CHAPTER 2: Precipitation Flashcards
That part of atmospheric moisture that falls on the earth surface
Precipitation
10 Types of Precipitation
- Rain
- Ice crystals
- Sleet
- Freezing rain
- Snow
- Snow grains
- Graupel
- Hail
- Drizzle
- Freezing Fog
Water droplets in clouds are formed
by nucleation of vapor on aerosols,
then go through many condensationevaporation cycles as they circulate
in the cloud, until they aggregate into
large enough drops to fall through
the cloud base.
Sublimation nuclei
a process of artificially nucleating clouds to induce precipitation.
Cloud seeding
a common nucleating agent and is spread from
aircraft in which a silver iodide solution is evaporated with a propane
flame to produce particles.
Silver iodide
fusion or coalescence of water droplets as a result of their coming in
contact through the action on them of air movement and
gravitational pull.
COALESCENCE
- Ice crystals and water droplets are known to co-exist in the atmosphere at _______temperatures.
sub-freezing
Type of precipitation: air is drawn upwards by convective action, such as in the center of a thunderstorm cell
Convective precipitation
Type of precipitation: where warm air is lifted over cooler air by frontal passage
Frontal precipitation
Type of precipitation: an air mass rises to pass over a mountain range
Orographic precipitation
4 types of Precipitation
- Convective Precipitation
- Frontal Precipitation
- Orographic Precipitation
- Cyclonic Precipitation
the simplest method of determining areal average rainfall which
involves averaging the rainfall depths recorded at a number of
gages.
Arithmetic Average
3 Methods in Estimation of Areal Precipitation
a. Arithmetic Average
b. Thiessen Method
c. Isohyetal Method
