion or con-
temperature with pressure for a specific air parcel. traction are automatically taken into account. It
is important to realise that 0 and T define the
For adiabatic changes, and for a particular state of any air parcel, and enable its pressure to
parcel of air, it can be shown that be determined. This fact is useful for the con-
struction of the tephigram (see Part 2).
T = constant x pK (2)
where K is the ratio R, (equivalent to Cp minus Dry adiabatic lapse rate
C,) divided by CP Numerically, K has a value of
0.288. Thus, for a particular parcel of air, the At what rate, then, does the temperature of a
temperature depends only upon the pressure - dry (or, more properly, an unsaturated) air
the value of the constant varies from air parcel parcel change with height as the parcel is
to air parcel. Consequently, increasing (de- moved? It can be shown that the rate at which
creasing) the pressure of an air parcel, as will the temperature of an unsaturated air parcel
happen as it descends (ascends) adiabatically decreases with height (a rate known as the
through its atmospheric environment, will res- dry adiabatic lapse rate (DALR), r) is
ult in an increase (decrease) in its temperature. 9.8 degC km-1.
This can be determined from Eq. (3) by using
the fact that the variation of pressure with height
Potential temperature (2) is a function of the air density (p), viz.

Equation (2) shows that the temperature of a

dry air parcel undergoing adiabatic expansion
or contraction is only dependent upon its pres- This is an equation known as the hydrostatic
sure. This means that it is possible to label an equation - where g is the acceleration due to gravity
air parcel by the temperature it would have if it - and results in the equation

were moved adiabatically to a pressure of

1OOOmbar - a reference value chosen as a _
dT -
dz
- - gicp= r.
(4)
‘round number’ close to a typical mean sea- Here, the gravitional acceleration is about
level pressure. This label temperature is termed 9.81ms-2 while Cpis about 1005Jkgl.
the potential temperature (8).
If the pressure p is written in units of milli- Saturated adiabatic lapse rate
bars (a meteorological convention), then from
Eq. (2) we have Of course the real atmosphere is not totally dry.
Adiabatic cooling by ascent can eventually lead
-$& = constant = 1 0 080 0 ~ ~ 8 ~ to saturation of the rising air parcel. Further
ascent then leads to condensation of some of
from which it follows that the water vapour within the parcel; the process
of condensation actually warms the parcel, as
(3)
* Unless specified otherwise, all temperature mea-
Here, both T and 8 are expressed in kelvins.* surements are express in kelvins in this series. On
Thus, by comparing the potential tempera- this (absolute temperature) scale, 0 degrees corres-
ponds to the lowest possible temperature, while the
tures of two dry air parcels at different pres- freezing point of water occurs at 273.15K. Note
sures in the atmosphere, it becomes an easy that a temperature difference of ldegC is equiv-
task to decide which of the two would be alent to a temperature difference of 1K.

136
the vapour is converted to liquid, by the pro- a useful label for unsaturated air parcels, so
cess of latent heat release. The lapse rate of the meteorologists use a quantity called the wet-
parcel is then less than it would have been if no bulb potential temperature (WBPT) to label
condensation had occurred; this lapse rate is saturated parcels.
known as the saturated adiabatic lapse rate If liquid water supplied from outside an air
(SALR), denoted by the symbol r,. parcel is evaporated into the air parcel at con-
For any particular temperature there is an stant total (dry air and vapour) pressure, and
upper limit to the pressure (i.e. the vapour heat is extracted from the parcel until the SVP
pressure) that can be exerted by any water drops to the actual vapour pressure ( i e . the air
vapour in a parcel of air. This limiting pressure parcel becomes saturated) then the wet-bulb
is known as the saturation vapour pressure temperature is reached. This is the process
(SVP). For water vapour it is defined as the that happens in a thermometer screen to pro-
vapour pressure immediately above a plane duce the screen wet-bulb temperature from
surface of pure water (or supercooled water or which the relative humidity can be computed;
ice at lower temperatures). Another way of the wet-bulb thermometer wick supplies the
expressing this water content of the parcel is in water from a reservoir, while the heat energy
terms of a mixing ratio; this is the ratio of the required to evaporate the water off the wick of
mass of water vapour in a parcel to the mass of the wet-bulb thermometer is conducted from
dry air in the parcel. Corresponding to the SVP the wet bulb itself, thereby lowering its reading
is a saturation mixing ratio rw, which is a relative to that of the dry-bulb thermometer.
quantity dependent upon the temperature and The difference between the wet- and dry-
the pressure of the parcel. bulb temperatures can be used to determine the
Mathematically, since the heat released during humidity of the air. In general, the lower the
this condensation process is given by -L,dr,*, humidity of the air, the more readily water from
where L, is the latent heat of vapourisation and dr, the wet-bulb wick will be evaporated into it,
is the change in saturation mixing ratio of the and the greater will be the difference in read-
parcel, it can be shown that the SALR is given by ings. Another way of describing the humidity of
rs = r L+dr,
Cpdz
v . the air is in terms of the dew-point tempera-
ture. This is the temperature which a parcel of
As the water vapour in a rising air parcel is air would attain if it were cooled adiabatically at
condensed out at lower temperatures, a small constant pressure until saturated.
amount of heat is continuously released due to If the air parcel is kept saturated through
the condensation of the excess vapour into evaporation and is moved such that its pressure
liquid water. This warming effect means that increases to the 1000mbar reference pressure,
the decrease of temperature with height for then the WBPT will be attained. An ascending
ascending, saturated air parcels is less than that saturated air parcel, rising (wet) adiabatically,
occurring for ascending, unsaturated air par- will conserve its WBPT. In fact, the WBFT will
cels. At high temperatures, when saturated air also be conserved if a dry air parcel is lifted, or
contains as much as 15 or 20 grams of water if either saturated or unsaturated air parcels are
vapour per kilogram of dry air, the SALR is lowered. Mathematically, it is harder to com-
reduced to about one-third of the DALR; at low pute although later in this series of articles a
temperatures (higher up in the troposphere), graphical method of determining it will be
where there is much less water vapour, the explained.
S A L R and DALR differ only slightly.
Lapse rates
Wet-bulb potential temperature
Having introduced some of the basic concepts,
In the same way as the potential temperature is the remainder of this article illustrates how they
may be used as an aid to interpreting the
* dr, is negative since condensation occurs, and vertical stability of an atmospheric profile. The
the parcel loses water vapour. concepts of stability and instability are crucial

137
to understanding why air tends to rise in some parcel will be less than that of its surroundings,
situations, yet sink in others. and it will continue to rise. The atmosphere is
The lapse rate of temperature in the tro- then said to be absolutely unstable - it is
posphere varies both horizontally and ver- liable to convect heat upwards. Figure I(b)
tically. These variations can be caused by such shows the same situation expressed in terms of
factors as large-scale descent (for example in potential temperature; a parcel rising upwards
anticyclonic regions) and surface cooling adiabatically will maintain its potential tem-
(sometimes creating a shallow nocturnal sur- perature (0) while in the surrounding at-
face radiation inversion)* overnight that per- mosphere the potential temperature decreases
sists until surface solar heating begins to stir the with height.
atmosphere). Different lapse rates can either Figure 2 shows the situation when the tem-
promote or inhibit convection in the perature of the rising air parcel falls off more
atmosphere. rapidly with height than that of the surrounding
atmosphere. In Fig. 2(a) it can be seen that the
rising parcel will always be colder than its
Unsaturated vertical motion
surroundings and that its excess density will
The process of convection is a familiar one. It drag it back down to A; in this case the
occurs because air expands when heated, res- atmosphere is said to be stable. Figure 2(b)
ulting in a drop in density. Suppose that there shows that the atmosphere has a profile in
exists near the ground a region where the air is which the potential temperature increases
warmer than the surrounding air at the same upwards.
level; it will be less dense than its surroundings A neutral atmosphere is one where the lapse
and, like a balloon, will tend to rise. Similarly, if rates of the rising parcel and of the surrounding
there is a region higher up in the atmosphere air are identical. In general, it should be noted
where the air is cooler than its surroundings at that the lapse rates of the atmosphere vary
the same level, then the air there will tend to throughout the troposphere; the atmosphere
sink because it is relatively more dense. The net may consist of both stable and unstable regions
effect of these two processes is to transport heat in the same vertical profile.
upwards by convection.
Consider Fig. 1. The solid line AB in Fig.
Inversions
l(a) represents the dry adiabatic lapse rate and
shows the temperature (7') that a parcel of air Although the temperature generally decreases
would have if it were to rise upwards from A with height, there are circumstances when the
(corresponding to a drop in temperature of temperature can increase with height over short
9.8degC for each kilometre gain in height). distances. These have been briefly mentioned
Also in Fig. l(a) the broken line represents the above, and represent a meteorological phe-
temperature profile in that part of the at- nomenon called an inversion.
mosphere where the fall in temperature with The near-surface inversion is usually very
height is greater than 9.8degC for each kilo- short-lived. However, widespread anticyclonic
metre. Thus any parcel rising dry adiabatically descent can create an inversion (usually away
from A through such an atmosphere will always from the ground) that can persist for a few
be warmer than the surrounding atmosphere; days. Within an inversion, convection is
because it is warmer the density of the rising strongly inhibited and very little mixing of air
occurs across the inversion (see Fig. 3). As a
result (if the inversion is located near the
surface over a period of days), surface-gener-
* A nocturnal surface radiation inversion is one in ated pollutants can accumulate in the air layer
which the temperature (and potential temperature) nearest the ground instead of being dispersed
decreases rapidly towards the ground over a dis-
tance of a few metres or tens of metres; this results to higher levels.
from the night-time cooling of the surface layer of An inversion is brought about because the
the grourii4. potential temperature of the atmosphere gener-
138
 B

2bo
.-I
aJ
2
bo
c .I
aJ
c

T 0
Fig. 1 (a) Illustrating the concept of an unstable, unsaturated atmosphere. The line A B represents thefall in temperature
fl)with heightfollowing the d y adiabatic thatpasses throughA; this gives the temperaturethat an unsaturated airparcel
would have i f it were to ascendfiom the point A - the temperature falls by 9.8degC for each kilometre of ascent. If the line
A C represents the actual atmospheric temperature profile, then a parcel of air rising fiom A will be warmer than the
surrounding environmental air, and so will continue to rise. (b) Illustrates the concept in terms of the dy-bulb potential
temperature (0) - the parcel maintains its potential temperature while rising, and encounters air with a lower potential
temperature.

I C
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

Fig. 2 (a) Illustrating the concept of a stable, unsaturated atmosphere. The line AB represents the fall in temperature
f l )with heightfollowing the d y adiabatic that passes throughA; this gives the temperaturethat an unsaturated airparcel
would have i f it were to ascend from the point A - the temperature falls by 9.8desfor each kilometre of ascent. I f the line
A C represents the actual atmospheric temperature profile, then a parcel of air rising from A will be colder than the
surrounding environmental air, and so will tend to stop rising, and descend. 0) Illustrates the concept in terms of the dy-
bulb potential temperature (El) - the parcel maintains its potential temperature while rising, and encounters air with a
higher potential temperature.

139
 \ c
1
\
\ r
\
\
2 E
.-M
A
a D \I' *

A
-

Fig. 3 Illustrating the inhibition of vertical ascent (con- Fig. 4 Illustrating the concept of a conditionally stable
vection) of air across an inversion. The broken line atmosphere. The line AB represents the lapse rate of an
A D B C represents the variation of temperature with unsaturated parcel (r) ascending through a n environ-
height ofthe air at an instant in time, with the section DB ment in which the potential temperature (0) increases
being the inversion layer. The line D E denotes the slightly with height (line AC). However, if the ascending
temperature that a n air parcel would have if lifted dry parcel of air is saturated, then it follows the curve AH,
adiabatically from the base of the inversion (a fall of with a lapse rate r,; in this case the potential temperature
9. SdegC per kilometre of ascent). The temperature along of the parcel increases more rapidly with height, to the
D E is lower (at any particular height) than the tevnpera- extent that the air parcel will be warmer than the
ture along DB; hence air rising from D will find itself environment. Therefore, the environment is stable with
cooler (and more dense) than its environment and will respect to dry ascent, but unstable with respect to satu-
tend to sink back down to D. The decrease of temperature rated ascent.
of a n air column with height is usually nearer 6degC per
kilometre over the depth ofthe troposphere, i.e. from about
+1S"C near the ground to about -55°C around
200mbar (about 12km above the ground); if the air near Saturated vertical motion
the tropopause is forced to descend (over a large area)
then it will warm at a rate of 9.8degC per kilometre, A saturated airmass cools at a rate rs (the
resulting in the inversion or 'discontinuity' in the environ- saturated adiabatic lapse rate) that is lower than
mental temperature. the rate (the adiabatic lapse rate). Thus an
environment in which the lapse rate is greater
than r, but less than will aid the ascent of
saturated parcels, but not that of unsaturated
parcels - see Fig. 4. In this state (a common
ally increases with height, although the rate of one in the atmosphere) the atmosphere is said
increase with height is small enough for the to be conditionally unstable. The con-
actual temperature to decrease with height. Un- sequences of ascent (and descent) of a satu-
der conditions of large-scale descent, however, rated atmosphere will be considered further in
this vertical gradient of potential temperature Part 3 of this series.
may be increased as air of high potential tem-
perature is pushed downwards, to the point
Acknowledgements
where this vertical gradient increases suffi-
ciently to allow the actual temperature to in- I am indebted to the referees, and to Dr G. R.
crease with height, over a short vertical distance. Bigg and Dr M. Pedder whose comments and
This will be examined further in Part 3 of this suggestions have led to a much-improved series
series. of articles.
140