Construct · 1 fields · 2 citations

virga: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a single construct in one field Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
virga1 CONSTRUCTVirgaFRASER & BOHREN

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Meteorology

Precipitation that evaporates before landing

Virga is precipitation (rain, snow, or ice) that falls from a cloud but evaporates or sublimates in the drier air below before it reaches the ground, appearing as trailing streaks or fallstreaks beneath the cloud base. Fraser and Bohren's 1992 Is virga rain that evaporates before reaching the ground? examines the physics of this evaporation during descent, and Wallace and Hobbs's Atmospheric science places it among cloud and precipitation processes. The referent is incomplete precipitation that never arrives at the surface, important for the cooling and downdrafts its evaporation drives.[1][2]

Unit
Precipitation that evaporates/sublimates before reaching the surface
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Identified visually or by radar as echoes and streaks aloft that do not reach the ground; quantified via sub-cloud evaporation

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Nearby constructs

base3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructscloud4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, four constructsdescent3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Fraser, A. B., & Bohren, C. F. (1992). Is virga rain that evaporates before reaching the ground? Monthly Weather Review, 120(8), 1565–1571. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1992)120<1565:IVRTEB>2.0.CO;2
  2. Wallace, J. M., & Hobbs, P. V. (2006). Atmospheric science: An introductory survey (2nd ed.). Academic Press. ISBN 9780127329512

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