Questions tagged [climate-science]
The climate-science tag has no usage guidance.
111
questions
2
votes
1answer
73 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
60 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
76 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
votes
0answers
14 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
93 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 ...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
Can a v(2) vibrationally active carbon dioxide molecule increase the kinetic energy of neighbouring molecules?
Water shows properties of -- for lack of a better word -- clumping from its permanent dipole (at STP), but what of a molecule with a temporary dipole moment, such as a v(2) vibrationally active carbon ...
2
votes
3answers
126 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
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
0answers
195 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
45 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 ...
-4
votes
3answers
293 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
177 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
52 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
47 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
19k 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
96 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
59 views
Temperature Proxy (Climate)
At the bottom of the wikipedia article on climate proxies there is this formula:
$$
\delta \, {\rm ^{18}O} = \frac{\frac{\left[\rm{^{18}O}\right]}{\left[\rm{^{16}O}\right]}}{\frac{\left[\rm{^{18}O}\...
-2
votes
2answers
51 views
What if the luminosity of Sunlight increased by 10% [closed]
If the luminosity of sunlight increased by 10%, would people be able to survive outside? Would such brightness of light be very harmful to them, for exemple as much as the Mercury Vapour Lamp without ...
0
votes
0answers
28 views
Radiative Forcing
In a first approximation the radiative forcing $RF$ is related to the temperature change by the linear relation
$$
\Delta T = \lambda \, RF
$$
where
$$
\lambda\approx 0.8 \, \frac{{\rm K}}{{\rm W}/{\...
1
vote
0answers
27 views
In terms of the greenhouse effect, what is the Earth's heat capacity?
Has the earth’s 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
85 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 0.4–0.7 °C. What would be the effect of this sort of event on a ...
0
votes
2answers
103 views
Given $2\text{ °C}$ atmospheric temperature rise, what would be the temperature increase if confined to an oven?
Consider the 2 °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 ...
1
vote
1answer
28 views
Human body water storage effects on weather patterns
There are 7.614 billion humans and counting. On average a human being consists of 60% water. With that water being locked away from natural circulation for an average of 80 years. Are there any ...
7
votes
1answer
801 views
Damhsa Theory: Can gravitational waves really affect the long term climatic evolution of Earth?
As a glaciologist I'm often involved in topics related to the long-term climatic evolution of Earth, and to the factors that can trigger or end ice ages.
Recently, I came across the paper "Applying ...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
How to know wind speed, given the force
I'm doing a game that is set in a desert and there are sand storms that occur periodically. What I've done is very basic and far from realistic, which is
...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
Are there “eccentric seasons”, where do they occur, and why don't we hear more about them?
The earth is on an eccentric orbit. It's a small eccentricity (let's say e=0.01 https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Orbital_eccentricity) but it's there.
As it moves closer and farther from the sun the ...
14
votes
6answers
4k views
Is nuclear power desireable in the long term, given the fact that it's an unnatural heat input to our planet? [closed]
I've been reflecting on whether we want nuclear at all in the long term (compared to renewables like wind, solar, and hydro). There's a certain amount of heat (energy) entering our planet and leaving ...
1
vote
3answers
375 views
Volume of melted polar ice caps
If (or rather when) the polar ice caps melt, will they occupy more, the same or less volume?
Somehow all options seem possible to me. I don't assume they are just big ice cubes floating on the poles....
42
votes
4answers
18k views
Does the sea level increase if an iceberg melts?
It was claimed that if an iceberg melts in the ocean, the sea level won't change as the ice displaces as much water as there will be melted water. The other claim was that the sea level should rise ...
2
votes
2answers
539 views
Approximately how much x-ray to gamma radiation penetrates the earth's current atmosphere?
I am a science fiction writer with an undergrad level of understanding in this particular area. I am trying to figure out how the changes in the atmosphere will affect the higher end of the radiation ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
Effect of wind power on the global climate by decreasing kinetic energy of air
Assume the hypothetical situation that all global energy is produced by wind power and instead of fossil fuel power etc.
Since every wind turbine decreases the kinetic energy of the air a bit, I am ...
4
votes
1answer
236 views
Example of Poincare recurrence theorem?
Is it possible to explain Milankovitch cycles (or some other arbitrary planetary configuration that recurs to some approximation) in terms of the Poincare recurrence theorem?
More generally, is ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
If longer wavelengths propagate further, why does infrared contribute to global warming instead of going through clouds?
Maybe I am not understanding something simple, but longer wavelengths go through things easier correct? So why is it that infrared heat is REFLECTED by the clouds and contributes to global warming? ...
1
vote
1answer
149 views
Is the ocean guaranteed to warm in a warming climate?
More specifically, I've seen some discussion of this article:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/09/why-greenhouse-gases-heat-the-ocean/
which claims that the observed ocean warming ...
1
vote
0answers
74 views
How does the Greenhouse Effect of $CO_2$ modify the classical explanation for atmospheric lapse rate?
Classical physics theory relating to gravity and the properties of gases seems to dictate that the lapse rate of a planetary atmospheres is determined by just 2 factors. The equation being $-g/c$, ...
2
votes
2answers
181 views
Heating up the atmosphere of Mars
In this article: https://users.physics.ox.ac.uk/~pierrehumbert/papers/BAMS_SFatm.pdf, Raymond Pierrehumbert discusses (among other things) how Kim Stanley Robinson deals with the terraformation of ...
1
vote
1answer
209 views
Could tall buildings in very heavily populated cities affect earth's rotation [duplicate]
Is it possible that moving materials from one part of the earth to another area and using these materials to build tall skyscrapers in cities with dense populations could affect the rotation of the ...
-4
votes
2answers
104 views
Can a particle accelerator save our climate?
A particle accelerator needs lots of energy to produce antimatter like positrons. But can energy consumed for the particle accelerator be "recycled"? Conversion of mass in energy has the highest ...
1
vote
1answer
56 views
How much sunlight would need to be blocked to cancel out atmospheric CO2? [closed]
Atmospheric CO2 is trapping too much heat from our star's radiation. How much light would need to be blocked/reflected before reaching Earth to cancel out the excess heat being trapped by atmospheric ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
Does sun reflecting on sea ice still transfer energy to the Earth?
From reading about climate change, I read that sea ice is reflective, which means some of the sunlight isn't absorbed, so it doesn't contribute to heat.
However, any photons reflected would cause the ...
3
votes
4answers
914 views
Where does all the heat go during winter?
I do not understand where actually the heat in our surroundings go during the winter season. Is it radiated out into space? I know it cannot coz global warming would not be a issue then. It might get ...
0
votes
3answers
782 views
Endothermic reactions and climate change
I have seen some questions regarding climate change. What I want to know is would generating endothermic reactions in a mass controlled state counter balance global warming and reduce heat effect ...
98
votes
4answers
9k views
Explain it to me like I'm a physics grad: Greenhouse Effect
What is the mechanism by which increasing $\rm CO_2$ (or other greenhouse gases) ends up increasing the temperature at (near) the surface of the Earth?
Mostly what I'm looking for is a big-picture ...
4
votes
1answer
205 views
Summer Winter cause
As far as I understand, there are two main reasons for having lower temperatures in winter :
shorter days, so the sun has less time to heat the earth
smaller angle of incidence, so the energy from ...
1
vote
0answers
77 views
How large of an area of the earth's surface would we need to cover in mirrors to negate global warming? [closed]
How large of an area of the earth's surface would we need to cover in mirrors to negate current levels of global warming?
Let's assume that the reflective component of the mirror is made of aluminium ...
3
votes
1answer
326 views
Does aerosol particulate matter attenuate UVA more as compared to UVB?
I am trying to understand if winter aerosol particulate matter has a greater impact on UVB radiation as compared to UVA radiation. Would the attenuation be mainly due to scattering?
I am asking this ...
1
vote
2answers
138 views
Paleoclimatic evidence for cause effect relationship between CO2 and temprature
The Ice core data was famously used to by Al Gore in his documentary "An inconvenient truth" to imply a relation between cause effect relation between CO2 and Temperature. This paper and others ...
1
vote
1answer
224 views
Good books for undergraduates to understand Milankovitch cycles
Forgive me for wierd expression becaus English is not my native tongue. I want some suggestion for books about the math and physics about how Milankovitch cycles were calculated. i.e. How eccentricity,...
