Adiabatic

A process in which heat does not enter or leave a system. In the atmospheric sciences, adiabatic processes are often used to model internal energy changes in rising and descending parcels of air in the atmosphere. When a parcel of air rises in expands because of a reduction in pressure. If no other non-adiabatic processes occur (like condensation, evaporation and radiation), expansion causes the parcel of air to cool at a set rate of 0.98 degrees per 100 meters. The opposite occurs when a parcel of air descends in the atmosphere. The air in a descending parcel becomes compressed. Compression causes the temperature within the parcel to increase at a rate of 0.98 degrees per 100 meters.