Atmospheric Thermodynamics Flashcards
7 cards from real CBM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Atmospheric Thermodynamics flashcards as text
Which conditions most favor a strong surface-based radiation inversion overnight?
Answer: Clear skies, light winds, and dry air
Clear, calm, dry nights let the ground lose longwave radiation efficiently and cool the air just above it.
A subsidence inversion is most commonly associated with which feature?
Answer: Sinking air within a high-pressure system
Air sinking under high pressure warms by compression and dries, creating a warm, dry inversion aloft.
What is the convective temperature on a sounding?
Answer: The surface temperature needed for a parcel to rise freely and form cumulus without forced lifting
Once the surface reaches the convective temperature, surface heating alone can start free convection and cumulus formation.
A 'loaded gun' sounding typically features what?
Answer: Moist low levels capped by a warm, dry elevated mixed layer with steep lapse rates above
A cap holds back rich low-level moisture under steep mid-level lapse rates, so large instability builds until the cap breaks.
Why do forecasters watch the wet-bulb zero height for hail?
Answer: A lower wet-bulb zero means less melting, so hail is more likely to reach the ground
A low wet-bulb zero, often about 7,000-10,000 ft, reduces melting of falling hailstones.
Which vertical temperature profile produces freezing rain?
Answer: A deep warm layer aloft above a shallow subfreezing layer at the surface
Snow fully melts in a deep warm layer, then the drops supercool in a shallow cold surface layer and freeze on contact.
On a sunny summer afternoon, the lowest few hundred meters often show a lapse rate greater than 9.8°C/km. What is this called?
Answer: Superadiabatic lapse rate
Strong surface heating can make temperature drop faster than the dry adiabatic rate near the ground, which is absolutely unstable.