What is a characteristic of stable air quizlet?
Explanation: characteristics of stable air: stratiform clouds, continuous precipitation, smooth air, poor visibility.
What is a typical characteristic of a stable air mass?
Stable air masses are also characterized by smooth, undisturbed air. This quality can be seen mainly by pilots or air travelers. People flying through stable air masses will not experience violent turbulence or disturbances as they would in unstable air masses.
What are characteristics of unstable air *?
What are characteristics of an unstable air mass?
| Unstable Air | Stable Air |
|---|---|
| Cumuliform clouds | Stratiform clouds and fog |
| Showery precipitation | Continuous precipitation |
| Rough air (turbulence) | Smooth air |
| Good visibility, except in blowing obstructions | Fair to poor visibility in haze and smoke |
What is associated with stable air?
Weather is strongly affected by how stable or unstable the atmosphere is. 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.
What are the 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. C—Poor visibility; intermittent precipitation; cumulus clouds.
What are the effects of stable air?
Stable atmosphere Drizzle occurs within a moist air mass when it is stable. Air within a stable layer is not turbulent. Conditions associated with a marine layer, a stable atmosphere common on the west side of continents near cold water currents, leads to overnight and morning fog.
How do you know if air is stable or unstable?
The clearest way to observe the difference between a stable and an unstable air mass is to look at the clouds: A stable atmosphere will have largely flat layers of cloud which, although they may exhibit some lumpiness, will not extend far upwards. There may be several such layers or occasionally, clear skies.
What causes stable air?
Normally in the atmosphere, if an air parcel rises, it will be colder than its environment (due to expansion), and it will then sink back down again. This is called a stable airmass. This condensation releases heat, which warms the air parcel, which can cause the parcel to rise higher still.
How do you know if a air is stable or unstable?
If the air comes back to where it started, the atmosphere is stable. If the air continues to rise the atmosphere is unstable. In the figure above the air in the parcel has ended up colder and denser than the surrounding air. In this case the parcel would sink back to the ground.
How do you know if atmosphere is stable?
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.
Are nimbostratus clouds stable or unstable?
Nimbostratus, unlike cumulonimbus, is not associated with thunderstorms, however at an unusually unstable warm front caused as a result of the advancing warm air being hot, humid and unstable, cumulonimbus clouds may be embedded within the usual nimbostratus.
What two conditions working together make the atmosphere the most unstable?
The difference between the cold parcel air and the warmer surroudings gets larger and larger with increasing altitude. Sunlight warms the ground and the air next to it during the day. This steepens the environmental lapse rate and makes the atmosphere more unstable. Cooling air above the ground has the same effect.
Which factor is most significant in the formation of clouds in the atmosphere?
the surface. When a cold, heavy air mass moves toward a warm one, it takes the “low road” near the surface and forces the warm air up and out of its way. The convergence of a cold air mass into the space occupied by a warm one can drive warm, moist air high into the atmosphere, forming tall cumulus clouds.
What is a stable atmosphere and how can it form?
What is a stable atmosphere and how can it form? The atmosphere is stable when the environmental lapse rate is small. Consequently, the atmosphere tends to become more stable as the air aloft warms or the surface air cools. Describe the general characteristics of clouds associated with stable and unstable atmospheres.
Which city has the greatest amount of water vapor in the air?
Incorrect; correct answer withheld by instructorPhoenix has the lowest relative humidity. Bismarck has the highest relative humidity, the lowest quantity of water vapor in the air, and the water vapor that is the closest to the saturation point. Tampa has the greatest quantity of water vapor in the air.
Which city has the lowest relative humidity?
The desert cities of Las Vegas and Phoenix top the list of major American cities with the lowest humidity. Las Vegas clearly ranks as the driest, with an average relative humidity level of just 30 percent. Phoenix joins in as the only other big city that averages less than 40 percent humidity.
Which type of cloud shows the greatest vertical growth?
Cumulus clouds of fair weather are called cumulus humilis. Those that exhibit much vertical growth are called cumulus congestus or towering cumulus.
What city has the highest relative humidity?
New Orleans