Precipitation Flashcards
What is precipitation?
Any form of moisture originating in the atmosphere that is transferred to the earth’s surface and exists as water in a condensed form
What are examples of liquid precipitation?
Rainfall, drizzle, dew
What are some examples of soild precipitation?
Snow, hail, frost
What are the four lifting mechanisms?
Convection, orthographic, convergence, frontal
What causes convective lifting?
Uneven heating of the ground surface, causing a air mass to become more buoyant than the surrounding air and it will rise
What is orographic lifting?
Rising air mass due to movement across a mountain range
Convergence lifting
In the center of low pressure systems, winds converge towards the center of the low. Since the air cannot go down into the earth, it much rise up. This lifting due to convergence leads to presence clouds and precipitation near low pressure centers
What is frontal lifting?
The meeting of a cold air and warm air front, the cold air forcing the warm up upwards
Where does most evaporation come from?
Oceans
What causes the movement of air masses?
Non-uniform heating of the planet, rotation of the planet from west to east
What occurs at the tropical cell?
Warm equator air rises and moves poleward, it cools, descends and branches to a return flow south and a continued flow north
What occurs at the polar cell?
Air rises at 60 degrees N and flows towards the pole, it cools and flows back near ground surface
What occurs at the middle cell?
Circulation of air between the tropical and polar cells
Where does the most precipitation occur?
The equator
What is the adiabatic lapse rate?
Decrease in temperature with elevation in atmosphere
