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Atmosphere - Structure and Composition

Atmosphere - Structure and Composition. Atmospheric Composition. Variable Gases :. Water Vapor 0.1% to 5% (by volume) Carbon Dioxide 365 ppm (parts per million) Other "Greenhouse" gases. Water Vapor Pressure (mb) - January. Since the 1950s, the concentration of carbon dioxide

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Atmosphere - Structure and Composition

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  1. Atmosphere - Structure and Composition

  2. Atmospheric Composition

  3. Variable Gases: • Water Vapor 0.1% to 5% (by volume) • Carbon Dioxide 365 ppm (parts per million) • Other "Greenhouse" gases

  4. Water Vapor Pressure (mb) - January

  5. Since the 1950s, the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased at a rate of about 1.8 ppm per year. The increase has occurred mainly because of anthropogenic combustion and deforestation of large tracts of woodland. Carbon dioxide increase since the 1950s

  6. Experts Predict Polar Bear DeclineGlobal Warming Is Melting Their Ice Pack HabitatBy Blaine HardenWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, July 7, 2005

  7. The photograph taken in 1928, above, shows how the Upsala Glacier, part of the South American Andes in Argentina, used to look. The ice on the Upsala Glacier today, shown in 2004 below, is retreating at least 180 ft. per year Time Magazine – March 26, 2006

  8. Particulates (Aerosols)

  9. Aerosols - particulates .....increasing? ….decreasng?

  10. Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Impacts U.S. Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.3 January 2009

  11. Vertical Structure is Crucial • The world is a big place, but the atmosphere is very thin, and most of it is close to the ground • The atmosphere is most dense near the surface • At the top of Mount Denali (18,000 feet above sea level), the figure is 50%; that is one-half the mass of the atmosphere is below you. • Changes in atmospheric temperature and composition with height above the surface account for our weather and account for the “greenhouse effect”

  12. Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere

  13. Atmospheric Pressure (millibars)

  14. 18,000 feet --- 500 mb level Sea Level Pressure --- 1013 millibars

  15. Atmospheric pressure is routinely plotted on maps by the use of lines called isobars. Each isobar connects points having equal air pressure with the pressure being expressed in units of millibars (mb) in the United States and kilopascals (kPa) in Canada. A surface weather map

  16. Surface Maps

  17. 500-mb Level Maps

  18. Vertical Thermal Structure • Heated from below by latent and sensible heat fluxes • Heated in stratosphere by ozone absorption

  19. July 19, 2010, 12:45 pm The Passing of a Climate Warrior Interview Q&A: Dr. Stephen Schneider, one of the world's leading climatologists, discusses the line between science and activism. The New Republic; Nov, 2009.

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