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Which conditions give the smallest saturated adiabatic lapse rate?

  • A.Very cold air in the upper troposphere, where the moisture content has been reduced to almost nothing
  • B.Air near freezing
  • C.Air at any temperature provided that it is saturated, since the rate does not depend on the temperature
  • D.Warm moist air near the surface in the tropics

Answer: D

The rate depends on how much water is available to condense, and by Clausius-Clapeyron that is greatest at high temperature, so warm tropical air gives rates near 4 kelvin per kilometre. In very cold air there is almost no water and the rate approaches 9.8. This is why tropical soundings lie so much closer to the moist adiabat than polar ones do. Checking the units of each quantity catches a wrong formula before the arithmetic begins.

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