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Atmospheric instability is a condition where the Earth's atmosphere is considered to be unstable and as a result local weather is highly variable through distance and time. [ clarification needed ] [ 1 ] Atmospheric instability encourages vertical motion, which is directly correlated to different types of weather systems and their severity.
Unstable modes have height, vorticity, vertical velocity, and several other atmospheric parameters with contours that tilt westward with height, though temperature contours tilt eastward with height for unstable modes. A poleward heat flux is observed in unstable modes, yielding the positive feedback necessary for cyclogenesis. Low pressure ...
A stable atmosphere makes vertical movement difficult, and small vertical disturbances dampen out and disappear. In an unstable atmosphere, vertical air movements (such as in orographic lifting , where an air mass is displaced upwards as it is blown by wind up the rising slope of a mountain range) tend to become larger, resulting in turbulent ...
The temperature profile of the atmosphere, the change in temperature, the degree that it cools with height, is the lapse rate. When the rising air parcel cools more slowly than the surrounding atmosphere, it remains warmer and less dense.
Unstable areas are in yellow (slightly) and red (highly) while the stable zone is in blue. The lifted index ( LI ) is the temperature difference between the environment Te(p) and an air parcel lifted adiabatically Tp(p) at a given pressure height in the troposphere (lowest layer where most weather occurs) of the atmosphere , usually 500 hPa ( mb ).
The quick cooldown during an eclipse briefly reduces the amount of heat stored in the atmosphere. Heat forces air to rise and makes the atmosphere unstable. The atmosphere then creates clouds ...
According to the American National Center for Atmospheric Research, "The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480 × 10 18 kg with an annual range due to water vapor of 1.2 or 1.5 × 10 15 kg, depending on whether surface pressure or water vapor data are used; somewhat smaller than the previous estimate.
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