Dry and Moist Static Stability

Abstract

Nearly 80 {\%} of the soundings over the tropical oceans contain a lower tropospheric inversion. In the regions of the trade winds this is often referred to as a trade wind inversion. The strongest inversions are found over the eastern regions of the oceans. Convection, clouds, and turbulent mixing constantly work to erode them. Evidently, however, there are strong restoring forces that counteract the eroding effects and act to maintain the inversion.