GEOG 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Atmospheric Instability, Rain Shadow, Natural Convection
Document Summary
Precipitation mean and variability (seasonal, diurnal, interannual) Air will rise if there is atmospheric instability - convective, conditional. Warm air can be stable (not tending to rise) if it becomes saturated and condensation occurs, latent heat will be released to become sensible heat. The latter (sensible heat) will warm air and promote instability. Orographic, due to air rising and being forced. Continued condensation may produce rain or snow. In lee (facing away of wind) of mountains it is really dry; (eastern colorado, eastern new mexico). Rainshadow (describes the dry region in lee of mountains), desert like. January, precipitation is at its peak (southern hemisphere/winter) July, precipitation is at its peak (northern hemisphere/summer) Both of these are products of the movement of the itcz, the sun, and the hadley. Sun provides energy, that sparks hadley cell, and heart of cell is the. Vapour content is high over tropical oceans and itcz. Water vapor content is low over the continents.
