Climate Definition and 189 Threads

I just started studying physics in undergrad and am considering working on Earth systems/climate. How much more do you think we can do in terms of science? Surely a lot, but maybe technology (energy, carbon capture) is more prudent right now. Thanks.

I'd like to read some articles, papers, or whatever scientific there is about the prospects and impacts of climate change for professional ground based astronomy and observatory sites. In particular, which locations which are now among the most suitable sites for observatories - especially...

I have a hypothetical question. If there was a relatively Earth-like planet out there that somehow experienced a rather catastrophic meteor impact large enough to alter its axial tilt close to 0 degrees, would such an event render the planet essentially a desert world? I.e. there are no more...

haruspex submitted a new PF Insights post Frequently Made Errors in Climate Science - The Greenhouse Effect Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Back home, the average depths of the world's oceans--and the Mediterranean Sea--are as follows: Atlantic--3926 meters Pacific--4028 meters Indian--3963 meters Arctic--1205 meters Southern--4500 meters Mediterranean--1500 meters In this alternate Earth, the average depths are as follows...

My first post here. I'm not sure who else to consult. Yesterday in my "Technical Physics" class, my professor went on a rant about climate change. He denied that the Earth is warming at all, but instead cooling due to solar activity. He made a claim that we are actually headed for a cooler...

Head's up, as this scientific finding is making the rounds. http://www.cnet.com/news/the-moon-is-shrinking-and-the-earth-is-shaping-it/ The claim is that the oriented gravitational pull shapes the landscape of the moon. Except for the established effect of tides, it's odd that scientists do...

I am going into my second year in undergrad,starting to look into the different disciplines and self study on what I might do in graduate school.But I haven't yet decided what I want to do in graduate(which is fine,I know).For the moment,I am drawn to climate science. So,I would appreciate any...

I noticed that the Co2 is actually decreasing in the Eon time. My guess is lush vegetations or forests began to grow which absorbed the Co2 by photosynthesis? Would anyone give me any clue?

So I'm really interested in climate science and I would possibly like to advise the government/world on climate policy as well as maybe go into environmental engineering. I'm also contemplating doing research in computational modeling since I enjoy CS. I was thinking of majoring in Physics and...

Is there a limit to the amount of energy which can be extracted from the wind? There are a huge number of windfarms springing up around the world.. all taking energy from the wind. The assumption seems to be that this is limitless and "free". Clearly this is not possible. The question is (I...

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html

Good Evening to everyone! I'm currently a student of theoretical physics. I have a Bachelor Degree in Physics and I'm from Italy. When you finish your B.D. you can choose to go on with your studies in order to get a Master Degree (other 2 years of study) and here you can choose your curricula...

My current understanding is that civilization is built on fossil fuels, and the resulting emissions cause climate change. I'm wondering if anyone still has worthwhile arguments against this view, or whether there really is a debate. I currently consider the following reference to be the most...

I've certainly hear and read tons of stuff that is not only less than top notch science, but also seems to answer the wrong questions. What I am specifically interested in are scientific cases presented - not for how much damage we are experiencing or will experience - but what good it would...

Before posting anything, please review the Physics Forums Global Guidelines. CC/GW threads in this forum are intended for discussion of the scientific content of well-researched models of weather, climatology, and global warming that have been published in peer-reviewed journals and...

Hi all, I want to better understand the physics behind atmospheric phenomena, more out of curiosity than anything. What textbook would you recommend for me to study from? I'll be done my BS in physics next year, so that should tell you approximately what 'level' I'm at. TIA

Homework Statement Estimate the total mass of carbon (in billion metric tons, GTC) in the pre-industrial atmosphere with 280 ppm CO2. Total mass of Earth's atmosphere = 5.4x10^18 kg Homework Equations 1 GTC = 3.67 GTCO2 1 ppm = 44 AMU/ 26x10^6 AMUThe Attempt at a Solution 44 AMU/29x10^-6...

Homework Statement Using a climate sensitivity of 0.5K per watt per square meter, estimate how much of the .9 c global temperature increase since 1900 could be due to solar forcing who value is the range of .06 to .24 w/m2 Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I am not...

There's been a lot in the news recently about climate change, global warming, and whether or not it is primarily caused by human activity. I know many studies have been done on the issue, but it seems for every study done saying it is man-made, another comes out saying it is not, and vice versa...

So my question which part of the Em spectrum(sun) is responsible for heating of the atmosphere ? Is it visible or infrared or both ?

I know the two seem very unrelated at first, but actually I think the partial melting of the polar ice caps would actually give us longer days and nights. Most of the ice that would be melting is relatively close to the poles, the axis of Earth's rotation. But, when it melted, the mass of the...

Hello, Can you guys please tell me where do I can get help about my patent. I am a student and am unable to complete my EXPERIMENTS about climate research Cloud and storm I really need help to find a laboratory or a place to get my patent funded Thanks

Homework Statement I'm trying to find sketches that demonstrate ,the general circulation patterns of the atmosphere and the cells in atmosphere of a planet.3 cases must be considered:a slow rotating ,a fast rotating and a non rotating planet. Homework Equations The Attempt at a...

Hi. I was hoping you guys could help me for my university dissertation project. It's basically a questionnaire about climate change, it shouldn't take any longer than 10 minutes (or quicker) and it would be really helping me. If you have any comments about it please feel free to message me on...

1. Kangaroos hop around to get to one place to another and do so extremely efficiently, more efficient than walking or running. Furthermore, kangaroos can hop up to 40mph and can do so for relatively long periods of time. By replacing motor vehicles with kangaroos, the efficiency of our...

Okay, please don't ask me why I would want to do the following; I'll try to explain.. I am writing a program and already have a module for computing 2D rigid-body and spring-mass (with only 32-bit integers, no less) which I've modified from Box2DLite. Now, for my application, I would like...

I have seen an unverified post which claims that changes in Earth orbit inclination (to the invariable plane) may alter the impact zone of Lunar tides and alter circulation of warmed MOC in the Polar sea. This orbit inclination cycles with a frequency of 100KY which matches and is in phase with...

"The mathematics, is a unique perfect method to fool oneself" Albert Einstein You can object that in this phrase there is nothing new, practically all know that Albert Einstein was not a big fan of mathematics, evil tongues even said that the mathematical apparatus for the special theory...

A concept for strong negative feedback in Climate? I have been following some of the more interesting concepts in climate model theories for a couple years. Svenmark's cosmic ray theory in "The Chilling Stars", Svensmark and Calder, is very interesting. Miskolczi's theory of strong...

There is a belief that a complete interruption of the North Atlantic drift current could cause abrupt climate change. The amount of heat transported by the North Atlantic drift current and the Gulf stream is 8 times smaller than the amount of heat transported by the atmosphere transferring...

There are a series of papers that support the assertion that geomagnetic excursions cause Younger Dryas magnitude abrupt climate change events. There is a geomagnetic excursion that correlates with the Younger Dryas abrupt climate change and with similar abrupt climate change events. Looking...

This discussion varies over many topics, so I'm posting here. First off, I'm working on a NASA grant. We're doing the "Global Climate Change Education" grant. We are writing high school labs. The basic idea is for the lab to mostly be a typical lab, but have some aspect of climate...

Attention: These rules are deprecated as of 6/9/2014 PF is announcing its regrettable decision to ban all topics of global warming and climate change indefinitely. At this time we are unable to effectively moderate on the issue of climate change and global warming. We hope this ban will be...

Here’s a recently published paper on sea surface temperatures 3 million years ago when the Arctic was seasonally ice free: http://micropress.org/stratigraphy/papers/Stratigraphy_6_4_265-275.pdf The paper presents some interesting data. The most northern location sampled was found to be...

It looks like Yellowstone WY beat the all time low record of 1998 for 10 December (-22 C) with a remarkable big margin: -31C. The page updates all the time so I include a screenshot. But of course, when it's hot then it's global warming and when it's cold then it's natural variability

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009JD011841.shtml One can wonder how all these "crackpot" manage to get through "peer review" but anyway: [/cynism off] http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Includes/Documents/Publications/klotzbachetal2009.pdf From the conclusion So we...

As promised in the now closed CRU-hack thread, this is intended to show why I am convinced that the cause for global warming is overstated and that changes in use of fossil fuel and CO2 production will have little effect on climate. I will try and stick to the scientific method, no room for...

Hi Guys, Okay I have a question i was wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this discrepancy. I asked Gavin Schmidt on RC whether he thought the climate was a chaotic system. He said he did not know (seriously). What i fail to understand is how can anyone be confident about the...

Science marches on. The http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_wg1_report_the_physical_science_basis.htm" for climate change was based on peer reviewed literature available in 2006. Since that time, there have been a number of newer studies that...

Twenty years ago, July 5, 1989, we heard this: So when the warnings expire they are just renewed: World has only ten years to control global warming, warns Met Office But how scientific are these tipping points...

Despite extensive information efforts, the British have their own thoughts. Global warming is not our fault, say most voters in Times poll. What would that do to Kopenhagen?

i saw a chart that showed that the temp has gone up single digit degrees every 100k years in a rapid manner and then followed by a downward ratcheting of temp into the levels where Earth experiences an ice age. What is the dynamic that causes the temp drop after a rapid rise? Do we need a...

Hi... As many probably know, there is about to be a climate meeting in Denmark within 2 months, where they will discuss the climate. And some people wants the world to spent a lot of money reducing the CO2 from humans, which is a lot of money ! But has it been proved that CO2 is that bad...

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Here is a news release from the US Geological Survey. I've copied some parts of it, but please read the entire release before commenting. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article_pf.asp?ID=2326 In brief, there are lots of uncertainties and potentials for climate change to impact the role of...

2nd warmest September on record! (after 2005) El Nino is weak, but expected to strengthen. So, this makes 2 months in a row with 2nd warmest temperature on record designation. August 2009 was also the 2nd warmest (but behind 1998 instead of 2005). What's significant about all of this, is...

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18512 Here's the short story: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/yamal_scandal/ And the long detailed one: http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2009/9/29/the-yamal-implosion.html

A house with AC in a hot climate should be painted white (or covered with mirrors) to reduce absorption of light from the hotter sun and surrounding objects. That seems obvious. But what should cover a house in a cold climate? The house interacts with a system that is hotter than it (the sun)...

This is a fascinating forum, and these climate discussions are very interesting and educational. I couldn't help but notice however that it seems posters tend to line up along sides on the issue of AGW (or perhaps the degree to which they are skeptical of the consensus). I think it would be...