Questions tagged [climate-science]
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144
questions
1
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1answer
39 views
Why do ice sheets break into such big pieces?
Another massive chunk of the Antarctic ice sheet broke free. Giant crack frees a massive iceberg in Antarctica. The article has a map that shows more cracks. It looks reasonable that they will lead to ...
1
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0answers
36 views
Nature of relationship between atmospheric $\rm CO_2$ and temperature
So I had a simple thought:
Venus is ~400C with 95% CO2, and Earth is ~15C with 0% CO2..
Assuming linearity, this equates to 1C for 1% atmospheric CO2.
Why is the relationship assumed to be so much ...
0
votes
1answer
54 views
How bad would it be to dump nuclear waste into the atmosphere?
Before I say any further, this is just a thought experiment, it's a crazy idea and I'm not suggesting otherwise!
A key pro/anti nuclear argument goes like so: nuclear waste storage is hard, but on the ...
0
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0answers
21 views
Greenhouse or compression?
Convection driven compressional warming is accepted here on Earth by scientists( Chinook winds, Santa Anna winds) when there is such low pressure, 1 bar = 14 psi. Scientists also agree that Jupiter’s ...
0
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4answers
77 views
Why is it not possible to run electrical plants on oxygen (rocket fuel) or hydrogen rather than coal?
Title basically says it all.
I'm not a physicist by any stretch. I'm an IT professional with slightly more than a passing interest in mechanics.
I got to thinking the other day how much power is ...
0
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2answers
57 views
Doesn't Increase of Potential Temperature with Height contradict Adiabatic Nature of Processes within Troposphere?
According to my education as a sailplane pilot our troposphere is in good approximation subject to adiabatic processes.
Using adiabatic equations of (nearly ideal) ...
0
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0answers
20 views
Is there a tabulated reference for CO$_2$ reactions showing entropy and free energy?
With all the climate change attention I am hoping to find a CO$_2$ reference that can help me find a $\text{CO}_2$ reaction with $\Delta \text{S}^{\circ}$ less than zero, and ideally $\Delta \text{G}^{...
0
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1answer
41 views
Climate Change and Degrees of Freedom of Gases
I studied a sciences of climate change module with the OU a while ago, I'm half remembering something that's bugging me and wonder whether any could help provide some clarification?
I remember that an ...
0
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1answer
83 views
By what equation the future temperature predictions are made? [closed]
I'm a Ph.D student in plasma physics but interested in learning physics behind climate modeling and predictions. I want to begin with studying what equation is used for the future temperature ...
0
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3answers
86 views
How can global warming occur in spite of Energy Balance?
The Greenhouse Gas Theory maintains that an increase in carbon dioxide will cause a corresponding increase in Earth's temperature. But this temperature increase will cause an increase in the flow ...
1
vote
0answers
22 views
Relation between vertically integrated precipitable water and precipitation
My background is not in meteorology, but I am interested in climate models of tidally-locked planets of red-dwarf stars. I recently found a great review of different conditions on such planets modeled ...
0
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0answers
8 views
For evaporation, is difference temperature difference a bigger driver than a high maintained temperature?
I was thinking about this while baking and trying to remove moisture from some granola. It seemed to dry out quicker and more effectively when it was out of the oven - is temperature difference ...
0
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0answers
11 views
Tropical Cyclone Boundary Layer
A tropical cyclone moves over the ocean before making a landfall. So, when we talk about the boundary layer of the tropical cyclone (TC) at a point, is it actually the marine atmospheric boundary ...
0
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1answer
32 views
Why does the earth and oceans emit primarily infrared photons?
Climate on earth depends a lot on infrared photons being emitted by the earth and its oceans.
I want to know why the atoms in earth elements emit infrared photons after absorbing visible light, UV ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
I have a couple of questions regarding the physics of planet Miller and the black hole it's orbiting from the movie “Interstellar” [closed]
I watched the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a couple of questions regarding the physics, so I looked for answers. I got them, but I was left even more questions.
I know that a lot of these ...
0
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0answers
24 views
Does human made global warming of atmosphere drive the increase of volcanic and tectonic activity?
I read in the handbook that the heat transfer coefficient between magma and soil is very small. What then is the mechanism of the predominant influence of global warming due to greenhouse emissions on ...
4
votes
3answers
496 views
Can anyone explain the REAL reason why CO$_2$ increases global temperatures (not the simplistic greenhouse analogy provided for public consumption)?
The greenhouse effect analogy of global warming is that atmospheric carbon dioxide CO$_2$ absorbs some of the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth, and redirects a portion of that radiation back ...
42
votes
7answers
5k views
Bush fires and heat waves, the real mechanics?
Like many others, I have been following the sad development of the bush/forest fires in Australia recently. A claim that gets repeated is that one of the contributors to this blaze is the ongoing >45°...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
Human infrared emission resonance [closed]
I understand (please correct if misinformed),
the human body generates approx 100W of infrared energy, which seems (to an old engineer) an incredible amount of energy from a biological.
In recently ...
-1
votes
1answer
69 views
Why is Methane a more effective greenhouse gas compared to Carbon dioxide? [duplicate]
Over 100 years, Methane has a Global warming potential 34 times bigger than Carbon dioxide. Over 20 years, it's even 86 times bigger. How does one arrive at these numbers?
Looking at the following ...
1
vote
2answers
61 views
Why do CO₂ and other greenhouse gases interact with infrared radiation but not ultraviolet wavelengths?
When ultraviolet and visible wavelength photons get sent from the sun they seem to not interact with CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. When that electromagnetic energy gets to the earth, the earth ...
0
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0answers
63 views
Why can visible light go through green-house gases? [duplicate]
I understand that visible light can (largely) go through greenhouse gases, but infrared radiation can get reflected back... why can visible light go through green-house gases?
Does it have to do ...
0
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0answers
37 views
Is there a way to visualize the properties of $\rm CO_2$ regarding IR to a layman?
I think about how to explain the greenhouse effect to somebody with no physics background. What to explain to a general layperson, basically.
I have ideas how to go on from that CO₂ are some kind of ...
2
votes
3answers
46 views
Does the butterfly effect apply to models intended to be long-term?
We know that complex models, especially for the atmosphere, are likely to be subject to the butterfly effect, meaning that small variations in initial conditions may result in very different states in ...
-1
votes
1answer
64 views
$CO_2$ absoprtion bands in atmosphere and impact of increasing concentration levels
I have a question to do with this graphic and the CO2 absorption band highlighted with a red vertical line.
The image shows that nearly 100% of the IR energy in that band is absorbed in the ...
6
votes
2answers
319 views
Shouldn't $CO_2$ forcing depend on the surface temperature?
When I read about radiative forcing due to CO2 it says:
"Radiative forcing is a measure of the influence a factor has in
altering the balance of incoming and outgoing energy in the
Earth-...
-1
votes
1answer
74 views
Is there any natural phenomenon that can account for the 100 fold faster $CO_2$ rate increase?
"Based on the best historical data that we have available CO2 is probably increasing at a rate at of least 100 times faster than at any time in the last 800,000 years." Pieter Tans lead scientist of ...
12
votes
4answers
3k views
How much do sea levels rise due to thermal expansion?
I was reading an article by the Smithsonian Institute about the rising sea levels. In it, they mention how warmer water expands more, thus it helps to raise the average sea level. This makes perfect ...
1
vote
0answers
16 views
What processes permit (presumed) emission by, but prohibit absorption of, IR photons by non-greenhouse gas molecules?
It is said that because of bond-structures / possible vibrational states, non-greenhouse-gases / homonuclear diatomics cannot absorb IR.
Presumably there is no question that all gases, being matter, ...
2
votes
1answer
95 views
Climate Change Review paper
Could anybody recommend me some review paper on climate change or tell me some major names in that field? I work in a completely different area but I would like to learn about the current state of our ...
1
vote
2answers
57 views
Controlling global warming by partial conversion of atmospheric heat into work
Thermodynamics does not preclude the possibility of extracting heat from the atmosphere or the ocean water and convert some of it into mechanical work. In principle, is this possible to do it in ...
1
vote
1answer
43 views
How much steam must a planets atmosphere hold for no condensation to occur at bottom?
If a planets atmosphere contains steam how much would be required in order to have a temperature at the bottom, due to the adiabatic temperature gradient, to prevent condensation and thus rain in the ...
1
vote
0answers
27 views
How does climate change affect air density? [closed]
At first I thought... if the overall temperature of a planet goes up, then the gaseous atmosphere will be hotter, so it will have lower density than it used to. So overall density should go down.
...
1
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3answers
78 views
$CO_2$ heating experiment (high school)
A student is trying to run some experiments for a project to explore how the concentration of CO2 affects the temperature of air. For this, she:
Drops different ammounts of dry ice (between 0 and 2....
1
vote
1answer
82 views
Rising sea levels due to thermal expansion
According to NASA, one of the main reasons for the rising of sea levels is the increase in ocean temperature. The increase was of $0.4^\circ \text{F}\sim 0.2^\circ C$ for waters with depth $\sim700\...
0
votes
2answers
70 views
Will thermal radiation of hot humid outdoor air cause a person indoor to feel warmer than if it were cool or dry outside?
The hypothesis is this: Water molecules, due to their asymmetry and electric dipole are particularly susceptible to radiation at specific frequencies. That suggests that excited water molecules will ...
-5
votes
1answer
101 views
Asteroid Theory of Dinosaur Extinction [closed]
Have proponents of the Chicxulub dinosaur extinction theory wildly exaggerated the effect of asteroid impact in order to validate their theory? For example,the world-wide forest fire claim doesn't ...
0
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0answers
17 views
What are the implications of a warmer earth for hurricanes by 2100?
The main magic number is the surface sea water temperature. Above, I think 27 C the warm, moist air provides more energy that the storm uses.
This is why the hurricane season is late summer into ...
2
votes
2answers
108 views
Temperature as function of $CO_2$
The carbon stored in fossil fuels must have been taken out of the earth atmosphere from CO2 in past periods by plants. Thereby reducing the amount of CO2 drastically and increasing the amount of O2 to ...
4
votes
3answers
200 views
Why is methane considered an important greenhouse gas?
Methane’s absorption bands are centered at 3.2 and 7.2 microns -- far off the peak of the Planck spectrum for a 290 K blackbody near 16 microns. Moreover, its absorption bands overlap with the water ...
16
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4answers
4k views
To what extent do (man made) generators of heat from internal sources in earth's system cause climate change?
So I'm very far from a climate scientist but I've always wondered, why don't things like electric heaters, lightbulbs, etc, contribute to climate change, or even things like the accelerated decay of ...
5
votes
1answer
380 views
Is there a difference in the infrared absorption spectrum of a greenhouse gas when pure and when mixed with non-greenhouse gases?
According to the standard IPCC greenhouse climate change hypothesis a doubling of the preindustrial CO2 concentration of 285 ppm in the atmosphere - the current value is 405 ppm - would lead to an ...
1
vote
0answers
55 views
Satellite radiance measurements in spectral regions
Q: A satellite measures longwave radiation emerging from a planet with uniform surface temperature T1 and uniform atmospheric temperature T2. What values of radiance does the satellite measure in the ...
-3
votes
3answers
842 views
Why is Mars so cold when it has so much atmospheric $CO_2$?
Mars has 1/10 of Earth's atmosphere but that atmosphere is 95% CO2. Why is Mars so cold when it has so much atmospheric CO2?
-3
votes
1answer
186 views
How is global warming distributed with respect to altitude?
Lets assume a sea level temperature increase 2c/3c. Then, what is the temperature increase at 10 km altitude? Temperature increase at 30 km altitude? Temperature increase at 70 km altitude? And ...
1
vote
1answer
71 views
does diluting sea water from iceberg melt raise levels
I'm asking this because I just joined and am not permitted to comment on the question "Does the sea level increase if an iceberg melts?"
According google search, one liter of sea water contains 35 ...
0
votes
1answer
50 views
Has there been a quantifed estimate of the thermal impact of human activity? Not to include “greenhouse gasses” [closed]
In 1984 I read a prediction by the biological scientist and Nobel Laureate Konrad Lorenz that heat produced by human activity would necessarily increase Earth's average atmospheric temperature. His ...
2
votes
1answer
53 views
What additional percentage of the suns energy is being trapped via green house gases?
Every year we release more greenhouse gases which causes the atmosphere to trap more energy and thus warm the planet.
What additional percentages of energy are we talking about here? I would assume ...
61
votes
11answers
22k views
Why don't solar panels contribute to global warming?
I've been wondering this for a while but I have not yet encountered an explanation.
This is from my understanding of physics, which is by no means expert, so sorry for my crude explanation:
Energy ...
6
votes
2answers
120 views
Blocking of infrared radiation from the sun by $\rm CO_2$ [duplicate]
Why is the infrared heat from the sun not prevented from entering the earth's atmosphere by $\rm CO_2$ to the same extent that it is prevented from leaving the Earth's atmosphere?
