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Skin Temperature (of An Atmosphere)
The skin temperature of an atmosphere is the temperature of a hypothetical thin layer high in the atmosphere that is transparent to incident Sunlight, solar radiation and partially absorbing of Infrared, infrared radiation from the planet. It provides an approximation for the temperature of the tropopause on terrestrial planets with greenhouse gases present in their atmospheres. The skin temperature of an atmosphere should not be confused with the ''surface skin temperature'', which is more readily measured by satellites, and depends on the thermal emission at the surface of a planet. __TOC__ Background The concept of a skin temperature builds on a radiative-transfer model of an atmosphere, in which the atmosphere of a planet is divided into an arbitrary number of layers. Each layer is Transparency and translucency, transparent to the visible radiation from the Sun but acts as a Black body, blackbody in the infrared, fully absorbing and fully re-emitting infrared radiation origi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere is the outer region of a star, which includes the layers above the opaque photosphere; stars of low temperature might have outer atmospheres containing compound molecules. The atmosphere of Earth is composed of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon (0.9%), carbon dioxide (0.04%) and trace gases. Most organisms use oxygen for respiration; lightning and bacteria perform nitrogen fixation which produces ammonia that is used to make nucleotides and amino acids; plants, algae, and cyanobacteria use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. The layered composition of the atmosphere minimises the harmful effects of sunlight, ultraviolet radiation, solar wind, and cosmic rays and thus protects the organisms from genetic damage. The curr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefan–Boltzmann Law
The Stefan–Boltzmann law, also known as ''Stefan's law'', describes the intensity of the thermal radiation emitted by matter in terms of that matter's temperature. It is named for Josef Stefan, who empirically derived the relationship, and Ludwig Boltzmann who derived the law theoretically. For an ideal absorber/emitter or black body, the Stefan–Boltzmann law states that the total energy radiated per unit area, surface area per unit time (also known as the ''radiant exitance'') is directly Proportionality (mathematics), proportional to the fourth power of the black body's temperature, : M^ = \sigma\, T^. The constant of proportionality, \sigma, is called the Stefan–Boltzmann constant. It has the value In the general case, the Stefan–Boltzmann law for radiant exitance takes the form: M = \varepsilon\, M^ = \varepsilon\,\sigma\, T^4 , where \varepsilon is the emissivity of the surface emitting the radiation. The emissivity is generally between zero and one. An emiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troposphere
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth. It contains 80% of the total mass of the Atmosphere, planetary atmosphere and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From the planetary surface of the Earth, the average height of the troposphere is in the tropics; in the middle latitudes; and in the high latitudes of the polar regions in winter; thus the average height of the troposphere is . The term ''troposphere'' derives from the Greek words ''tropos'' (rotating) and ''sphere, sphaira'' (sphere) indicating that rotational turbulence mixes the layers of air and so determines the structure and the phenomena of the troposphere. The rotational friction of the troposphere against the planetary surface affects the flow of the air, and so forms the planetary boundary layer (PBL) that varies in height from hundreds of meters up to . The measures of the PBL vary according to the latitude, the landform, and the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extreme Ultraviolet
Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high-energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths shorter than the hydrogen Lyman-alpha line from 121 nm down to the X-ray band of 10 nm. By the Planck–Einstein equation the EUV photons have energies from 10.26 eV up to 124.24 eV where we enter the X-ray energies. EUV is naturally generated by the solar corona and artificially by plasma, high harmonic generation sources and synchrotron light sources. Since UVC extends to 100 nm, there is some overlap in the terms. The main uses of extreme ultraviolet radiation are photoelectron spectroscopy, solar imaging, and lithography. In air, EUV is the most highly absorbed component of the electromagnetic spectrum, requiring high vacuum for transmission. EUV generation Neutral atoms or condensed matter do not have large enough energy transitions to emit EUV radiation. Ionizatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of the total electromagnetic radiation output from the Sun. It is also produced by electric arcs, Cherenkov radiation, and specialized lights, such as mercury-vapor lamps, tanning lamps, and black lights. The photons of ultraviolet have greater energy than those of visible light, from about 3.1 to 12 electron volts, around the minimum energy required to ionize atoms. Although long-wavelength ultraviolet is not considered an ionizing radiation because its photons lack sufficient energy, it can induce chemical reactions and cause many substances to glow or fluoresce. Many practical applications, including chemical and biological effects, are derived from the way that UV radiation can interact with organic molecules. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermosphere
The thermosphere is the layer in the Earth's atmosphere directly above the mesosphere and below the exosphere. Within this layer of the atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation causes photoionization/photodissociation of molecules, creating ions; the bulk of the ionosphere thus exists within the thermosphere. Taking its name from the Greek θερμός (pronounced ''thermos'') meaning heat, the thermosphere begins at about 80 km (50 mi) above sea level. At these high altitudes, the residual atmospheric gases sort into strata according to molecular mass (see turbosphere). Thermospheric temperatures increase with altitude due to absorption of highly energetic solar radiation. Temperatures are highly dependent on solar activity, and can rise to or more. Radiation causes the atmospheric particles in this layer to become electrically charged, enabling radio waves to be refracted and thus be received beyond the horizon. In the exosphere, beginning at about 600 km (375 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stratosphere
The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher (closer to outer space) and the cooler layers lower (closer to the planetary surface of the Earth). The increase of temperature with altitude is a result of the absorption of the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation by the ozone layer, where ozone is exothermically photolyzed into oxygen in a cyclical fashion. This temperature inversion is in contrast to the troposphere, where temperature decreases with altitude, and between the troposphere and stratosphere is the tropopause border that demarcates the beginning of the temperature inversion. Near the equator, the lower edge of the stratosphere is as high as , at mid-latitudes around , and at the poles about . Temperatures range from an average of near the tropopause to an average of ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inversion (meteorology)
In meteorology, an inversion (or temperature inversion) is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, atmospheric temperature, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship is reversed in an inversion. An inversion traps air pollution, such as smog, near the ground. An inversion can also suppress atmospheric convection, convection by acting as a "cap". If this cap is broken for any of several reasons, convection of any humidity can then erupt into violent thunderstorms. Temperature inversion can cause freezing rain in polar climate, cold climates. Normal atmospheric conditions Usually, within the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) the air near the surface of the Earth is warmer than the air above it, largely because the atmosphere is heated from below as solar radiation warms the Earth's surface, which in turn then warms the layer of the atmosphere directly above it, e.g., by thermals (Convection (heat tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emissivity
The emissivity of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in emitting energy as thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation that most commonly includes both visible radiation (light) and infrared radiation, which is not visible to human eyes. A portion of the thermal radiation from very hot objects (see photograph) is easily visible to the eye. The emissivity of a surface depends on its chemical composition and geometrical structure. Quantitatively, it is the ratio of the thermal radiation from a surface to the radiation from an black body, ideal black surface at the same temperature as given by the Stefan–Boltzmann law. (A comparison with Planck's law is used if one is concerned with particular wavelengths of thermal radiation.) The ratio varies from 0 to 1. The surface of a perfect black body (with an emissivity of 1) emits thermal radiation at the rate of approximately 448 watts per square metre (W/m) at a room temperature of . Objects have emi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirchhoff's Law Of Thermal Radiation
In heat transfer, Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation refers to wavelength-specific radiative emission and absorption by a material body in thermodynamic equilibrium, including radiative exchange equilibrium. It is a special case of Onsager reciprocal relations as a consequence of the time reversibility of microscopic dynamics, also known as microscopic reversibility. A body at temperature radiates electromagnetic energy. A perfect black body in thermodynamic equilibrium absorbs all light that strikes it, and radiates energy according to a unique law of radiative emissive power for temperature (Stefan–Boltzmann law), universal for all perfect black bodies. Kirchhoff's law states that: Here, the dimensionless coefficient of absorption (or the absorptivity) is the fraction of incident light (power) at each spectral frequency that is absorbed by the body when it is radiating and absorbing in thermodynamic equilibrium. In slightly different terms, the emissive power ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
