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Dew Point Temperature

The dew point temperature is the temperature at which the saturation mixing ratio ws with respect to liquid water becomes equal to the mixing ratio w.

 

More simply:

The dew point temperature is the temperature to which air must be cooled at constant pressure for it to become saturated with respect to a plane surface of pure water. 

 

A simple rule for converting RH to a dew point depression (T - Td) for moist air (RH >50%) it that RH decreases by ~1 degree celcius for every 5% drop in RH. 

© 2015 by UniMet.

* All information on this site has come from lecture notes and the associated course text books: 'Atmospheric Science: An introductory survey, 2nd edition, J. M. Hobbs and P. V. Wallace' and 'Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate and the Environment, 10th edition (International), C. D. Ahrens.' Some sections may have been rephrased and altered slightly but all content came from the above mentioned sources unless otherwise stated. 

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