absolute instability

From Glossary of Meteorology
  1. The state of a column of air in the atmosphere when it has a superadiabatic lapse rate of temperature (i.e., greater than the dry-adiabatic lapse rate).
    An air parcel displaced vertically would be accelerated in the direction of the displacement. The kinetic energy of the parcel would consequently increase with increasing distance from its level of origin.
    See parcel method, conditional instability, absolute stability.
  2. (Also called mechanical instability.) The state of a column of air in the atmosphere when its lapse rate of temperature is greater than the autoconvective lapse rate.
    In such a column the air density would increase with elevation.
    See also autoconvection.
Retrieved from "https://glossary.ametsoc.org/w/index.php?title=Absolute_instability&oldid=30592"
Powered by MediaWiki
Powered by WikiTeq
Powered by Semantic MediaWiki
Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact [email protected]. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.