Is there the equivalent of a "Powers of 10" video/book for climatology? Can you answer the following related questions about the air column?

Very interesting link – thanks for that. I’m not aware of anything similar for climatology.

If we look at your first scenario – a one molecule diameter column – then there’s going to be very little actual change at such a small scale. The molecules will tend to a state of lower energy as altitude increases and there will be less of them. It’s not until you add some width to the column that changes would become observable.

Even at 10mm wide the changes would be apparent. Closer to ground level there would be greater interaction between the molecules in the atmosphere, they would be colliding more frequently and more energetically thus there would be a greater transference of energy. It would be warmer, denser and more humid. The greenhouse effect would be more pronounced. The saturation vapour pressure/point would be higher and even though there would be more cloud condensation nuclei there would be less condensation.

Over the length of the 1,000m column there wouldn’t be that great an effect, if you were to extend it higher then the effects would be more apparent, particularly if it extended right the way through the tropo and stratopauses, or even beyond. Across these transitional layers there’s a marked temperature change.

Ascending to the tropopause at 10,000m there’s a 60K drop in temperature, pressure and density fall to about a quarter of ground level values. Less atmospheric mass means less interactions.

Crossing the tropopause into the stratosphere and temps begin rising again and continue to do so right up to the stratopause at about 50,000m. By now there’s virtually no atmosphere at all, this having all but gone at around the 30,000m mark, a little higher than the ozone layer.

If we were now to zoom in (using a 1:1 scale and the metre as the unit) then the first evidence of the effects of a climate would appear at the +8 scale when the ice of the Polar regions, the green of the Tropical regions and the blue of the oceans would become visible.

Zooming in to +5 we’d be on the edge of space, the upper limit of Earth’s atmosphere. Although scientifically counted as being part of the atmosphere there is, for all intents and purposes, nothing there.

By the time we get to +4 we’ve come through the thermosphere, mesosphere and stratosphere and we’re now at the top of the troposphere. The atmosphere is rarefied but you would be able to actually feel it and the effects on the human body.

We’d have experienced the first climatic effects of the atmosphere and at this altitude it would be extremely cold, about 220K. The air can be extremely turbulent and full of ice, it’s here that thunderstorms are born. Just as likely however, it would be incredibly calm and peaceful. Sound travels slower up here and quickly fades away (there’s little medium for the sound to travel through).

Not far above would be lots of chemical reactions, the ozone layer would be filtering out UV from the Sun, nitrates and sulphates would be reacting to produce weak acids.

Continuing down to +3 is where the atmosphere would really begin to have an effect. It’s this band (between +3 and +4) where the majority of the atmosphere is, about 75% to 80% of it in terms of mass. By virtue of the fact that this is where most of the mass is, it’s where most of the weather and climates are created and where most of the physics takes place. We’re at the macroclimate level, the type we’re all familiar with – rain, sun, wind, snow etc.

Zoom in to +2 and we’re entering the topoclimate or mesoclimates zones. These are the local ones that are generated or affected by topography, vegetation cover, rivers, hills etc. Depending on conditions, this can mean that locally the climate is quite different to the surrounding regime.

At +1 we’re still in the mesoclimates but by 0 we’re down to the microclimate level. This is the climate just above and below the surface and is governed by ground cover, soil, plants etc. For example, evapotranspiration increases the humidity, thermal radiation increases temperatures, light and shade affect the absorption and reflection of sunlight.

At –1 we’re in transition from microclimates to nanoclimates but by –2 we’re well into nanoclimate zones. These are the climates created right at the surface of things such as branches or leaves, it could be cracks in rocks, animal burrows, detritus on the ground etc.

At the –4 scale we’re getting close to where the physics of the greenhouse effect take place, if we were able to observe the atmosphere at this scale we’d start to see the molecular vibrations of the molecules of the atmosphere.

This would become clearer around the –5 and –6 scale and we’d (sort of) see the interaction of individual photons with molecules of the atmosphere. These are the sort of diffraction radii occupied by the photons but not the dimensions of the photons themselves (much smaller).

Hi Joe; wow, that's some question! I'll give it some thought and may attempt an answer later if my time allows. Meanwhile, have a star.