News tagged with atmosphere
Probing a link from Sahara dust to climate change
Qilong Min, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate and Professor with the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC) at the University at Albany is developing innovative ways to measure how dust in the Sahara Desert ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
14 hours ago |
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Ocean microbe communities changing, but long-term environmental impact is unclear
As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere – but researchers say it's still unclear whether these processes ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 09, 2012 |
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A new tool for mapping water use and drought
Farmers and water managers may soon have an online tool to help them assess drought and irrigation impacts on water use and crop development, thanks to the work of two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ...
Feb 08, 2012 |
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Low-cost instrument developed by students could aid weather research
On a recent blustery afternoon, scientists gathered on a rooftop at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to observe two atmospheric electric field-mill devices monitor the buildup of electrical charge ...
Feb 08, 2012 |
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Climate risk of toxic shock
The effects of climate change could expose Australians to greater risks from toxic contamination, a leading scientist has warned.
Feb 06, 2012 |
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Want to understand the fluid dynamics of the oceans and atmosphere? UCLA's got the video
(PhysOrg.com) -- Oceans and clouds, even the atmosphere itself, are in constant motion and can undergo dramatic fluctuations, like hurricanes, that lead to severe consequences. If you've ever ...
Feb 02, 2012 |
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'First light' taken by NASA's newest CERES instrument
(PhysOrg.com) -- The doors are open on NASA's Suomi NPP satellite and the newest version of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 02, 2012 |
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Green potential of our industrial past
Manipulating the soil in urban and industrial areas in order to capture more carbon from the atmosphere is the “best resource we have to begin to mitigate human CO2 emissions”, experts claim.
Feb 02, 2012 |
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Colorful solar instrument treks east for a new career
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the world's most colorful solar instruments is moving across country for a new life dissecting the chemistry of comets and stars.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 01, 2012 |
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First plants caused ice ages: research
New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. Led by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, the study is published today (February 1, 2012) in Nature Geoscience.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 01, 2012 |
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New record from stalagmites shows climate history in Central Asia
The climate in Central Asia, currently a semiarid region, has varied over the past 500,000 years. An accurate record of the past climate can help scientists understand current climate and better predict how the climate may ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 31, 2012 |
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How do you fight fire in space? Experiments provide some answers
Improving fire-fighting techniques in space and getting a better understanding of fuel combustion here on Earth are the focus of a series of experiments on the International Space Station, led by a professor ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 31, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new NASA study underscores the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity -- not changes in solar activity -- are the primary force driving global warming.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 30, 2012 |
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Warming in the Tasman Sea a global warming hot spot
Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents, including the East Australian Current, polewards beyond their known boundaries.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 30, 2012 |
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Food crops damaged by pollution crossing continents
(PhysOrg.com) -- Man-made air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year, a new study has found.
Jan 30, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (17) |
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Atmosphere
An atmosphere (from Greek ατμός - atmos, 'vapor' + σφαίρα - sphaira, 'sphere') is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body, and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low. Some planets consist mainly of various gases, but only their outer layer is their atmosphere (see gas giants).
The term stellar atmosphere describes the outer region of a star, and typically includes the portion starting from the opaque photosphere outwards. Relatively low-temperature stars may form compound molecules in their outer atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere, which contains oxygen used by most organisms for respiration and carbon dioxide used by plants, algae and cyanobacteria for photosynthesis, also protects living organisms from genetic damage by solar ultraviolet radiation. Its current composition is the product of billions of years of biochemical modification of the paleoatmosphere by living organisms.
For more information about Atmosphere, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
