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Atmospheric Moisture

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Fundamentals of Meteorology

Abstract

Water vapour is present in the atmosphere primarily due to the evaporation of water from the Earth’s surface. In the atmosphere, it is distributed by large-scale atmospheric disturbances, convection, turbulent mixing, and diffusion. The water vapour content decreases rapidly from the ground moving upwards into the atmosphere. It declines faster in the free atmosphere than above the mountain slopes, because in this case, water vapour is in direct contact with the evaporating soil. In contrast, in temperature inversions, the water vapour content can increase with height. The air is moist due to the presence of water vapour. Humidity is one of the most important meteorological elements. The water vapour content of the atmosphere is quantitatively represented by the quantities that determine the amount of water vapour in the air, as well as those that show the degree of saturation of water vapour in the air.

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Spiridonov, V., Curic, M. (2021). Atmospheric Moisture. In: Fundamentals of Meteorology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52655-9_10

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