most_unstable_parcel#

metpy.calc.most_unstable_parcel(pressure, temperature, dewpoint, height=None, bottom=None, depth=None)[source]#

Determine the most unstable parcel in a layer.

Determines the most unstable parcel of air by calculating the equivalent potential temperature and finding its maximum in the specified layer.

Parameters:

pressure (pint.Quantity) – Atmospheric pressure profile
temperature (pint.Quantity) – Atmospheric temperature profile
dewpoint (pint.Quantity) – Atmospheric dewpoint profile
height (pint.Quantity, optional) – Atmospheric height profile. Standard atmosphere assumed when None (the default).
bottom (pint.Quantity, optional) – Bottom of the layer to consider for the calculation in pressure or height. Defaults to using the bottom pressure or height.
depth (pint.Quantity, optional) – Depth of the layer to consider for the calculation in pressure or height. Defaults to 300 hPa.

Returns:

pint.Quantity – Pressure of the most unstable parcel in the profile
pint.Quantity – Temperature of the most unstable parcel in the profile
pint.Quantity – Dewpoint of the most unstable parcel in the profile
int – The index of the most unstable parcel within the original data

Examples

>>> from metpy.calc import dewpoint_from_relative_humidity, most_unstable_parcel
>>> from metpy.units import units
>>> # pressure
>>> p = [1008., 1000., 950., 900., 850., 800., 750., 700., 650., 600.,
...      550., 500., 450., 400., 350., 300., 250., 200.,
...      175., 150., 125., 100., 80., 70., 60., 50.,
...      40., 30., 25., 20.] * units.hPa
>>> # temperature
>>> T = [29.3, 28.1, 23.5, 20.9, 18.4, 15.9, 13.1, 10.1, 6.7, 3.1,
...      -0.5, -4.5, -9.0, -14.8, -21.5, -29.7, -40.0, -52.4,
...      -59.2, -66.5, -74.1, -78.5, -76.0, -71.6, -66.7, -61.3,
...      -56.3, -51.7, -50.7, -47.5] * units.degC
>>> # relative humidity
>>> rh = [.85, .65, .36, .39, .82, .72, .75, .86, .65, .22, .52,
...       .66, .64, .20, .05, .75, .76, .45, .25, .48, .76, .88,
...       .56, .88, .39, .67, .15, .04, .94, .35] * units.dimensionless
>>> # calculate dewpoint
>>> Td = dewpoint_from_relative_humidity(T, rh)
>>> # find most unstable parcel of depth 50 hPa
>>> most_unstable_parcel(p, T, Td, depth=50*units.hPa)
(<Quantity(1008.0, 'hectopascal')>, <Quantity(29.3, 'degree_Celsius')>,
<Quantity(26.5176931, 'degree_Celsius')>, np.int64(0))

Examples using `metpy.calc.most_unstable_parcel`#

Advanced Sounding Plot with Complex Layout

Sounding Calculation Examples

most_unstable_parcel#

Examples using metpy.calc.most_unstable_parcel#

Examples using `metpy.calc.most_unstable_parcel`#