Optical properties

Solar radiation (or sunlight) is the energy the Earth receives from the Sun. The Earth also emits radiation back into space, but at longer wavelengths that we cannot see. Part of the incoming and emitted radiation is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere. Scattering:When light passes through our atmosphere, photons interact with it through scattering. If the light does not interact with the atmosphere, it is called direct radiation and is what you see if you were to look directly at the Sun. Indirect radiation is light that has been scattered in the atmosphere. For example, on an overcast day when you cannot see your shadow there is no direct radiation reaching you, it has all been scattered. As another example, due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, shorter (blue) wavelengths scatter more easily than longer (red) wavelengths. This is why the sky looks blue, you are seeing scattered blue light. This is also why sunsets are red. Because the Sun is close to the horizon, the Sun's rays pass through more atmosphere than normal to reach your eye. Much of the blue light has been scattered out, leaving the red light in a sunset. Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of radiation. For example, O2 and O3 absorb almost all wavelengths shorter than 300 nanometers. Water (H2O) absorbs many wavelengths above 700 nm. When a molecule absorbs a photon, it increases the energy of the molecule. We can think of this as heating the atmosphere, but the atmosphere also cools by emitting radiation, as discussed below.Rough plot of Earth's atmospheric transmittance (or opacity) to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light.The combined absorption spectra of the gases in the atmosphere leave "windows" of low opacity, allowing the transmission of only certain bands of light. The optical window runs from around 300 nm (ultraviolet-C) up into the range humans can see, the visible spectrum (commonly called light), at roughly 400700 nm and continues to the infrared to around 1100 nm. There are also infrared and radio windows that transmit some infrared and radio waves at longer wavelengths. For example, the radio window runs from about one centimeter to about eleven-meter waves. Emission (electromagnetic radiation)Emission is the opposite of absorption, it is when an object emits radiation. Objects tend to emit amounts and wavelengths of radiation depending on their "black body" emission curves, therefore hotter objects tend to emit more radiation, with shorter wavelengths. Colder objects emit less radiation, with longer wavelengths. For example, the Sun is approximately 6,000 K (5,730 C; 10,340 F), its radiation peaks near 500 nm, and is visible to the human eye. The Earth is approximately 290 K (17 C; 62 F), so its radiation peaks near 10,000 nm,

and is much too long to be visible to humans. Because of its temperature, the atmosphere emits infrared radiation. For example, on clear nights the Earth's surface cools down faster than on cloudy nights. This is because clouds (H2O) are strong absorbers and emitters of infrared radiation. This is also why it becomes colder at night at higher elevations. The atmosphere acts as a "blanket" to limit the amount of radiation the Earth loses into space. The greenhouse effect is directly related to this absorption and emission (or "blanket") effect. Some chemicals in the atmosphere absorb and emit infrared radiation, but do not interact with sunlight in the visible spectrum. Common examples of these chemicals are CO2 and H2O. If there are too much of these greenhouse gases, sunlight heats the Earth's surface, but the gases block the infrared radiation from exiting back to space. This imbalance causes the Earth to warm, and thus climate change. Refractive indexThe refractive index of air is close to, but just greater than 1. Systematic variations in refractive index can lead to the bending of light rays over long optical paths. One example is that, under some circumstances, observers onboard ships can see other vessels just over the horizon because light is refracted in the same direction as the curvature of the Earth's surface. The refractive index of air depends on temperature, giving rise to refraction effects when the temperature gradient is large. An example of such effects is the mirage. Advantages of Greenhouse Effect The presence of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere produces the greenhouse effect, which keeps the atmosphere warm. The warm atmosphere is very essential for the survival of life on Earth in the following ways: Precipitation of water, formation of clouds, rainfall etc. life in the biosphere depend on these resources. The warm atmosphere helps in the growth of vegetation and forest etc. These are sources of food, shelter etc. This effect helps in rapid bio-degradation of dead plants and animals. The "greenhouse effect" keeps Earth warm enough for us to live and grow food. But too much would be bad.Some gases ("greenhouse gases") let sunlight in, which warms the Earth, and then block that heat from leaving. That's the "greenhouse effect", and it's a natural thing, mostly caused by water vapor.Man is making excessive amounts of greenhouse gases, mostly

by burning fossil fuels. That causes the delicate natural balance to go out of whack and the Earth warms. That's global warming.easier to manipulate the energy the sun produces.other places on earth will recieve more rainfall thus expanding their crops. that way, these places don't have to import foreign crops. and other places will reicieve more sunlight, also increasing crop growth. DISADVANTAGES However, there are some problems from climate change that most people can agree on: 1. There will be an increase in diseases, particularly ones that flourish in warm climates like malaria and west nile virus. 2. Weather will be more sporadic and violent leading to increased and/or worse flooding and hurricanes. 3. Climate areas will shift. This is particularly bad for the United States which currently enjoys being home to the "bread basket of the world," the area south of the Great Lakes which produces most of the world's grain due to great climate and great soil. Should the climate change, we would lose this area. 4. Increased energy costs for cooling. The greenhouse effect is the cause of global warming which in turn is the major contributory factor to climate change. Some of the disadvantages (and a few advantages) to climate change are given below, summarised from a report I wrote a few months ago...

EFFECTS ON WEATHER An increase in the amount of precipitation. Although rainfall overall will increase there are some parts of the world that are already receiving less rainfall and this trend is likely to continue.Hurricanes and storms will become more frequent, widespread and severe, in the last 30 years the proportion of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled. Once exclusively confined to the northern hemisphere there have recently been hurricanes in the southern hemisphere, most notably in Brazil. DESERTIFICATION Shifting weather patterns mean some areas receive less rainfall; the ground becomes barren and unable to sustain crops. In many parts of the world the layer of topsoil is both very thin and very poor. The dry, dusty soil is readily blown away and the area becomes desert. African and Asian countries are particularly hard hit.

AGRICULTURAL IMPACT For the reasons mentioned above there will be a major impact on agriculture. Rising sea levels will result in the loss of large areas of agricultural land, the consequences of which will be population migration, famine and / or the need to import food from elsewhere. Again, it will be the African and Asian countries that are hardest hit with crop production falling by up to a third. RISING SEA LEVELS Sea levels are rising faster now than at any time since the melting of the glaciers that marked the end of the last ice age. As the glaciers melted sea levels rose by some 120 metres (400 feet) but for the last few thousand years sea levels have been almost constant rising only 10 centimetres (4 inches) per thousand years. Since the onset of global warming the seas have risen much faster. A hundred years ago they were rising by 1mm a year, today they are rising by 3mm a year and indications are that they will rise much quicker in the future. Sea levels are rising 30 times faster now than they were before industrialisation and the onset of global warming. The Sundarman Delta has seen levels rising by more than 30mm a year, millions have already been forced to leave their homes and the Carteret Islands in the Pacific Ocean are currently being evacuated. In years to come rising sea levels could swamp cities including London, New York and Miami. Low lying areas such as Bangladesh, much of the European and American coasts and island groups including the Seychelles and Maldives would be submerged. MELTING OF ICE CAPS The Arctic ice cap is floating; if it were to melt entirely there would be no change in sea levels. However, Antarctica is a continent, a land mass, it isnt floating and any melting here adds to the sea level as does melting of ice sheets and glaciers in places such as Greenland. The edges of the Antarctic Ice Sheet are breaking off and collapsing into the sea. One of the biggest breaks occurred in 2002 when the Larsen B Ice Shelf broke off. This huge mass of ice covered 3250 square kilometres and weighed half a trillion tons. POPULATION MIGRATION For the reasons mentioned above, large numbers of people are going to find it increasingly difficult to remain in their present locations and in many cases it will be impossible. In Bangladesh some 13 million people will be forced to move if the sea level rises by just one metre and in the US tens of millions will be affected particularly along the north east coast, Florida, Louisiana and California. Globally it is expected that hundreds of millions of people will need to relocate or emigrate. MARINE ENVIRONMENT The worlds oceans absorb carbon dioxide, some of which dissolves to form carbonic acid and this is affecting the alkalinity of the oceans. Many forms of marine life are highly sensitive to the level of alkalinity. The formation of corals is being affected and plankton, which forms

the basis of the marine food chain, is also very sensitive. The increasing levels of carbon dioxide make it harder for many species of fish and shellfish to breathe and reproduce. Changes in the ecology and chemistry of the seas and oceans reduce their ability to absorb CO2, which consequently increases the rate of global warming. ECOSYSTEMS Parts of Antarctica are now covered in grass and there is a massive migration of animals towards the polar regions, these migrations extend an average of 6.1km further from the equator each decade. Butterflies have extended their territory by some 200km further north in Europe and North America. In the Arctic the habitat of polar bears and emperor penguins is being threatened. The waters of the Hudson Bay for example, are now ice free for three weeks more each year than they were 30 years ago. Polar bears are starving because they need to venture onto the frozen ice to hunt food. In another 10 or 20 years there may no longer be polar bears in this region and within a hundred years they could be extinct. The most extensive report into global warming and climate change predicts that up to 40% of animal species could become extinct due to global warming. HEALTH AND DISEASEGlobal warming will be both beneficial and detrimental to people's health. There will be fewer deaths from cold related conditions but more deaths from heat related conditions. Globally there are more heat related deaths than cold related deaths so the net impact will be a loss of life.Warmer temperatures lead to an increase in air and water pollution thus increasing the risk to humans from infection and respiratory conditions such as asthma. Warmer temperatures are conducive to the breeding and spread of rats, mice, other rodents, ticks, mosquitoes and other vectors for disease. This will lead to an increase in the number of people affected and an expansion into previously unaffected areas. WATER SCARCITYRising sea levels lead to the contamination of groundwater rendering it undrinkable whilst at the same time higher temperatures lead to greater evaporation of fresh water from reservoirs. This will impact on the human population as well as plants, animals and agriculture.Higher temperatures and changing climate patterns mean that some areas will receive less rainfall, in other areas when the rain does fall it is likely to do so on hard, sun-baked ground which is unable to absorb it. Instead of replenishing groundwater supplies the water will run off causing flash flooding and a lowering of the water table. MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENTS Glaciers are melting faster than has been known before - up to 40 metres per day in some places. In the last 100 years 50% of the worlds glaciers outside the polar regions have melted. The effects of glacial melt include flooding, landslides, avalanches and loss of habitat. In

some mountainous regions melt water provides a year round water supply and without the glaciers there will be near drought conditions. ECONOMY Increased adverse weather in itself could cost 1% of the worldwide GDP and a temperature rise of 2 or 3C would reduce global economic output by 3%. In percentage terms these arent very big numbers but in terms of dollars the cost runs into trillions. Insurance premiums are rising in line with the increased number of claims. The Association of British Insurers notes a 100% rise in weather related claims in recent years and states that climate change is already seriously impacting on the insurance industry. THERMOHALINE CIRCULATIONA possible effect of global warming is the failure or slowing of the ocean conveyor belts or meridional overturning circulation. Research is continuing and it's unclear at this time what effect, if any, global warming will have on thermohaline circulation. One theory is that the melting of polar ice could reduce salinity and introduce cold water into the oceans which could trigger a slowing or shutdown of thermohaline circulation. It's thought that the Gulf Stream which conveys warm Caribbean water to the coasts of Ireland, Britain and northern Europe is the most likely to be affected. Should this occur temperatures in these regions would drop be several degrees. CIVIL ENGINEERING A rise in sea levels would need to be countered with extensive flood defence schemes. Costly engineering schemes would need to be constructed in order to protect coastal cities. Many countries would not be able to afford such schemes and low lying communities may need to be evacuated.Temperature fluctuations cause damage to road surfaces, pipelines including oil, gas, water and sewerage pipes, railway lines and airport runways. Greater contraction and expansion resulting from fluctuating temperatures and greater temperature ranges weakens the structure. DEVELOPING NATIONS The developing nations are expected to be the worst affected by global warming. Decreasing rainfall, drought, insect infestation and severe weather events will seriously impact on crop production leading to famine and starvation. Economic development is likely to be restricted whilst at the same time poverty increases. The poorer countries of the world are the ones that have the least resources to mitigate the effects of global warming. OTHER EFFECTSSome of the other impacts of global warming include: arctic warming, increased power outages, marine food chain disruption, changes to bird migration patterns, more wildfires, erosion, desertification, disappearing beaches, damage to tundra regions, impact on ozone layer, insect infestation, threat to boreal forests, coastal erosion, threat to mountain environments,

loss of wetland and marshland habitats, decline in bird population, thawing of permafrost, increased acidity of oceans, release of further greenhouse gases, increased allergens (asthma etc), coral destruction and bleaching, loss of ocean conveyor belts (Gulf Stream) etc, loss of Arctic sea ice, impact on winter sports.