Climate Change Impact on Atmospheric Stability in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Area

Climate Change Impact on Atmospheric Stability in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Area.

Keana Beaufort1, John Anderson2 and Ruben Delgado2,3

1- Hampton University, Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences

2- Hampton University, Center of Atmospheric Sciences

3- Hampton University, Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

The ability of the atmosphere to resist vertical motion is known as atmospheric stability. Unstable conditions are necessary for the occurrence of convection and vertical mixing in the atmosphere. Analysis of radiosonde data (Chen and Dai, 2023) has suggested that greenhouse gas-induced global warming may have contributed to the increase in frequency of the atmosphere becoming unstable in the Northern Hemisphere, which has implications for the impact of extreme weather events. Since 2017, Hampton University (37.020°N, 76.337°W) (HU) has performed radiosonde measurements to support a variety of field campaigns, research experiences, and academic training. The HU radiosonde data will be used to determine the atmospheric stability parameters to potentially assess the impacts of climate change in the lower Chesapeake Bay region in terms of the frequency of stable and unstable atmospheric conditions experienced.