ATMO 203: STUDY GUIDE FOR
TUTORIAL 18
1) Know how to read and display temperature and dew point data on a sounding diagram.
2) Be able to identify the following on a sounding:
a) Temperature inversions
b) Dry adiabatic (a.k.a. mixed) layers
c) The tropopause
d) Saturated / cloudy layers
3) Know where the biggest diurnal changes typically occur on soundings, and be able to identify when fronts have moved through based on a comparison of consecutive soundings.
4) Know what buoyancy means, and what it means when a parcel is neutrally buoyant.
5) Know the difference between stable, conditionally unstable, and unstable air parcels. Be able to identify whether an environment is stable, conditionally (a.k.a. potentially) unstable, or unstable.
à Understand the “thought experiment” of taking a neutrally buoyant parcel and nudging it upward or downward to see how it reacts.
6) Know what a superadiabatic layer is, where they are typically found, and why they are very rare.
7) Know what the lifted index
and convective available potential energy (
8) Know what the terms level of neutral buoyancy and overshooting top mean. Be able to find the level of neutral buoyancy.
9) Be able to forecast possible afternoon convection using a 12Z sounding.
10) Know what convective inhibition (CIN, a.k.a. a cap or lid) is and how it affects instability and possible convection.
11) Also be able to determine, interpret, and know the meaning of the lifted condensation level (LCL), level of free convection (LFC), and the other severe weather indices presented in the lab on soundings and severe storms.