- #1
MattRob
- 211
- 29
Hello,
Quick question: Let's say you have a large open oceanic area with no wind...
The sun's radiation hits the water, and heats it, causing some to evaporate. The evaporation creates water vapor. Water mist/vapor, and the ocean itself, heat up the local air and cause an updraft. The vapor is carried upwards to lower pressure air, cooled, and forms clouds.
The water vapor heated the local atmosphere up because it acts very strongly as a greenhouse agent and absorbs a lot of heat the air wouldn't have...
But it also forms clouds, which reflect the sun's radiation.
So does it cool off the area by reflecting heat, or does it heat the area up by absorbing it? Is the net effect to cool off the local air or to heat it up?
Thanks in advance.
Quick question: Let's say you have a large open oceanic area with no wind...
The sun's radiation hits the water, and heats it, causing some to evaporate. The evaporation creates water vapor. Water mist/vapor, and the ocean itself, heat up the local air and cause an updraft. The vapor is carried upwards to lower pressure air, cooled, and forms clouds.
The water vapor heated the local atmosphere up because it acts very strongly as a greenhouse agent and absorbs a lot of heat the air wouldn't have...
But it also forms clouds, which reflect the sun's radiation.
So does it cool off the area by reflecting heat, or does it heat the area up by absorbing it? Is the net effect to cool off the local air or to heat it up?
Thanks in advance.