Questions tagged [atmosphere]
The gaseous envelope surrounding the *Earth*, and retained by the Earth's gravitational field. If your question is about the atmosphere on another celestial body or is more astronomy related, please ask on Astronomy.SE.
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Is the atmospheric composition still changing naturally?
Earth's atmosphere has gone through "dramatic" composition changes over millions of years. A well-known example is the Great Oxidation Event. Currently the atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% ...
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Why is CO₂ abundance in the atmosphere still small?
Given the fact that industries emit about 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year just in the US, why is it still such a small part of the atmosphere's composition (0.04%)?
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Why does relative vorticity in spherical coordinates have an extra term as compared to the usual cartesian derivation?
With $u, v$ denoting the components of wind velocity along zonal (x) and meridional (y) direction, atmospheric (relative) vorticity is usually defined by
$$\zeta_z = \frac{\partial v}{\partial x} -\...
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Effective Radiative Forcing of Aviation Soot: Time Period Considered
I am trying to understand how athmospheric scientists are quantifying effective radiative forcing of different aviation-related warming/cooling effects as a function of total emissions over time.
For ...
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Why is U used for relative humidity in atmospheric measurement equipments?
RH is the symbol of relative humidity in many textbooks. But, in my experience, U is often used in atmospheric measurements. For example, Vaisala PTU300 means pressure, temperature and humidity.
I ...
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What is the role of stratospheric water vapor emissions in climate change?
Water vapor is the most significant greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere. However, tropospheric water vapor has a short atmospheric half-life. Therefore, anthropogenic surface-level water vapor ...
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Why air laterally diverges before entering a cyclone/anticyclone?
I'm a newbie in meteorology so sorry if this is a dumb question.
I get the general idea of how cyclones form, but one thing I can't wrap my head around is why must the air diverge laterally when ...
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Does air in the atmosphere get friction due to the planet's rotation?
Does air in the atmosphere suffer friction in some way due solely to the planet's rotation?
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Why is one term missing in the derivation of continuity equation in isentropic coordinates?
In the book by Jonathan E. Martin "Mid-Latitude Atmospheric Dynamics - A First Course"
the continuity equation for isentropic coordinates is derived by applying conservation of mass:
$\...
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Why does the blue hour look pink when watched from an isolated island?
Blue hour is a part of nautical twilight when sky is very blue. This blueness appears because of Chappuis absorption of reddish light in stratospheric ozone.
At later stages of nautical twilight, near ...
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Terraforming and maintaining a habitable atmosphere on Mars
Since Mars core does not function like Earths does, would a planetary core "kick-starting and maintaining" device be needed in order to produce a magnetosphere required to preserve the ...
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Is equivalent potential temperature constant also for dry adiabatic processes?
Equivalent Potential Temperature, defined as
$$\theta_e = \theta \cdot e^{qL/c_pT}$$
with $\theta$ denoting potential temperature and q the specific moisture of water remains constant for wet ...
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What is the climate footprint of burning lignite coal - once you account for the athmosheric cooling effect of sulfur dioxide?
Sulfur oxides have a strong but short lasting athmosheric cooling effect. Vulcanic eruptions provide test of that. Lignite or "brown coal" has a reputaion as a paricularly "dirty" ...
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Why atmospheric temperature lapse rate doesn't have a discontinuity at 0°C when ice is formed?
When trying to calculate the adiabatic lapse rate of moist air based on known values of basic thermodynamic properties of the constituents (ice, water, vapor,...) I came to the following question:
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Is Luleå's PM10 indicative of poor air quality?
Today (17/04/2023) Luleå in Sweden has one of the lowest air quality values in the world according, to Microsoft's air quality map. Other regions with a similar value are near deserts or large urban ...
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Why is latent heat of water vapor included in specific enthalpy of moist air?
In a lecture book we read about latent heat of moist air.
I would have guessed, that the total specific enthalpy of moist air, comprised of $m_d$ kg of dry air and $m_v$ kg of water vapor is (we have ...
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Why did the air not heat up in this experiment demonstrating the atmospheric greenhouse effect?
In the paper "Experimental Verification of the Greenhouse Effect" (full version: "Verification of the Greenhouse Effect in the Laboratory", Hermann Harde, Michael Schnell 2022), ...
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Confusion with thermal wind mechanism
In meteorology, we know that cold air mass sinks while warm air mass rises due to density difference, resulting in higher pressure in cold air mass. This leads to a horizontal pressure gradient from ...
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From where can I download NCEP Vertical wind?
I want to download Vertical Velocity (Pa/sec) data either in era interim or NCAR data from a website. Please I need the link.
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How could oxygen levels have ever been higher if there is so little carbon dioxide present?
Assumptions: Essentially all oxygen that's ever been present in the atmosphere originated from oxygenic photosynthesis. The production of an oxygen molecule during photosynthesis leads to the ...
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Do I understand pressure coordinates in the right way?
The question is simple: I still have problems with atmospheric pressure coordinates:
Given the pressure dependence in the picture, what are the velocity coordinates of an air parcel moving with $\vec ...
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My snarky cousin tossed a monkey into my ability to see large cloud at 300 miles HELP!
The top of a cumulonimbus cloud is usually about 40,000 feet and can reach heights of over 60,000 feet, which would be visible for a distance of 245 or 300 miles, respectively. from How far away can ...
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Estimating atmospheric vertical motion from 3D fields in WRF output
I have WRF data on isobaric levels that unfortunately does not contain a z-wind or omega field within the output, and I would like to produce some estimate as to the magnitude of synoptic-scale ...
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Is it possible to calculate dew point at pressure levels from ERA5 data?
I would like to calculate dew point values at different pressure levels from the ERA5 data set. Is this possible and if so, how exactly can it be done? I have found an approximate formula that use ...
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How to estimate altitude of tropopause of other planets?
Is it possible to come up with a formula to estimate the height of the tropopause and the upper layer lapse rate only based on atmospheric composition and other atmospheric parameters (not relying on ...
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Why aren't weather balloons left in the atmosphere permanently?
I was reading about weather balloons and the articles said that weather balloon flights usually last about two hours. When I looked up why, some articles said that when the balloons get high enough in ...
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How does Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) affects Tropical cyclones, onset of monsoon and the ENSO Cycle?
How does Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) affects Tropical cyclones, onset of monsoon and the ENSO Cycle?
I cant seem to find any "general explanation" (concept wise) for how MJO affects the ...
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Why are Hadley cells not symmetrical?
Why are Hadley cells not symmetrical?
For example, during summer in the northern hemisphere, the Hadley cell in the Northern hemisphere is significantly weaker than the one in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Why don't terrestrial storms heat up the upper atmosphere?
I was reading some articles on Jupiter, when I stumbled across this article, which said that the Great Red Spot makes the upper atmosphere really, really hot. As in "hotter-than-lava". This ...
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Moist adiabatic lapse rate
I asked this question in the Physics SE but it still lies unanswered. Hopefully Earth Science SE is more knowledgeable in the matter.
Wikipedia gives the following equation to calculate the moist ...
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Why air parcel is on a circular trajectory when considering Coriolis force
According to Coriolis force an air parcel is deflected in the absence of other forces by the acceleration (Holton, 4th Edition):
These equations lead to circular motion.
This figure is from a Matlab ...
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How does a volcanic eruption cool the planet's surface?
For example, after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 according to this paper,
The introduction of large amounts of sulphuric acid aerosol into the stratosphere increases the planetary albedo (...
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If the Sea level rises, will the mountains lose their height?
I read that the altitude of mountains is measured from the sea level. So, if the sea level rises significantly due to global warming, will the mountains and hills lose some of their altitudes and ...
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What is the "average relative humidity" of the Earth's atmosphere?
What is the current ratio of the amount of water in the Earth's atmosphere compared to its moisture storage capacity?
I see values like "a half" or "70% on various web pages, but can't ...
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What does the index "p" mean in the gradient of geopotential in pressure coordinates?
Currently I hear a series of tutorial videos on atmospheric dynamics as a first starting preparation for reading more detailed material, such as Holton. In particular I refer to this part:
https://www....
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Book on atmosphere dynamics
I plan to study a good introductory book on atmospheric dynamics:
which one is more recommended? My background is a university degree in physics, but I'm new to meteorology.
An Introduction to
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Why does Earth's atmosphere have a whiter color near the horizon?
Why does Earth's atmosphere have a whiter color (paler) near the horizon? (on a clear, cloudless day when the sun is highest in the sky)?
The amount of air being greater in this direction, why is the ...
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Why doesn't earth radiate at wavelengths where there is strong absorption?
Having in mind the absorption of IR radiation by various atmospheric gases, why is there almost no outgoing radiation into space where absorption is strong?
At the $CO_2$ 15um wavelength, there is ...
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How to calculate the moist adiabatic lapse rate?
I'm trying to calculate the saturated moist adiabatic lapse rate with the following formula:
$L_m = \frac{y_d}{1+\frac{L_v}{c_p}\frac{d_q(s)}{dT}}$
with:
$y_d = 9.8 (K\ km^{-1})\\\\$,
$L_v = 2.5*10^6 ...
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How can combusted methane from landfill samples be quantified? [closed]
Background:
For my studies I'm wanting and attempting to make a landfill greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) model that predicts the amount of greenhouse gas equivalent emissions ($GHG_{eq}$ [tonnes/year]) ...
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How to demonstrate the warming effect of CO2 at home?
Is there any simple experiment which can be done to show empirical evidence that carbon dioxide causes the greenhouse effect?
I'm imagining something simple like two sealed fish tanks, one filled with ...
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How does the partial pressure of oxygen relate to its concentration in water?
I've read that the partial pressure of oxygen in water will be the same as the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere, but that the saturation of oxygen in water is dependent on factors like ...
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Which chemicals are most responsible for the blue sky?
Earth's atmosphere is especially good at refracting blue light, which makes the sky blue.
Which gas or gasses is/are responsible for this?
If some gasses in the atmosphere do not refract blue light, ...
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In geostrophic wind, what is the mechanism behind the tendency of the coriolis effect/force and the pressure gradient force to balance each other out?
I understand that it is possible for the coriolis effect and the pressure gradient force (PGF) to cancel each other out, but it appears to be a tendency (rather than just a possibility). What is the ...
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How much water is the atmosphere receiving
I was reading this Question earlier about how if water is getting lost into space and one of the answers said that (paraphrase) the Earth lost about enough water for the oceans to reduce by 12 cm, if ...
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Are there any types of winds or waves that are produced just by Earth's rotation?
Are there any types of wind or waves caused and produced only and exclusively by Earth's rotation? Not influenced by Earth rotation, but produced solely by it?
In the case of waves, are Rossby waves 1 ...
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What does "red sun at night, sailor's delight" mean and is it true?
There is proverb that sounds like:
Red sun at night, sailor’s delight; red sun in the morning, sailor
take warning.
Is it valid and if it is then what is it about?
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What is the current atmospheric concentration of $\small\sf{CO_2}$ in the atmosphere in atm (or bar)?
For some reason, I can only find the answer in ppm and I don’t know how to do this conversion.
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Does high atmospheric pressure in the atmosphere push warm air down?
The BBC ran an article Extreme weather: What is it and how is it connected to climate change that contained this graphic:
Is this accurate? Does high pressure in the atmosphere push warm air down, ...
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Why is the Northern Hemisphere warming faster than the Southern Hemisphere?
Hi I just found the NOAA table. It clearly shows that the N. hemisphere has warmed much more than the southern hemisphere since 1880!
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global/...
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