When dry air is lifted, the temperature drops at the dry adiabatic lapse rate. If the lifted air is moist and eventually becomes saturated, then water vapor will start to condense. Energy is released when water vapor turns from solid to liquid (opposite of needing to add energy to liquid to make it evaporate, such as when you have to turn up the temperature on a stove to boil water). This release of energy - the "latent heat of vaporization" - warms the air, so the lapse rate is less for saturated air.
Stability prevails when the environmental lapse rate is less than the adiabatic lapse rate. This means that the temperature of the surrounding air decreases at a slower rate with altitude compared to the dry or moist adiabatic lapse rates, resulting in a more stable atmosphere.
That statement describes the environmental lapse rate of saturated air, also known as the moist adiabatic lapse rate. This rate signifies how quickly the temperature of saturated air changes as it ascends or descends through the atmosphere under adiabatic conditions. The specific value of 0.6 degrees Celsius per 100 meters is a typical approximation for the moist adiabatic lapse rate.
When the environmental lapse rate is between the dry and moist adiabatic lapse rates, conditions are described as conditionally unstable. This means that the atmosphere is stable when unsaturated and unstable when saturated, indicating the potential for convective storms to develop under the right conditions.
The rate at which adiabatic cooling occurs with increasing altitude for wet air (air containing clouds or other visible forms of moisture) is called the wet adiabatic lapse rate, the moist adiabatic lapse rate, or the saturated adiabatic lapse rate.
There are two types of adiabatic lapse rates...wet and dry. (wet is also referred to as saturated or moist) To the extent that the cloudiness your question refers to represents saturated air, then no, the wet adiabatic lapse rate would be lower (approximately 1.5C/1000') than the dry adiabatic lapse rate (approximately 3C/1000').
I think maritime polarWhen dry air is lifted, the temperature drops at the dry adiabatic lapse rate. If the lifted air is moist and eventually becomes saturated, then water vapor will start to condense. Energy is released when water vapor turns from solid to liquid (opposite of needing to add energy to liquid to make it evaporate, such as when you have to turn up the temperature on a stove to boil water). This release of energy - the "latent heat of vaporization" - warms the air, so the lapse rate is less for saturated air.
environmental lapse rate involves the actual temperature of the atmosphere at various heights. adiabatic cooling is the cooling of air caused when air is not allowed to expand or compress.
- Moist air has water vapor in it. - As a moist air parcel rises, the water vapor will condense (latent heat of condensation) - latent heat is released, meaning a temperature increase occurs within that air parcel, effectively dampening its lapse rate. Thus, the latent heat of condensation is working to decrease the lapse rate because sensible heat is being released in the process; its called the Moist Adiabatic Rate (MAR) In contrast, the Dry Adiabatic Rate (DAR) considered for Dry air (no water vapor) does not involve condensation, and thus no latent heat is released; meaning the lapse rate is unaffected.
The adiabatic lapse rate refers to the rate at which temperature changes with altitude in a parcel of dry or moist air when there is no exchange of heat with the surroundings. The dry adiabatic lapse rate is approximately 10°C per 1000 meters for dry air, while the moist adiabatic lapse rate varies with humidity but is generally lower due to the release of latent heat during condensation.
less than the wet adiabotic rate
lapse rate
The saturated adiabatic lapse rate is lower than the dry adiabatic lapse rate because during the process of condensation, heat is released into the atmosphere, which partially offsets the cooling effect of rising air. This release of heat makes the cooling rate of saturated air less than that of dry air as it ascends through the atmosphere.