Related papers: Atmosphere as a steam engine
An objective revision of the Laplace barometric formula for isothermal planetary atmospheres is proposed. From Clausius virial theorem equating the root mean square kinetic energy to half the gravitational potential energy, planetary…
Precipitation extremes produced by convection have been found to intensify with near-surface temperatures at a Clausius-Clapeyron rate of $6$ to $7\%$ K$^{-1}$ in simulations of radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE). However, these…
The second law of thermodynamics implies a relationship between the net entropy export by the Earth and its internal irreversible entropy production. The application of this constraint for the purpose of understanding Earth's climate is…
Planetary atmospheres, and models of them, are discussed from the viewpoint of condensed matter physics. Atmospheres are a form of condensed matter, and many interesting phenomena of condensed matter systems are realized by them. The…
We discuss how greenhouse gases affect radiation transfer in Earth's atmosphere. We explain how greenhouse gases like water vapor or carbon dioxide, differ from non-greenhouse gases like nitrogen or oxygen. Using simple thermodynamics and…
Starting from basic physical principles, we present a novel derivation linking the global wind power to measurable atmospheric parameters. The resulting expression distinguishes three components of the atmospheric power (the kinetic power…
The chemical composition of the earths atmosphere far from equilibrium is unique in the solar system and has been attributed to the presence of widespread life. Here I show that this perspective can be quantified using non-equilibrium…
Condensible substances are nearly ubiquitous in planetary atmospheres. For the most familiar case-water vapor in Earth's present climate-the condensible gas is dilute, in the sense that its concentration is everywhere small relative to the…
Condensation and sublimation of water vapors (and CO2, CH4, N2O vapors also) in the Earth atmosphere must be accompanied by emission of latent heats on characteristic frequencies marked in absorption spectra. Calculated wave lengths…
The terrestrial water cycle links the soil and atmosphere moisture reservoirs through four fluxes: precipitation, evaporation, runoff and atmospheric moisture convergence. Each of these fluxes is essential for human and ecosystem…
The terrestrial water cycle links the soil and atmosphere moisture reservoirs through four fluxes: precipitation, evaporation, runoff, and atmospheric moisture convergence (net import of water vapor to balance runoff). Each of these…
In an Earth-analogue atmosphere, water vapour is a key carrier of hydrogen in the lower atmosphere with its transport above the tropopause controlling the atmospheric hydrogen escape rate. On the Earth, this escape is limited by transport…
In an atmosphere, a cloud condensation region is characterized by a strong vertical gradient in the abundance of the related condensing species. On Earth, the ensuing gradient of mean molecular weight has relatively few dynamical…
The evolution of a single raindrop falling below a cloud is governed by fluid dynamics and thermodynamics fundamentally transferable to planetary atmospheres beyond modern Earth's. Here, we show how three properties that characterize…
The Sun and sun-like stars commonly host the multi-million-Kelvin coronae and the 10,000-Kelvin chromospheres. These extremely hot gases generate X-ray and Extreme Ultraviolet emissions that may impact the erosion and chemistry of…
The atmosphere gains available potential energy by solar radiation and dissipates kinetic energy mainly in the atmospheric boundary layer. We analyze the fluctuations of the global mean energy cycle defined by Lorenz (1955) in a simulation…
Atmospheric water vapour is an essential ingredient of weather and climate. Key features of its distribution can be represented by kinematic models which treat it as a passive scalar advected by a prescribed flow and reacting through…
A cumulus cloud model which can explain the observed characteristics of warm rain formation in monsoon clouds is presented. The model is based on classical statistical physical concepts and satisfies the principle of maximum entropy…
The Clausius-Clapeyron relation and its analogs in other first-order phase transitions, such as type-I superconductors, are derived using very elementary methods, without appealing to the more advanced concepts of entropy or Gibbs free…
Atmospheric characterisation of temperate sub-Neptunes is the new frontier of exoplanetary science with recent JWST observations of possible Hycean world K2-18b. Accurate modelling of atmospheric processes is essential to interpreting…