Questions tagged [climate-science]
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137
questions
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0answers
13 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
7 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
6 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
25 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 ...
2
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1answer
52 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
13 views
How to calculate photon emmission from a gas mixture with CO2
The CO2 molecule can absorb the energy of photons, especially in the 15um wavelength band. This energy is "stored" as a vibration in the molecule. As there are many different vibration modes several ...
0
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0answers
23 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
435 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
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7answers
4k 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 >45Ā°...
1
vote
1answer
51 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
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1answer
56 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
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2answers
39 views
Why do COā 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 COā and other greenhouse gases. When that electromagnetic energy gets to the earth, the earth ...
0
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0answers
47 views
Tectonic plate movement, sun's and moon's position
I was interested to read about gravity night and day.
Would there be sufficient differences between the gravitational forces across a tectonic plate for a tendency for more tilt of tectonic plates, ...
0
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0answers
53 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
23 views
Wind and Pressure
Wind is caused because of the difference in atmospheric pressures.
Is there any equation that relates the speed of the wind with the difference in atmospheric pressures ? The relation that can tell ...
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 COā are some kind of ...
2
votes
3answers
44 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
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1answer
63 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
272 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
68 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
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3answers
2k 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
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1answer
83 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
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2answers
55 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
42 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
22 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
69 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
78 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
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2answers
62 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 ...
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votes
1answer
97 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
104 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
179 views
Why is methane considered an important greenhouse gas?
Methaneās 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
votes
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
323 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
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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
761 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?
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1answer
182 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
68 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
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1answer
52 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
21k 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
118 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?
1
vote
1answer
65 views
Temperature Proxy (Climate)
At the bottom of the wikipedia article on climate proxies there is this formula:
$$
\delta \, {\rm ^{18}O} = \frac{\frac{\left[\rm{^{18}O}\right]}{\left[\rm{^{16}O}\right]}}{\frac{\left[\rm{^{18}O}\...
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votes
2answers
54 views
What if the luminosity of Sunlight increased by 10% [closed]
If the luminosity of sunlight increased by 10%, would people be able to survive outside? Would such brightness of light be very harmful to them, for exemple as much as the Mercury Vapour Lamp without ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Radiative Forcing
In a first approximation the radiative forcing $RF$ is related to the temperature change by the linear relation
$$
\Delta T = \lambda \, RF
$$
where
$$
\lambda\approx 0.8 \, \frac{{\rm K}}{{\rm W}/{\...
1
vote
0answers
29 views
In terms of the greenhouse effect, what is the Earth's heat capacity?
Has the earthās atmosphere reached an equilibrium at which the input radiation energy roughly equals its output, or is the output significantly lower than the input because the energy is being used to ...
1
vote
2answers
100 views
Global warming and air temperature
The layman's question. Is there a maximum temperature that can be reached by air on Earth due to global warming? For example, one that would prevent living organisms from functioning? I read somewhere ...
-1
votes
1answer
53 views
Potential effect of another “year without a summer” on solar-powered society? [closed]
In the "year without a summer", a volcanic eruptions caused enough sunlight to be blocked for average global temperatures to drop by 0.4ā0.7 Ā°C. What would be the effect of this sort of event on a ...
0
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2answers
106 views
Given $2\text{ °C}$ atmospheric temperature rise, what would be the temperature increase if confined to an oven?
Consider the 2 Ā°C average global atmospheric temperature rise as discussed by the IPCC. Assume an oven with an the interior that is a perfect cube having a volume of one cubic meter, empty of ...
