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Effect of Elevation on Outside Temperature in Abq, NM

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by SageBrush, Feb 19, 2014.

  1. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    The problem with Google SS is that they make it too easy to graph anything and everything ..
    So today I decided to test my impression that my home, about 1000 ft higher than the 'city,' runs some 3 degrees F cooler year-round. The very nifty website wunderground collates and tabulates personal weather stations around town in an open format, so it was easy to grab a snapshot of temperatures at noon and look at temperature Vs elevation for an area of perhaps 100 square miles around my home.

    Abq Temps.png


    Ignoring outliers, the slope is ~ 5F/1000 ft. Impressive! I'll grab other days throughout the year to see if the relationship varies in different seasons.
     
    #1 SageBrush, Feb 19, 2014
  2. JamesBurke

    JamesBurke Senior Member

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    Where the weather stations are in the yard micro climate is going to have a big effect. As will diurnal airflow in the canyon's and valley. And lets not forget shading in the morning for those in the shadow of the Sandia Crest. Cloudy or clear are important factors too. Seems someone else also has to much free time. :cool:
     
    #2 JamesBurke, Feb 19, 2014
  3. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Now where have I heard that before ?
     
    #3 SageBrush, Feb 19, 2014
  4. JamesBurke

    JamesBurke Senior Member

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    I see a weather station and a hot air balloon ride in your future or maybe some weather balloons tied to a lawn chair. Redbull space dive smace dive.
     
    #4 JamesBurke, Feb 19, 2014
  5. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Did you see the Pixar movie 'UP' ?

    I've decided 'UP' and 'The Incredibles' are my favorites.
     
    #5 SageBrush, Feb 19, 2014
  6. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Anything by Pixar is worth watching, but UP! was especially good.

    I had a conversation just the other day with someone who said they didn't understand why mountain tops weren't warmer than sea level, because they were closer to the sun. Being a kind and patient person, I did my best to explain it to her.
     
    #6 hyo silver, Feb 20, 2014
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  7. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Hyo, she was right about the stratosphere
     
    #7 tochatihu, Feb 20, 2014
  8. JamesBurke

    JamesBurke Senior Member

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    No I haven't seen those movies yet but I did watch this
    Stupid government shutdown cheated me out of some red or green last fall and Colorado chiles or so NYC.

    If she thought it got warmer the higher you went how does she explain mountain top snow?

    Tochatihu you ever been to Hopi? I lived out there in the early 90's.
     
    #8 JamesBurke, Feb 20, 2014
  9. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Well, being as dumb as the next person I have to admit that I am not sure of the physics either ...

    A guess then:

    Your friend is right that the sun's radiation is stronger at higher elevations, but there must be competing processes.
    Namely, the ground for one;
    and denser air, for another.

    The ground absorbs the lion's share of the irradiation and heats up, then emits block body radiation.
    The denser air at lower altitudes acts as a heat sink.
    I'll also guess that the greenhouse effect is a gradient from high to low altitude.

    Addendum: I'll also guess that the denser air may be simply modeled as
    P*V = n*R*T
    One volume of air with more molecules has a higher temperature assuming that each molecule retains the same kinetic energy.
     
    #9 SageBrush, Feb 20, 2014
  10. IanIanIanIan

    IanIanIanIan Member

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    #10 IanIanIanIan, Feb 20, 2014
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  11. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    I didn't use any physics or formulas. I said the sun was so far away that the little bumps on Earth's surface made no material difference to the relative warmth. Also, I explained that the Sun's rays warmed the ground first, and then the air. We chatted for a bit about how land and sea warmed and cooled at different rates, and how that drove our weather systems. It would hardly have qualified as a University lecture, but it was enough to impart some knowledge and curiosity.
     
    #11 hyo silver, Feb 20, 2014
  12. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Sage, take away your last line and the rest may stand. Gas temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of all the molecules. So if one increases, the other does as well.
     
    #12 tochatihu, Feb 21, 2014
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