Effect of thickness of atmosphere on the incident light on land

[Pranav Jha]

How would the whiteness of snow appear if Earth's atmosphere were several times thicker?

I think it would appear red as most of the blue frequency light would be scattered before reaching the Earth and the majority of light being reflected of the snow would be red.

Am i right?

 

[sophiecentaur]

Whilst this must be an effect, I think the difference in absorption at the different frequencies, as well as the scattering, would have an effect in the spectrum of the light reaching the ground.

 

[Pranav Jha]

Whilst this must be an effect, I think the difference in absorption at the different frequencies, as well as the scattering, would have an effect in the spectrum of the light reaching the ground.

Could you please be more detailed about the effects you were referring to in the above answer?

 

[sophiecentaur]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_Spectrum.png"
If you look at this link it shows that atmospheric absorption modifies the spectrum (in the fine detail) of the incident Sunlight in addition to the effect of Raleigh scattering (the general trend). Absorption effects are more marked at non-optical frequencies, of course, with huge amounts of absorption of microwave frequencies by water vapour. Both effects on the optical bands would get more and more pronounced as the atmosphere gets thicker and thicker.
I have a feeling that, in a thicker atmosphere, the effects of absorption by some of the more dense but more rare molecules (which collect more in the bottom layers) would be more marked than at the present atmospheric thickness and pressure. This would produce proportionally more noticeable colouring.

I assume you are taking snow to be a good reflector of light at all wavelengths, producing what we would call 'white' with the Sun overhead. Our (brain) colour compensation circuits do a lot better than those in cameras and I have a feeling that we would very soon accept a modified version of this if we were to spend much time under a more dense atmosphere, in much the same way as we 'see' white things as white under tungsten and flourescent lights.

 

[sardar]

I cannot confirm or deny your statement without further investigation and data analysis. However, I can provide some insights on the effect of thickness of atmosphere on the incident light on land.

The thickness of the atmosphere does play a significant role in the amount of light that reaches the Earth's surface. The Earth's atmosphere acts as a filter, absorbing and scattering different wavelengths of light. This is why the sky appears blue to our eyes, as the shorter blue wavelengths are scattered more than the longer red wavelengths.

With a thicker atmosphere, more of the blue light would be scattered, resulting in a shift towards longer wavelengths such as green, yellow, and orange. This would also affect the appearance of snow, as the white color is a result of all wavelengths of light being reflected. With a thicker atmosphere, more of the blue light would be scattered before reaching the Earth's surface, resulting in less blue light being reflected off the snow. This could potentially result in a reddish or pinkish hue to the snow.

However, it is important to note that the color of snow can also be affected by other factors such as the composition of the snow itself, the angle of sunlight, and atmospheric conditions. Therefore, it is not accurate to say that snow would appear red if the Earth's atmosphere were several times thicker. Further research and analysis would be needed to confirm this hypothesis.

In conclusion, the thickness of Earth's atmosphere does have an impact on the incident light on land and can potentially affect the appearance of snow. However, the specific color that would result from a thicker atmosphere would require more investigation and cannot be definitively determined at this point.