FOSMA NOTES ON METEOROLOGY- STABILITY OF AIR

Atmospheric Stability
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Interpret stability based on the dry and moist adiabatic lapse
rates
2. Understand how stability relates to vertical motion in the
atmosphere

Introduction
➢ When you think of the word “stable,” you typically think of an object that is
unlikely to change or something that is balanced.
➢ The opposite is true with something that is “unstable”.
➢ An unstable object is likely to fall or change position with time.
➢ The same is true with clouds.
➢ When you see a fluffy cumulus cloud, you might notice them changing
shape from one minute to the next.
➢ Such clouds are in a constant state of change, and thus represent the
atmosphere in an unstable state.

➢ Instability in the atmosphere is a concept that is intimately connected with

thunderstorms, cumulus development, and vertical motion.

➢ In order to visualize the concept of stability, you might imagine a boulder

sitting at the bottom of a canyon surrounded by steep hills, as depicted in the
figure below by the blue circle.

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➢ If you were strong enough to push the boulder from its initial position
partway up one of the hills, it would roll back to the bottom once you let go.

➢ Despite exerting a force on the boulder and causing an initial displacement,

it would return to its initial position, and the net displacement would be
zero.

➢ To visualize the concept of instability, imagine the same boulder at the top
of a hill (red circle below). If you were able to push the boulder just a little
bit in any direction, it would begin to roll downward and accelerate away
from its initial position.

➢ However, if the same boulder were to be placed on flat ground (green circle
below) and you were to push it, it would change position, but remain in its
new position. This is an example of neutral stability.

➢ Each of these concepts can be applied to motions of air parcels in the

atmosphere.

➢ The topic of stability in atmospheric science is important because the

formation of clouds is closely related to stability or instability in the
atmosphere.

➢ In this chapter we will connect these concepts to the buoyancy of air parcels,
and learn to use thermodynamic diagrams to visualize movement.

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Atmospheric Stability & Lapse Rates

Adiabatic Processes
When discussing stability in atmospheric sciences, we typically think about air
parcels, or imaginary blobs of air that can expand and contract freely, but do not
mix with the air around them or break apart. The key piece of information is that
movement of air parcels in the atmosphere can be estimated as an adiabatic
process.
Adiabatic processes do not exchange heat and they are reversible.
➢ Imagine you have a parcel of air at the Earth’s surface.
➢ The air parcel has the same temperature and pressure as the surrounding air,
which we will call the environment.

➢ If you were to lift

the air parcel, it would find
itself in a place where the
surrounding environmental
air pressure is lower,
because we know that
pressure decreases with
height.

➢ Because the environmental air pressure outside

the parcel is lower than the pressure inside the parcel, the air molecules
inside the parcel will effectively push outward on the walls of the parcel and
expand adiabatically.

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➢ The air molecules inside the parcel must use some of their own energy in
order to expand the air parcel’s walls, so the temperature inside the parcel
decreases as the internal energy decreases.

➢ To summarize, rising air parcels expand and cool adiabatically without

exchanging heat with the environment.

➢ Now imagine that you move the same air parcel back to Earth’s surface.
➢ The air parcel is moving into an environment with higher air pressure.

➢ The higher environmental pressure will push inward on the parcel walls,
causing them to compress, and raise the inside temperature.
➢ The process is adiabatic, so again, no heat is exchanged with the
environment. However, temperature changes in the air parcel can still occur,
but it is not due to mixing, it is due to changes in the internal energy of the
air parcel.

Dry Adiabatic Lapse

Rate (DALR)
➢ As long as an air parcel is
unsaturated (relative humidity <
100%), the rate at which its
temperature will change will be
constant.
➢ A decrease in temperature
with height is called a lapse
rate and while the temperature
decreases with altitude, it is defined as positive because it is a lapse rate.
➢ Recall that the Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate,(DALR) Γd, is equal to 9.8
K·km-1 = 9.8 °C·km-1.
➢ This drop in temperature is due to adiabatic expansion and a decrease in
internal energy.

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Let’s get back to the topic of atmospheric stability.

➢ Stability in the atmosphere refers to a condition of equilibrium.

➢ As discussed with the example of the boulder on a hill or valley, some initial
movement resulted in either more (unstable), less (stable), or no change
(neutral).
➢ Given some initial change in the elevation of an air parcel, if the air is in
stable equilibrium, the parcel will tend to return back to its original position
after it is forced to rise or sink.
➢ In an unstable equilibrium, an air parcel will accelerate away from its initial
position after being pushed.
➢ The motion could be upward or downward, but generally unstable
atmospheres favors vertical motions.
➢ Finally, in a neutral equilibrium, some initial change in the elevation of an
air parcel will not result in any additional movement.

Determining Stability
How do you know if an air parcel will be stable after some initial
displacement?
➢ Stability is determined by comparing the temperature of a rising or
sinking air parcel to the environmental air temperature.
➢ Imagine the following: at some initial time, an air parcel has the same
temperature and pressure as its environment.
➢ If you lift the air parcel some distance, its temperature drops by 9.8 K·km-1,
which is the Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate.(DALR)
➢ If the air parcel is colder than the environment in its new position, it will
have higher density and tend to sink back to its original position.
➢ In this case, the air is stable because vertical motion is resisted.
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➢ If the rising air is warmer and less dense than the surrounding air, it will
continue to rise until it reaches some new equilibrium where its temperature
matches the environmental temperature.
➢ In this case, because an initial change is amplified, the air parcel is
unstable.

How do you know if an air parcel will be unstable after some initial
displacement?

In order to figure out if the air parcel is unstable or not we must know the
temperature of both the rising air and the environment at different
altitudes.
➢ One way this is done in practice is with a weather balloon.
➢ We can get a vertical profile of the environmental lapse rate by releasing a
radiosonde attached to a weather balloon.

➢ A radiosonde sends back data on temperature, humidity, wind, and position,

which are plotted on a thermodynamic diagram. This vertical plot of
temperature and other variables is known as a sounding.

Dry Stability
➢ If an air parcel is dry, meaning unsaturated, stability is relatively
straightforward.
➢ An atmosphere where the environmental lapse rate is the same as the dry
adiabatic lapse rate, meaning that the temperature in the environment also
drops by 9.8 K·km-1, will be considered neutrally stable.
➢ After some initial vertical displacement, the temperature of the air parcel
will always be the same as the environment so no further change in position
is expected.

➢ If the environmental lapse rate is less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate, some
initial vertical displacement of the air parcel will result in the air parcel

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either being colder than the environment (if lifted), or warmer than the
environment (if pushed downward).

➢ This is because if lifted, the temperature of the air parcel would drop more
than the temperature of the environment.
➢ This is a stable situation for a dry air parcel and a typical scenario in the
atmosphere.
➢ The global average tropospheric lapse rate is 6.5 K·km-1, which is stable
for dry lifting.

➢ Finally, if the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic lapse
rate, some initial vertical displacement of the air parcel will result in the air
parcel either being warmer than the environment (if lifted), or colder than
the environment (if pushed downward).

➢ This is because if lifted, the temperature of the air parcel would drop less
than the temperature of the environment. This is an unstable situation for a
dry air parcel.

In general for a dry air parcel, the following is true.

Moist (Saturated) Adiabatic Lapse Rate (SALR)

➢ When moisture is added, everything gets more complicated.
➢ We learned that
whether or not an air parcel
is saturated depends
primarily on its temperature
and, of course, its moisture
content.
➢ The graph of the
Clausius-Clapeyron
relationship shows us that
given the same amount of
moisture, air is more likely
to be saturated at a lower temperature.

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➢ We know that as an air parcel is lifted, its temperature drops according to the
dry adiabatic lapse rate.

So what happens when the air parcel is cold enough that the air
becomes saturated with respect to water vapor?
The short answer is that if it continues to cool, water vapor will condense to
liquid water to form a cloud.

➢ When water vapor condenses, it goes from a higher energy state to a lower
energy state.
➢ Energy is never created nor destroyed, especially in phase changes, so what
happens to all that excess energy?

➢ The energy gets released in the form of latent heat.

➢ The latent heat of condensation is approximately equal to 2.5 * 106 J·kg-1,

which means that for every kg of water vapor that condenses to form liquid
water, 2.5 *106 Joules of energy are released.
➢ This has large consequences for the lapse rate of an air parcel and
distinguishes the dry adiabatic lapse rate from the moist adiabatic lapse rate.

➢ As latent heat is added from the process of condensation, it offsets some of

the adiabatic cooling from expansion.

➢ Because of this, the air parcel will no longer cool at the dry adiabatic lapse
rate, but will cool as a slower rate, known as the Moist (Saturated)
Adiabatic Lapse Rate. To summarize, a parcel will cool at the dry adiabatic
rate until it is saturated, after which it won’t cool as quickly due to
condensation.

➢ The moist adiabatic lapse rate varies a little by temperature, but in this class
we will consider it a constant for simplicity: Γm = 4.5 K·km-1 = 4.5 °C·km-1

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Moist Stability
➢ The effects of moisture change the lapse rate of the air parcel and, therefore,
affects stability.
➢ However, the concepts are still the same and we still compare the air parcel
temperature to the environmental temperature.
➢ We have just one added complication to worry about—we need to know
whether the air parcel is dry or moist. Some definitions are included below,
which take into account both dry and moist adiabatic lapse rates.

Absolutely Stable Atmosphere

The atmosphere is
said to
be absolutely
stable if the
environmental
lapse rate is less
than the dry
adiabatic lapse rate
(DALR) and moist (saturated) adiabatic lapse rate
(SALR).

(See (B) in the adjoining Fig) (Light Grey Area in the adjoining fig)

This
means
that a
rising air
parcel
will
always
cool at a

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faster rate than the environment, even after it reaches saturation. If an air parcel is
cooler at all levels, then it will not be able to rise, even after it becomes saturated
(when latent heating will counteract some cooling). Thus the parcel of air is colder
(and hence denser) than the surrounding air at that level would thus try to return
below to its original position.

Because this happens regardless of whether the parcel of air was originally
saturated or not, this condition is referred to as Absolute Stability of atmosphere.

Absolutely
Unstable
Atmosphere

The atmosphere is
said to
be absolutely
unstable if the environmental lapse rate is greater
than the dry adiabatic lapse rate (DALR) and
moist (saturated) adiabatic lapse rate (SALR). (ELR 2 in the figure).

(Light Pink Area in the adjoining fig) (Also A in the adjoining Figure)

This
means
that a
rising air
parcel
will
always
cool at a
slower

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rate than the environment, even when it is unsaturated. This means that it will be
warmer (and less dense) than the surrounding environment, and thus try to
continue upwards in the direction of the original disturbance.

Because this happens regardless of whether the parcel of air was originally
saturated or not, this condition is referred to as Absolute Instability of
atmosphere.

Conditionally Unstable
The atmosphere is
said to
be conditionally
unstable if the
environmental
lapse rate is
between the moist
and dry adiabatic
lapse rates. This
means that the actual lapse rate of the
environment is less than DALR but more than SALR. (See C in the
adjoining Figure) (Light Violet Area in the adjoining fig)

This means that the buoyancy (the ability of an air parcel to rise) of an air parcel
depends on whether or not it is saturated.
In a conditionally unstable atmosphere,

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➢ if the air parcel is dry, it will resist vertical motion when it is unsaturated,
because it will cool faster than the environment at the dry adiabatic lapse
rate. As this air is colder (and hence denser) than the surrounding air at the
same level, would try to return below to its original position, i.e it attains
stable equilibrium.

➢ If the air parcel is forced to rise and is able to become saturated, however, it
will cool at the moist adiabatic lapse rate. In this case, as the air is warmer
(and hence less dense) than the surrounding air at the same level, would try
to rise continue upwards in the direction of the original disturbance, i.e. it
attains stable equilibrium.

Because stability or instability , in this case, depends on whether the parcel is dry
or saturated, this condition is referred to as Conditional Stability.

Neutral Equilibrium of Air

When the parcel of air is dry , if the ELR (Environmental Lapse Rate) coincides
with the DALR (Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate) or when the parcel of air is saturated,
if the ELR (Environmental Lapse Rate) coincides with the SALR (Moist or
Saturated Adiabatic Lapse Rate) then the parcel of air which is displaced upwards,
is the same temperature as that of the surrounding air at the same level and would
have no tendency to return to its original position or to continue upwards in the line
of the original disturbance.

This condition is called Indifferent or Neutral Equilibrium.

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