The vertical movement of air driven by buoyancy, as warmed air near the surface becomes less dense than its surroundings and rises, carrying heat and moisture upward. Convection is the fundamental engine behind cumulus cloud formation, thunderstorms, and much of the vertical mixing of the lower atmosphere.
Facts
Partially Attested
TimescaleAbout 30 minutes for a thunderstorm convective cycle 1 The source gives the average duration of the three thunderstorm stages only; other forms of atmospheric convection run on other timescales not given here. Process TypeAtmospheric Circulation 1 Connections
Sources
1. Convection, Wikipedia
Examples and applications section
Discrete convective cells in the atmosphere can be identified by clouds, with stronger convection resulting in thunderstorms.
Atmospheric convection, Weather subsection
Depending on the conditions present in the atmosphere, these three stages take an average of 30 minutes to go through.
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