Earth Science Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [atmosphere]

The gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth, and retained by the Earth's gravitational field. If your question is about the atmosphere on another celestial body or is more astronomy related, please ask on Astronomy.SE.

The atmosphere is the gaseous outer layer of a planet. For the Earth (and other inner planets), it is characterised by a sharp lower boundary, separating it from the , the , or land surface. The atmosphere is a highly dynamical system due to differential heating, effects of the rotating Earth, transport of latent and sensible heat, and other effects. For more information:

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Is the atmosphere becoming thicker?

Is the atmosphere getting more dense with various gases, car pollution (200 million cars just in North America), factory pollution, more water vapor and denser cloud cover? If so could a "thicker" atmosphere act like a lens and magnify the Sun's…
user128932
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How is the radiative efficiency of a given gas (like a given CFC) analytically calculated?

E.g. the gases listed at http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/tssts-2-5.html . Do they calculate them analytically or theoretically?
InquilineKea
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Why is the upper atmosphere brighter than the lower atmosphere in some photos from space?

In most photos from space, the atmosphere gradually fades away from pretty bright blue to essentially black, as you move away from the Earth surface, such as can be seen in this photo of the Earth from the ISS (also showing some noctilucent…
gerrit
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Are there any effects on the atmosphere comparable with ebb and flood of the oceans?

Due to the attraction of our moon (and Sun) our oceans undergo an up and down movement every day. So the water rises or falls by a couple of meters. But does this type of effect also occur with our atmosphere?
Marijn
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How does Earth's heat escape to space?

I know that if the sun stopped shining, Earth would lose it's heat and we'd all freeze and die. On the other hand, we don't keep increasing temperature when the sun shines because heat escapes to space. But how does the heat leave earth's atmosphere…
A Tyshka
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Golden and red colored light even after sunset

I heard about the golden hour, but yesterday I saw golden and red colored patches in the sky even after sunset. Why does it happen? And I would like to know more about the science behind the golden hour.
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Sky color of a proterozoic earth with a Canfield ocean

What would the sky color be for the Proterozoic Earth during the "Boring Billion" years(1.8 Ga-0.8 Ga) with a Canfield (Euxinic) ocean and a high atmospheric concentration of colorless hydrogen sulfide and very low atmospheric oxygen? Would it…
Nelson Isada
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Why is the skyline hazy on the Greek islands?

I've recently been to Crete, Santorini and am currently on Ios. I've noticed that there is a hazy-ness when I look out on the sea: there's no definitive line where sky meets sea, they just blur together. I feel like I'm in the Truman Show or Stephen…
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How much heat do hurricanes transport from equatorial to more polar latitudes, and from ocean to atmosphere?

And how much does this heat compare with the total fraction of heat otherwise transported from equatorial to polar latitudes, and from ocean to atmosphere?
InquilineKea
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At what altitude do winds exert the most force?

Imagine I want to make a floating wind turbine like the Altaeros BAT, which is tethered and uses helium. What would be the best height to keep such a device deployed? I know that wind velocity decreases near the ground due to friction with the…
Marijn
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Is the troposphere expanding?

If the Earth's atmosphere is warming it has to expand. Can we measure an increasing thickness of the troposphere?
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Why is Ozone hole above single area of earth? Why that area?

As titled. How does the hole fell specifically on that region of the stratosphere above the Antarctic and why?
LamWonders
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Why is the eastern Pacific full of stratocumulus clouds, and why do they have so much variation in net radiation?

They can be seen in the diagram below (of the CERES radiation dataset - supposedly they contribute a lot to the total variance in net radiation, which is the sum of SW and LW) - just west of Peru and Mexico (my supervisor, Dargan Frierson, said…
InquilineKea
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How to write 'number of ...' in a unit?

Q: Which unit is attached to 'number of particles per volume' (e.g. of the atmosphere)? The questions focuses on the 'number of' and not on the 'volume'. The units [#/m3], [particles/m3] and [1/m3] are used in publications. Neither [#/m3] nor…
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Appearing of Weird Cornered Cloud in Sky?

It was about 6'o Clock in the Evening. Suddenly I noticed A wierd Cloud in the middle of the sky. Is there Natural Phenomenon responsible for creating such prefect clouds? & What it is? or Human activities like Climate Change? or Just a…
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