Robert Edmonds
EF5
So, I know the cap is a layer of warm air that prevents an air parcel to continue to rise. I have also heard that a cap can lead to potential increase in instability. I also have heard there are a lot of uncertainties with forecasting and dealing with a cap, so I won’t be surprised if there isn’t a clear answer for this question. My question deals with the cap temperature and altitude. Does a “good” cap vary in temperature with respect to altitude? To me it would seem the lower the cap in altitude the stronger you would want the cap to be with respect to temperature. This idea was developed after making some assumptions. First, a larger portion of air will be required to be heated than if there is a higher cap versus a lower cap. A smaller amount of air will be hotter than a large amount of air, if given the same amount of energy. So, from these two assumptions if we were to give a day of heating to air under a high cap versus a low cap, and we were given the same starting temperatures and initial conditions, the air under the low cap should be hotter than the air under the high cap if nothing breaks. Therefore to achieve maximum heating and instability, yet still give the potential for the cap to break we would want a weaker cap at a higher altitude or a strong cap at lower altitudes.
Well so that’s it. Waiting for someone to blow me out of the water, or just say I’m down right wrong. If doesn't make much sense that's cause it's late.
Well so that’s it. Waiting for someone to blow me out of the water, or just say I’m down right wrong. If doesn't make much sense that's cause it's late.