Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Ta b l e 6 . 7
Heat balance of the Earth. Convection of air and evaporation of water from the Earth's
surface leads to transport of energy from the surface to the atmosphere.
Power, 10
13
kW
Form of energy
Process
Solar radiation
Reaching the Earth's atmosphere
17.3
Reflected by the Earth
0.7
Absorbed by the Earth
8.3
Reflected by the atmosphere
5.4
Absorbed by the atmosphere
2.9
Infrared radiation
Atmospheric emission to space
10.2
Atmospheric emission to the Earth
16.7
Absorbed by the atmosphere
18.7
Absorbed by the Earth
16.7
Emitted by the Earth
19.7
Transmitted through the atmosphere
1.0
Convection
1.3
Evaporation
4.0
6.4.2
Aerosol Plasma
According to the definition, an aerosol plasma is weakly ionized atmospheric air
located at various altitudes with an admixture of aerosol particles - solid and liq-
uid particles. Aerosol particles or aerosols include water drops, ice crystallites, and
dusty particles of size of the order of 0.01
m that exist in atmospheric air.
The kind and size of aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere depend both on the alti-
tude and on local conditions there. In particular, water aerosols are located close the
the Earth's surface, and a tropospheric aerosol has as a base SO
2
,NH
3
,andNO
x
molecules, mineral salts, and other compounds that result from natural processes
on the Earth's surface and may reach high altitudes.
The smallest aerosols, Aitken particles [8, 9] are formed as a result of photochem-
ical reactions at altitudes above the cloud boundary. They have a size of 10-100 nm
and a number density of 10
2
100
μ
10
4
cm
3
[10, 11]. Aitken particles scatter the solar
radiation and are responsible for the blue color of the sky. Aitken particles par-
take in atmospheric chemical reactions and charge transfer from initially formed
electrons and simple ions to large aerosols.
The processes involving aerosols are different at different altitudes and are re-
sponsible for interaction of atmospheric air with solar radiation [6, 7]. Having
general properties of small particles in neutral and ionized gases [136-138], wa-
ter aerosols located at altitudes of a few kilometers determine electric phenomena
in atmospheric air, including lightning [6, 7, 139]. The process of Earth charging
that is the basis of atmospheric electric processes is complicated and includes many
stages. But falling of charged water aerosols under the action of gravitational forces
