howareyou Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Hello, how are you doing could you please help me with a question about my weather class, which is giving me a hard time the question is Why there is more moisture over a desert than over the poles? our professor just told us that the reason wasn't because the atmosphere can "hold" more moisture at higher temperatures (which exist over the desert) than the colder temperatures found over the polar regions. thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D H Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 The obvious critical factor is the vapor pressure, which is much lower at -40C (0.13 mmHg) than at 40C (55.35 mmHg). Raising water-saturated air from -40C to 40C without adding any moisture results in 0.24% relative humidity. The humidity is low in the desert, but not that low (relative humidity is in the low teens or single digits). Perhaps the instructor was meaning relative humidity and used some words that made you think absolute humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howareyou Posted December 6, 2006 Author Share Posted December 6, 2006 DH, thanks a lot for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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