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Lifting Mechanisms Entire Slideshow

Title: Lifting Mechanisms Brown 24-25

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Lifting Mechanisms Lowering the air temperature by lifting the air

Adiabatic Cooling : Temperature change that occurs when air rises, expands, and therefore cools. 4 ways to lift air for adiabatic cooling

  1. Orographic Lifting 2. Frontal Wedging 3. Convergence 4. Local Convective Lifting 1) Orographic Lifting

Orographic Lifting : Air is forced to rise over a mountainous barrier Clouds form on the windward side of the mountain, dry air flows over the far side and has no moisture for vegetation (making a rain shadow)

Windward side Leeward side

Windward Leeward Rain Shadow

Far side of the mountain, opposite where the wind is blowing, often has dry, desert-like conditions Hawaiian Islands 2) Frontal Wedging

Frontal Wedging : warmer, less-dense air is forced over cooler, denser air Cold Air is denser than Warm Air Warm Air rises over Cold Air 3) Convergence

Convergence : when air flows in from opposite directions, collides, and rises Tampa, FL: the Lightning Capital of North America

Convergence can be the result of sea breezes. Especially common over Florida! Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela: Lightning Capital of the World

Lightning strikes in the same place at the mouth of the Catatumbo River night after night 3,600 times an hour 10 hours a day 300 days a year 1.2 million times a year Trivia about Venezuela

Venezuela's name comes from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who named the region in 1499 after seeing the stilt houses of the indigenous people along the coast of Lake Maracaibo. The stilt houses reminded Vespucci of Venice, Italy, so he named the region Veneziola, or "Little Venice." 4) Local Convective Lifting

Unequal surface heating causes localized pockets of air to rise because of their buoyancy Warmed air becomes less dense and rises, cooling to the dew point to form clouds Some surfaces are better at absorbing and re-radiating heat than others, such as blacktop and plowed fields Birds use convective lifting for thermal soaring