For a clear night and with windspeeds < 3 m/s, the atmosphere is
Clear Night Wind < 3 m/s: Understanding Atmospheric Stability
Atmospheric stability refers to the atmosphere's tendency to resist or promote vertical air movement. Specific conditions influence this stability.
Key Conditions
- Clear Night: Allows unimpeded outgoing longwave radiation from the Earth's surface.
- Windspeeds < 3 m/s: Indicates very light or calm conditions, limiting vertical mixing.
Atmospheric Response
During a clear night, the ground surface loses heat rapidly through radiation. This causes the lowest layer of air to cool significantly.
With minimal wind, this cold, dense air near the surface is not mixed with the warmer air above. This leads to a situation where temperature increases with height, known as a temperature inversion.
Stability Assessment
A temperature inversion suppresses vertical motion because parcels of air rising from near the surface are colder (and denser) than their surroundings, forcing them back down. Conversely, sinking air warms faster than it should if it were to reach a lower, colder level.
Therefore, under these specific conditions (clear night, low windspeed), the atmosphere is significantly stable.
Important Questions from Basics of Environment
The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 seeks to implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Which of the following statements is correct about CITES?
1. CITES is an agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in the specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
2. Under CITES, plant and animal specimens are classified into five categories based on the threat to their extinction.
3. The Convention requires countries to regulate the trade of all listed specimens through permits.
4. It also seeks to regulate the possession of live animal specimens.
Given below are two statements : One is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R):
Assertion (A): Green hydrogen production will be critical for world community to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050.
Reason (R): The energy content of hydrogen gas is much higher than that of coal.
In the light of the above statements. choose the correct answer from the options given below :
For drinking and irrigation purposes, the availability of suitable water out of earth’s total water supplies is about less than
Permafrost is defining characteristic of which biome?
Identify the features associated with Kyoto Protocol.
(A) Heavier burden on developed countries to cut down greenhouse gas emissions.
(B) International emissions trading.
(C) Nationally determined contributions.
(D) Clean Development Mechanism.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
