Question

Sailplanes use updrafts to stay aloft for hours at a time. Near one particular airfield, a stone quarry (with very dark rocks) surrounded by a wooden area provides a particularly regular source for updrafts on hot days. With your knowledge of heat transfer, explain the processes that create the updraft

Answer 1

Air which is cooler than its environment inclines to sink as extended as it can stay cooler than its backdrop. The upward displacing air in a thunderstorm is called as the updraft, while downward displacing air is the downdraft. The environment can be unbalanced for updrafts and balanced for downdrafts, balanced for updrafts but unbalanced for downdrafts, balanced for both, or unbalanced for both. The level of atmospheric imbalance is the major factor in controlling the intensity of thunderstorm updrafts and downdrafts. Also, vertical draft power usually predicts the level of storm strength. If we consider a general storm, there are four actual matches of weak and strong draft power.

When the bottom-lying air is imbalanced but comparatively dry and sufficient mid-level moisture is existing, a storm may form with a small updraft but a large downdraft with the latter the outcome of huge negative buoyancy and cooling from evaporation of rain into the dry air. This huge storm looks like terrain which sometimes produce dry microbursts. Lots of hail and rain are improbable.

A storm that has a large updraft and a small downdraft it will not create wind destruction, but can produce heavy precipitation and destroying hail. Individual and multicell storms form this classification. They include storms which shack heavy rain, but less hail due to warm conditions higher into the air, and multicell storms which are effective to produce hail due to smaller surrounding freezing degrees. Huge updraft, less downdraft storms usually begin in very moist environment where there is less dry air and evaporational cooling to steer downdrafts.

Comparatively lesser updrafts and downdrafts are seen with less stringent showers. The final prospective combination is a storm with huge updrafts and downdrafts. These storms usually yield devastating downbursts. The most destructive storms have strong vertical drafts and form in the most imbalanced environments.