Equivalent Potential Temperature

Equivalent potential temperature, commonly referred to as theta-e, is a quantity related to the stability of a column of air in the atmosphere.

is the temperature a parcel of air would reach if all the water vapor in the parcel were to condense, releasing its latent heat, and the parcel was brought adiabatically to a standard reference pressure, usually 1000 hPa (1000 mbar) which is roughly equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level. In stable conditions, increases with altitude. If decreases with height, convection can occur. The comparison of the equivalent potential temperature of parcels of air at different pressures thus provides a measure of the instability of the column of air.

Read more about Equivalent Potential Temperature:  Formula, Usage

Famous quotes containing the words equivalent, potential and/or temperature:

    Divorce is the psychological equivalent of a triple coronary bypass.
    Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)

    Children are potentially free and their life directly embodies nothing save potential freedom. Consequently they are not things and cannot be the property either of their parents or others.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

    The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.
    Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)