Temperature Processes MET

The energy that causes a rise and fall of temperature can be transferred in many ways, and you need to know the terms involves.

• Conduction is a transfer of energy from molecule to molecule. This is what you feel when you touch a hot or cold surface - if hot, the energy is transferred into your hand, if cold, the cold surface takes the heat from your hand.
• Radiation is the transfer of energy from molecule to molecule through electromagnetic waves - this does not require touching, and is what is felt from the sun or just before you touch a hot surface. Temperature may also be transferred through the air it is in simply moving to another place.
• Convection is when (usually) warmer air, being less dense, rises, such as happens with a hot air balloon.
• Subsidence is effectively the opposite of convection.
• Advection is the sideways movement of air - otherwise known as wind.
• Latent heat is the energy absorbed or released when a substance (usually water in Met) changes state - so ice to liquid, liquid to gas and so on. This phenomenon is of critical importance to meteorological processes and is covered in more detail elsewhere.