What warms atmospheric nitrogen?

[CharlesBoles]

Is there a particular narrow band of EM frequencies that nitrogen absorbs to increase its temperature?

 

[rootone]

Nitrogen as N2 has it's absorption and emission bands but they are not in infrared, so it isn't a greenhouse gas.
Nitrogen Oxides are though.

 

[CharlesBoles]

Thanks, I'm aware of that. What I'm ultimately trying to figure out is where Nitrogen receives its thermal energy from in the atmosphere.

 

[DrClaude]

Thanks, I'm aware of that. What I'm ultimately trying to figure out is where Nitrogen receives its thermal energy from in the atmosphere.

Mostly from the ground and the oceans. This is the general case for the atmosphere: the vast majority of the solar radiation hitting the planet heats up the surface, and it is the surface that then heats up the atmosphere through conduction (and convection).

 

[sophiecentaur]

Mostly from the ground and the oceans. This is the general case for the atmosphere: the vast majority of the solar radiation hitting the planet heats up the surface, and it is the surface that then heats up the atmosphere through conduction (and convection).

That makes sense and goes a way to explaining the temperature lapse rate. There's a lot more energy reaching the surface than is absorbed on the way through the atmosphere.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You seem to be hung up on "nitrogen". That's really not the most important factor (which is that the surface warms and the atmosphere is in contact with it)

 

[willem2]

You seem to be hung up on "nitrogen". That's really not the most important factor (which is that the surface warms and the atmosphere is in contact with it)

Even more important, is that whatever the ways of gaining/losing heat may be, the atmosphere is in thermal equilibrium, and the various kinds of molecules will have the same temperature, no matter what does the convecting or radiating.

Another thing is that cooling by radiation is also mainly done by greenhouse gases, and at 10 km or so, the incoming heat would come for a large part from convecton, but the outgoing heat would be more in the form of radiation. Nitrogen does fine at convection, but is not good at radiating, so it would be warmer, if it couldn't exchange energy with the rest of the atmosphere.