Earth's atmosphere in four minutes

What is the Earth's atmosphere? What is it made of? How does it change as you get higher? What is a jet stream? In this short video, I show you.
If you enjoyed this then you should check out the video I made with Climate Adam talking about how Earth's atmosphere will change as CO2 concentrations change: • How clouds influence c...
Also check out my video on the different layers in the atmosphere, asking where the top of the atmosphere is: • Where does the atmosph...
You can support the channel by donating at / simonoxfphys - many thanks to my current patrons for funding this video!
Cloud and velocity data from Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (2017): WCRP CMIP5: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) GFDL-ESM2M model output for the historical experiment. Centre for Environmental Data Analysis, 28/3/2021. catalogue.ceda...
Historical CO2 data from GEOCARB III, historical temperature data from a Smithsonian Institution project led by Scott Wing and Brian Huber (via NOAA).
Check out my website! www.simonoxfph...
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Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com (yes, I added the bird song)
Title: A four minute introduction to Earth's atmosphere
In this video I use Blender and python to introduce you to Earth's atmosphere, talking about the composition of the atmosphere, the layers in the atmosphere (the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere), the jet stream, the stratospheric polar vortex, changing concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere, and changes in the Earth's temperature. This isn't a video about global warming or climate change, but naturally when talking about Earth's atmosphere they turn up. This is a 3D render similar to and inspired by work by Corridor Crew and Wren Weichman, as well as videos by Veritasium.
Huge thanks to my supporters on Patreon: Jan Galkowski, Adrian Sand, Morten Engsvang, Josh Schiager, Farsight101, Liam Margetts, K.L, poundedjam, Alanah Mack, Daan Sneep, Felix Freiberger, Robert Connell, Jaime Stark, Kolbrandr, , Sebastain Graf, Dan Nelson, Shane O'Brien, Alex, Fujia Li, Harry Eakins, Andrew Young, Cody VanZandt, Jesper Koed, Jonathan Craske, Albrecht Striffler, hennersfl, Jon Sjöberg, Igor Francetic, Jack Troup, Austin Frazee, SexyCaveman , James Munro, Oskar Hellström, Sean Richards, Kedar , Omar Miranda, Alastair Fortune, bitreign33 , Mat Allen, Anne Smith, Colin J. Brown, Princess Andromeda, Aron Kári Ágústsson, Leighton Mackenzie, BenDent , Thusto , Andy Hartley, Lachlan Woods, Tim Boxall, Dan Hanvey, Simon Donkers, Kodzo , James Bridges, Liam , Andrea De Mezzo, Wendover Productions, Kendra Johnson.

[@terramater]

What could be more exciting than exploring our beautiful planet earth in every detail? BTW your Blender/Python animation is amazing!

[@waylonyahir2151]

i realize Im kind of randomly asking but does anyone know of a good site to stream new tv shows online?

[@MedlifeCrisis]

This is such a gorgeous and impressive video, you'd never know you've just started learning blender. I've never seen the different layers shown so clearly like this.

[@MrSam2450]

Commenting for the Algorithm I'm doing my part (insert starship troopers gif)

[@Alightbourne]

Well spent 4 minutes of my day. May the algorithm bless you.

[@dtghanvey]

It's such a good looking render - excellent use of the model to demonstrate real climate dynamic!

[@mrmunchkin2181]

0:20 Don't worry about them, I'm sure they won't be important. May I reference the dog in the burning house: "This is fine"

[@ThomasRintoul]

Watched this on Nebula yesterday and this is so good! Very nice visualisations. Much better explained than your last use of this type of visualisation. Only problem I would say is that the CO2 graphs look like not much is happening recently (because the graph timescale is millions of years, I know)

[@aribimo2457]

Yes, I worry about this too. Some climate change denier might have the wrong idea about it. Should have some inset or something to show the last few years.

[@saims.2402]

This animation looks really cool, can you make a python tutorial 🥺 I have a project to do

[@ClimateAdam]

Really excited to see all the things you're able to explain with this visualisation.

[@jasmineperez]

work that title simon!!! hope this video attracts lots of gen z peeps

[@aidandaley8095]

I don’t care how many videos you make on/using this project. I will watch every single one

[@likestomeasurestuff3554]

Love it. May the algorithm favour you.

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video. A must see video for everyone.

[@chironicle1755]

Excellent video, very informative with a beautiful visualisation. Thank you

[@Life-Glug]

Very interesting. Especially the fact that the layers are defined by the way the temperature changes.

[@philphymath]

Wow this is so informative and beautifully made! Thank you

[@arnavgupta5364]

I just subscribed to your channel after seeing the incredible video on pi! Your energy is unmatched!

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

Very educational thank you

[@sxs311]

I'm not in STEM but I love how your videos break topics like this down and make them so digestible, and they also bring the fun back into it! Thanks Simon :)

[@noxabellus]

Wow awesome animation, are the values from a simulation or a database?

[@robkryten]

Great visualisation. I really want to see how you did it please. You have the GitHub account - are you allowed to share or is it IP 🧐

[@matt123miller]

What a great video. Informative, interesting, beautiful visuals, clear.

[@destesful]

Impressed with the detail of this demonstration! Combined with your calm voice, it makes for a very relaxing little video. Thanks!

[@learnsustainability]

Very interesting. I did not think I would learn that much in 3 minutes 👍

[@ManMadeOfIdiot]

Simon to Simon: Bro, your the center of my earth. Simon to Simon: ... bro

[@JoeeOSullivan]

Commenting for the Algo, love the content

[@johnbrooks7350]

I truly can never get enough of your work

[@crackedemerald4930]

I noticed the distortion near the poles with the clouds, i see what you're doing. I couldn't see it in the other layers though, well done there.

[@nicolefurlan]

This was very cool! More of this please! 🙂🌍💚

[@Jorn6460]

For me, this video raises more questions than it answers. Which is mostly a result of the complexity of the subject matter of course. I feel that a longer video would be required to serve as a proper introduction into the earth's atmosphere.

[@milesnotmoralez]

The fact that there's still so much more scientist do not know about atmosphere itself is fascinating. There's so much to life we really don't know. Thank you for this 🙂

[@BradyJohnston]

Fantastic work as always Simon!

[@oajillbennett5934]

Great and very clear exposition.

[@superdrag65]

This video should have millions of views already, what is going on here?

[@Gegetp2000]

Simon, that was an amazing video. Stunning visuals, to the point and great narration. I'm sure you're not happy with the viewcount on this, but your work is massively appreciated (and I think that's reflected in the likes-to-views-ratio (or the comments-to-views-ratio!). Keep up the great work and may the algorithm bless your future endeavours!

[@Felix-nk8lz]

Really enjoyed the video

[@tadhgtwo]

Great video man. Glad I got your Twitter notification because KZbin seem to have forgotten I hit the bell.

[@strawandherb2452]

Beautiful!

[@moimitou]

Very cool visualizations! :O

[@tatjanaschroder1358]

Great video! The animation looks incredible.

[@someone3821]

This is beautiful.

[@LeanAndMean44]

Thanks. This video is informative.

[@luisramrod9121]

the atmosphere expert 👍

[@gabrielgrey2253]

An atmospheric scientist just talking about atmospheric science?! Holy shit Simon you're actually getting to the point. Now 40 minutes please.

[@geophysicascientia]

Brilliant!

[@prachi8771]

Omg this is beautiful 🤩

[@osianthomas9877]

Very cool video man!

[@dwaynezilla]

I wish I had a 40 minute in-depth version of this!

[@paddyokearney]

That was really lovely!

[@debajyotisg]

No Vsauce music after "What is the atmosphere?" Is a missed opportunity! Great video as usual Simon!

[@aditi_05]

Love the visuals!

[@xchopp]

Very nice. Er, isn't it spinning the wrong way until 2:16?

[@theodoresmith3313]

Awesome!

[@viiideoLooking]

Another comment for the algorithm. Great video!

[@JoeCreator]

Nice and concise for us normies! Good explanations

[@SinglePringle501]

Love the visuals, will have to try out blender with python now!

[@andyhartley]

Wow, the Earth is round!

[@quinnlee-newbury9003]

Super interesting. Do you know how much bigger the earth would need to be to always have 2 jet streams?

[@LordVoltrex]

Very cool.

[@soyoltoi]

I hope more see this.

[@igorfrancetic3]

Nice!

[@erickcruz3018]

Simon, can you explain why there are "kinds" of rain? You know thin drops, heavy drops and so on.. I’m so curious about 😁

[@eikopalma3072]

What an amazing thing, atmosphere! 😊

[@SnazzBot]

Would you recommend becoming an atmospheric scientist if you are dyslexic?

[@abrahamfernandez1548]

What a good simulation.

[@ThePrimevalVoid]

Loved the video! Meant to ask this in the last visualizing the climate model video, but is there are any reason why the (visualized) clouds get weirdly stretched the closer you go to the pole?

[@SimonClark]

Ah yes, that's a consequence of how the cloud data gets stored in model output - it's on lat-lon coordinates. So the closer you get to the pole, the smaller the area covered by a grid point. This is something I'd like to fix in future versions with polar plane shenanigans that we developed on CLAUDE.

[@PeterSimpkins]

A greasy pearl for the algorithm

[@SimonClark]

Ah, the treasures of the pile!

[@keysane]

I love how the cloud cover basically always stays over england. looool

[@davynolan182]

Why don’t you do a video on all the atmospheres of the various planets in our solar systems... the ones with atmospheres I mean. By the way Simon your a top bloke, even if you are an ‘academic’

[@honkhonk4597]

What are the reasons for the polar vortex in the north being stronger?

[@stonechen4820]

Hi do you have a guide on how you generated the visualization somewhere?

[@SwagmanDude]

Hello!

[@Jonago.]

Hiya!

[@saims.2402]

You mean the appearing and disappearing marshmallows.

[@montgomeryharr30]

Is there a repo where I can look at this?

[@timbojimboprandtlnumber1274]

This video slaps. gorgeous visualizations

[@lodgeh]

nice

[@rhiannon9549]

Pretty cloudsǃ

[@Sivah_Akash]

3:06, the two don't exactly match up because other factors too play a significant role in affecting temperature, right?

[@fromnorway643]

The Sun's energy output has gradually increased over time. 500 million years ago, in the Cambrian period, it was about 4 % less than today. The climate impact of that is roughly equal to a 6-fold reduction of CO₂, meaning that the Cambrian Earth would need 6 times more CO₂ just to maintain a modern climate. Despite that, the very high CO₂ concentration in that period (~20 times above that of modern times before the fossil fuel era) was still enough to make the Earth significantly warmer than today. Later periods that were almost as hot as the Cambrian (late Permian 250 million years ago and mid Cretaceous 100 million years ago) could maintain that temperature with significantly less CO₂ since the Sun had become several % brighter than in the Cambrian. After the end of the dinosaur era 65 million years ago, the single most important driver has been CO₂ with some help from other greenhouse gases like methane. The Sun's energy output has played a minor role since it has increased by only 0.5 % over the last 65 million years.

[@Sivah_Akash]

@@fromnorway643 , awesome. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[@Chomuggaacapri]

Honestly I found the visualization a little difficult to read and understand. Kinda just looked like dots and lines making noise to me rather than any sort of larger patterns. :/

[@rafaelmatsumoto]

People from countries that support science and education, become atmospheric scientists, we need you

[@Snakez29]

LETS GOOOOOO

[@amenicHD]

3:28 Well I am a computer scientist. Becoming a atmospheric scientist is not an option. Right? Or can a computer scientist help somewhere?

[@blablub2402]

Commenting for the algorithm, can´t believe you video views are down so much. The algorithm doesn´t seem to like you :(

[@saims.2402]

Are those fishes swimming in the atmosphere

[@IamP3ngu1n]

A warm Summer's day in early August 2024 brought me here.

[@321tryagain]

neat

[@nurulamin9618]

What is your age?

[@PapaFlammy69]

A stream produced by a jet. don't @ me

[@achyuththouta6957]

You're everywhere lol!! This is the seventh time I'm seeing you comment

[@PapaFlammy69]

@@achyuththouta6957 :D

[@petacardi]

Too short!

[@iseriver3982]

A video by an ex atmospheric scientists asking other people to become atmospheric scientists. Dan, why aren't you doing science? You're exactly what you're saying is needed 😂

[@jeffgold3091]

why did you leave out temps in the ordovician when co2 was 7000ppm and the earth was in an ice age ? nah , doesn't matter . interesting there is so little correlation between c02 and temps in the paleo climate . don't understand why you don't consider water vapor, dominant greenhouse gas , an atmospheric gas

[@fromnorway643]

Source?

[@fromnorway643]

I think you are mixing the Cambrian period (541-485 mya) with the Oligocene epoch (34-23 mya). Divide the 7000 ppm by 10, and you will get something that is reasonably close to the average CO₂ level in the Oligocene.

[@jeffgold3091]

@@fromnorway643 sorry . I meant the ordovician

[@fromnorway643]

@@jeffgold3091 Ordovician (485-444 mya) is the period following the Cambrian. At that time, the Sun was nearly 4 % fainter than today, meaning that it would take about 6 times more CO₂ just to compensate for that. Read more about the falling CO₂ levels and the glaciation in late Ordovician here: *skepticalscience.com*/*CO2-was-higher-in-late-Ordovician.*htm* It seems that KZbin don't appreciate links in the comments, so just copy the link above into the address bar and remove the *.

[@cdmarshall7448]

@@fromnorway643 Have you figured out solar density yet?

[@moonbender95]

So... i want a game about this

[@rontogunov282]

Where do estimates of CO2 going back 600 million years come from?

[@soringaicean1596]

La inceputul videoului ai rotit pamintul invers😅

[@lordgigenshtain]

i love Nitrogen.

[@piotrarturklos]

I wonder what the weather was like 500 million years ago with all that CO2.

[@cdmarshall7448]

@@grindupBaker Is this Simon? I hope not he "seems" smarter. The "Faint Sun paradox" does not exist. Energy comes from the Sun not from CO2. No balance exists between the Sun and CO2, radiative forcing is from the Sun...Meathead.

[@fromnorway643]

@@grindupBaker A 4 % fainter Sun represents a negative forcing of 9.6 watts/m² assuming Earth had the same albedo as now. Divide that by the forcing from one doubling of CO₂ (3.7 watts/m²) and the conclusion is that we would need 2.6 doublings = 6 times more CO₂ just to compensate for the Sun's lower energy output in the Cambrian period.

[@rodrocket712]

Comment for the algo!

[@char1721]

Jetstream sam

[@Matthew-xx1mb]

metaballs!

[@ashholiday123]

With climate change science, most of it is either "Doesn't exist" or "We're already fucked" So I ask you in the comments, why should we do anything? If we're already doomed, spending resources on climate change would slow down the progress of other projects (Such as space colonisation). Interested to see people's thoughts.

[@JoeeOSullivan]

From what I've gathered there's levels to the amount of 'fucked' we are, from my POV there's 3 reasons we should be making a change: - Climate change will disproportionately affect people in developing countries. So we should do what we can to slow down / stop this from happening to as many people as possible - There are 7+ billion people living on the planet, so space colonisation isn't viable for everyone. It also raises some interesting/ questionable ethical questions to completely give up and effectively accelerate climate change to fund space exploration to maintain the survival of the human race. - Moving towards renewable energy lowers dependence on fossil fuels, meaning there is less political incentive to ignore 'bad stuff' that is being carried out by said countries. Interested to hear what you think