Talk:Virtual temperature
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Vapor pressure versus partial pressure[edit]
It is important to distinguish between the term partial pressure as used in meteorology and elsewhere in physical science, as the AMS Glossary explains. Since the Wikipedia page for water vapor pressure uses the definition common in physics of the saturation pressure, it is inappropriate to link to that page and confusing to use the term vapor pressure of water when partial pressure is meant. Drphysics (talk) 23:10, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
RE: Introduction[edit]
The introduction includes a statement about how the virtual temperature concept is affected by the onset of saturation. The statement (see below) is a confusing, and it is nowhere addressed in the wiki page.
"The virtual temperature of unsaturated moist air is always greater than the absolute air temperature, however, the existence of suspended cloud droplets reduces the virtual temperature."
The confusing part of the statement is: "the existence of suspended cloud droplets reduces the virtual temperature". How can a physical process reduce a corrected temperature? Maybe the intention was to indicate that the virtual temperature concept does not account for saturation, and if it were to account for saturation, the revised virtual temperature would be less than the nominal value.