Formation Of Clouds And Precipitation Essays Examples

The primary requirement for the formation of the clouds is the water vapor or moisture. However, it needs to be cooled in order to change its state and precipitate. The primary and most important method of cooling the vapor in the water cycle is the vertical movement or the lifting of the air. The heated moisture in the form of water vapor needs to be lifted to form the clouds and precipitation. The temperature above the cloud is cooler and the collision of the vapor in the clouds resulted to the condensation of the water vapor.
There are main atmospheric processes that create the atmospheric lift or the vertical movement. The first is the frontal lift which is associated with the low pressure system. The warm front and the cold front usually travel in the same direction but the warm front glides to the cold front when there is frontal collision. Another process is the convection or the concerted movement of molecules of in the fluid. Convection resulted to the heating of the air, making it less dense and creates the vertical lift. Other atmospheric processes that resulted to the vertical movement of air are the orographic barriers and the convergence.
The adiabatic temperature change occurs during the vertical movement process of the air. It is the change in temperature even without the loss or gain of heat. Since pressure is dropping as the air goes higher, the molecules need to spread out which causes the drop of temperature even without the loss of heat. This is the process of adiabatic cooling. On the other hand, adiabatic warming occurs when the water vapor falls down resulting to increase in temperature even without the gain of heat.