Topic: Understanding Aerological Diagrams / Soundings

[Michael Thomas]

"the 8 green dashed lines going from the bottom (ground level) up and to the right to the 700 hPa height, is that dewpoint?

Yes, that is the dew point lapse rate. As air rises, the dewpoint will decrease slightly even thought the amount of moisture remains unchanged.

"on the upper right-hand side where the values are,i'm gathering that the CAP value is in Celsius yes?

Yes

[Simon McCombe]

Thanks for confirming that Michael. I have another question. In the sounding image below of where i am,the dewpoint line appears to cross over the temp. at the 200 hPa height. Is this due to the increase in windspeed?,and is this something to watch out for at that height or is it too high in the atmosphere. Is there something else i should be looking at ? Funny,its ended up being 4 questions !   

[Michael Bath]

Hi Simon,

It would not be crossing, just 'touching' at that point. The temp will nearly always be greater than the dew point trace, but they can be equal at some points. In the example it would indicate cirrostratus clouds.

[Simon McCombe]

Thanks Michael,sorry its taken me a little while to reply. I'm getting to know what to look for now,especially whats been happening in the last few days.