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Questions tagged [atmospheric-science]

The study of the composition or dynamics of the gaseous layers around planets, often applied to questions on Earth's atmosphere but can be applicable to all planets & moons in the solar system.

This is a broad term that applies to the study of the atmosphere of both Earth and the other bodies in the solar system (planets and moons). This includes, among other things,

Typical methods of studying Earth's atmosphere include weather balloons and sounding rockets.

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Is the butterfly effect real?

Is the butterfly effect real? It is a well-known statement that a butterfly, by flapping her wings in a slightly different way, can cause a hurricane somewhere else in the world that wouldn't occur if the butterfly had moved her wings in a slightly…
Deschele Schilder
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Why do clouds have well-defined boundaries?

Why do cumulus clouds have well defined boundaries? In other words, what are the physical mechanisms that hold a cloud together, as an entity separate from other clouds, that prevent it from spreading, etc. Naively, one could expect the atmospheric…
Roger V.
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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 explanation of how increasing $\rm CO_2$ affects the…
Dave
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Why does the atmosphere rotate along with the earth?

I was reading somewhere about a really cheap way of travelling: using balloons to get ourselves away from the surface of the earth. The idea held that because the earth rotates, we should be able to land in a different place after some time. As we…
claws
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Why is the sky not purple?

I realise the question of why this sky is blue is considered reasonably often here, one way or another. You can take that knowledge as given. What I'm wondering is, given that the spectrum of Rayleigh scattering goes like $\omega^4$, why is the…
Warrick
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Why is the sky never green? It can be blue or orange, and green is in between!

I, like everybody I suppose, have read the explanations why the colour of the sky is blue: ... the two most common types of matter present in the atmosphere are gaseous nitrogen and oxygen. These particles are most effective in scattering the…
user59485
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What is "Induced Atmospheric Vibration"?

The blackout seen today on the Iberian Peninsula has been attributed to a "rare" phenomenon known as "induced atmospheric vibration": It says that "due to extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in…
tobalt
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Do sunrises and sunsets look the same in a still image?

A question that popped into my head: if I see a picture of the sun close to the horizon, in an unknown place, can I know if it was taken at sunset or sunrise? Do sunrises and sunsets look the same in a still image? Can one tell them apart?
AlonMln
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Why doesn't hydrogen gas exist in Earth's atmosphere?

The root mean square velocity of hydrogen gas at room temperature is: Gas constant: $R=8.31\ \mathrm{J\ K^{-1}\ mol^{-1}}$ Molar mass of hydrogen gas: $M=2.02\times10^{-3}\ \mathrm{kg/mol}$ $$\begin{align} v &= \left(\frac{3\times8.31\ \mathrm{J\…
Bhushan Misal
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Are there tides in the atmosphere?

Analogous to the tides of Earths oceans, do the Moon and Sun cause our atmosphere to bulge in what could be described as a low and high tide?
Alex
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Why does the sky change color? Why is the sky blue during the day, red during sunrise/set and black during the night?

Why does the sky change color? Why is the sky blue during the day, red during sunrise/set and black during the night?
user68
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Why is air not sucked off the Earth?

People said outside earth is a vacuum. But the air does not get sucked from the Earth's surface. Some said it is due to gravity and some said the speed of air molecules are not high enough to escape. We know vacuum will suck air like your vacuum…
Weidong Tong
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Cause for spikes in Trinity nuclear bomb test

In Richard Rhodes' book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, I was reading about the Trinity nuclear test. High speed photos were taken and this one is from <1ms after the detonation. The book mentions the irregular spikes at the bottom of the image, but…
Ryan
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Why can't we see gases?

I am not sure what causes gas molecules to be invisible.This question may look silly but I really want to know the story behind it.
Praveen Kadambari
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Why aren't rainbows more common?

Why are rainbows relatively rare? On any given day, there are billions of water drops in the air of varying sizes and dispersions, all of which light is passing through and refracting. What physical phenomenon has to occur so that these drops…
DanGoodrick
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