Neil Websdale
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195315417
- eISBN:
- 9780199777464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315417.003.002
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Crime and Justice
Drawing upon the work of Antonio Damasio, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Raymond Williams, the author develops the notion of emotional styles as a ...
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Drawing upon the work of Antonio Damasio, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Raymond Williams, the author develops the notion of emotional styles as a means of addressing the continuities between the visceral, the psychological, the social, and the historical. Using Avery Gordon's language of ghosts and haunting as a metaphorical device, the author sees familicide as an uncanny act, an outcome of the highly charged interplay between emotional styles, familial atmospheres of feeling, and broader-ranging figurations of feeling emergent in modern life. Through the analysis of two cases, the author introduces the idea that offenders are socially disconnected, lacking a sense of place, even in the midst of family life and broader social interdependencies. Familicidal hearts are therefore haunted hearts, souls forged out of the anomic and alienating conditions of modern life.Less
Drawing upon the work of Antonio Damasio, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Raymond Williams, the author develops the notion of emotional styles as a means of addressing the continuities between the visceral, the psychological, the social, and the historical. Using Avery Gordon's language of ghosts and haunting as a metaphorical device, the author sees familicide as an uncanny act, an outcome of the highly charged interplay between emotional styles, familial atmospheres of feeling, and broader-ranging figurations of feeling emergent in modern life. Through the analysis of two cases, the author introduces the idea that offenders are socially disconnected, lacking a sense of place, even in the midst of family life and broader social interdependencies. Familicidal hearts are therefore haunted hearts, souls forged out of the anomic and alienating conditions of modern life.
Kris Pint
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266670
- eISBN:
- 9780191905391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266670.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
In the last decade of his life, Barthes increasingly turned to classical literature for the expression of what he called ‘minimal existence’. He found an ideal way to access this experience in ...
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In the last decade of his life, Barthes increasingly turned to classical literature for the expression of what he called ‘minimal existence’. He found an ideal way to access this experience in literary descriptions of the nuances of the weather, le temps qu’il fait. In these passages, the virtual space of literature opens up the existential space of the experiencing body, by providing a discourse to explore atmospheric conditions. As the experience of the atmosphere is cultural, a form of education is needed in order fully to appreciate it. It was this education Barthes found in the abandoned, untimely field of classical literature: ‘a country free by default’. Barthes’s literary explorations of the weather can be understood as a crucial part of the ethical project he developed at the Collège de France. Barthes’s ‘active semiology’ urges us to consider literature as a personal, intimate ‘guide de vie’, and to understand literary semiology not only as a contribution to a field of knowledge, but also to a field of experience. The sensation and expression of atmospheric conditions becomes an unexpected way to defend the existential and critical value of literature in our contemporary, increasingly virtualised information society.Less
In the last decade of his life, Barthes increasingly turned to classical literature for the expression of what he called ‘minimal existence’. He found an ideal way to access this experience in literary descriptions of the nuances of the weather, le temps qu’il fait. In these passages, the virtual space of literature opens up the existential space of the experiencing body, by providing a discourse to explore atmospheric conditions. As the experience of the atmosphere is cultural, a form of education is needed in order fully to appreciate it. It was this education Barthes found in the abandoned, untimely field of classical literature: ‘a country free by default’. Barthes’s literary explorations of the weather can be understood as a crucial part of the ethical project he developed at the Collège de France. Barthes’s ‘active semiology’ urges us to consider literature as a personal, intimate ‘guide de vie’, and to understand literary semiology not only as a contribution to a field of knowledge, but also to a field of experience. The sensation and expression of atmospheric conditions becomes an unexpected way to defend the existential and critical value of literature in our contemporary, increasingly virtualised information society.
Donald Eugene Canfield
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145020
- eISBN:
- 9781400849888
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145020.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
The air we breathe is 21 percent oxygen, an amount higher than on any other known world. While we may take our air for granted, Earth was not always an oxygenated planet. How did it become this way? ...
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The air we breathe is 21 percent oxygen, an amount higher than on any other known world. While we may take our air for granted, Earth was not always an oxygenated planet. How did it become this way? This book covers this vast history, emphasizing its relationship to the evolution of life and the evolving chemistry of the Earth. The book guides readers through the various lines of scientific evidence, considers some of the wrong turns and dead ends along the way, and highlights the scientists and researchers who have made key discoveries in the field. Showing how Earth's atmosphere developed over time, the book takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of the oxygenation of our planet.Less
The air we breathe is 21 percent oxygen, an amount higher than on any other known world. While we may take our air for granted, Earth was not always an oxygenated planet. How did it become this way? This book covers this vast history, emphasizing its relationship to the evolution of life and the evolving chemistry of the Earth. The book guides readers through the various lines of scientific evidence, considers some of the wrong turns and dead ends along the way, and highlights the scientists and researchers who have made key discoveries in the field. Showing how Earth's atmosphere developed over time, the book takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of the oxygenation of our planet.
Michael Ward
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195313871
- eISBN:
- 9780199871964
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313871.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
As a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature, C.S. Lewis was deeply interested in the imaginative effects of the new heliocentric model of the universe theorised by Copernicus and verified by ...
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As a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature, C.S. Lewis was deeply interested in the imaginative effects of the new heliocentric model of the universe theorised by Copernicus and verified by Kepler and Galileo. As a writer of fiction, Lewis held that success in imaginative composition came through suggestion rather than through statement; a good story's principal achievement was the atmosphere which it allowed the reader to inhabit, an atmosphere which should constitute the reader's mode of attention, not the reader's focus of attention. In his Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’; The Silver Chair; The Horse and his Boy; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle), Lewis drew upon his academic expertise in Ptolemaic astronomy and astrology, constructing each story so that it embodied and expressed the qualitative atmosphere associated with one of the seven planets of the pre‐Copernican cosmos (respectively, Jupiter; Mars; Sol; Luna; Mercury; Venus; Saturn), planets which he described as ‘spiritual symbols of permanent value’. In each Chronicle, the arc of the narrative, countless points of ornamental detail, and the portrayal of the Christological figure of Aslan, are all governed by this cosmologically based imaginative intention. The Chronicles therefore are not, first and foremost, Biblical allegories, as critics have previously assumed, but attempts to communicate seven ancient archetypes through the genre of romance. The occasioning of the first story is argued to be the famous debate at Oxford's Socratic Club in which Lewis's Christian Idealism was critiqued by the philosopher, Elizabeth Anscombe. In sum, Planet Narnia contends that the Chronicles are the product of a subtler writer and thinker than has hitherto been recognised, whose abiding interests were hiddenness, immanence, and knowledge by acquaintance.Less
As a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature, C.S. Lewis was deeply interested in the imaginative effects of the new heliocentric model of the universe theorised by Copernicus and verified by Kepler and Galileo. As a writer of fiction, Lewis held that success in imaginative composition came through suggestion rather than through statement; a good story's principal achievement was the atmosphere which it allowed the reader to inhabit, an atmosphere which should constitute the reader's mode of attention, not the reader's focus of attention. In his Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’; The Silver Chair; The Horse and his Boy; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle), Lewis drew upon his academic expertise in Ptolemaic astronomy and astrology, constructing each story so that it embodied and expressed the qualitative atmosphere associated with one of the seven planets of the pre‐Copernican cosmos (respectively, Jupiter; Mars; Sol; Luna; Mercury; Venus; Saturn), planets which he described as ‘spiritual symbols of permanent value’. In each Chronicle, the arc of the narrative, countless points of ornamental detail, and the portrayal of the Christological figure of Aslan, are all governed by this cosmologically based imaginative intention. The Chronicles therefore are not, first and foremost, Biblical allegories, as critics have previously assumed, but attempts to communicate seven ancient archetypes through the genre of romance. The occasioning of the first story is argued to be the famous debate at Oxford's Socratic Club in which Lewis's Christian Idealism was critiqued by the philosopher, Elizabeth Anscombe. In sum, Planet Narnia contends that the Chronicles are the product of a subtler writer and thinker than has hitherto been recognised, whose abiding interests were hiddenness, immanence, and knowledge by acquaintance.
Todd V. Crawford, Charles W. Miller, and Allen H. Weber
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195127270
- eISBN:
- 9780199869121
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195127270.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
This chapter assists professionals in selecting and properly using atmospheric transport, diffusion, and deposition models to estimate the transport and deposition of radionuclides released into the ...
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This chapter assists professionals in selecting and properly using atmospheric transport, diffusion, and deposition models to estimate the transport and deposition of radionuclides released into the atmosphere. After presenting meteorological fundamentals applicable to atmospheric processes, different types of mathematical models and modeling approaches are discussed. Fundamental principles and guidelines are also presented to help professionals select the most appropriate model for a given assessment problem, and to sensitize model users to the need for using appropriate and accurate site data in model calculations.Less
This chapter assists professionals in selecting and properly using atmospheric transport, diffusion, and deposition models to estimate the transport and deposition of radionuclides released into the atmosphere. After presenting meteorological fundamentals applicable to atmospheric processes, different types of mathematical models and modeling approaches are discussed. Fundamental principles and guidelines are also presented to help professionals select the most appropriate model for a given assessment problem, and to sensitize model users to the need for using appropriate and accurate site data in model calculations.
James W. Hurrell and Robert R. Dickson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198507499
- eISBN:
- 9780191709845
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198507499.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology
This chapter provides a broad review of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its forcing of the North Atlantic Ocean. Of particular interest is the long, irregular amplification of the ...
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This chapter provides a broad review of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its forcing of the North Atlantic Ocean. Of particular interest is the long, irregular amplification of the oscillation towards one extreme phase during winter over recent decades. This climatic event, which is unprecedented in the modern instrumental record of NAO behaviour, has produced a wide range of effects on North Atlantic ecosystems. Some attention will also be given to the climatic impacts of periods of atypical NAO behaviour, such as the spatial displacement of the main centres of action in some winters, or to periods when other patterns of large-scale Atlantic climate variability are more pronounced.Less
This chapter provides a broad review of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its forcing of the North Atlantic Ocean. Of particular interest is the long, irregular amplification of the oscillation towards one extreme phase during winter over recent decades. This climatic event, which is unprecedented in the modern instrumental record of NAO behaviour, has produced a wide range of effects on North Atlantic ecosystems. Some attention will also be given to the climatic impacts of periods of atypical NAO behaviour, such as the spatial displacement of the main centres of action in some winters, or to periods when other patterns of large-scale Atlantic climate variability are more pronounced.
Andrew P. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145044
- eISBN:
- 9781400848232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145044.003.0011
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This concluding chapter discusses some of the lessons that can be learned from studying the planets and planetary climates. It first considers the general principles that turned out to be right; for ...
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This concluding chapter discusses some of the lessons that can be learned from studying the planets and planetary climates. It first considers the general principles that turned out to be right; for example, size and distance from the Sun matter. The larger objects are able to hold on to their atmospheres better than the small objects. The outer solar system is hydrogen rich and the inner solar system is oxygen rich; as one moves away from the Sun different substances take on different roles. There are also assumptions that proved inaccurate; such was the case for Venus, Mars, and the moons of the giant planets. The chapter also asks whether the study of planetary climates provides lessons for Earth, whether the study of planets has informed us about the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, and whether it has made the development of extraterrestrial life seem more likely.Less
This concluding chapter discusses some of the lessons that can be learned from studying the planets and planetary climates. It first considers the general principles that turned out to be right; for example, size and distance from the Sun matter. The larger objects are able to hold on to their atmospheres better than the small objects. The outer solar system is hydrogen rich and the inner solar system is oxygen rich; as one moves away from the Sun different substances take on different roles. There are also assumptions that proved inaccurate; such was the case for Venus, Mars, and the moons of the giant planets. The chapter also asks whether the study of planetary climates provides lessons for Earth, whether the study of planets has informed us about the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, and whether it has made the development of extraterrestrial life seem more likely.
Ilias Vardavas and Frederic Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199227471
- eISBN:
- 9780191711138
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199227471.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics
This book deals with the theory of atmospheric radiation and radiation transfer, and its application to current problems related to the processes that maintain the global climate of the Earth. It ...
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This book deals with the theory of atmospheric radiation and radiation transfer, and its application to current problems related to the processes that maintain the global climate of the Earth. It combines aspects of solar radiation; atmospheric radiation; radiation budget theory and measurements; photochemistry; instruments; satellite observations; and prediction models; and applies them to understanding the Earth's climate and current concerns over climate change. Radiation theory is fundamental to the development of climate prediction models, and to measurement techniques for monitoring the Earth's energy budget and making remote sensing observations related to climate from satellites. Such theory and measurements are at the core of the climate change debate. This book describes in detail the basic physics used in the radiative transfer codes that are a key part of climate models. The basic principles are extended to the atmospheres of the Earth and the other planets, illustrating the greenhouse effect and other radiation-based phenomena at work. Several chapters deal with the techniques and measurements for monitoring the Earth's radiation budget, and thus tracking global change and its effects. Remote sensing instruments on satellites and the theory of remote sensing are also covered.Less
This book deals with the theory of atmospheric radiation and radiation transfer, and its application to current problems related to the processes that maintain the global climate of the Earth. It combines aspects of solar radiation; atmospheric radiation; radiation budget theory and measurements; photochemistry; instruments; satellite observations; and prediction models; and applies them to understanding the Earth's climate and current concerns over climate change. Radiation theory is fundamental to the development of climate prediction models, and to measurement techniques for monitoring the Earth's energy budget and making remote sensing observations related to climate from satellites. Such theory and measurements are at the core of the climate change debate. This book describes in detail the basic physics used in the radiative transfer codes that are a key part of climate models. The basic principles are extended to the atmospheres of the Earth and the other planets, illustrating the greenhouse effect and other radiation-based phenomena at work. Several chapters deal with the techniques and measurements for monitoring the Earth's radiation budget, and thus tracking global change and its effects. Remote sensing instruments on satellites and the theory of remote sensing are also covered.
I. M. Vardavas and F. W. Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199227471
- eISBN:
- 9780191711138
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199227471.003.0012
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics
This chapter looks at climate change in the broader planetary sense. It examines evolutionary process in planetary atmospheres, with an application to the modelling of the evolution of the Earth's ...
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This chapter looks at climate change in the broader planetary sense. It examines evolutionary process in planetary atmospheres, with an application to the modelling of the evolution of the Earth's climate from the Precambrian to the present time. It examines the comparative climatology of the terrestrial planets and looks at the atmospheres of the giant planets. The photochemical and climate modelling techniques developed in the earlier chapters is then applied to Titan's haze formation and atmosphere. A brief look is given to extrasolar planets.Less
This chapter looks at climate change in the broader planetary sense. It examines evolutionary process in planetary atmospheres, with an application to the modelling of the evolution of the Earth's climate from the Precambrian to the present time. It examines the comparative climatology of the terrestrial planets and looks at the atmospheres of the giant planets. The photochemical and climate modelling techniques developed in the earlier chapters is then applied to Titan's haze formation and atmosphere. A brief look is given to extrasolar planets.
Donald Eugene Canfield
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145020
- eISBN:
- 9781400849888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145020.003.0005
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter deals with the fundamental question of why there is oxygen in the atmosphere at all. It seeks to identify the main processes controlling the oxygen concentration. Plants and ...
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This chapter deals with the fundamental question of why there is oxygen in the atmosphere at all. It seeks to identify the main processes controlling the oxygen concentration. Plants and cyanobacteria produce the oxygen, but it accumulates only because some of the original photosynthetically produced organic matter is buried and preserved in sediments. Another oxygen source is an anaerobic microbial process called sulfate reduction that respires organic matter using sulfate and produces sulfide. This process is quite common in nature but are most prominent in relatively isolated basins like the Black Sea, and in most marine sediments at depths where oxygen has been consumed by respiration. If there is iron around, the sulfide reacts with the iron, forming a mineral called pyrite. While organic carbon burial has been the main oxygen source to the atmosphere over the past several hundred million years, for some intervals further back in time, pyrite burial may well have dominated as an oxygen source.Less
This chapter deals with the fundamental question of why there is oxygen in the atmosphere at all. It seeks to identify the main processes controlling the oxygen concentration. Plants and cyanobacteria produce the oxygen, but it accumulates only because some of the original photosynthetically produced organic matter is buried and preserved in sediments. Another oxygen source is an anaerobic microbial process called sulfate reduction that respires organic matter using sulfate and produces sulfide. This process is quite common in nature but are most prominent in relatively isolated basins like the Black Sea, and in most marine sediments at depths where oxygen has been consumed by respiration. If there is iron around, the sulfide reacts with the iron, forming a mineral called pyrite. While organic carbon burial has been the main oxygen source to the atmosphere over the past several hundred million years, for some intervals further back in time, pyrite burial may well have dominated as an oxygen source.
Toby Tyrrell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691121581
- eISBN:
- 9781400847914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691121581.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This chapter examines James Lovelock's assertion that the Earth's atmosphere is a biological construct that is distinctly different from any expected abiotic chemical equilibrium. This claim can be ...
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This chapter examines James Lovelock's assertion that the Earth's atmosphere is a biological construct that is distinctly different from any expected abiotic chemical equilibrium. This claim can be broadened to the wider claim that Earth's environment bears the definite and considerable imprint of biological processes and is distinctly different from the environment that would be present if Earth did not possess life. Based on the evidence covered in this chapter, from atmosphere and oceans, Lovelock was clearly correct to claim that the coexistence of oxygen and methane in Earth's atmosphere is evidence of life, and that life can alter the planet. Other examples that could also be used as evidence to prove this point include the effects of vegetation in creating and stabilizing soils, the effects of plant transpiration on the cycling of water, and the fossil evidence for the effects of diatoms on silicon concentrations.Less
This chapter examines James Lovelock's assertion that the Earth's atmosphere is a biological construct that is distinctly different from any expected abiotic chemical equilibrium. This claim can be broadened to the wider claim that Earth's environment bears the definite and considerable imprint of biological processes and is distinctly different from the environment that would be present if Earth did not possess life. Based on the evidence covered in this chapter, from atmosphere and oceans, Lovelock was clearly correct to claim that the coexistence of oxygen and methane in Earth's atmosphere is evidence of life, and that life can alter the planet. Other examples that could also be used as evidence to prove this point include the effects of vegetation in creating and stabilizing soils, the effects of plant transpiration on the cycling of water, and the fossil evidence for the effects of diatoms on silicon concentrations.
Joanna D. Haigh and Peter Cargill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153834
- eISBN:
- 9781400866540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153834.003.0002
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter focuses on solar radiation and its interaction with the terrestrial atmosphere in the context of the Earth's radiation budget and radiative forcing of climate, as well as its direct ...
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This chapter focuses on solar radiation and its interaction with the terrestrial atmosphere in the context of the Earth's radiation budget and radiative forcing of climate, as well as its direct impact on atmospheric composition and temperature. The composition, temperature, and motion of Earth's atmosphere are determined by internal chemical and physical processes as well as by complex interactions with other parts of the climate system—notably the oceans, cryosphere and biosphere. On a global and annual average the solar energy absorbed by the Earth is balanced by thermal infrared radiation emitted to space. However, solar radiation absorption has a strong latitudinal variation, while the outgoing infrared radiation has only a weak latitudinal dependence. Thus there is a net surplus of radiative energy at low latitudes and a deficit at high latitudes.Less
This chapter focuses on solar radiation and its interaction with the terrestrial atmosphere in the context of the Earth's radiation budget and radiative forcing of climate, as well as its direct impact on atmospheric composition and temperature. The composition, temperature, and motion of Earth's atmosphere are determined by internal chemical and physical processes as well as by complex interactions with other parts of the climate system—notably the oceans, cryosphere and biosphere. On a global and annual average the solar energy absorbed by the Earth is balanced by thermal infrared radiation emitted to space. However, solar radiation absorption has a strong latitudinal variation, while the outgoing infrared radiation has only a weak latitudinal dependence. Thus there is a net surplus of radiative energy at low latitudes and a deficit at high latitudes.
Joanna D. Haigh and Peter Cargill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153834
- eISBN:
- 9781400866540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153834.003.0004
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter explores how solar radiation is the climate's fundamental energy source. It considers the solar radiance at the top of the Earth's atmosphere, its variation with location and season, and ...
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This chapter explores how solar radiation is the climate's fundamental energy source. It considers the solar radiance at the top of the Earth's atmosphere, its variation with location and season, and its energy distribution within the climate system. Changes in the radiation balance are capable of influencing global surface temperature and may thus be involved in climate change. The chapter also investigates the radiative processes which influence the atmospheric temperature structure and some of the chemical processes, particularly those influenced by solar radiation, that determine atmospheric composition. To understand how variations in solar activity might affect climate it is necessary to look at the amount and distribution of solar energy reaching the Earth.Less
This chapter explores how solar radiation is the climate's fundamental energy source. It considers the solar radiance at the top of the Earth's atmosphere, its variation with location and season, and its energy distribution within the climate system. Changes in the radiation balance are capable of influencing global surface temperature and may thus be involved in climate change. The chapter also investigates the radiative processes which influence the atmospheric temperature structure and some of the chemical processes, particularly those influenced by solar radiation, that determine atmospheric composition. To understand how variations in solar activity might affect climate it is necessary to look at the amount and distribution of solar energy reaching the Earth.
Joanna D. Haigh and Peter Cargill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153834
- eISBN:
- 9781400866540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153834.003.0005
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter studies the solar atmosphere's temporal variation, particularly the reverse in polarity of the solar magnetic field roughly every 11 years—a complete solar cycle occurs approximately ...
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This chapter studies the solar atmosphere's temporal variation, particularly the reverse in polarity of the solar magnetic field roughly every 11 years—a complete solar cycle occurs approximately every 22 years. The reason for this reversal must lie in the dynamo process operating at the tachocline, though a complete explanation is still awaited. This lack of understanding also underlies the scholars' inability to predict, on a first-principles basis, events like the recent deep and prolonged solar minimum. From the viewpoint of radiative input to the Earth, the chapter is interested in the variability of visible and UV radiation both across a typical solar cycle and, longer term, over many cycles. It also discusses how various solar and interplanetary parameters vary relative to the solar cycle.Less
This chapter studies the solar atmosphere's temporal variation, particularly the reverse in polarity of the solar magnetic field roughly every 11 years—a complete solar cycle occurs approximately every 22 years. The reason for this reversal must lie in the dynamo process operating at the tachocline, though a complete explanation is still awaited. This lack of understanding also underlies the scholars' inability to predict, on a first-principles basis, events like the recent deep and prolonged solar minimum. From the viewpoint of radiative input to the Earth, the chapter is interested in the variability of visible and UV radiation both across a typical solar cycle and, longer term, over many cycles. It also discusses how various solar and interplanetary parameters vary relative to the solar cycle.
Joanna D. Haigh and Peter Cargill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153834
- eISBN:
- 9781400866540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153834.003.0007
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter discusses how measurements made over several decades from meteorological balloons across the globe were used to study variations in the average temperature of the atmosphere up to the ...
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This chapter discusses how measurements made over several decades from meteorological balloons across the globe were used to study variations in the average temperature of the atmosphere up to the lower stratosphere. Correlations between this temperature and solar activity, usually indicated by the solar 10.7 cm radio wave flux, were estimated, and a strong relationship was identified in mid-latitudes, implying temperature differences in that region of up to 1 K between minimum and maximum of the 11-year solar cycle. Continued observations, including from space-borne instruments, confirmed this signal over subsequent solar cycles. Subsequent work in this area sought to isolate the solar effect from other possible influencing factors using multiple linear regression analysis.Less
This chapter discusses how measurements made over several decades from meteorological balloons across the globe were used to study variations in the average temperature of the atmosphere up to the lower stratosphere. Correlations between this temperature and solar activity, usually indicated by the solar 10.7 cm radio wave flux, were estimated, and a strong relationship was identified in mid-latitudes, implying temperature differences in that region of up to 1 K between minimum and maximum of the 11-year solar cycle. Continued observations, including from space-borne instruments, confirmed this signal over subsequent solar cycles. Subsequent work in this area sought to isolate the solar effect from other possible influencing factors using multiple linear regression analysis.
Andrew P. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145044
- eISBN:
- 9781400848232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145044.003.0002
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter discusses the greenhouse effect and climate evolution using Venus as an example. Venus mostly has an Earth-like inventory of volatile gases—the basic ingredients of atmospheres and ...
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This chapter discusses the greenhouse effect and climate evolution using Venus as an example. Venus mostly has an Earth-like inventory of volatile gases—the basic ingredients of atmospheres and oceans—but with one glaring exception: water. Earth's ocean is 300 times as massive as its atmosphere. Water is more abundant than all the other volatiles combined, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen. In contrast, Venus has only a small amount of water, and it is all in the atmosphere. The chapter first compares Earth and Venus in terms of size, distance from the Sun, and bulk composition, as well as climates and inventories of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. It then considers loss of water and escape of atmospheres on Venus, along with the so-called runaway greenhouse.Less
This chapter discusses the greenhouse effect and climate evolution using Venus as an example. Venus mostly has an Earth-like inventory of volatile gases—the basic ingredients of atmospheres and oceans—but with one glaring exception: water. Earth's ocean is 300 times as massive as its atmosphere. Water is more abundant than all the other volatiles combined, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen. In contrast, Venus has only a small amount of water, and it is all in the atmosphere. The chapter first compares Earth and Venus in terms of size, distance from the Sun, and bulk composition, as well as climates and inventories of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. It then considers loss of water and escape of atmospheres on Venus, along with the so-called runaway greenhouse.
Andrew P. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145044
- eISBN:
- 9781400848232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145044.003.0004
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter examines the processes underlying long-term climate change on Mars, focusing on the so-called “faint young Sun paradox,” in which evidence of ancient rivers contradicts results from ...
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This chapter examines the processes underlying long-term climate change on Mars, focusing on the so-called “faint young Sun paradox,” in which evidence of ancient rivers contradicts results from astronomy that the Sun's output in the first billion years of the solar system was seventy percent of its current value. The fascination with Mars stems in part from the possibility that life could have evolved there. Searching for evidence of liquid water, past and present, is therefore a major objective. Another objective is understanding Mars's climate, past and present. As on Earth, climate change is recorded in Mars's sediments and ice deposits. The chapter first provides an overview of Mars's climate before discussing the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It also considers condensation, evaporation, greenhouse warming, atmospheric water vapor, and the process of terraforming on Mars.Less
This chapter examines the processes underlying long-term climate change on Mars, focusing on the so-called “faint young Sun paradox,” in which evidence of ancient rivers contradicts results from astronomy that the Sun's output in the first billion years of the solar system was seventy percent of its current value. The fascination with Mars stems in part from the possibility that life could have evolved there. Searching for evidence of liquid water, past and present, is therefore a major objective. Another objective is understanding Mars's climate, past and present. As on Earth, climate change is recorded in Mars's sediments and ice deposits. The chapter first provides an overview of Mars's climate before discussing the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It also considers condensation, evaporation, greenhouse warming, atmospheric water vapor, and the process of terraforming on Mars.
Andrew P. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145044
- eISBN:
- 9781400848232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145044.003.0005
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter examines condensation and evaporation on Mars, with particular emphasis on how exchanges of water vapor and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and polar ice influence the planet's ...
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This chapter examines condensation and evaporation on Mars, with particular emphasis on how exchanges of water vapor and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and polar ice influence the planet's climate. Both Earth and Mars have seasonal cycles. At the poles of each planet, frost accumulates during the fall and winter and evaporates during the spring and summer; and right at the poles, the frost lasts throughout the year. In these respects the seasons on Mars are like the seasons on Earth, but there are differences. For example, on Mars, there are two kinds of frost—water and carbon dioxide, the latter of which is also the major constituent of the atmosphere. The chapter first provides an overview of seasonal cycles of water and carbon dioxide on Mars before discussing the effect of winds on weather. It also considers dust storms and weather fluctuations on Mars.Less
This chapter examines condensation and evaporation on Mars, with particular emphasis on how exchanges of water vapor and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and polar ice influence the planet's climate. Both Earth and Mars have seasonal cycles. At the poles of each planet, frost accumulates during the fall and winter and evaporates during the spring and summer; and right at the poles, the frost lasts throughout the year. In these respects the seasons on Mars are like the seasons on Earth, but there are differences. For example, on Mars, there are two kinds of frost—water and carbon dioxide, the latter of which is also the major constituent of the atmosphere. The chapter first provides an overview of seasonal cycles of water and carbon dioxide on Mars before discussing the effect of winds on weather. It also considers dust storms and weather fluctuations on Mars.
Andrew P. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145044
- eISBN:
- 9781400848232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145044.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter examines the hydrologic cycle on Saturn's moon Titan, which has an atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. Titan is an evolving atmosphere, close to the lower size limit of objects that can ...
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This chapter examines the hydrologic cycle on Saturn's moon Titan, which has an atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. Titan is an evolving atmosphere, close to the lower size limit of objects that can retain a sizeable atmosphere over geologic time. Below this limit, the atmospheres are tenuous and transient. The chapter first provides an overview of Titan's atmospheric evolution before discussing its hydrologic cycle and lakes. It then considers Titan's energetic weather in a low-energy environment, focusing on temperature and winds, and the difficulty of retaining an atmosphere on Titan due to its small gravity and proximity to the Sun. It also explains the anti-greenhouse effect and production of higher hydrocarbons on Titan.Less
This chapter examines the hydrologic cycle on Saturn's moon Titan, which has an atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. Titan is an evolving atmosphere, close to the lower size limit of objects that can retain a sizeable atmosphere over geologic time. Below this limit, the atmospheres are tenuous and transient. The chapter first provides an overview of Titan's atmospheric evolution before discussing its hydrologic cycle and lakes. It then considers Titan's energetic weather in a low-energy environment, focusing on temperature and winds, and the difficulty of retaining an atmosphere on Titan due to its small gravity and proximity to the Sun. It also explains the anti-greenhouse effect and production of higher hydrocarbons on Titan.
Andrew P. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145044
- eISBN:
- 9781400848232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145044.003.0007
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
This chapter examines Jupiter's climate and what it reveals about the solar system. During its first 105 years, the solar system was a melting pot in which material from stars with different chemical ...
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This chapter examines Jupiter's climate and what it reveals about the solar system. During its first 105 years, the solar system was a melting pot in which material from stars with different chemical compositions was blended together. The high temperatures resulting from the release of enormous amounts of gravitational potential energy aided the melting process. Aside from being the largest planet, Jupiter is also the one whose composition most resembles that of the Sun. The chapter begins with a discussion of solar composition, focusing on the abundances of elements in Jupiter's atmosphere compared with those on the Sun. It then considers the origin and evolution of Jupiter and the solar system more generally, along with the vertical structure of clouds and temperature. It also explains the presence of lightning in Jupiter's atmosphere, the Great Red Spot, enrichment relative to solar composition, horizontal temperature structure, and hot air ballooning.Less
This chapter examines Jupiter's climate and what it reveals about the solar system. During its first 105 years, the solar system was a melting pot in which material from stars with different chemical compositions was blended together. The high temperatures resulting from the release of enormous amounts of gravitational potential energy aided the melting process. Aside from being the largest planet, Jupiter is also the one whose composition most resembles that of the Sun. The chapter begins with a discussion of solar composition, focusing on the abundances of elements in Jupiter's atmosphere compared with those on the Sun. It then considers the origin and evolution of Jupiter and the solar system more generally, along with the vertical structure of clouds and temperature. It also explains the presence of lightning in Jupiter's atmosphere, the Great Red Spot, enrichment relative to solar composition, horizontal temperature structure, and hot air ballooning.
