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1500 questions
17
votes
4 answers
Why does the temperature change about every 50-100 meters near hills
So I was in this place called Chamundi hills, Mysore.
I was riding back at around 7pm down hill and noticed this strange behavior. About every 50-100 meters the temperature fluctuated.
It was extremely cold in some areas and in the next 100 meters I…
Arun Gowda
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17
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2 answers
Why is aerodynamic resistance defined inversely?
When I think of wind resistance, I always think of the friction co-efficient, in $\mathrm{ms^{-1}}$, because that's always the way that it was presented in highschool and undergraduate physics.
But in land surface modelling, aerodynamic resistance…
naught101
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17
votes
1 answer
To what extent is hydroelectric power really renewable?
One of the more widespread "renewable" ways of generating power is by harnessing hydropower, i.e. by exploiting the movement of falling or flowing water. Some of the most commonly seen implementations are river dams and tidal power stations.
All…
Newb
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17
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5 answers
Could the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum have been caused by intelligent life forms?
I was intrigued to learn recently of the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum from this blog of John Baez. For those who haven't seen, it's the sharp spike labelled "PETM" in this graph (from Wikipedia) of global temperatures over the past 65 million…
Yly
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17
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3 answers
What is the percentage of the global water cycle (evaporation, precipitation) that occurs over the ocean?
Most of the water cycle studies focus on the processes and changes occurring over land with little emphasis on the ocean. Meanwhile, the ocean covers almost 3/4 of the surface of Earth. How much of the global precipitation and evaporation takes…
arkaia
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17
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1 answer
Can earthquakes contribute to Antarctic ice loss?
I read about the earthquake that took place in Japan in 2011, led to some small calving events in Antarctica (link). So, it makes me think if there is a big earthquake near or in Antarctica, can it lead to big calving events, like loosing a whole…
Vikram
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17
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1 answer
Why is the energy transition start not reflected in the CO2 concentration graphs?
This is a graph from a reputable source of CO2 concentrations in atmosphere the last decades:
I would expect that, as we have been using clean energy for some years now, the graph would start to trend to the horizontal asymptote we all wish to see…
user20559
17
votes
8 answers
Ways to make a "How hard is it raining?" detector for personal use?
Is there a consensus on the "heaviness" of rain? and Relationship between Probability of Precipitation and Predicted Amount of Rain remind me of a gedankenexperiment of mine. I like to imagine a home project Arduino or Raspberry Pi-based weather…
uhoh
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17
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1 answer
What is the appropriate vertical datum to use globally?
When studying sea level changes, it is normal to analyze water level with respect to a common vertical datum. The most used datum is Mean Sea Level (MSL), which NOAA defines as "The arithmetic mean of hourly heights observed over the National Tidal…
arkaia
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17
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2 answers
Percentage of dry land surface with sea level elevation lower than 1 km
Being this my first questions on this .SE I hope that the topic is appropriate.
I've been told that 99% of the living species on earth live in between -200m and 800m above sea level, this made me just wonder how much of earth surface lies in this…
Giovanni De Gaetano
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17
votes
2 answers
July/August hottest months (northern hemisphere): because of continued warming or other effects?
In the northern hemisphere, July and August are the hottest months statistically1, but the days start shortening after June 21st.
Is this just because the Northern Hemisphere keeps heating up after June 21st (just like the hottest part of a day is…
Jan Doggen
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17
votes
1 answer
Where do bad smells eventually go?
Suppose that I haven't taken a shower for a while, or haven't disposed of my trash, or something, and the room I've been in now stinks. Then, to remove the smell from the room (presumably after first throwing me out of it), you can just open a…
Ove
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17
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3 answers
Why is Earth not a sphere?
We've all learned at school that the Earth was a sphere. Actually, it is more nearly a slightly flattened sphere - an oblate ellipsoid of revolution, also called an oblate spheroid. This is an ellipse rotated about its shorter axis. What are the…
WAF
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17
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2 answers
Where do rivers like the Rio de la Plata end and the ocean begin?
We just had visitors (in Monterey, California) from Montevideo, Uruguay.
Not being very familiar with Uruguay, after having taken them to Big Sur, I asked them how far they lived from the ocean.
They said it was hours away, and that they lived on a…
B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven
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17
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2 answers
How much Uranium is there in the Earth's Crust?
Are there any estimates of the amount of Uranium there is in Earth's Crust?
From what I know, it's supposed that there are large amounts of Uranium in Earth's Core, the decay of which is responsible for the core maintaining its high temperature.…
Danubian Sailor
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