Questions tagged [climate-science]
195 questions
105
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6 answers
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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62
votes
11 answers
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 within earth can be considered a closed system; it…
Joeri Hendrickx
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49
votes
6 answers
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 because oceans contain salt, so the water in oceans…
Jaakko Seppälä
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42
votes
7 answers
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 >45°C heatwave.
Now I am not really putting this in…
Elmore
- 616
35
votes
4 answers
How is it possible that it can get hotter in the car than it is outside?
The Law of Thermodynamics says that two bodies will eventually have equal temperatures. How is it possible that when you leave your car in the sun, it gets hotter in the car than it is outside? Why isn’t the car at the same temperature as the…
bodacydo
- 1,313
25
votes
8 answers
Can we cool Earth by shooting powerful lasers into space?
In a sense, the climate change discussion revolves around the unwanted warming of the earth's atmosphere as a whole.
It seems a bit too obvious to be true, but could we cool the atmosphere by simply shooting that unwanted energy somewhere…
DJG
- 455
24
votes
4 answers
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 the melting of polar glaciers.
I do not know for…
Ambica Govind
- 1,647
17
votes
5 answers
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 jokingly said: 'maybe there's a correlation!', but…
Alubeixu
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16
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5 answers
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 radioactive materials -- human caused factors. I'm…
tomhepz
- 347
16
votes
1 answer
Why did nuclear testing not result in nuclear winter?
According to Wikipedia over 2000 nuclear tests have been performed since the Manhattan Project. If nuclear war would bring about a nuclear winter, why didn't testing do? Were they too much spread out in time to cause any real climate damage?
Gx1sptDTDa
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14
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4 answers
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 sense to me as I've always known that heat…
Curious Layman
- 1,694
14
votes
6 answers
Is nuclear power desireable in the long term, given the fact that it's an unnatural heat input to our planet?
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 it. Greenhouse gases reduce the amount leaving,…
Cedric Eveleigh
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14
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3 answers
How do greenhouse gases trap heat?
I am looking for a molecular-level understanding of the greenhouse effect.
What is it about the carbon-dioxide molecule (and methane, and water, etc) that is different from other gasses (particularly, N2 and O2) such that it works in the atmosphere…
Faust
- 243
13
votes
2 answers
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 proportional to the logarithm of the…
Alan Rominger
- 21,318
10
votes
2 answers
What is the science behind this freeze seawater news article?
In this article, scientists have proposed a way to regrow the Arctic icecap by pumping and freezing arctic seawater. As far as I can gather, they suggest that if seawater is pumped up onto depressions in the remaining ice, the seawater will freeze…
KDP
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