# All Questions

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### ppmV versus μmol/mol for atmospheric CO2 - how to convert?

For a uniform mixture of ideal gases, I think that the concentration of a gas reported in parts per million by volume (ppmV) and micro-moles per mole (μmol/mol) would be the same. When I see ...
150 views

### Dataset for expected sea level rise in case of massive meltdowns (Greenland/Antarctica)

Around the time climate change became a 'public issue' (let's say shortly after An inconvenient truth came out), figures started getting published about the expected (global) sea level rise in case of ...
111 views

### What goes into a tide power prediction for every fifteen minutes over the next twenty five years?

I was watching a segment about tidal power generation on a PBS NewsHour broadcast. I've set the time code at about 11:45 to capture a little background. This bit ...
901 views

### Why is it colder in the mountains than at sea level?

I have heard numerous reasons why that is. I just want to know which one is right.
1k views

### Are average daily temperatures affected by DST?

To calculate the average daily temperatures, do meteo professionals still use the Mannheim procedure with twice weighted measurement in the evening? (It could be obsolete by automated weather stations....
140 views

### Do humans cause a DST-related shift in average daily temperatures?

Inspired by the title to this question, is there a shift in average daily temperatures caused by the DST change in human activities? I can picture any number of mechanisms by which a shift could ...
151 views

### What is the residue after plant matter is completely decomposed?

What typical fraction of decomposing plant matter, left on the surface rather than buried, is not released in gaseous form? My simple world view is that the plant structure has all come from the air, ...
3k views

### Are the oceans rising or the continents going down? How can we know?

The century old sustained rising of oceans, at a rate of 2-4 mm/y, remains a unexplained phenomenon; there is no correlation with temperature variations, so it is not due to the thermal variation of ...
33k views

### Is oxygen the most abundant element on Earth?

When I was in school, I was taught that we need oxygen to breathe, but it actually constitutes only a small fraction of the atmospheric composition, and that nitrogen constituted the largest fraction ...
1k views

### Gaps in locations of volcanos (Peru & Chile)

The figure below is taken from Reath, K. et al. (2019) A couple of things can be seen from this representation Volcanism seems to be strongly correlated with subduction zones, in this case the Nazca ...
460 views

### Is ground level ozone dangerous to human health when other pollutants are not present, for example, at high altitudes?

In mountainous areas there is often little or no air pollution such as particulate matter, sulphur/nitrogen dioxide etc. However, ground-level ozone is frequently more present at these higher ...
2k views

### How viscous is the Earth's mantle?

I'm posting here to get some more expert information based on this question. If the Earth were to stop rotating, removing the centrifugal force causing the equatorial bulge, how long would it take ...
3k views

### Does the geographic North Pole move?

The magnetic North (or South) Pole moves due to activities in the inner of Earth. And earthquakes can tilt the Earth's orientation a tiny bit. But can and does the axis' orientation relative to the ...
141 views

### Relation of El Niño to Monsoons

Scientists are forecasting a weak to moderate El Niño event to emerge in the coming months, what causes this to happen? Once developed, how will the El Niño conditions effect progressive monsoon ...
326 views

### Is seismology really the only way to measure the thickness of Earth's layers?

Answers from these two questions: How can we guess the size of the earths inner core? & How can we measure the thickness of the earths mantle? use seismic waves as the method for detirmining ...
3k views

### How does argon-argon dating work - need a simple but not-wrong explanation

The Washington Post article Scientists discover hundreds of footprints left at the dawn of modern humanity describes the geological dating of stratified layers of mud by analyzing and dating minerals ...
190 views

### Where did the continents come from?

In animations that show the location / drift of the continents over the aeons, it seems that the continents (or cratons?) are just floating / drifting around, sometimes fusing or splitting, but having ...
2k views

### Where can I get archived hourly wind speed data for Germany?

Can some one suggest me a web site for archived hourly wind data for Germany. I have seen here but it was not useful for me.
125 views

### How old are Chile's fjords?

Do we have any knowledge about the age of Chile's fjords, more specifically, those found near the Northern Patagonian Ice Field? Is it reasonable to conclude that they were formed in Quaternary given ...
95 views

### Is there a formula that gives the temperature of an object or person exposed to the sun?

It is well known that temperature sensors are often shaded, partially to mitigate the variability due to varying cloud cover. However, most people experience temperature within the sunlight. Other ...
205 views

### I'm still confused about what “probability of precipitation” means

I'm trying to understand what weather forecasts mean more precisely. As I understand it from reading Wikipedia, blogs, etc., the percentage value for rain/precipitation that you see in a forecast is ...
2k views

### How do hematite and magnetite form?

I want to understand the conditions under which hematite $\ce{Fe_2O_3}$ and magnetite $\ce{Fe_3O_4}$ form in nature. The linked Wikipedia articles explain various conditions under which they form, but ...
116 views

### Would a global cooling event disable solar energy usage?

Imagine that we've improved the level quality, affordability, and ease of use of photo-voltaic solar, and it's use is widely distributed in the USA. We've improved the grid for power distribution, we ...
115 views

### Oceanic-atmospheric coupling between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean basins

The two great basins - Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean have their respective oscillations Indian Ocean Dipole and El Nino Southern oscillation that affect the climate of the regions as well as the ...
449 views

### What “g” would be needed to keep helium on Earth?

I know that helium is a very light and rare gas on Earth because Earths gravity is not strong enough to keep it. Instead, helium and hydrogen are rising through the atmosphere and escape into outer ...
522 views

### Algorithmically Determining the Rainy Season

I have historical precipitation data for hundreds of cities around the world. I would like to algorithmically determine when the rainy season (if exists) is for each location. Are there any algorithms ...
1k views

### Golden and red colored light even after sunset

I heard about the golden hour, but yesterday I saw golden and red colored patches in the sky even after sunset. Why does it happen? And I would like to know more about the science behind the golden ...
394 views

### What ozone depleting chemicals can salt produce?

According to How Long Will Life Last On Earth, 250 million years ago Siberia underwent a large a prolonged period of volcanic activity. It has been speculated that large salt deposits that existed in ...
5k views

### Why does the intensity of sunlight depend on your latitude? [duplicate]

People at the equator get to bask in more sunlight than Santa Clause and other inhabitants of the arctic regions. Not quite as pronounced, but they get more than me too. Why is the sunlight more ...
98 views

### What is the geochemical source for the helium detected in deep Arctic explosive eruptions?

Recently, there has been explosive deep-ocean volcanism detected along the slowly-spreading Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean (see map below), according the National Geographic news article Arctic ...
832 views

### How do perennial rivers in high alpine areas maintain year round flows?

We have several perennial rivers in my country that originate out of high altitude alpine glacier melt. I can understand snow or glacier melting in the summer to increase the flows but it is observed ...
903 views

### Statistical weather prediction

Assuming I have time evolution of air temperature, air pressure, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and cloudiness, how can I predict weather based on this information? I know that high ...
219 views

### What definition of “seamount” is used by the largest utilised databases of seamounts?

Appears that answering what seamounts are is a non-trivial question. My take is what matters is data, since authoritative opinions on the topic are at best subjective. As such, my position is the ...
330 views

### Are there any weather services that provide hourly forecasts beyond 7 days?

I'm working on a small project and am trying to find a way to get the very extended hour-by-hour forecast for a location. Most services (Darksky, etc.) seem to offer 7-day extended hourly forecasts, ...
186 views

### Can I just walk around Greenland with a UV light and find rare Earth minerals on the ground?

The NPR.org news article and podcast Greenland Is Not For Sale. But It Has The Rare Earth Minerals America Wants is interesting, and it includes a few large GIFs (too large to post here) that appear ...
124 views

### When sea level rises, does the increased ocean area cause the earth to cool down somewhat?

When the sea level rises, more of the planet's area is watery and less of it is land. Does this change in surface condition result in a change in global warming, such as a decrease in the net ...
139 views

### Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica

Avery Thompson writes in Popular Mechanics In Thwaites’ case, that radar uncovered a gigantic cavern between the glacier itself and the bedrock below it. That cavern is likely filled with air much ...
1k views

### Why are there 5 oceans?

Like many people, while in school I learned there were four Oceans on Earth - Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic. In general I think it was described that the currents and the surrounding continents ...
1k views

### Volcanoes in the Alps and Himalayas and the subduction of Tethys Sea

Geologist have theorized that the Tethys Sea subducted under Eurasian plates. But where are the volcanoes that would have resulted due to this? Where are the volcanoes in the Alps and the Himalayas?
192 views

### Why do we measure eustatic sea-level from the center of earth?

Earth is rotating so it has a ellipsoidal shape. The measurement will therefore be different from equator and pole. So why do we measure eustatic sea-level from the center of earth?
511 views

### How was the Earth formed?

What events took place in our Solar System which led to formation of the Earth? I have heard from sources that a big giant star exploded and the Earth was formed. Is this true ?
565 views

### What produces these distinct shapes in the Rub' al Khali seen from space?

update: Searching "Rub' al Khali Empty Quarter" found "Q2: What are sabkhas?" in https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6BYQ0_rub-al-khali-the-empty-quarter which seems to be ...
760 views

### Is there a name for these “pouring” clouds?

I snapped this photo with my phone flat against the window of a bus, facing south while traveling west across a bridge in New Taipei City. I'd say it was at about 24.995N, 121.438E. It was about 14:00 ...
103 views

### Did an impact crater cause the formation of the gas fields in north eastern South Australia

In the paper High Impact Reservoirs, the authors claim that impact craters have lead to both the creation and destruction of petroleum source rocks, reservoirs and traps. Recently it was announced ...
237 views

### Are there probably decent oil fields located in the middle of the ocean?

I did a google image search for a world map of offshore oil. Surprisingly I found virtually nothing. I had to search country by country for such maps. I noticed most if not all were located very near ...
366 views

### How large can local surface CO2 concentration vary due to natural processes?

I'd like to have a rough idea of how large local surface CO2 concentration vary due to natural processes. For example, a purely hypothetical experiment: If I set up some CO2 monitors in a wide ...
4k views

### How much rain falls on the Earth each year?

In this resource, it says that the average amount of precipitation falling on the Earth per year is approximately 100 cm. Integrated across the surface of the Earth, that yields approximately 5.1 × ...
82 views

### Observations of sea ice typology in the Arctic

What are the main datasets characterizing sea ice typology, thickness, density, "passability", presence of pressure ridges in the Arctic? Is it something that can be detected from the air or a space ...