CLIMATOLOGY/KAJI

IKLIM
AIB 1012

DR. SHEEBA NETTUKANDY CHENOLI

Department of Geography
sheeba@um.edu.my
HUMIDITY, CONDENSATION, AND
CLOUDS
 TODAY’S CLASS

➔ Moisture variables

➔ Diurnal variation of Moisture

variables

➔ Lapse rate and atmospheric

stability
➔ Cloud formation
➔ Different types of clouds
 PHASE CHANGES OF WATER

• One of the most important of atmospheric constituents is water,

which moves within the air in vapor, liquid, and solid forms.

• Water is a critical part of the global ecosystem as well as climate

system.

• Water serves an important regulatory function in climate patterns

and processes because it moderates temperature.

• Water vapor in the atmosphere is important because it absorbs

longwave radiation.

• As water vapor moves around the planet in atmospheric currents,

the effect is to moderate surface temperature.
 CHANGE OF STATE OF WATER

Latent heat of freezing 80 calories (cal) of heat

Latent heat of melting 80 cal of latent heat
• Evaporation: The process through which water Latent heat of vaporization : 600 cal for every 1 g of water
Latent heat of sublimation 680 cal of energy
changes from the liquid to vapor phase.
latent heat of condensation600 cal of energy are released
• Sublimation: The process through which water
changes directly from ice to the vapor phase.

• Condensation: The process through which

water changes from the vapor to liquid phase.

• Deposition: The process by which water vapor

changes directly to ice.
 SOURCES OF MOISTURE IN THE
ATMOSPHERE

• Evaporation from oceans, lakes, rivers & soil

• Transpiration from plants and other vegetation

• Perspiration from people and animals.

• Sublimation: change from ice to water vapor

 MOISTURE VARIABLES

• Humidity refers to any one of a number of ways of specifying the amount of water vapor in the air.
• Saturation humidity: Maximum amount of water the atmosphere can hold for a given temperature

– Saturation humidity depends primarily on

temperature of the atmosphere
– Cold temperatures
• Can hold little water
• Large temperature change doesn’t add
much water
– Warm temperatures
• Can hold lots of water
• Small temperature changes produces
large change in how much water
atmosphere can hold
– Global warming scenario
• Showers, torrential rainfall, cloudburst,
 MOISTURE VARIABLES
• The concept of humidity: the
concentration of water vapor
within the air.
• Relative humidity The ratio
between the specific and
maximum humidity of a
definable body of air (Rh %)
Maximum humidity: The maximum amount of water
vapor that a definable body of air can hold at a given
temperature.
Specific humidity The mass of water vapor to the total
mass of moist air. gm kg-1
Absolute humidity: The weight (mass) of the water
contained in specific volume of air in the parcel (water
vapor density) kg/m 3
 RELATIVE HUMIDITY

• Relative humidity is the ratio of air’s water-vapor

content to its capacity to hold water vapor at that same
temperature.
• Relative humidity indicates how near the air is to
saturation, not the actual quantity of water vapor in the
air.

• Relative Humidity varies with temperature.

• Cooling air increases its relative humidity.

• Warming air decreases its relative humidity.

Diurnal Variation of Relative humidity
 MOISTURE VARIABLES-DEW-POINT
TEMPERATURE

The temperature at which condensation occurs in a definable body of air.

• It represents the temperature to which air

would have to be cooled (with no change in
air pressure or moisture content) for
saturation to occur.

• Since atmospheric pressure varies only

slightly at the earth’s surface, the dew point
is a good indicator of the air’s actual water
vapor content.

• High dew points indicate high water vapor

content; low dew points, low water vapor
content.
Always less than or equal to
the actual temperature
 MEASURING HUMIDITY

• Hair hygrometer – measures humidity based on the change in

length of a piece of human hair

Human hair changes by as much as 4% in length between 0

and100% relative humidity

• Sling Psychrometer – measures the rate at which water

evaporates from a wet wick

-One thermometer measures air temp (dry bulb)

-The bottom of one thermometer is wrapped in a wet

cloth

-That thermometer measures the temperature relative

to the rate of EVAPORATION
CALCULATION OF RH

Td Tw Difference

22 16 6

13
CALCULATION OF DEWPOINT TEMPERATURE

Td Tw Difference

24 14 10

14
 RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND DEW POINT

• Relative humidity is strongly dependent on air temperature;

• The dew point is a conservative measure of the moisture content of the air.

• Therefore, dew point is a better way to represent the moisture content of the air.

• Relative humidity is inversely related to air temperature; the dew point is not

• The highest value of relative humidity usually occurs just after sunrise .

• The lowest value of relative humidity usually occurs in the mid-afternoon

RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND DEW POINT
 LAPSE RATE

− The lapse rate is the rate at which an atmospheric variable, normally

temperature in Earth's atmosphere, falls with altitude. Lapse rate
arises from the word lapse, in the sense of a gradual fall.
− In dry air, the adiabatic lapse rate is 9.8 °C/km

17
 DRY ADIABATIC AND MOIST
ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
The adiabatic process refers to the heating or cooling of parcels of air that occurs solely as a
result of pressure change.

• In the troposphere, air temperature decreases with height

• Rising air expands due to the decreasing atmospheric pressure and cools as it expands

• Similarly, descending air will warm as it is compresses due to the increasing atmospheric pressure

• The process by which changes in air temperature occur solely as a result of changes in atmospheric pressure is
called an adiabatic process

• When air is heated or cooled adiabatically and no condensation occurs, air temperature will follow the dry
adiabatic lapse rate which equals about 10°C which equals about 10°C per kilometer (or about 5.5°F per 1000
feet)
 DRY ADIABATIC AND MOIST
ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE

• However, rising air will cool and it is possible that it will reach the dew point temperature (a relative
humidity of 100%)

• At that point, or the lifting condensation level (LCL) moisture will condense from the air and the air
temperature will follow the wet adiabatic lapse rate which ranges from between 4°C and 9°C kilometer

• The wet adiabatic lapse rate will be lower for warmer air since there is more moisture to condense
 DRY ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE (DAR OR
ΓD) AND MOIST ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
(WAR/ ΓM)
• There are two adiabatic rates for a vertically moving parcel, depending on moisture conditions of the parcel:

• Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate (DAR or Γd) – the rate at which rising dry air cools by expansion or falling dry warms by compression

-Used for air that is not saturated (has a RH < 100%)

-Has an average value of 10 C/km

• Moist Adiabatic Lapse Rate (WAR/ Γm) – rate at which rising moist air cools by expansion or falling moist air warms by
compression

-used for saturated air (RH = 100%)

-Has an average value of 6 C/km

-This is lower that the DAR b/c of the latent heat of condensation
LAPSE RATES
◦ Adiabatic lapse rate
◦ Dry adiabatic lapse rate ~ 100 C/km
◦ Moist adiabatic lapse rate ~ 60 C/km
◦ Remember: Dry > Moist always
no heat is added or taken away from the parcel
◦ Environmental lapse rate
Actual lapse rate differ from dry and saturated lapse rate (~ 6.5 C/km)
 ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY
Why does the air rise on some occasions and not on others?

: A: because of different atmospheric stability conditions

◦ Stable: parcel moves back

◦ vertical motion is inhibited if clouds form, they will be shallow,
layered clouds like stratus
◦ Unstable: parcel moves away from the original position
DRY ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
STABLE ATMOSPHERE (DALR<ELR,
SALR<ELR)

• An absolutely stable
atmosphere exists when a rising
air parcel is colder and heavier
(i.e., more dense) than the air
surrounding it.
• If given the chance (i.e.,
released) the air parcel in both
situations would return to its
original position, the surface.
AN UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE (ELR > DALR,
ELR>SALR)

• when a rising air parcel is warmer

and lighter (i.e., less dense) than
the air surrounding it.

• If given the chance (i.e.,released),

the lifted parcel in both (a) and
(b) would continue to move away
(accelerate) from its original
position
 CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE AIR

• conditional instability exists • The condition for conditional instability

is:
whenever the environmental lapse
• Γd> Γe> Γm
rate is between the dry and moist
• The unsaturated parcel will be cooler
adiabatic rates
than then environment and will sink
back to the ground

• The saturated parcel will be warmer

than the environment and will continue
to ascend
WHAT IS A CLOUD ?
◦ Clouds are composed of tiny water droplets from condensation onto CLOUD CONDENSATION NUCLEI
◦ For clouds to produce precipitation, cloud droplets must get bigger

The water vapour (gas) then condenses to form

tiny water droplets (liquid), and it is the water
that makes the cloud visible. These droplets are
so small that they stay suspended in the air.
CLOUD FORMATION

◦ The formation of clouds depends on atmospheric instability and vertical motion but it also involves microscale
processes :
◦ Condensation nuclei
Hygroscopic nuclei
CONDENSATION NUCLEI
◦ Condensation nuclei are tiny particles in the air on which water vapor condenses and
they are the key to making clouds, fog, haze, rain, and other forms of precipitation
◦ Small condensation nuclei (<0.2micrometer) - Aitken Nuclei
◦ Larger condensation nuclei (0.2 - 1.0 micrometer) are called giant nuclei
◦ Condensation nuclei most favourable for producing clouds (>1.0 micrometer) are
called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN)
WHAT CAUSES THE AIR TO RISE?

◦ The sun – The sun heats the ground, which then heats the air just above it, causing it to rise upwards in the sky (warm
air rises). This tends to produce cumulus clouds.

◦ Hills and mountains - When air is travelling towards a mountain or hill, it cannot go into the hill and so it rises upwards
along the terrain. Stratus clouds are often produced this way.

◦ Weather fronts - A weather 'front' is where warm air meets cold air. The warm air rises up and over the cold air (warm
air rises). This produces nimbostratus clouds, amongst others.

◦ Convergence - Streams of air flowing towards each other from different directions are forced to rise when they meet, or
converge. This can cause cumulus cloud and showery conditions.

◦ Turbulence - A sudden change in wind speed high up can create circulations in the air which can bring the air at the
surface high up into the sky.
CLOUD FORMATION Convective Cloud
Adequate supply of moist air at low level.
Conditionally unstable lapse rate at least through
a few thousand feet.
Sufficient heating to critical temperature to lift air
to the level of free convection

Orographic Cloud
• Forced lifting along
a topographic barrier is called orographic
uplift.
• Moist air.
• Terrain high enough to lift the air to the
condensation level.
• Stable environmental lapse rate

Frontal lifting where air is forced to rise up a

frontal surface where two air masses are in
Convergence in depressions and troughs. contact such as warm fronts, cold fronts and
occluded fronts.
TOPOGRAPHY AND CLOUDS

◦ orographic uplift
◦ rain shadow
• The rain shadow works for snow
too. Due to frequent
westerly winds, the western slope
of the Rocky Mountains
receives much more precipitation
than the eastern slope.
CONDENSATION AT THE SURFACE : DEW AND
FROST
◦ Dew embun
◦ Frost fros
◦ Fog kabus

• Frost is one of the few examples of deposition in nature.

 FOG
◦ Radiation fog:
cooling from ground- land fog- valley
diurnal variation
◦ Advection fog: warm, moist air over cold surface sea coast-cold
ocean currents near the warm currents
◦ Upslope fog: Moist air move upwards on the terrain
◦ Evaporation (mixing) fog when moist air from your mouth or
nose meets the cold air and mixes with it
◦ Haze: hygroscopic (`water seeking’) condensation nuclei allows
water vapor to condense when RH is below 100%
◦ Haze is simply a condition resulting when a large quantity of
aerosols obscure distant objects

Mostly negative effects

 FOGGY WEATHER
◦ coastal vs. interior areas • Some airports use fog-dispersal equipment.
◦ hazard to aircraft
CLOUDS
CLASSIFICATION OF CLOUDS
◦ major cloud types
low, middle, high, vertical
◦ cloud appearance
sheet like, puffy, wispy, rain cloud
◦ cloud base
0-2 Km, 2-6 km, 6-10km

• It’s easy to identify clouds, but it takes practice.

The ability to identify clouds allows you to forecast
many aspects of the weather using nothing but your
eyes.
HIGH CLOUDS
◦ Cirrus: thin, wispy
Cirrus – fur like wispy
◦ Cirrocumulus: small, white puffs Cumulus- cauliflower like
◦ Cirrostratus: usually thin, often producing a halo Stratus- sheet like

• Cirrostratus clouds can sometimes be quite thick.

MIDDLE CLOUDS
◦ Altocumulus: gray, puffy (larger, darker than Cc)
◦ Altostratus: gray layer cloud with `watery sun’
(difference from Cs: darker, dimly visible, no ground
shallows)
LOW CLOUDS

◦ Nimbostratus
dark gray with light rain
◦ Stratocumulus:
larger cloud elements with lower cloud base
than Ac
◦ Stratus
uniform grayish cloud;
has a more uniform base than Ns;
has a lower base and dark gray than As;
SOME UNUSUAL CLOUDS
◦ lenticular clouds:
lens-like; UFO

◦ Pileus: `cap’
◦ mammatus clouds: baglike
◦ Contrails: condensation trail from engine
exhaust