sphero-, spher-, -sphere-
(Greek: ball, round, around; globe, global; body of globular form; by extension, circular zone, circular area)
Atmospheric ducting is a mode of propagation of electromagnetic radiation, usually in the lower layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, where the waves are bent by atmospheric refraction.
An atmospheric electric field is a quantitative term indicating the electric field strength of the atmosphere at any specified point in space and time.
An atmospheric electric field is also a measure, in volts per meter, of the electrical energy in a given portion of the Earth's atmosphere at a given time.
Atmospheric electricity is an electrical phenomena, regarded collectively, that occurs in the Earth's atmosphere.
These phenomena include not only such striking manifestations as lightning and St. Elmo's fire, but also less noticeable but more ubiquitous effects, such as atmospheric ionization, the air–earth currents, and other quiescent electrical processes.
The existence of separated electric charges in the atmosphere is a consequence of many minor processes, such as spray electrification, dust electrification, etc. and a few major processes including cosmic-ray ionization, radioactive-particle ionization, and thunderstorm electrification.
The maintenance of the prevailing atmospheric electric field is now widely believed to be due to thunderstorm effects.
When Irene was in England, she visited the transportation museum and was impressed with the large atmospheric steam engines on display.
The atmospheric entry is the penetration of human-made or natural objects from a planetary atmosphere by an object approaching from space, especially of the Earth's atmosphere by a re-entering spacecraft.
The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.
The radio frequency electromagnetic radiation originated principally in the irregular surges of charge in thunderstorm lightning discharges.
Atmospherics are heard as a quasi-steady background of crackling noise (static) on certain radio frequencies, such as those used to broadcast AM radio signals.
Since any acceleration of electric charge leads to emission of electromagnetic radiation, and since the several processes involved in propagation of lightning lead to very large charge accelerations, the lightning channel acts like a huge transmitter, sending out radiation with frequencies of the order of 10 kHz.
Atmospheric inversion usually refers to an increase in temperature with increasing altitude, which is a departure from the usual decrease of temperature with height.
In other words, atmospheric inversion is a reversal in the normal temperature lapse rate, the temperature rising with increased elevation instead of falling.
Usually within the lower atmosphere (the troposphere), the air near the surface of the Earth is warmer than the air above it, largely because the atmosphere is heated from below as solar radiation warms the Earth's surface, which in turn then warms the layer of the atmosphere directly above it.
Atmospheric ionization is the production of ions in the atmosphere by the loss of an electron from a molecule, typically, for example, by cosmic rays or cosmic radiation.
Cosmic rays and radioactive decay are the main sources of atmospheric ionization.
Radioactivity at the surface can also produce ions in the lowest layer of the atmosphere.
While most often applied to the Earth's atmosphere, the concept can be extended to any gravitationally supported ball of gas.
In other words, the atmospheric lapse rate involves the decrease of temperature with elevation in the atmosphere.
The "environmental lapse rate" is determined by the distribution of temperature in the vertical at a given time and place and should be carefully distinguished from the process lapse rate, which applies to an individual air parcel.
The atmospheric layer is one of several strata or layers of the Earth's atmosphere.
Temperature distribution is the most common criterion used for denoting the various shells.