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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Feedback loops between soil chemistry and plant growth
Would the dynamic between soil nitrogen and plant growth be a positive or negative feedback loop
I think it is a negative feedback loop because as soil nitrogen increases then plant growth increases, ...
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How can methylmercury in the ocean be reabsorbed into the atmosphere?
The Sacramento Bee news article Toxic fog may be poisoning some of California’s mountain lions, study says says
Algae in the ocean convert mercury to methylmercury, its most toxic form, which can ...
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How much and what kind of radiation passes through a cloud?
I've read that 80% of sunlight is passing through clouds. Now there a small clouds and big clouds so it should be some average. Is this true or is the amount of sunlight passing throug a cloud really ...
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Why is wind shear consistently high in the South Atlantic?
I have read that perhaps the largest reason that tropical cyclones are so rare in the South Atlantic is due to chronically-high vertical wind shear which inhibits their structural development. But ...
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Heat at High Altitudes
Why does the temperature of let’s say 85 degrees Fahrenheit in southern California feel hotter at 7,500 ft elevation than it does at sea level?
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Is there any evidence for higher air pressures in the geological past?
I was curious about how the Earth's overall air pressure has varied over time, and tried to take a look around the internet. However, Google pops up a lot of sites with questionable science proposing ...
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On the light difference between morning and afternoon
It is long time that I am looking for what physical reason(s) explains this observation:
the sun ambient light between sunrise and midday is crispy, somehow whiter than that of the afternoon hours. ...
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1answer
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What is the fastest the Earth has ever spun?
How fast can the Earth rotate and support life?
In prehistoric times, dinosaurs were so massive that archeologists wonder how they were not crushed under their own weight. Could a faster spinning ...
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Thickening Mars's Atmosphere
if we were to send a mission to mars (unlimited budget WE WISH!) to explore different methods that would enable us to thicken the martian atmosphere, what different types of data should this mission ...
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How can parameters of the ionosphere be calculated?
How can parameters of the ionosphere be calculated? Specifically, how do we calculate total ion density, total ion temperature and individual major ion densities from I-V Characteristics curve of ...
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At what altitude a ballon is no longer pushed by the wind?
In 1960, NASA launched the "Echo 1A" balloon which had amongst its objectives to test the triangulation principle with satellites.
I wonder why we don't have more "ballon" satellites for our GPS ...
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Could burning all fossile fuels (available on earth) render the atmosphere unbreathable?
What if humanity burns all fossil fuels it can find, putting the negative effects of climate change aside, would the enormous amount of CO2 in the atmosphere eventually make it unbreathable?
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why isotherms are skwed to 45 degree in tephigram?
I have studied about tephigram. In all the books, it has written that isotherms and dry adiabats are skewed to certain degrees. But practically I could not connect it. how is it possible that constant ...
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Does the magnetic field really protect Earth from anything?
Many topics discussed here in Earth Science SE, tend to be about facts that are of consensus in the scientific community but not widely accepted by the general public. Instead, this one is widely ...
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Could this cloud be artificially formed?
This photo was taken at 3000 m above sea level in an open field, during the day.
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Why are weather service atmospheric pressures systematically different from those I measure in Johannesburg?
I live in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg in South Africa.
I have noticed while working with synoptic weather charts in geography class that the isobars indicate that Johannesburg should have ...
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How does extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contribute to radiative forcing?
The CO2 absorption spectrum taken at 200 mmHg partial pressure, beam path length = 10 cm, resolution = 4 cm^-1 shows that light can only travel a couple hundred meters before being completely absorbed ...
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Does rain (temporarily) deplete the surrounding atmosphere of carbon dioxide?
CO2 in the air dissolves into rain water, making them slightly acidic. Is that enough to deplete the surrounding air out of CO2? If yes, how fast does this occur? Is it only with the first drops of ...
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Why is CO2 considered a greenhouse gas? Can you explain the principles? [closed]
I think the title says it all...
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How do 'greenhouse gases' let heat in, but not let it out?
That honestly doesn't make any sense to me. How could heat pass through a gas one way but not the other? Its not like our upper atmostphere has a bunch of doors that can only open one way. To me, that ...
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Why does haze and poor visibility present in stable air?
Haze is not considered to be a cloud or mist, and it also is not fog.
What is the ultimate reason that haze and general poor visibility ranges prevail in stable atmospheric conditions?
Is the cause ...
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1answer
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Is there a way to calculate the ground and 10m temperature from standard 2m temperature measurements?
I am wondering if it is possible at all to calculate the ground temperature and air temperature at 10m above ground from 2m measurements, or at least using data that a standard weather station ...
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Could dust blown up by a comet impact render the air unbreathable?
In the docudrama Super Comet After the Impact, the impact is shown to have made the air within a few miles of it unbreathable, and humans need gas masks to breath in this area.
How realistic is this?
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Why does atmospheric oxygen remain so “constant”? [duplicate]
I've always wondering why the oxygen in the atmosphere remains so perfectly at the level required for air-breathing life. What causes it to remain so perfect?
Also, a side question, why aren't their ...
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How can we calculate the temperature of the atmosphere, including the greenhouse effect?
I've been struggling to find equations that express how many degrees of warming greenhouse gases contribute, given the composition of an atmosphere (and solar insolation).
What I did find was the ...
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How do thunderstorms generate ionospheric potential?
In all the explanations of how global electric circuit on Earth works, I've always encountered statements like "thunderstorms generate ionospheric potential" (which is about 250 kV).
E.g. here: https:...
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How does this calculate the water transport between crops in the webside?
click->http://gpe.letsgrow.com/
next click->moisture transport
In the results of Moist transport through the crop, what is the relationship between crop height and diffusion, air movement, and total ...
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Why is more carbon in the atmosphere good, up to a certain level?
According to Elon Musk, there's "an argument" stating that the current level of carbon in the atmosphere (more than 400 ppm) is better than it was some hundreds of years ago (200 ppm). He even calls ...
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Theorist speculate about dozens of loud atmospheric booms across globe
Theorist speculate on the dozens of loud atmospheric booms across globe. Has any recognized institutions offered a plausible explanation as of now?
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Relationship Between Ratio of Atmospheric Gases and Ocean Gases
A version of this question was posted in Chemistry SE and Worldbuilding SE but I've been told it wasn't appropriate to either SE. I was told to give this SE a chance. If you think it doesn't belong on ...
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What might be causing this rainbow-like effect on the ground?
The BBC News article Iceland's Okjokull glacier commemorated with plaque about a dead glacier speaks for itself.
However there is a photo in the article that caught my eye.
It shows mountains in ...
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How Can Smog in Metropolitan Cities like Delhi & Beijing Be Reduced?
These two cities are facing the worst smog in Asia and I think in the world and people of these cities have no choice other than to wear masks when going outside. ...
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How to Obtain an Accurate Estimate for the Pressure of a Putative H2 and He4 Primordial Atmosphere?
How can we obtain an accurate estimate of the pressure of the hydrogen and helium primordial atmosphere of Earth just after it was formed? I was admonished by a user on Astronomy Stack for saying it ...
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1answer
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A balloon falling from space?
How long would it take for a store bought rubber balloon filled in space with air to fall from space just outside the atmosphere and touch ground? Would it Pop?
Added after comments: Ideally you ...
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Definition of Surface-based atmospheric duct
I am writing a literature review for a project and I have a problem. Namely, I cannot figure out the the condition required for surface-based duct to occur. Literature does not help either. In one of ...
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Why during subsidence inversion, upper layer warms more than lower layer?
Source : weather.gov
This is mentioned in the book I have been reading regarding stability in atmosphere.
But I am not able to pin point exact reason behind this.
"As the layer subsides, it ...
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1answer
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How would our weather change in the event of a magnetic pole shift?
Every two hundred thousand years or so the magnetic poles flip. Obviously it is not life ending but how would our weather change? How long does the transition take? Is there a map or model to show ...
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Is there conclusive evidence to refute an earlier oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere?
The Great Oxygenation Event (sometimes called the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), as in the journal Nature) occurred around 2.2 to 2.45 billion years ago (Frei et al. 2009). However, in the article A ...
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Net fluxes of carbon caused by humans
The current and future amount of carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere and the hydrosphere is what currently concerns and occupies many people.
I am looking for a big picture of ...
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Moisture flux convergence/divergence calculation in Grads
I want to calculate moisture flux divergence/convergence in 850 hpa for the summer and I have monthly mean gridded data
sdfopen shum.mon.mean.nc
sdfopen uwind.mon.mean.nc
sdfopen vwind.mon.mean.nc
...
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Is this particular multiple rainbow unexplained by science?
The gist of the BBC News article 'Incredibly rare rainbow' photographed in Highlands is that while it has several familiar features, there are aspects that are still unexplained.
Question: Are there ...
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1answer
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Temperature of the earth [closed]
What are the main factors that contribute to the temperature fluctuations/cycles of a location? Is the earth's temperature cycle dictated mainly by the temperature cycle of the ocean? How does the ...
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1answer
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Atmospheric conditions needed that blocks all bright light during sunsets and allows you to stare directly at the sun
Today (July 5th, 2019 just before 8 pm KST), along the Han River in Seoul, the surface of the sun could be viewed with my naked eye (no protection needed), and this was safe on the eyes. It appeared ...
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1answer
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What is the effect of sea-level changes on the extent of the Earth's atmosphere?
If sea-levels rise, does the Earth's atmosphere extend to the same distance out to space, with the pressure increasing, or does it expand?
If sea levels rose 10m, how much change would there be to ...
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Was the “'Bama Boom” even recorded by infrasound or by seismic detectors?
The 'Bama Boom ('Bama is short for the US state of Alabama) is a term for some audible "booms" heard by many people in Alabama and now in Colorado. See for example the Popular Mechanics article ...
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Why has CO2 decreased in the history of the Earth?
I noticed that the $\ce{CO2}$ is actually decreasing in the eon time.
My guess is lush vegetation or forests began to grow which absorbed the $\ce{CO2}$ by photosynthesis? Would anyone give me any ...
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2answers
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Why does chlorophyll only come in green? [closed]
Plants do not only come in green but chlorophyll does. The pigment in the plant creates other colored plants other then green.
Could a plant grow under an alternative light spectrum like a green sun ...
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1answer
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How does total pressure affect relative humidity and how do I correct my hygrometer for pressure?
Obviously pressurized air can hold more water than regular air, so an increase in overall pressure would result in an inversely proportional decrease in relative humidity. However, I can't seem to ...
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1answer
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How and when was the $\mathsf{CO_2}$ scrubbed when Earth was still primordial?
How and when was the $\mathsf{CO_2}$ removed in primordial Earth atmosphere? What is the main mechanism of this removal of $\mathsf{CO_2}$? Is it dissolving in water? Or rock weathering? Or was the ...
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Is Earth getting heavier or lighter?
There is meteoric material falling on the Earth constantly, as well as some protons and other light nuclei from the solar wind as well as from cosmic rays.
At the same time Earth's atmosphere looses ...
