<p>Yes.  You don't even need concrete or black paint, just a plowed field will do, or grass vs forest, a south facing slope...  (Ask anyone who's done much sailplane flying.)</p>

<p>How high the convection will reach depends on a lot of factors.  Hereabouts (east side of the Sierra Nevada) you can easily thermal to 14,000 ft (~4500 m) or more. (Going higher requires you to use supplemental oxygen.)  If there is the proper amount of moisture in the air, it will reach a height at which the moisture starts to condense and form clouds.  These can be simple cumulus clouds <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulus_cloud" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulus_cloud</a> or they can develop into cumulonimbus, which can reach heights of 69K ft/21K m) or more.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-10T04:42:22.410Z
2020-05-10T04:42:22.410Z
jamesqf
<p>Providing there are low wind conditions and a clear sky, will the 1 km x 1 km black surface create an upward convention?</p>

<p>Let’s say I were to do this at 60<span class="math-container">$^\circ$</span> N longitude in march month, the elevation of the site to be at 2000 feet, by just building a surface of 1 km x 1 km and painted in black, how high would the convection go? What other side effects will it cause? My goes to have air going up to 7000 feet constantly.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-10T11:10:12.563Z
I was once taken as a passenger in a glider .. after launching from a tow line the pilot immediately headed for the nearest parking lot (this was in Colorado, USA) to catch the thermal over the black tarmac. On that day we only got up to 1km or so, because of an inversion associated with a wind flow coming over near-by mountains. The height of your thermal will depend on the weather in the are.
M Juckes
<meteorology><atmosphere><atmospheric-radiation><convection>
If I build a concrete surface on a 1km x 1km area and painted it black, will I create convection (updraft from ground)?
Sarthak Tiwary
# If I build a concrete surface on a 1km x 1km area and painted it black, will I create convection (updraft from ground)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-09)

Providing there are low wind conditions and a clear sky, will the 1 km x 1 km black surface create an upward convention?

Let’s say I were to do this at 60$^\circ$ N longitude in march month, the elevation of the site to be at 2000 feet, by just building a surface of 1 km x 1 km and painted in black, how high would the convection go? What other side effects will it cause? My goes to have air going up to 7000 feet constantly.

**Tags:** meteorology, atmosphere, atmospheric-radiation, convection

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I was once taken as a passenger in a glider .. after launching from a tow line the pilot immediately headed for the nearest parking lot (this was in Colorado, USA) to catch the thermal over the black tarmac. On that day we only got up to 1km or so, because of an inversion associated with a wind flow coming over near-by mountains. The height of your thermal will depend on the weather in the are.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-05-10. Score: 2

Yes. You don't even need concrete or black paint, just a plowed field will do, or grass vs forest, a south facing slope... (Ask anyone who's done much sailplane flying.)

How high the convection will reach depends on a lot of factors. Hereabouts (east side of the Sierra Nevada) you can easily thermal to 14,000 ft (~4500 m) or more. (Going higher requires you to use supplemental oxygen.) If there is the proper amount of moisture in the air, it will reach a height at which the moisture starts to condense and form clouds. These can be simple cumulus clouds <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulus_cloud> or they can develop into cumulonimbus, which can reach heights of 69K ft/21K m) or more.


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