This is a short blog. During this pandemic, I am getting very bored. I thought I would do some 8th grade math on the Earth's atmosphere. I checked on the internet and found that 50% of the atmosphere is below 5 km. That works out to about 16,394 feet. That seems like a lot until you dig a little deeper. I thought that I would see how thick the atmosphere would be if the Earth was the size of a basket ball. What is your guess? I did the calculations and found that it would be about as thick as a piece of paper or masking tape.
When you think about weather and climate, it all takes place in this very thin film of atmosphere as it is heated by the Sun and cools at night while swirling around the Earth. The rough surface of the earth including things like mountains have a more significant impact on weather than green house gases. Amazing isn't it?
