1/21/16 Show. All About the Atmosphere with sub DJ Brian Kraus

This week, Brian Kraus subs again for These Vibes are Too Cosmic in a live-radio, middle-of-the-night special. The science topic is the Earth’s atmosphere, with all its layers and

peculiarities.

First he talks about the regions you might encounter climbing up into space, from the troposphere–our watery, weathery home–to the exosphere, where space weather from the Sun interacts with our satellites.

Then, the focus moves to the stratosphere, which protects us from dangerous UV radiation: it’s a battle between ozone and chlorofluorocarbons/volcanoes, where our climate hangs in the balance! Big science again comes into play, with hordes of satellites and weather balloons taking regular measurements so we stay informed.

Finally, Brian goes into depth about weather balloons (which you can buy yourself!). How do we make weather balloons? How do we recover them when they all inevitably pop? And what scientific instruments are used to keep track of temperature and pressure as they float up into the stratosphere? I close with a public service announcement: if you find a downed weather balloon, you should follow its instructions and mail it back to the National Weather Service for analysis.

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Playlist:

Artist	Song	Album	Label	Comments
Lillian Leach and The Mellows	Sweet Lorraine	Golden Groups: Volume 4	Relic	1956
Intro: The Atmosphere Show!
Tatsuya Nakatani	Track 1	Gong	Nakatani-Kobo	2015
We Are the Arm	Jazz Bulb	We Are the Arm Cares!	Achord	2006
Wimps	Old Guy	Suitcase	Kill Rock Stars	2015
The Netherlands Chamber Choir	Te Deum Laudamus	Aspects of Chamber Music from the Netherlands	Centre Netherlands Music	1987
A little bit about space weather
Johnie Lewis	Hobo Blues	Alabama Slide Guitar	Arhoole	1971
Gaunt	Sad Song	Cowtown EP	Datapanik	1993
Sex Tide	Are You Even Alive?	Vernacular Splatter	Superdreamer	2016
Rosa Ensemble	Sera Paul Temos	Troubling for Sugar	NM Classics	2001
Ozone in the Stratosphere
Teenage Cool Kids	Landlocked State	Denton After Sunset	Dull Tools	2011
T-Bone Walker, Joe Turner, and Otis Spann	Paris Blues	Super Black Blues	Bluestime	1971
Royal Rasses	Unconventional People	Humanity	United Artists	1979
Grimes	Venus Fly	Art Angels	4AD	2015
Weather balloons–you can buy one!
Misha Feigin and Steve Good	A Chinese Clicking Duck Music in 5 Parts	State of the Union	EMF	2001
Manatees	On the Run	Croc N My Pocket	12XU	2015
Four Gods	Enchanted House	7″	Manufactured Recordings	1981 (re-issue 2015)
Wailing Souls	No Big Thing	Lay It on the Line	Live & Learn	1986
Phill Niblock	Early Winter	Music by Phill Niblock	Experimental Intermedia	1993