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Chapter - 6

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The latent heat of a substance is the heat absorbed

or released without change of temperature when the
substance changes state. Latent heat differs
according to the state of the substance. When ice
changes to water or water vapour, or water changes
to water vapour, latent heat is absorbed.

When water vapour changes to water or ice, or water

changes to ice, latent heat is released.

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Evaporation
◦ Evaporation is the change of state from liquid to vapour.
vapour. Latent heat is absorbed.
◦ Evaporation can occur at any temperature. For a particular temperature there is a particular amount of water per unit volume that the
air can hold. When this maximum is reached, evaporation will cease.

Saturation
◦ Air becomes saturated by adding more water vapour to it. Alternatively, as warm air can hold more water vapour than cold,
saturation can be achieved by cooling the air.
◦ Air is saturated if it contains the maximum amount of water vapour that it can hold at that temperature. If saturated air is cooled,
condensation will occur.

Condensation
◦ Condensation is the change of state from vapour to liquid. Latent heat is released.
◦ Condensation causes cloud and fog to form. Condensation will require minute impurities or particles called hygroscopic or
condensation nuclei; these are usually present in abundance in the troposphere.

Freezing
◦ If the water droplet is cooled below zero, then it may change state again to ice. The process is called freezing. Freezing
requires the presence of freezing nuclei; these are less common in the troposphere than condensation nuclei, so it is
possible to have water droplets in the atmosphere with temperatures below 0° 0 ° C. These are known as supercooled water
droplets and give us the icing hazard discussed in Chapter 16.

Melting
◦ The opposite change of state, from solid to liquid, is called melting. (There is no superfrozen state).

Sublimation
◦ Sublimation is the change of state directly from water vapour to ice without water droplets being formed. Latent heat is
released. This process is also known as deposition.
◦ The change of state from ice directly to water vapour is also called sublimation.

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Absolute Humidity
◦ is the weight of water vapour in unit volume of air. Absolute Humidity is usually expressed in g/m3 .

Humidity Mixing Ratio (HMR)

◦ is the weight of water vapour contained in unit mass of dry air. The Humidity Mixing Ratio is usually
expressed in g/kg. In unsaturated air, HMR remains constant during ascent while temperature and pressure
decreases.

Saturation Mixing Ratio (SMR)

◦ is the maximum amount of water vapour a unit mass of dry air can hold at a specified temperature.

Relative Humidity (RH).

◦ or more simply, the amount of water vapour present in a

volume of air divided by the maximum amount of water
vapour which that volume could hold at that temperature
expressed as a percentage.

◦ RH 100% = SATURATION

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This is more accurately the (Wegener)-Bergeron-Findeissen theory, named after the 3

scientists who discovered the relationship. Figure below, shows the partial pressure of water
vapour at saturation for temperatures from -30°C to +40°C.

As we already know, the maximum amount of water vapour the air can hold and hence the
partial water vapour pressure at saturation decreases as temperature decreases.

The small sub-diagram shows that at temperatures below 0°C the partial pressure at saturation
for the formation of water is greater than the partial pressure for the formation of ice. This
means that the air becomes saturated for the formation of ice before it becomes saturated for
the formation of water. In other words at temperatures below zero the water vapour will go
directly to the solid state without first going through the liquid state (the converse also
applies). This may be stated as: “the saturation vapour pressure over water is greater than over
ice”.

The table shows the same effect in terms of relative humidity for water
and ice, for example, at -10°C when the air is saturated for the formation
of ice the relative humidity for water is 91%. The effect of this is that when
supercooled water droplets exist (at temperatures below 0°C), the water
droplets will evaporate saturating the air (for the formation of ice) and the
water vapour will now sublime out as ice. This effect is important in the
formation of precipitation in clouds when the temperature is below 0°C
and in the formation of fog.

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Atmospheric humidity is measured using a dry bulb and wet bulb hygrometer or psychrometer
or an electrical hygrometer.

The dry bulb and wet bulb hygrometer or psychrometer comprises two thermometers. The dry
bulb thermometer gives the ambient temperature. The wet bulb thermometer has, around its
bulb, a muslin cloth the other end of which is in a reservoir of distilled water. The water rises
up the muslin and evaporates drawing heat from the bulb and hence reducing its temperature.
So the wet bulb thermometer gives the lowest temperature to which the air can be cooled by
the evaporation of water. The rate at which the water evaporates depends on the relative
humidity. With high relative humidity the rate of evaporation will be slow so the wet bulb
temperature will be relatively high. Conversely if the air is dry the evaporation will be rapid and
the wet bulb temperature will be much lower than the dry bulb temperature.

Dry-
Dry-bulb and Wet-
Wet-bulb Hygrometer or Psychrometer

◦ If air is dry, water will evaporate from the muslin covering the wet bulb and latent heat will lower the
temperature.

◦ If air is saturated, no evaporation will occur and thermometers will read the same.

◦ Dew point, relative humidity and HMR are read from tables or slide rule by entering with the two
temperatures obtained.

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Dew point (DP) is the temperature to which

air must be cooled at constant pressure for
saturation to occur.

Note that the dew point temperature is not
the same as the wet bulb temperature (except
at saturation).
◦ The dew point has a lapse rate of 0.5°
0.5°C/1000 ft
◦ Wet bulb = dry bulb (= dew point) – 100% RH (saturation)

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By day, as the temperature increases, RH will decrease because the

maximum amount of water vapour air can hold increases as the
temperature rises.

After 1500 hrs, the temperature will start to fall and the maximum
amount of water vapour the air can hold will fall and thus the RH will
increase.

The higher RH at night is the
reason for the formation of mist and
fog after dark in autumn and winter.

RH is maximum
approximately 30 minutes
after sunrise when the
temperature is minimum.

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