Environmental Science

What is Environmental Physics?

Environmental Physics is a Physical Science. Physics examines the principles that govern how
and why materials move and influence each other. It is a foundation of all physical sciences.
Environmental science provides insight into environmental systems and seeks to understand the
mechanisms by which environmental change impacts humans and other organisms.
Frequency f: the number of complete cycles per second in alternating current direction. unit of
frequency is the hertz 1 Hz; 60 cycles per second
Amplitude, in physics, the maximum displacement or distance moved by a point on a vibrating
body or wave measured from its equilibrium position. It is equal to one-half the length of the
vibration path.
Speed: is a scalar quantity that refers to "how fast an object is moving."
Velocity: is a vector quantity that refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position."
Wavelength: distance between corresponding points of two consecutive waves. “Corresponding
points” refers to two points or particles in the same phase. λ = v/f
Time period:(denoted by 'T') is the time needed for one complete cycle of vibration to pass in a
given point. As the frequency of a wave increases, the time period of the wave decreases.
climate
The average weather of a region or place measured for all seasons over a number of years. There
are three important areas: tropical, temperate and polar.
the weather conditions of a region (temperature, moisture etc).
global climate
The long-term distribution of heat and precipitation on Earth’s surface is called global climate.
Global climate change is a change in the long-term weather patterns that characterize the regions
of the world.
The term "weather" refers to the short-term (daily) changes in temperature, wind, and/or
precipitation of a region
What Is Climate Change?
Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in how
much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place's usual temperature for
a month or season. Climate takes hundreds or even millions of years to change.
Climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system that persists for
several decades or longer—usually at least 30 years.
The greenhouse effect is a warming process that balances Earth's cooling processes. During this
process, sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere as short-wave radiation. Some of the radiation
is absorbed by the planet's surface. As Earth's surface is heated, it emits long wave radiation
toward the atmosphere. In the atmosphere, some of the long wave radiation is absorbed by certain
gases called greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2),
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), tropospheric ozone (O3), and
water vapor.

Solar spectrum
The sun radiates solar energy or sunlight by electromagnetic waves over a range of wavelengths
known as the Solar Spectrum.
The energy distribution within the solar spectrum is approximately 2% UV, 47% visible and 51%
infra-red. Only the visible light band is seen by the human eye.
. ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
2. Electromagnetic spectrum • Distribution of the continuum of all radiant energies can be plotted
either as a function of wavelength or of frequency in a chart known as the electromagnetic
spectrum • It ranges from shorter wavelengths (including X-rays and gamma rays) to longer
wavelengths (microwaves and radio waves)
3. • electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation
• EMR extends over a wide range of energies or wavelengths or frequencies
4. The electromagnetic waves are grouped into types that have similar wavelengths and so have
similar properties. Electromagnetic waves form a continuous series in order of changing
wavelength, frequency and energy. This series is called the electromagnetic spectrum.
Note the following for the solar spectrum:
 About half of the energy is in the visible wavelengths below 0.7 μm. We can tell this by
doing a quick integration.
 O3 and O2 absorb much of the UV irradiance below 300nm high in the atmosphere.
 About 70% of the visible irradiance makes it all the way to sea level.
 O3 absorbs a little of the visible irradiance.
 A significant fraction of the visible irradiance is scattered by clouds and aerosol. Some is
reflected back out into space so that this portion never deposits energy in the Earth system.
  There are large wavelength bands in which water vapor, CO2, and O3 absorb infrared
irradiance.
SCATTERING OF LIGHT
Scattering is a general physical process whereby some forms of radiation such as light or moving
particles, for example, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more localized
non-uniformities in the medium through which it passes.
A large number of molecules are present in the earth’s atmosphere. These molecules scatter light
in various directions. The air is composed of many tiny particles including dust and water vapour.
As the sunlight passes through the air, the shorter blue light waves are reflected and refracted by
the particles while the other coloured light waves being longer are unaffected and are not reflected
by the water vapour or dust in the air.
When light passes through a substance or gas, a part of it is absorbed and the rest scattered away.
The basic process in scattering is absorption of light by the molecules followed by re-radiation in
different directions. The strength of scattering can be measured by the loss of energy in the light
beam as it passes through the medium. In absorption the light energy is converted into the internal
energy of the medium and in scattering the light energy is radiated in other directions. The
strength of scattering depends on the size of the particle causing the scattering and the wavelength
of light. The scattering is proportional to 1/h4. This is known as Raleigh's law of scattering. So the
red light is scattered the least and the violet is scattered the most. This explains why red signals
are used to indicate danger.
BLUE COLOUR OF SKY. The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. blue sky as
light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little
of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter
wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in
different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction we look, some of this
scattered blue light reaches to us. Since we see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky
looks blue.
SUN IS YELLOW DURING SUNSET AND SUN RISE • After the much of the blue portion of
the white light spectrum is absorbed by the molecules in the atmosphere, the rest of the spectrum
continues on its journey. Because the blue element has been removed from the spectrum, the
remaining components combine to appear yellow or golden to the naked eye.
WHITE COLOUR OF CLOUDS. Clouds appear white because the light coming from the sun has
to pass through the water droplets and ice crystals or we can say that the seven colors of visible
spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) which when combines forms white light
and this process of combining is done by water droplets or ice crystals present in the clouds. On
the whole we can say that light is reflected in many ways which combines to give white color.
The atmosphere affects electromagnetic energy through absorption, scattering and reflection. How
these processes affect radiation seen by the satellite depends on the path length, the presence of
particulates and absorbing gases, and wavelengths involved.
Scattering: Redirection of EMR from its original path
Absorption: Retention of EMR by molecules in the atmosphere
Refraction: Passing of EMR through the atmosphere
Light scattering is responsible for various spectacular phenomena in nature. The blue colour of
sky, colour of water in deep sea, the reddening of the sun at sunrise and sunset can be explained
on the basis of scattering of light caused by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Types of scattering
• Rayleigh scattering • Mie scattering • Non-selective scattering
Rayleigh Scattering • named after the British physicist Lord Rayleigh. • Rayleigh scattering
occurs when the size of the particle responsible for the scattering event is much smaller than the
wavelength of the incident light. • wave length dependant, favoring short wavelengths, and is
responsible for our sky appearing blue.
Rayleigh scattering • Scatters light in all directions • Most effective at short
wavelengths(blue,voilet) hence blue sky
Rayleigh scattering. Diameter of particles << wavelength of EMR (small specks of dust or N2
and O2) Rayleigh scattering causes shorter wavelengths of energy to be scattered much more than
longer wavelengths. Rayleigh scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism in the upper
atmosphere. The fact that the sky appears "blue" during the day is because of this phenomenon.
Mie scattering. Diameter of particles = wavelength of EMR (Dust, smoke and water vapor)
Dust, smoke and water vapour are common causes of Mie scattering which tends to affect longer
wavelengths than those affected by Rayleigh scattering. Mie scattering occurs mostly in the lower
portions of the atmosphere where larger particles are more abundant, and dominates when cloud
conditions are overcast.
Nonselective scattering. Diameter of particles >> wavelength of EMR (Water droplets and large
dust particles) This occurs when the particles are much larger than the wavelength of the radiation.
Water droplets and large dust particles can cause this type of scattering. Nonselective scattering
gets its name from the fact that all wavelengths are scattered about equally.
Atmospheric windows. define wavelength ranges in which the atmosphere is particularly
transmissive of energy.
Visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum resides within an atmospheric window with
wavelengths of about 0.3 to 0.9 µm
Emitted energy from the earth's surface is sensed through windows at 3 to 5 µm and 8 to 14 µm.
Radar and passive microwave systems operate through a window region of 1 mm to 1 m.