ATMOSPHERE

The Earth‘s atmosphere has five distinct layers. These layers protect the Earth from
ultraviolet radiation, keep the surface of the planet habitable via the greenhouse effect and
provide the necessary oxygen to breathe.

Earth‘s Atmosphere: The Overall Picture

The Earth‘s orbit around the sun keeps the planet at an ideal distance where temperatures
support liquid water on the surface to maintain life.

What is the Atmosphere Made up of?

The atmosphere consists of the air we breathe in every day! It's a mixture of gases mostly
nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide; which all stretch up to 500km above the
planet! The gases become thinner the higher up you go, and it's divided into four different
spheres:

Temperature of Atmosphere:

The Earth‘s temperature range in Fahrenheit is from 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500
degrees Celsius) in the uppermost atmosphere to a global average temperature of around
59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) near the surface.

The layers/composition of the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, though it begins
to thin out within 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Earth‘s surface.

Troposphere

Notice that in the troposphere warmer air is beneath cooler air. What do you think the
consequence of this is? This condition is unstable. The warm air near the surface rises and
cool air higher in the troposphere sinks. So air in the troposphere does a lot of mixing. This
mixing causes the temperature gradient to vary with time and place. The rising and sinking
of air in the troposphere means that all of the planet‘s weather takes place in the
troposphere. Sometimes there is a temperature inversion, air temperature in the
troposphere increases with altitude and warm air sits over cold air. Inversions are very
stable and may last for several days or even weeks. They form: over land at night or in
winter when the ground is cold. The cold ground cools the air that sits above it, making this
low layer of air denser than the air above it. Near the coast where cold seawater cools the
air above it. When that denser air moves inland, it slides beneath the warmer air over the
land. Since temperature inversions are stable, they often trap pollutants and produce
unhealthy air conditions in cities. At the top of the troposphere is a thin layer in which the
temperature does not change with height. This means that the cooler, denser air of the
troposphere is trapped beneath the warmer, less dense air of the stratosphere. Air from the
troposphere and stratosphere rarely mix.

The Stratosphere

Ash and gas from a large volcanic eruption may burst into the stratosphere, the layer above
the troposphere. Once in the stratosphere, it remains suspended there for many years
because there is so little mixing between the two layers. Pilots like to fly in the lower
portions of the stratosphere because there is little air turbulence.

The Mesosphere

Temperatures in the mesosphere decrease with altitude. Because there are few gas
molecules in the mesosphere to absorb the Sun‘s radiation, the heat source is the
stratosphere below. The mesosphere is extremely cold, especially at its top, about −90
degrees C (−130 degrees F).

The air in the mesosphere has extremely low density 99.9 percent of the mass of the
atmosphere is below the mesosphere. As a result, air pressure is very low. A person
traveling through the mesosphere would experience severe burns from ultraviolet light since
the ozone layer which provides UV protection is in the stratosphere below. There would be
almost no oxygen for breathing. Stranger yet, an unprotected traveler‘s blood would boil at
normal body temperature because the pressure is so low.

The Thermosphere

The density of molecules is so low in the thermosphere that one gas molecule can go about
1 km before it collides with another molecule. Since so little energy is transferred, the air
feels very cold. Within the thermosphere is the ionosphere. The ionosphere gets its name
from the solar radiation that ionizes gas molecules to create a positively charged ion and
one or more negatively charged electrons. The freed electrons travel within the ionosphere
as electric currents. Because of the free ions, the ionosphere has many interesting
characteristics. At night, radio waves bounce off the ionosphere and back to Earth. This is
why you can often pick up an AM radio station far from its source at night.
The Van Allen radiation belts are two doughnut-shaped zones of highly charged particles
that are located beyond the atmosphere in the magnetosphere. The particles originate in
solar flares and fly to Earth on the solar wind. Once trapped by Earth‘s magnetic field, they
follow along the field‘s magnetic lines of force. These lines extend from above the equator to
the North Pole and also to the South Pole then return to the equator. When massive solar
storms cause the Van Allen belts to become overloaded with particles, the result is the most
spectacular feature of the ionosphere—the nighttime aurora. The particles spiral along
magnetic field lines toward the poles. The charged particles energize oxygen and nitrogen
gas molecules, causing them to light up. Each gas emits a particular color of light.

The Exosphere

The outermost layer of the atmosphere; the gas molecules finally become so scarce that at
some point there are no more. Beyond the atmosphere is the solar wind. The solar wind is
made of high-speed particles, mostly protons and electrons, traveling rapidly outward from
the Sun. There is no real outer limit to the exosphere, the outermost layer of the
atmosphere; the gas molecules finally become so scarce that at some point there are no
more. Beyond the atmosphere is the solar wind. The solar wind is made of high-speed
particles, mostly protons and electrons, traveling rapidly outward from the Sun.

How do Humans Affect the Atmosphere?

Because of various types of pollution, unfortunately the Earth's atmosphere has been
deteriorating over time. An obvious type of pollution would be the general air pollution;
which includes smoking, emissions from vehicles, compounds being released from fossil
fuels, and emissions from industrial factories. Pollution is also released in the form of
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, which causes the atmosphere to
trap heat (making the temperature on the planet steadily rise). Along with all of this, the
destruction of chlorofluorocarbons and other chemicals are causing the ozone to deplete. All
of these different types of pollution could end up being dire for human health if it isn't fixed
soon. Although there is a lot destroying the atmosphere, there are also a lot of movements
taking place that are attempting to reduce all of these types of pollution! There are
countries all around the world signed the Montreal Protocol to discontinue the use of CFCs
(which are the chemicals typically found in aerosol sprays, in refrigerants used in air
conditioners, and in blowing agents for foam and other packing materials), and the EPA is
always working at publishing air quality alerts for areas affected by bad air pollution so that
everyone would stay away from those areas to be healthy.