Under what condition does absolute stability in Earth's atmosphere occur?

Absolute stability in the atmosphere occurs when the environmental lapse rate is less than the wet adiabatic rate. This situation implies that the temperature of the atmosphere decreases more slowly with altitude than the rate at which a saturated parcel of air cools as it rises.

In this scenario, if an air parcel is lifted, it will remain colder than its surroundings because it cools at the wet adiabatic rate, which is slower than the surrounding air's temperature decrease. Consequently, this colder parcel of air is denser than the surrounding air, preventing it from rising further. Therefore, the air parcel will tend to sink back to its original position, leading to a stable atmospheric condition.

This stability is characterized by a lack of vertical movement that would lead to cloud formation or precipitation, illustrating how the interaction between temperature change and humidity levels contributes to atmospheric stability.