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Fri, 30 Jul 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 26/07 ALLDAYS 20/12 BEAUFORT WEST 27/11 BELA-BELA 20/06 BETHLEHEM 16/00 BISHO 21/07 BLOEMFONTEIN 19/03 CALVINIA 28/05 CAPE ST LUCIA 23/15 CAPE TOWN 25/05 CLANWILLIAM 28/11 DE AAR 19/04 DURBAN 22/13 EAST LONDON 21/10 ERMELO 18/03 FAURESMITH 19/-1 FICKSBURG 17/01 GEORGE 21/07 GRAAF-REINETT 24/05 GRAHAMSTOWN 21/06 HERMANUS 22/12 JOHANNESBURG 16/06 JOUBERTINA 24/06 KIMBERLEY 20/02 KLERKSDORP 19/04 KOMATIPOORT 23/17 KROONSTAD 19/04 LADYSMITH 19/03 LANGEBAAN 17/13 LEPHALALE 22/11 LYDENBURG 14/07 MAFIKENG 19/08 MUSINA 20/13 NELSPRUIT 17/11 NEWCASTLE 18/04 OUDTSHOORN 26/04 PAARL 26/11 PHALABORWA 22/13 PIETERMARITZBURG 22/08 PLETTENBERG BAY 19/10 POLOKWANE 16/08 PORT ALFRED 21/09 PORT ELIZABETH 21/08 PORT ST JOHNS 19/14 POTCHEFSTROOM 19/02 PRETORIA 17/09 QUEENSTOWN 19/05 RICHARDS BAY 23/16 ROBERTSON 26/06 RUSTENBURG 19/07 SASOLBURG 18/06 SKUKUZA 24/12 SOWETO 15/06 SPRINGBOK 27/20 STILBAAI 22/09 SUTHERLAND 23/-2 TZANEEN 14/10 ULUNDI 21/10 UMTATA 19/07 UPINGTON 29/08 VEREENIGING 17/04 VREDENDAL 27/12 VRYBURG 22/02 WELKOM 20/04 WITBANK 15/07 WORCESTER 26/07 |
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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.