Adiabatic process

From Glossary of Meteorology


adiabatic process

A process in which there is no exchange of heat or mass with the environment. In an adiabatic process, a change in internal energy is solely a consequence of work. For an ideal gas and most atmospheric conditions, compression results in warming, whereas expansion results in cooling.


See dry-adiabatic process, moist-adiabatic process, adiabatic lapse rate.

Term edited 19 December 2019.

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