Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In meteorology, an inversion (or temperature inversion) is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship is reversed in an inversion. [2] An inversion traps air pollution, such as smog, near the ground.
It varies with the temperature and pressure of the parcel and is often in the range 3.6 to 9.2 °C/km (2 to 5 °F/1000 ft), as obtained from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The environmental lapse rate is the decrease in temperature of air with altitude for a specific time and place (see below). It can be highly variable ...
Such layers are called inversion layers. When such a layer forms at the Earth's surface, it is called a surface inversion. When an inversion layer forms at some distance above the earth, it is called an inversion aloft (sometimes referred to as a capping inversion). The air within an inversion aloft is very stable with very little vertical motion.
The temperature inversion traps bad air by “basically putting a lid on that bowl and not allowing the pollutants to be dispersed,” Allshouse said. How is air quality measured?
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us
An air pollution episode is an unusual combination of emissions and meteorology - usually low or stagnant winds and temperature inversion - that creates prolonged and widespread air pollution lasting two to seven days. Effects range from eye irritation to deaths across age groups. [1] Examples of air pollution episodes include: 1930 Meuse ...
The part of the PBL between the Earth's surface and the bottom of the inversion layer is known as the mixing layer. Almost all of the airborne pollutants emitted into the ambient atmosphere are transported and dispersed within the mixing layer. Some of the emissions penetrate the inversion layer and enter the free troposphere above the PBL.
What made the 1948 event more severe was a temperature inversion, a situation in which warmer air aloft traps pollution in a layer of colder air near the surface. The pollutants in the air mixed with fog to form a thick, yellowish, acrid smog that hung over Donora for five days.