5.1.9

Relief or Orographic Precipitation

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Relief or Orographic Precipitation

Air can rise in one of three main ways: convection precipitation, frontal precipitation, and relief or orographic precipitation.

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Prevailing winds in Britain

  • In Britain, the prevailing winds are from the west across the Atlantic Ocean.
  • These prevailing winds bring warm, moist air.
  • The air is forced to rise over the higher land in the west,
    • E.g. the mountains of Snowdonia and the Lake District.
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Precipitation

  • The air expands and cools as it rises over the higher land.
  • Cooler air cannot hold as much water vapour as a gas as warmer air.
  • The air becomes saturated with gaseous water vapour.
  • The gaseous water vapour condenses to liquid water droplets.
  • Eventually the weight of the liquid water droplets or ice is enough for gravity to return these water droplets / ice to the surface as precipitation.
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Relief or orographic precipitation

  • The air then descends the eastern side of the hills and mountains.
  • The air warms up as it descends and becomes drier.

Jump to other topics

1Geography Skills

2Geology of the UK

3Geography of the World

4Development

5Weather & Climate

6The World of Work

7Natural Resources

8Rivers

9Coasts

10Glaciers

11Tectonics

12Climate Change

13Global Population & Inequality

14Urbanisation

15Ecosystems

16Life in an Emerging Country

17Analysis of Africa

18Analysis of India

19Analysis of the Middle East

20Analysis of Bangladesh

21Analysis of Russia

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