In this installment of "Appreciating our Global Heat and Moisture Distribution Engine" I focus on videos about our atmosphere's life sustaining insulating abilities and the molecules that make it possible. This won't be as pretty as my previous installment, which had those gorgeous NASA data driven animations to look at and ponder.
This is a bit more along the lines of classroom work, particularly my first video featuring the high school teacher Mr. Kemp who does a nice job of describing the various layers of our atmosphere using a cool space station photo of our planet's horizon. Then a 9 min video by Professor Richard Alley explaining how we know CO2 is responsible for current global warming. Followed by an 8 min video by PICSClimateInsights reviewing aspects of greenhouse molecules.
Then comes Ricardo Esplugas's visualization of greenhouse molecules in action, followed by Iain Stewart's demonstrating CO2's infrared capturing abilities and finishing up with Dan Miller demonstrating what 280 ppm looks like.
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Layers of the Atmosphere
0:00 - Describing the various layers of the atmosphere using a profile picture taken from the Space Station of Earth's atmosphere.
2:00 - diagram
2:15 - Stratosphere, Ozone layer, ultra-violet radiation absorption
3:50 - Troposphere, surface warming
4:50 - Temperature profile through the atmosphere
5:20 - Troposphere, mixing layer, air circulation, convection
7:00 - Stratosphere, temperature gradient,
7:45 - ozone absorbing ultraviolet light leading to temperature inversion
8:30 - Mesosphere, "shooting stars" burn up here
8:45 - Thermosphere, air very thin, feels cold, but individual atoms extremely hot (high kinetic energy).
10:35 - Ionosphere, overlaps Mesosphere and Thermosphere, where auroras happen
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Check out this power point.
It could be the best summation for someone at my level I've seen:
Greenhouse Gas and Climate Science Measurements
The SIM Metrology School October 28 – November 1, 2013
James Whetstone
Special Assistant to the Director for Greenhouse Gas Measurements
National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
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Who says it's settled physics?
CO2 & the Atmosphere
Air Force research on missiles and the story of Ice Ages both reveal the effects of carbon dioxide.
0:00 - What CO2 does was confirmed by Air Force atmospheric research.
0:10 - Studying the physics of the upper atmosphere for communications and heat seeking missiles.
1:00 - "The air force hadn't set out to study global warming, they just wanted their missiles to work. But physics is physics. The atmosphere doesn't care if you are studying it for warring or warming. Adding CO2 turns up the planet's thermostat."
1:20 - Works in the other direction also, remove CO2 and planet cools.
1:30 - Glacier studies
3:00 - Glacier cross-section, deposition, accumulation, record of the past.
4:30 - Orbital and rotational variations and their impact on sun's insolation.
5:10 - Ice ages
6:00 - Glaciers as earth mover
6:35 - Time-lapse animation of glacial advance retreat
7:15 - Orbital/rotational driven insolation variations interaction with Earth's many CO2 reservoirs and cycles.
8:00 - {eye witness to disintegrating glaciers}
8:50 - Place thermometers anywhere on this planet and they show warming.
The evidence is clear, the Earth's climate is warming {and it is us}.
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CO2 and the Greenhouse Effect
PICSClimateInsights | Published on Nov 4, 2014 | 8:05 min
1:15 - Measured rate of change
1:30 - Water vapor
1:45 - Global warming is occurring and greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere are driving it.
2:00 - Tracing surface temperatures
3:00 - Every decade since the 70s has been hotter than the preceding one.
3:15 - How it works . . .
Incoming solar radiation
outgoing infrared radiation
4:25 - greenhouse gas molecules, absorption and reemission of energy (heat)
slowing the escape of heat from Earth - {Shifting the balance between Earth's incoming and outgoing energy (heat) budget. Like putting on an extra sweater on a warm day.}
5:15 - tracking the CO2, how do we know, can it be measured?
5:25 - 1950s, Charles David Keeling - accurately measuring CO2 in the atmosphere.
5:40 - The Keeling Graph
6:25 - {The human finger print on our fossil fuels CO2 - proof of our culpability}
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This one starts a bit of loud and harsh, hang in there, it settles down in a few seconds. As for the rest I found it one of the better YouTube efforts to visualize this challenging topic for people with a regular education.
Molecular vibrations and IR emission : the machinery of global warming
Ricardo Esplugas | Uploaded on Nov 12, 2011 | 4:22 min
Phenomena at the molecular level explain global warming. It is an introduction to molecular vibrations and Infrared spectroscopy. Molecular vibrations are shown for various global warming causing molecules. The concept of normal modes is explained visually.
0:25 - Vibrating molecules emit IR radiation
Different molecules emit different IR frequencies -> fingerprint -> spectroscopy
0:55 - Infrared radiation causes heating
Greenhouse effect is caused by infrared radiation being absorbed and emitted by certain gas molecules in the atmosphere.
1:10 - Only a few molecules are responsible for the heating of our planet.
Water molecules
1:30 - different vibration modes, each mode emits a different frequency
1:45 - Carbon Dioxide
2:15 - Methane
2:55 - CFC
3:20 - Pyridine, a ring molecule (insignificant as GHG)
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Iain Stewart demonstrates infrared radiation absorption by CO2
Iain Stewart demonstrates a simple experiment that shows that carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation. Scene from BBC's 'Earth: The Climate Wars' documentary.
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CO2-Ink Demonstration {visualizing 280 parts per million?}
Dan Miller | Uploaded on Mar 7, 2010 | 4:49 min
I use ink to demonstrate how CO2 can have a big impact on warming the earth even though it is a very small percent of the atmosphere. Also see my talk on how to fix climate change for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k2-SzlDGko
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Wednesday, January 6, 2016
{1} Our Global Heat and Moisture Distribution Engine
Saturday, January 9, 2016
{2} Co-evolution of Minerals and Life | Dr Robert Hazen
Thursday, January 14, 2016
{3} Evolution of Carbon and our biosphere - Professor Hazen focuses on the element Carbon
Saturday, January 23, 2016
{4} Evolution-Considering Deep Time and a Couple Big Breaks
Saturday, February 6, 2016
{5a} The Most Beautiful Graph on Earth - A. Hessler
Sunday, February 7, 2016
{5b} Earth's Earliest Climate - By Angela Hessler
Sunday, February 14, 2016
{6} Evolution of Earth's Atmosphere - easy version
Thursday, February 18, 2016
{7} Our Global Heat and Moisture Distribution Engine, visualized
Friday, February 19, 2016
{8} Atmospheric Insulation Explained - appreciating our climate engine
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