the three phases of water
DESCRIPTION
The Three Phases of Water. Vapor - gas (invisible) Liquid - droplets (cloud and precipitation) Solid - ice crystals (snow, frost) extraordinary characteristic - exists in all 3 phases at the same time in the free atmosphere maximum content by % - 3 or 4% in Tropics - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Three Phases of Water
• Vapor - gas (invisible)
• Liquid - droplets (cloud and precipitation)
• Solid - ice crystals (snow, frost)– extraordinary characteristic - exists in all 3
phases at the same time in the free atmosphere– maximum content by % - 3 or 4% in Tropics– many ways to measure (Td, Tw, RH, e/es)
Water Measurements
The Three Phases of Water
• The Relative part of RH– depends on actual water content– depends on air temperature
• in a typical day: RH max when T is minimum
• RH min when T is maximum– provided no change of moisture content
• Dewpoint Temperature– depends only on actual water content
The Water Cycle
The Three Phases of Water
• Making a cloud– Three ingredients
• water vapor (source of water to be evaporated)
• cooling mechanism (lifting by bouyancy or topography)
• condensation nuclei (most common forms are dust and sea salt - hygroscopic)
• Making it rain/snow– Two processes (warm/cold cloud)
Non Precipitating Water
• Dew
• Frost
• Guttation