Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Recent studies also suggest that cloud formation is sensitive to aerosols – tiny particles in the atmosphere. Aerosols can act as cloud condensation nuclei, around which cloud droplets can form. Changes in aerosol concentrations, due to human activities or natural processes, can therefore influence cloud properties and, consequently, the climate.
Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the Earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. . Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodynamics, to describe and explain such phenomena as the properties of moist air, the formation of clouds, atmospheric convection, boundary layer meteorology, and ...
the cloud IR emissivity, with values between 0 and 1, with a global average around 0.7; the effective cloud amount, the cloud amount weighted by the cloud IR emissivity, with a global average of 0.5; the cloud (visible) optical depth varies within a range of 4 and 10. the cloud water path for the liquid and solid (ice) phases of the cloud particles
Still, sub grid scale processes need to be taken into account. Rather than assuming that clouds form at 100% relative humidity, the cloud fraction can be related to a critical relative humidity of 70% for stratus-type clouds, and at or above 80% for cumuliform clouds, [3] reflecting the sub grid scale variation that would occur in the real world.
Under dry, cloud-free conditions, water vapor in atmosphere contributes 67% of the greenhouse effect on Earth. When there is enough moisture to form typical cloud cover, the greenhouse effect from "free" water vapor goes down to 50%, but water vapor which is now inside the clouds amounts to 25%, and the net greenhouse effect is at 75%. [21]
Condensation is a crucial component of distillation, an important laboratory and industrial chemistry application. Because condensation is a naturally occurring phenomenon, it can often be used to generate water in large quantities for human use.
Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. The cloud condensation nuclei concentration will determine the cloud microphysics. [18] An elevated portion of a frontal zone forces broad areas of lift, which form cloud decks such as altostratus or cirrostratus.
Convection cells can form in any fluid, including the Earth's atmosphere (where they are called Hadley cells), boiling water, soup (where the cells can be identified by the particles they transport, such as grains of rice), the ocean, or the surface of the Sun. The size of convection cells is largely determined by the fluid's properties.