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Wed, 10 Mar 2010 | |
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You are in: Weather > SA regional > Ecucation  INVERSION LAYERS A surface inversion layer is a layer within the first 1500m of the atmosphere. It occurs when a air within a high pressure descends and as it descends, it warms the atmosphere, much like a bicycle pump warms up when you pump up a wheel. When air is compressed it will warm up. As the air descends from heights of about 12km it will warm and the warmest air will be found at this inversion layer which can be several meters thick. The air temperature then cools towards the surface.
So if one had to move from the surface of the earth when an inversion was present, you would notice that the air warms as you ascend and it will become warmer until you reach the inversion layer when it will start cooling again.
The photograph below was taken by myself on Sunday 3 November 1985 in Constantia, Cape Town looking towards the NE at around 15:30. Large convective cumulonimbus clouds had built up during the day over the Boland mountains, but were severely restricted in their upwards growth by a very strong inversion, probably at about 2000m. This can be clearly seen from the very flat tops of the two massive clouds.
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ALEXANDER BAY 29/19 ALLDAYS 35/17 BEAUFORT WEST 33/17 BELA-BELA 33/17 BETHLEHEM 28/10 BISHO 31/19 BLOEMFONTEIN 31/18 CALVINIA 34/17 CAPE ST LUCIA 28/24 CAPE TOWN 26/18 CLANWILLIAM 30/17 DE AAR 33/20 DURBAN 29/22 EAST LONDON 28/23 ERMELO 26/09 FAURESMITH 33/20 FICKSBURG 29/13 GEORGE 32/19 GRAAF-REINETT 33/17 GRAHAMSTOWN 32/21 HERMANUS 27/18 JOHANNESBURG 29/14 JOUBERTINA 31/21 KIMBERLEY 33/22 KLERKSDORP 30/14 KOMATIPOORT 30/18 KROONSTAD 29/14 LADYSMITH 26/09 LANGEBAAN 26/19 LEPHALALE 34/20 LYDENBURG 28/13 MAFIKENG 33/17 MUSINA 34/19 NELSPRUIT 27/14 NEWCASTLE 27/08 OUDTSHOORN 32/20 PAARL 31/17 PHALABORWA 32/19 PIETERMARITZBURG 27/15 PLETTENBERG BAY 29/21 POLOKWANE 31/15 PORT ALFRED 31/22 PORT ELIZABETH 31/22 PORT ST JOHNS 28/20 POTCHEFSTROOM 29/13 PRETORIA 31/15 QUEENSTOWN 30/16 RICHARDS BAY 28/24 ROBERTSON 31/16 RUSTENBURG 31/16 SASOLBURG 30/13 SKUKUZA 30/18 SOWETO 29/14 SPRINGBOK 31/17 STILBAAI 29/20 SUTHERLAND 32/17 TZANEEN 30/15 ULUNDI 28/18 UMTATA 27/13 UPINGTON 37/21 VEREENIGING 29/14 VREDENDAL 30/18 VRYBURG 35/21 WELKOM 31/16 WITBANK 29/11 WORCESTER 31/16 |
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Inversion conditions usually suppress any
convective development and usually very stable
conditions occur with inversion conditions.
Inversion layers occur throughout summer over
CT. They also occur in winter on fine cold
mornings when most of the smog is trapped within
the lowest 200m above the ground.