Microphysics Of Atmospheric Phenomena

This book investigates elementary processes in the Earth’s atmosphere involving photons, electrons, ions, radicals, and aerosols. It is based on global atmospheric models such as the standard atmospheric model with averaged atmospheric parameters across the globe and over time, the Earth’s energetic balance, and the global electric circuit that allows to analyze fundamental atmospheric properties to be analyzed. Rate constants of elementary processes in the Earth’s atmosphere, together with measured atmospheric parameters and existing concepts of atmospheric phenomena, are used in the analysis of global and local atmospheric processes. Atmospheric photoprocesses result from the interaction of solar radiation with the atmosphere and processes involving ions, oxygen atoms, excited atomic particles and ozone molecules. Atmospheric electricity as a secondary phenomenon to atmospheric water circulation results in a chain of processes that begins with collisions of water aerosols in different aggregate states. Cosmic rays are of importance for atmospheric electricity, as they create positive and negative ions in the air. Air breakdown in an electric field of clouds in the form of lightning may develop under the influence of cosmic ray-created seed electrons, which are necessary for electron multiplication in ionization wave-streamers. The upper atmosphere (ionosphere) is formed under solar radiation in a vacuum ultraviolet spectrum, and absorption of this radiation leads to air photoionization. The greenhouse effect is determined by atmospheric water, whereas transitions between a water vapor and aerosols may lead to a change in atmospheric optical depth. Carbon dioxide contributes in small portions to the atmospheric greenhouse effect. Cosmic rays are of importance for atmospheric discharge, the origin of lightning and cloud formation in the first stage of aerosol growth. This book provides a qualitative description of atmospheric properties and phenomena based on elementary processes and simple models.

Cloud physics has achieved such a voluminous literature over the past few decades that a significant quantitative study of the entire field would prove unwieldy. This book concentrates on one major aspect: cloud microphysics, which involves the processes that lead to the formation of individual cloud and precipitation particles. Common practice has shown that one may distinguish among the following addi tional major aspects: cloud dynamics, which is concerned with the physics respon sible for the macroscopic features of clouds; cloud electricity, which deals with the electrical structure of clouds and the electrification processes of cloud and precipi tation particles; and cloud optics and radar meteorology, which describe the effects of electromagnetic waves interacting with clouds and precipitation. Another field intimately related to cloud physics is atmospheric chemistry, which involves the chemical composition ofthe atmosphere and the life cycle and characteristics of its gaseous and particulate constituents. In view of the natural interdependence of the various aspects of cloud physics, the subject of microphysics cannot be discussed very meaningfully out of context. Therefore, we have found it necessary to touch briefly upon a few simple and basic concepts of cloud dynamics and thermodynamics, and to provide an account of the major characteristics of atmospheric aerosol particles. We have also included a separate chapter on some of the effects of electric fields and charges on the precipitation-forming processes.

This book covers the role of water in global atmospheric phenomena, focussing on the physical processes involving water molecules and water microparticles. It presents the reader with a detailed look at some of the most important types of global atmospheric phenomena involving water, such as water circulation, atmospheric electricity and the greenhouse effect. Beginning with the cycle of water evaporation and condensation, and the important roles played by the nucleation and growth processes of water microdroplets, the book discusses atmospheric electricity as a secondary phenomenon of water circulation in the atmosphere, comprising a chain of processes involving water molecules and water microdroplets. Finally, the book discusses aspects of the molecular spectroscopy of greenhouse atmospheric components, showing how water molecules and water microdroplets give the main contribution to atmospheric emission in the infrared spectrum range. Featuring numerous didactic schematics and appendices detailing all necessary unit conversion factors, this book is useful to both active researchers and doctoral students working in the fields of atmospheric physics, climate science and molecular spectroscopy.

This book is addressed to those who wish to understand the relationship between atmospheric phenomena and the nature of matter as expressed in the principles of physics. The interesting atmospheric phenomena are more than applications of gravitation, of thermodynamics, of hydrodynamics, or of electrodynamics; and mastery of the results of controlled experiment and of the related theory alone does not imply an understanding of atmospheric phenomena. This distinction arises because the extent and the complexity of the atmosphere permit effects and interactions that are entirely negligible in the laboratory or are deliberately excluded from it. the objective of laboratory physics is, by isolating the relevant variables, to reveal the fundamental properties of matter; whereas the objective of atmospheric physics, or of any observational science, is to understand those phenomena that are characteristic of the whole system. For these reasons the exposition of atmospheric physics requires substantial extensions of classical physics. It also requires that understanding be based on a coherent "way of seeing" the ensemble of atmospheric phenomena. Only then is understanding likely to stimulate still more general insights.

A quantitative introduction to the Earth's atmosphere for intermediate-advanced undergraduate and graduate students, with an emphasis on underlying physical principles. This edition has been brought completely up-to-date, and now includes a new chapter on the physics of climate change which builds upon material introduced in earlier chapters, giving the student a broad understanding of some of the physical concepts underlying this most important and topical subject. In contrast to many other books on atmospheric science, the emphasis is on the underlying physics. Atmospheric applications are developed mainly in the problems given at the end of each chapter. The book is an essential resource for all students of atmospheric physics as part of an atmospheric science, meteorology, physics, Earth science, planetary science, or applied mathematics course.

This book looks at global atmospheric processes from a physical standpoint using available current and past observational data taken from measurements of relevant atmospheric parameters. It describes various aspects of the current atmospheric state and its future evolution, focusing primarily on the energetic balance of the Earth and atmosphere, and taking into consideration the multi-faceted global equilibrium between these two systems, carbon, and water. The analysis presented in this book restricts itself to those objects and processes that allow us to obtain reliable conclusions and numerical estimations, in contrast to current climate models with much larger numbers of parameters for describing the same problems. As a result, in spite of the roughness of numerical parameters, the book unveils a reliable and transparent physical picture of energetic phenomena in the global atmosphere. In particular, it shows that approximately only one-fourth of atmospheric water returns from the atmosphere to the Earth in the form of free molecules. It was shown that the contemporary warming of our planet has an anthropogenic character, and that the average global temperature increases due to an increase of the concentration of atmospheric CO2 molecules, via an increase in atmospheric moisture, as well as an increase in the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere. Accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide plays a subsidiary role in this process and gives approximately one-third in a change of the global temperature, while an increase in the amount of atmospheric water by as little as only 0.3% per year explains the observed warming of the Earth. The book shows how the greenhouse instability of the atmosphere evidently has its origins in the Eocene epoch, presenting an analysis of the influence of various types of global energetic processes on the climate that differs from the official stance on these problems.