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Constants and formulae:
Surface temperature of the Sun, Tsun
Solar radius, Rsun
Solar mass, Msun
Mass of Neptune
Radius of Neptune
Mass of Uranus
Radius of Uranus
Radius of Earth
1 AU
Boltzmann constant, k
Gravitational constant, G
Specific heat of Uranus’/Neptune’s atmosphere, cp
Universal constant of gases, R
Avogadro number
5800 K
6.96108 m
1.991030 kg
1.021026 kg
24764 km
8.681025 kg
25559 km
6.4106 m
1.51011 m
1.3810-23 J/K
6.6710-11 N m2/kg2
13014 J/kg/K
8.31447 J/K/mol
6.0221023
1) With reference to the figure below (Fig. 1, left), what does the centre of the 667 cm-1
CO2 band tell you about the vertical thermal profile in the Earth’s atmosphere? Why
are the CO2 and O3 bands so different in Antarctica? Comparing the case of the Earth
with the cases of Mars and Venus (Fig. 1, right), what does the centre of the 667 cm-1
CO2 band tell you about the latter two atmospheres?
Fig. 1: Left: Typical Earth emission spectra of cloud-free areas recorded over Africa,
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Mediterranean sea and Antarctica from Nimbus 4 satellite. Right: typical Venus, Mars and Earth
emission spectra recorded from Venera 15, Mariner 9 and Nimbus 4.
2) A hurricane at latitude 25 N has a velocity within 27 km of the eye of 52ms-1,
and a velocity around the outer edge (radius 300km) of 10 m s-1. By calculating
the pressure gradient and the controlling forces in each case, discuss whether
the hurricane is in cyclostrophic or geostrophic balance.
3) a) Using the figure below (Fig. 2), calculate the lapse rate in K/km in the
troposphere for Neptune and Uranus.
b) Compare the values obtained for the lapse rates calculated in the troposphere of
these planets with the dry adiabatic lapse rate values.
Fig. 2: Temperature profiles for Uranus (left) and Neptune (right).
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