What makes air stable or unstable?
2 min read
Asked by: Renee Moore
What makes air stable or unstable? It is the vertical profile of temperature, or lapse rate of the atmosphere, which determines whether an air mass is stable or not.
What makes the air stable?
The atmosphere is said to be absolutely stable if the environmental lapse rate is less than the moist adiabatic lapse rate. This means that a rising air parcel will always cool at a faster rate than the environment, even after it reaches saturation.
How do you know if air is stable or unstable?
Stable air means that the weather is likely to be calm. It may rain or snow slowly and steadily, it may be sunny, but the weather will not change quickly. Unstable air means that the weather might change quickly with very little warning. Unstable air leads to sudden thunderstorms.
What causes unstable air conditions?
Air is considered unstable, in the lowest layers of an air mass when the air is warmer and or more humid than the surrounding air. When this occurs the air will rise, as that air parcel is warmer than the air surrounding it. In an unstable environment, the weather can change suddenly and can be violent.
What conditions cause a stable air mass?
Due to their static nature, stable air masses are characterized by certain atmospheric conditions.
- Cloud Cover. Because stable air masses are, by nature, calm and free of violent disturbances, they are often marked by the appearance of stratiform clouds or fog. …
- Smooth Air. …
- Uninterrupted Precipitation. …
- Low Visibility.
What are four characteristics of stable air?
What are the characteristics of stable air? A—Good visibility; steady precipitation; stratus clouds. B—Poor visibility; steady precipitation; stratus clouds.
What is stability and instability?
Stability is the state in which an air parcel finds itself colder than the air surrounding it at the same pressure (elevation). The air parcel will spontaneously sink. Instability is the state in which an air parcel finds itself warmer than the air surrounding it at the same pressure (elevation).
Why is moist air unstable?
As a result of the latent heat that is released during water vapor condensation, moist air has a relatively lower adiabatic lapse rate than dry air. This makes moist air generally less stable than dry air (see convective available potential energy [CAPE]).
What are characteristics of an unstable air mass?
Unstable air masses have cumuliform clouds which are clouds that stretch vertically up and down. They have staggering precipitation rather than having steady precipitation. They have rough air that causes turbulence and they have good visibility unless there are blowing obstructions in the air.
