A parcel of air rises convectively in the atmosphere, losing its water as rain and getting cooler following the moist lapse rate. It gets sucked into an airplane, where it is recompressed to the pressure at the ground without replacing the water. Is this air warmer or colder than air at the ground? What is its relative humidity like?

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Dereon Roberts

15 May, 10:32

A parcel of air rises convectively in the atmosphere, losing its water as rain and getting cooler following the moist lapse rate. It gets sucked into an airplane, where it is recompressed to the pressure at the ground without replacing the water. Is this air warmer or colder than air at the ground? What is its relative humidity like?

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Dominique Fleming · Answer 1

The correct answer for the question that is being presented above is this one: "It is warmer and drier because it got heated by the release of latent heat when the water condensed, which made it drier. This assumes you didn't give the parcel time to radiate the heat to space."