The atmospheric-science tag has no wiki summary.
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2answers
105 views
Is the total mass of Earth's atmosphere essentially constant in time?
Per a few questions and comments on this site such as Huge buildings affect earth's rotation? I wonder, is the mass of the Earth's atmosphere roughly constant?
We're burning an incredible amount ...
-1
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1answer
63 views
Geodetic model for numerical weather prediction [closed]
What is the implicit geodetic model used by common numerical weather prediction products? WGS84? NAVD88?
For example, NOAA's Rapid Refresh (RAP), North America Mesoscale (NAM), and Global Forecast ...
0
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0answers
34 views
Need to write a function that computes the UV index
I have found a lot of people talking about how to compute the UV index, but have not found an example that shows the actual equations, so I could adapt them into an algorithm.
Probably the closest ...
6
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1answer
91 views
Lightning During a Snow Storm
Lightning and thunder during a snow storm is uncommon. As far as I know, more uncommon than during a typical rain storm. Why is this? I speculate it might be one, or both, of the following two ...
0
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1answer
119 views
What caused Simon Faithfull's chair to fall appart?
There is an art/science video clip on youtube, by Simon Faithful, called Escape Vehicle no.6 (chair in space). It shows a simple steel office chair, tied to a weather balloon, ascending into the upper ...
3
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2answers
107 views
Can wind currents form in the mesosphere?
Probably not the right forum for this question.
How high in the atmosphere may an air-current form? Can a wind current form up in the mesosphere?
1
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1answer
117 views
Loopy lightning
What causes lightning to follow the path it does ?
picture from BBC news: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62891000/jpg/_62891901_untitled-1copy.jpg main page: ...
1
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0answers
103 views
Digital camera as a measurement device [closed]
It is know that digital camera is not the best device for quantitative measurements. However, it is often used in all sorts of atmospheric physics research, maily due to:
Low cost and availability. ...
7
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2answers
376 views
Why doesn't the percentage of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere diminish significantly with altitude?
According to numerous sources online, the percentage of oxygen is approximately the same at sea level and 10,000 meters. Since oxygen is heavier than nitrogen, shouldn't the percentage of oxygen ...
0
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1answer
141 views
why does gravitational force bring the clouds down? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
The Density of Clouds
according to definition of cloud :
A visible mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere, typically high above the ground
as there's ...
0
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2answers
102 views
Atmosphere above huge fire areas (e.g., “fire ocean”)? [closed]
My question is more about climate sciences, but I hope that it is still related to physics.
What would be possible atmospheric conditions for planet with some kind of "fire" ocean?
I had some ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
Weather Radar Interpretation - Radial Rays
I was browsing the NEXRAD radar feeds (I'm not an expert, just figuring them out) and I came across the following signature (visit the link to view the radar image)
http://cl.ly/3n0y0p0g2M0K2B313g3U
...
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5answers
495 views
What experiments prove the greenhouse effect?
What experiments prove the greenhouse effect? I've read a little on wikipedia but I've got only some names but not their experiments.
3
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2answers
338 views
x-ray interaction with atmosphere
Why x-ray are stopped by atmosphere while they are more energetic than UV or IR?
They certainly interact with atmosphere but I can't understand which phenomenon stop them.
0
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3answers
164 views
Lightning Power?
What is the power source of a lightning? It doesn't consume fuel, nor an atomic fission/fusion, but it discharges a large amount of energy. Is it feasible to create an artificial lightning using the ...
2
votes
0answers
53 views
If a hot Jupiter was not tidally locked, then are there any specific cases where its wind speeds would be milder than those found on Jupiter?
If a hot Jupiter was not tidally locked, are there any specific cases where its wind speeds would be milder than those found on Jupiter?
After controlling for the age of the hot Jupiter, of course. ...
2
votes
1answer
195 views
How to calculate pressure at altitude when there is 0 temperature lapse?
To calculate pressure at a given altitude, the following formula is used:
$p = p_0 \cdot \left(1 - \frac{L \cdot h}{T_0} \right)^\frac{g \cdot M}{R \cdot L}$
(the values can be found here)
This ...
4
votes
2answers
117 views
The visibility of air
For pilots of gliders or sailplanes, the 'thermal' is the most important phenomena of the air. A thermal is classically described as an upward flow of air caused by ground level heating of air that ...
3
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2answers
4k views
How does a change in temperature affect relative humidity
Assume that the air pressure and the amount of water in the air stay constant. How can I figure out how much a change in temperature affects the relative humidity?
3
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3answers
122 views
Are there convective movements similar to those in clouds everywhere in the atmosphere?
I heard there were powerful convective movements in clouds which were responsible for increasing the size of water droplets or ice crystals. My question is: do the same movements appear outside of ...
0
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1answer
171 views
range of infrared light
I notice in the EMS chart that only half of the IR range will travel through the earth's atmosphere. So in the range of frequencies that penetrate the atmosphere what frequency travels farthest?
2
votes
1answer
220 views
Hail stones in summer?
This has always puzzled me. Yesterday (in London) it started hailing despite it being about $20^oC$. A couple of years ago I experienced hail in Sicily when it was about $35^oC$ in the shade!. How is ...
4
votes
2answers
157 views
How is the mechanism of greenhouse gases interacting with IR radiation?
How does atmospheric CO2 and other Greenhousgases (GHG) affect the incoming (from sun) and outgoing (from earth) radiation. I understand that at certain wavenumbers (or areas of wavenumbers) in the ...
3
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3answers
261 views
Ozone Hole in the South Pole
Perhaps this should be a chemistry question, but it seems to have physics attributes. There's a perennial ozone "hole" around the south pole created by destruction from Cl based chemicals like CFCs. ...
5
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3answers
926 views
Why don't different air masses mix immediately?
In meteorology, the atmosphere is considered to be divided into air masses, regions of relatively uniform temperature and humidity with fronts on their borders. But why doesn't the air from different ...
1
vote
1answer
370 views
How to calculate the volume of water from the measured rainfall?
With the impending landfall of Cyclone Yasi, we were pondering how much water would be dropped by storm after hearing them say there would be about a metre of rain falling.
Assuming that this is the ...
4
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3answers
4k views
How can I calculate Vapor Pressure Deficit from Temperature and Relative Humidity?
I have a series of measurements of temperature and relative humidity (RH), together with mosquito capture data. Because mosquitoes are sensitive to desiccation, it's reasonable that RH may be useful ...
3
votes
2answers
284 views
Relating the power to weather variables [closed]
Could you please help me in this problem?
I have 3 independent variables, (T,H,t) , as inputs and one output P ( I have all data for these inputs and the output, done experimentally measured every ...
3
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2answers
544 views
logarithmic wind speed profile
Under some atmospheric stability condition, over flat terrain, it has been observed for a while that the ratio between wind speed at height $h_1$ above the earth and the wind speed at height $h_0$ is ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
Reference request: statistical inference with real world (chaotic) data, e.g. climate/weather data
I'm interested in the process that goes from, for example, huge data sets of temperature, pressure, precipitation etc readings to a model of the atmosphere. I'd like to know about how much relies on a ...
