Lines on the skew-T Saturation Adiabats
Saturation adiabats, also known as moist adiabats or saturation pseudo-adiabats, represent lines of constant equivalent potential temperature. On the skew-T diagram, saturation adiabats are the slightly curved lines. Note that the slope and spacing of the lines varies significantly with height and temperature, particularly at lower levels. Saturation adiabats represent the rate of temperature change in a rising parcel of saturated air (assuming that all the condensed water vapor is liquid and falls out immediately as the parcel rises—the pseudo-adiabatic assumption). Note that the saturation adiabats become parallel to the dry adiabats at low values of moisture, temperature, and pressure.
Each saturation adiabat is labeled with the Celsius temperature value of its point of intersection with the 1000 hPa isobar, and shares its label with the isotherms and the dry adiabats. Note that the saturation adiabats tend to become parallel to the dry adiabats at low values of moisture, temperature, and pressure.
Click on the graphic to compare the saturation adiabats to dry adiabats.