On Monday, November 3, 2014 3:15:06 AM UTC-8, pete purdie wrote:
...An important finding is that above about
one-third of the distance to the inversion, there is no significant
temperature difference between the thermal and surrounding air; near the
inversion the temperature is actually lower since the warmer air above the
inversion is being mixed down around the rising air. Humidity is a
significant indicator, H2O molecules being lighter than O2 or N2.

So thermals rise, not because of the sun heating the ground and making a bubble of warm air that breaks free, but because somehow a more humid bubble of air is created. What mechanism creates the bubble of humidity?

9B