Series:

Springer Atmospheric Sciences

3 total works

Cover of 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.  

Cover of Global Atmospheric Phenomena Involving Water

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 schematicsand 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.

Cover of Global Energetics of the Atmosphere
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.