<p>As you said, latent heat is the heat stocked into the water vapour and thus transported by the winds. You can see great example of how latent heat transport may influence temperatures with Foehn-like winds (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind</a>) creating warm region after having crossed mountain ranges : the moist rising air heats up (and dries out thanks to rain) faster than the dry subsiding air cools down, so the latent heat initially stocked in the water vapour turns into sensible heat.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-23T20:51:32.030Z
2024-02-23T20:51:32.030Z
Varazak
<p>In a fundamental sense, it is advection. The difference between advection and turbulent transport is a question of averages.</p>
<p>What I think this is referring to is known as the drag law. Consider the turbulent flux (or covariance) of moisture (<span class="math-container">$\overline{w'q'}$</span>): <span class="math-container">$$\overline{w'q'}=C_qU\Delta q$$</span> where <span class="math-container">$C_q$</span> is the transfer (or drag) coefficient, <span class="math-container">$U$</span> is the wind speed, and <span class="math-container">$\Delta q$</span> is the difference in moisture between the surface and the air. There is a similar relationship between sensible heat flux- simply replace <span class="math-container">$C_q$</span> with <span class="math-container">$C_h$</span> and <span class="math-container">$\Delta q$</span> with <span class="math-container">$\Delta T$</span>. You can think of this as a fan blowing heat and sweat off of a professional athlete. All of this should boil into <a href="https://geo.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Meteorology_and_Climate_Science/Practical_Meteorology_(Stull)/18%3A_Atmospheric_Boundary_Layer/18.04%3A_Section_5-" rel="nofollow noreferrer">K-theory</a> and the log-wind profile.</p>
<p>There is a second way that I interpret this statement. When water is condensed, the water itself can be transported. So really latent heat is just your latent heat of vaporization (or deposition) multiplied against the air density and mixing ratio. Since the wind can blow microphyics, it inherently blows latent heat. But since sensible heat is mentioned, I am inclined more towards the first explanation.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-18T00:02:49.110Z
2024-02-18T00:02:49.110Z
BarocliniCplusplus
<p>I'm a meteorology student, and this sentence in my lab book confused me: &quot;Both sensible and latent heat are transferred by winds.&quot;</p>
<p>I understand how sensible heat could be transported by wind—it literally blows air which has a higher temperature to a different place. I understand what latent heat is (energy which goes into evaporation rather than actually changing the air temperature), but I don't understand how this could be transported the same way by winds.</p>
<p>Is this just moisture advection? Would it be correct to say that it is the transport of air with moisture that has more energy (closer to phase change), but no more temperature?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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2024-02-14T06:35:04.083Z
Think of the North American monsoons. These are why the desert areas of northern Mexico and the southwestern US receive rain, when otherwise they would be dry as dry can be (and also very hot). Those monsoon rains, fueled by evaporation over the Pacific, help keep temperatures somewhat on the cool side. This same pertains to the south Asian monsoons and the African monsoons.
David Hammen
<meteorology>
How does the wind transport latent heat?
Aubrey
# How does the wind transport latent heat?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-02-14)

I'm a meteorology student, and this sentence in my lab book confused me: "Both sensible and latent heat are transferred by winds."

I understand how sensible heat could be transported by wind—it literally blows air which has a higher temperature to a different place. I understand what latent heat is (energy which goes into evaporation rather than actually changing the air temperature), but I don't understand how this could be transported the same way by winds.

Is this just moisture advection? Would it be correct to say that it is the transport of air with moisture that has more energy (closer to phase change), but no more temperature?

Thanks in advance!

**Tags:** meteorology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Think of the North American monsoons. These are why the desert areas of northern Mexico and the southwestern US receive rain, when otherwise they would be dry as dry can be (and also very hot). Those monsoon rains, fueled by evaporation over the Pacific, help keep temperatures somewhat on the cool side. This same pertains to the south Asian monsoons and the African monsoons.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-02-23. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

As you said, latent heat is the heat stocked into the water vapour and thus transported by the winds. You can see great example of how latent heat transport may influence temperatures with Foehn-like winds (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind>) creating warm region after having crossed mountain ranges : the moist rising air heats up (and dries out thanks to rain) faster than the dry subsiding air cools down, so the latent heat initially stocked in the water vapour turns into sensible heat.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2024-02-18. Score: 1

In a fundamental sense, it is advection. The difference between advection and turbulent transport is a question of averages.

What I think this is referring to is known as the drag law. Consider the turbulent flux (or covariance) of moisture ($\overline{w'q'}$): $$\overline{w'q'}=C\_qU\Delta q$$ where $C\_q$ is the transfer (or drag) coefficient, $U$ is the wind speed, and $\Delta q$ is the difference in moisture between the surface and the air. There is a similar relationship between sensible heat flux- simply replace $C\_q$ with $C\_h$ and $\Delta q$ with $\Delta T$. You can think of this as a fan blowing heat and sweat off of a professional athlete. All of this should boil into [K-theory](https://geo.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Meteorology_and_Climate_Science/Practical_Meteorology_(Stull)/18%3A_Atmospheric_Boundary_Layer/18.04%3A_Section_5-) and the log-wind profile.

There is a second way that I interpret this statement. When water is condensed, the water itself can be transported. So really latent heat is just your latent heat of vaporization (or deposition) multiplied against the air density and mixing ratio. Since the wind can blow microphyics, it inherently blows latent heat. But since sensible heat is mentioned, I am inclined more towards the first explanation.


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