POTENTIAL ENERGY

A property attributable to a particle of mass in a conservative force field such as gravity. In such a field the sum of potential and kinetic energy of the particle are conserved. In the atmosphere, it is the energy required to lift a parcel of air to a given height above mean sea level. In a hydrostatic atmosphere, this energy is proportional to the internal energy of the parcel. Only a small amount of the potential energy reservoir is available for conversion to kinetic energy.