Atmospheric Stability

On some days the weather is characterised by vigorous vertical motions, producing deep
cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds, heavy showers and thunderstorms. At other times the sky is
overcast with a continuous layer of grey, featureless stratus cloud.
Air aloft is very cold, warmer air near the earth's surface will tend to rise. Indeed, it will
continue to rise until it reaches a level where it is no longer warmer than the surrounding
atmosphere. This type of atmosphere is termed unstable. If there is sufficient moisture for
clouds to form, an unstable atmosphere is characterised by convective clouds – cumulus and
cumulonimbus
If, however, the air aloft is warmer than the air below, any cold air at the surface that is pushed
upwards will find itself colder than its surroundings, and will sink back to the surface. Hence,
vertical motions are inhibited, and clouds tend to form in broad, flat layers. This type of
atmosphere is termed stable. If there is sufficient moisture for clouds to form, a stable
atmosphere is characterised by strati-form clouds such as stratus, altostratus and nimbostratus.
The nature of vertical motions in the atmosphere depends on two factors:
• Vertical temperature profile;
• Availability of moisture to form clouds.
One of the most common means of lifting air is referred to as buoyant lifting. When an air
parcel at the surface of the earth becomes warmer than the surrounding air, it will become less
dense than the surrounding air. The hotter, lower density air will tend to rise, and so we refer
to it as "buoyant". This air will continue to rise as long as it remains warmer than its
environment. A good example of this process is the formation of towering cumulus clouds over
Tucson nearly every afternoon during July and August. The heating of the surface by the sun
reaches a maximum in early afternoon, and this heating triggers rising motion at the surface
(i.e. convection).

The parcel is a specific group of air molecules that does not mix with the surrounding air (i.e.
the environment). Changes in the temperature of air within the parcel are only due to the
expansion/compression of the parcel, or due to latent heat released by water vapour condensing
in the parcel. The parcel doesn't "feel" the surrounding air temperature (remember the
definition of adiabatic).
To know if a rising parcel will remain buoyant and continue to rise means we need to know if
the parcel will remain warmer than its environment. The parcel cools as it rises. The
environment's temperature also cools as you go up. The key question is whether the parcel will
cool faster, or slower, than the environment. This means we compare the parcel's lapse rate (or
rate of cooling as you go up) with the environmental lapse rate.

Static stability - is how we determine if a parcel will remain buoyant or not. If we take an
imaginary parcel of air at some level in the atmosphere that is initially at rest (i.e. static) and
give it a slight upward push, it can either keep rising (unstable case), stay where it is (neutral
case) or sink back down (stable case). By comparing the environmental lapse rate to the dry
adiabatic lapse rate and the moist adiabatic lapse rate, we can determine if a parcel is warmer
than (buoyant, unstable case), colder than (not buoyant, stable case), or equal to the surrounding
air temperature.
An unsaturated parcel will rise, expand, and cool at a rate of 9.8ºC/km. If the parcel becomes
saturated, then the latent heat released by condensing water vapour will make the parcel cool
at a different, lesser rate - 4 to 7 ºC/km. These two rates, the dry and moist adiabatic lapse rates,
set limits on the temperature of a rising air parcel. We can use these limits to divide atmospheric
stability into three classes. Each class is determined by comparing the environment's lapse rate
(which we measure) with these theoretical limits.
Absolutely unstable:
If the environmental lapse rate is greater than 9.8ºC/km (i.e. greater than the dry adiabatic rate),
then any rising parcel, saturated or not, will be warmer than its environment. The parcel will
be buoyant in this case, and so the atmosphere is characterized as absolutely unstable.
Conditionally unstable:
If the environmental lapse rate lies in the range between 4 ºC/km and 9.8 ºC/km, then the
atmosphere is characterized as conditionally unstable. A rising parcel could become buoyant if
at some point it becomes saturated. Whether it becomes saturated depends on the surface
temperature and humidity.
Absolutely stable:
If the environmental lapse rate is less than 4 ºC/km, then any rising air parcel will be colder
than the environment, and will sink back down. The atmosphere is characterized as absolutely
stable because no matter if the parcel is saturated or not, it cannot become buoyant.
Changes in Stability

Typically, the temperature of the atmosphere decreases as you go up, and it decreases at a rate
somewhere between 4 ºC/km and 9.8 ºC/km, i.e. the atmosphere is conditionally unstable much
of the time. But this can change depending on how the temperature of the atmosphere changes
at different levels.
Since warmer air is less dense than cold air, it will become buoyant and rise. If warm air lies
above cold air, you can see that rising motion will be inhibited (any rising parcel will be colder
than the warm overlying air). This situation is referred to as an inversion. Any atmospheric
change that reinforces this pattern will increase the stability of the atmosphere. Surface cooling,
upper level heating, or a combination of the two will reinforce the stable "warm over cold"
pattern.
On the other hand, cold air lying over warm air is unstable, since the warm buoyant air below
will want to rise, while the cold, heavy air above will want to sink. Any changes in the
atmosphere that reinforce this "cold over warm" pattern will decrease the stability of the
atmosphere - or destabilize the atmosphere. Examples of changes that destabilize the
atmosphere are warming at the surface, cooling aloft, or a combination of the two.
In addition to changes in temperature due to surface heating or transport (i.e. advection) air
warmer or cooler air, another way to destabilize the atmosphere is through lifting. This occurs
when air flows over a mountain or other forms of topography (we call this orographic lifting),
or lifting can occur along frontal boundaries or in regions of converging air at the center of a
low pressure system. As a layer of air is forcibly lifted, the top of the layer will cool more
rapidly than the bottom of the layer. This sets up a "cooler air over warmer air" situation, which
we know to be unstable.

Types of Clouds:
For a cloud to form, you need to have sufficient moisture in the air and you need to have rising
motion or some other means of cooling air to its dew point temperature so that condensation
takes place. The type of cloud that forms will depend on the atmosphere's stability (which is
determined by the environmental lapse rate) and on the method of cooling - which we can call
the cloud formation process. Four of the most common cloud formation processes are:
Buoyant lifting: whereby warm air rises, expands, and cools adiabatically
Forced lifting: air rises as it flows over topography, as it over-runs a warm front, or as it is
driven upward by the passage of a cold front.
Surface cooling: air next to the surface can be cooled through contact with the cold surface
leading to the formation of radiation fog and advection fog. Rising motion is not necessary -
these fogs tend to form in stable environments.
Mixing: two different air parcels - both close to saturation - but having very different
temperatures can mix together. When they do, the new temperature and dew point temperature
will be an average of the two initial values. Because the saturation mixing ratio increases
rapidly with temperature, it is possible that the new mixture can be saturated, even though the
two parcels were initially unsaturated. This explains how contrails behind jets form, as well as
the steam coming from a tea kettle.
If these formation processes take place in a stable environment, clouds can form, but they will
lack vertical development (i.e. stratus-type clouds). If, on the other hand, they take place in an
unstable environment, then clouds with pronounced vertical development (i.e. cumulus clouds)
can form, often accompanied by precipitation.