Questions tagged [climate-science]
The climate-science tag has no usage guidance.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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How long does it take for a $\rm CO_2$ molecule close to the surface of the Earth to reemit an absorbed terrestial infrared quant after absorption?
In the theory of climate change a special position is reserved for $\rm CO_2$. In this theory $\rm CO_2$ molecules are absorbing infrared quants emitted by the surface of the Earth. These quants are ...
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Equations of idealized greenhouse model with $n$-layers?
I wanna work with this climate model, the idealized greenhouse model. The Wikipedia page explains it very well with an example using one layer of atmosphere. Then it mentions that you can add more ...
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Why isn't a mirror more effective in preventing global warming than a solar panel?
In many countries, solar panels are heavily subsidized because they replace fossil fuels that apparently cause global warming. A mirror of the same size would - through a completely different effect - ...
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What happens to the "curvature term" in the equations of motion for a rotating fluid near Earth's poles?
For a rotating fluid in spherical geometry, one of the terms of the equations of motion is the "curvature term". For example, for the zonal component of velocity (corresponding to eastward ...
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Book recommendations on climate science
I've had my eye on properly understanding climate, climate change and the wide array of phenomena related. But, as a physics grad student, I'd fancy more exact, math-based bibliography, that treats ...
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*Why* does global warming lead to more extreme weather events? [closed]
I read several times about global warming leading to more exteme weather events, i.e. flooding, droughts and even winter storms occuring at higher rates and with more intensity.
So, higher temperature ...
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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 ...
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What is the actual definition and meaning of temperature anomaly, and does it make any sense?
Here is a plot of absolute temperatures in the last 2000 years:
It does not seem to show anything alarming.
Climate scientists claim that we should actually look at the temperature anomalies instead, ...
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What is the EM spectrum of the earth seen by a satellite?
I am asking because of the greenhouse effect. It is said that without the atmosphere, the average surface temperatur of the earth would be about -18 celcius. This number is obtained simply by assuming ...
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Thermal expansion of the oceans versus thermal expansion of land masses
I am told that some, (about half of the 3 mm per year), rise in the sea level, is due to the thermal expansion of the oceans. But thermal expansion should affect the land masses also, so shouldn't the ...
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Could humanity buy more time with climate change by blocking out some direct rays of the Sun with an artificial (partial) eclipse?
Imagine the Earth faced the imminent crisis from climate change as the planet warmed by 1.5C. As a last ditch attempt to buy more time, humanity finally decided to do whatever it takes to stop the ...
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Moist adiabatic lapse rate
Wikipedia gives the following equation to calculate the moist adiabatic lapse rate $\Gamma_w$, assuming that there is only one condensible gas (water vapour) mixed in the "dry air":
$\...
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Examples of experiments replicating the idealized greenhouse model
I'm looking to find experiments that experimentally demonstrate the Idealized greenhouse model.
So far all the experiments I've come across do not quite demonstrate the model, but something else.
...
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Solution of gases (i. e. carbon dioxide) in water
This question is related to my former question "Dissolution of Carbon Dioxide in water" and thanks for previous replies. It looks not so easy, so allow me to restate it (*)
Is there a ...
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$\rm CO_2$ emissions and ocean pH
I hear two seemingly contradictory statements:
$\rm CO_2$ emissions will cause the oceans to absorb more $\rm CO_2$ and therefore acidify.
$\rm CO_2$ emissions will heat the planet and therefore the ...
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Does vibrational energy transfer to translational energy when an excited $\rm CO_2$ molecule collides with an $\rm N_2$ or $\rm O_2$ molecule?
My understanding is that when a $\rm CO_2$ molecule absorbs a photon of heat in the atmosphere after some time it simply re-emits that photon in a random direction. If that photon makes it back to its ...
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Why is radiative forcing from $\rm CO_2$ logarithimic and not a decreasing exponential?
I have a question about climate science, but this is relatively straight forward and (I hope) easy.
I've been reading that the radiative forcing caused by $\rm CO_2$ in the atmosphere (or any gas) is ...
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What are the Equations for Climate modeling of alien planet?
I am studying complex dynamic system and I would like to analyze the climating formation of a possible alien planet considering climate as a complex system .
For this I do not want to use a whole ...
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Calculating pressure in high/low pressure systems
I don't understand how to calculate the surface pressure in high/low pressure systems. For example, let's say we have a planet without oceans whose surface is completely flat. Then at every point of ...
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Equations for the two-plane model of the greenhouse effect
I'm trying to understand this "toy model" of the greenhouse effect.
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/04/learning-from-a-simple-model
The model predicts the surface temperature of ...
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Would pumping warm humid air through a pipeline up to the top of a mountain produce a lot of fresh water?
I have been doing a lot of research on the Internet lately about desalination processes and desalination plants and this led me to studying mountain weather and the orographic effect or orographic ...
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Oxygen condensation on Earth
I am getting interesting results using the Clausius-Clapeyron relation to calculate the saturation vapour pressure of diatomic oxygen. I am using the following values:
214kJ/kg for latent heat of ...
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Estimating the climate sensitivity parameter
Temperature changes $\Delta T$ are related to radiative forcing $\Delta F$ linearly (to a first approximation):
$\Delta T = \lambda \Delta F$
I was thinking how to estimate the climate sensitive ...
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Absorption spectrum dependence on concentration/pressure
I am having difficulties understanding the relation between absorption spectrum and gas concentration. The online resources I found, including many questions here, do not clarify my doubts.
Take for ...
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On the Melting of the Arctic Ice [closed]
I have read that:
Polar ice caps are melting as global warming causes climate change. We lose Arctic sea ice at a rate of almost 13% per decade, and over the past 30 years, the oldest and thickest ice ...
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How much $\rm CO_2$ stays in the troposphere?
I'm trying to make a model which gives the increase of $\rm CO_2$ in ppm for one year, when given the $\rm CO_2$ emitted in one year.
For now, I've calculated the mass of the troposphere using the ...
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Paradox about greenhouse effect?
I know about the greenhouse effect, but isn't earth receiving the same amount of energy but getting hotter than with that same amount of energy?
My guess is that earth reflects less light, but then ...
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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-...
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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) ...
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In order to cool below the ambient air temperature using passive radiative cooling during daytime why is it important to radiate heat into space? [closed]
Why not radiate it instead of the surrounding air, like Air conditioners?
I know an air conditioner does not transfer/dump heat to the outside by radiation, but by phase transformation-specifically ...
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Why is climate change triggering faster rotation?
On July the 29th 2022, the Earth finished its rotation about 1.5 milliseconds earlier than the entire 24 hours. Scientists link this to climate change, saying that a possible reason could be due to ...
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Convert specific humidity to relative humidity but without having all variables available?
I was wondering if there is a way to obtain relative humidity from specific. My constraint is that I am not trying to solve a problem by hand. I am downloading data for a specific region, in order to ...
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Effect of changing $\rm CO_2$-levels on cooling the desert at night
It is known (e.g. as mentioned in this popular article) that the reason why deserts cool down at night so much (to temperature below zero degrees celsius) is that there is much less humidity in the ...
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How much solar irradiance do clouds block from reaching the Earth's surface?
Consider a fixed point in the Milankovich cycle and the solar cycle, a fixed Earth-Sun distance, and a fixed horizontal location on Earth, and assume that the Sun is at the zenith for that location. ...
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Does burning natural gas reduce its greenhouse effect if it were to be released into the atmosphere?
Burning natural gas produces CO$_{2}$, a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect. However, natural gas itself is a greenhouse gas, and its primary constituent, CH$_{4}$, has a GWP100 of about 30....
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Could an artificial ring system around the earth produce a net-positive effect on climate change? [closed]
The greenhouse effect as I understand it is because sunlight hits the Earth, and is re-radiated as infrared heat, which is then trapped by greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, like CO2 and Methane.
So ...
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Is there a filter which can convert light from the sun to Microwaves directly?
Is there a way to filter light from the sun (visible, UV, and/or IR) and convert the energy from it directly into Microwaves without putting in any energy? Barring this is there a way to do the same ...
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How does the heat energy from burning a gallon of gasoline compare to the solar energy the resulting $\rm CO_2$ absorbs in the atmosphere?
I think essentially all of the energy from a gallon of gasoline burned in, say, a car is eventually converted into heat in the atmosphere. But I don't think the heat from burning fossil fuels ...
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If ice melting does not change the water level in a container - Why is everyone afraid of sea levels rising drasticing from ice sheets [duplicate]
I saw this experiment and am now wonder what I am missing in understanding if ice sheets melt why should they causing the sea levels to rise if it doesn't in a container ?
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Do forests create wind?
Forests evapotranspire more water vapor into air than surrounding areas, have more clouds, and are usually cooler (because of evaporative cooling). How does this affect the air pressure of forests? ...
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Does the moon affect the Earth's climate?
So, this morning I was talking to a friend about astronomical observations, and he told me that lately there has only been good weather when there was a full moon in the sky, which was a shame.
I ...
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Does the global oxygen levels drop during winter months? [closed]
I had a thought while I was trail walking the other day and no one could provide a clear answer.
In the winter months, most of the plants are in hibernation mode. Having lost their leaves they are ...
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How can I calculate to how fast heat is transferred from the surface of a massive hall to the ceiling?
I have asked something similar to this question before but couldn't get an useful answer: https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/213240/i-am-building-an-isolated-indoor-temperate-rain-...
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Radiation Experiment, Can back radiation increase temperature?
I have just completed an experiments to determine if back radiation can increase the temperature of an object.
I wanted to perform an easy experiment that would emulate the effect of back radiation to ...
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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 ...
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Temperature as function of carbon dioxide
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 ...
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What happens to a nuclear plant when you stop cooling it?
An IEA report says that many nuclear plants use freshwater for cooling, and that due to climate change, a growing portion of them are going to find themselves in high water stress areas. Does it mean ...
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How do climatic general circulation models numerically incorporate phenomena occurring at smaller and faster time/spatial scales
I am interested in the numerical methods used to solve climate models, such as hurricane models or general circulation models.
Now a general circulation model for something like the ocean, has ...
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