Saturation vapor pressure

From Glossary of Meteorology

saturation vapor pressure

  1. The vapor pressure of a system, at a given temperature, for which the vapor of a substance is in equilibrium with a plane surface of that substance's pure liquid or solid phase; that is, the vapor pressure of a system that has attained saturation but not supersaturation.

    The saturation vapor pressure of any pure substance, with respect to a specified parent phase, is an intrinsic property of that substance and is a function of temperature alone. For water vapor, the saturation pressure over supercooled liquid differs appreciably from that over ice.
    Compare equilibrium vapor pressure, vapor tension;
    see Clapeyron-clausius equation.

Term edited 29 May 2020.