Questions tagged [land-surface]
The **land surface** is a major component of the Earth's hydrocycle and biosphere. It has significant impacts on the atmosphere and climate.
5
votes
2answers
242 views
Is an underground mine collapse or a tunnel collapse called a sinkhole?
Imagine there's an underground man made structure e.g. a tunnel or an underground train station that collapses creating a depression in the surface. Would that technically be called a sinkhole? What ...
1
vote
0answers
63 views
WRF: minimal list of variables required by coupling a land surface model to the whole system
We are trying to couple our land surface model into WRF. As a first step, we'd like to know what is the minimal list of variables required by such coupling?
4
votes
0answers
72 views
On which software can I simulate landmass collisions?
Such as in 3D simulations of vehicule crashes but this time with huge rocks or bodies of water (continental plates). I need to be able to set the properties of the material (density, size etc) and see ...
3
votes
1answer
64 views
High resolution global land use projections
I am looking for global land use projections for a large scale hydrological analysis. The most widely used datasets are the LUH (v1) Products used for CMIP5 based on Hurtt et al 2011. These products ...
10
votes
1answer
396 views
Are “monoliths” giant, isolated rocks sitting in dirt, or are they continuous with bedrock
I am at a loss for the precise, correct terminology, but I have read in Wikipedia that Uluru is not a monolith, but Savandurga is, and that I probably shouldn't be using the word monolith to begin ...
4
votes
0answers
74 views
What timescales do eddies operate at in the planetary boundary layer?
What are the largest eddies within the planetary boundary layer? What timescales do the operate on?
Edit: I'm talking about atmospheric eddies over land. So, eddies that are measured in [eddy ...
4
votes
4answers
265 views
How to identify a landslide area early?
We know that this natural disaster can cause a big damage. I have heard that we can identify such areas by some geographical signs, such as curved trees. Do we have any stronger detectable signs which ...
3
votes
2answers
324 views
Half of Earth with most landmass
About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water and the remaining 29% is landmass*. If you could theoretically cut the planet in half, with the objective of producing a half with the most ...
3
votes
1answer
232 views
Is it possible that a reduction in vegetation is a cause of global warming?
A lot of people seem to believe that the entire cause of global warming is that humans are emitting lots of carbon dioxide. However, according to a source I found online (I accept it may not be ...
7
votes
1answer
242 views
The geology of local landscapes and small scale features
I'm learning geology to understand the processes behind the formation of my local landscape.
I understand the processes behind big features, such as mountains. But I'm struggling to understand the ...
8
votes
1answer
276 views
Why does the road appear wet on a sunny day?
Whenever I'm travelling by road on a hot sunny day and I look towards the horizon, it appears as though there is puddle ahead but as I approach it, it disappears. Why does this happen?
6
votes
1answer
81 views
What's the minimum number of days needed for reporting a “monthly average” of daily satellite retrievals?
NASA's Earth Observing System produces many maps of air quality and land-surface variables, from instruments like MODIS, AIRS, OMI, VIIRS, etc. Both NASA and the scientific community produce maps of ...
6
votes
2answers
761 views
When does an island with isthmus become a peninsula?
I'm currently on holiday in Indonesia. In my travel guide I was reading about the island Samosir, which I'm visiting in a few days. I read that the island, which is located in lake Toba, is connected ...
11
votes
3answers
12k views
In the northern hemisphere only, what percentage of the surface is land?
Across the whole Earth, about 70% of the surface is water and 30% is land.
What I want, though, is to restrict the scope to the northern hemisphere (NH) only. What percentage of NH surface is land?
...
14
votes
5answers
23k views
(Why) Is there more landmass on Earth's Northern hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere?
This Question on Worldbuilding is based on the presumption that there is a greater amount of landmass on the Earth's Northern Hemisphere than there is on the Southern Hemisphere.
While researching ...
13
votes
1answer
780 views
Do forests affect local rainfall and climate significantly?
I know that forests can change the local temperature, but what about rainfall?. Do forests affect rainfall in their region? I have read that if a forest is very big, it can cause minor changes to ...
10
votes
2answers
543 views
How much land does it take to support New York City?
New York City has about 8.5 million people living in an area of 300 square miles which gives a population density of 28,300 people per square mile. The food required to support such a high population ...
10
votes
1answer
89 views
Does within-canopy wind direction correlate with wind above the planetary bounday layer?
Wind above the planetary boundary layer (PBL) tends to be fairly smooth and constant over short periods of time. Below the planetary boundary layer, the smoothness is broken by eddies caused by ...
13
votes
1answer
522 views
Where does the water from rain in rain forests come from?
When discussing a hypothetical world without oceans and just forest it occured to me that I wasn't so sure there would be any rain in the first place, due to the lack of oceans. Searching on Google ...
7
votes
0answers
183 views
NASA GLAS Lidar Data Format [closed]
NASA GLAS Lidar Data can be downloaded here.
I cannot find (or perhaps understand) the answer to my question on the icesat/glas page. Lidar data can be provided as points (las) or raster (dem), ...
8
votes
1answer
67 views
Should total ground heat flux be 0?
In the context of the land surface, the ground absorbs heat from radiation (also some times from precipitation and advection), and releases heat through evapotranspiration, advection and radiation, ...
14
votes
1answer
218 views
Is there a standard definition of a “dry-down” event in hydrology?
When studying the land surface, dry-down periods - periods after rain where the soil moisture is decreasing due to evapotranspiration and drainage - are of great interested, because soil moisture has ...
10
votes
1answer
112 views
Are there any high-resolution urban CO2 concentration data sets?
I gather that higher-than-ambient CO2 "domes" can form above urban areas, enhancing other local air pollution. Are there papers or datasets of average CO2 concentrations down at ground level (say 0-20 ...
10
votes
1answer
91 views
Alternatives to Plant Functional Types as parametrisations in land surface models?
Plant Functional Types (PFTs) are a discretisation of global vegetation types. They are used in land surface models to parametrise many values, including albedo, various photosynthesis parameters, and ...
