Lecture No. 2.

Date :

EARTHS ATMOSPHERE – COMPOSITION, EXTENT AND STRUCTURE;

ATMOSPHERIC WEATHER VARIABLS
Earth and its atmosphere:
The earth is the third nearest planet to the sun. It is oblate ellipsoid (not a true
sphere). It is about 150 million km away from the sun. It axis has inclination of 23.50 from
the vertical i.e. its axis at all times makes an angle of 66.5 0. It revolves round the sun once
a years, the sun appears to us to travel slowly eastward along the ecliptic, 360 0 in 365.25
days i.e. approximately 10 each day.
Composition of the atmosphere :
The atmosphere is mechanical mixture of gases. It contains a huge number of
solid and liquid particles called aerosols. Some gases are permanent atmospheric
constituents in fixed proportion to the total gases volume. Others vary from place to
place and time to time. Nitrogen and oxygen constitute about 99% of the clean dry air.
The remaining mostly inert and constitute about 1% of the atmosphere.
1) Permanent gases :
The following different gases those are present in the atmosphere in percentage
by volume approximately

Nitrogen (N2) 78.08% Krypton (Kr) Trace

Oxygen (O2) 20.95% Xenon (Xe) Trace
Argon (Ar) 0.93% Methane (CH4) 0.00017%
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 0.03% Carbon monoxide (CO) Trace
Neon (Ne) 0.0018% Ammonia (NH3) Trace
Helium (He) 0.0005% Sulphur dioxide (SO2) Trace
Ozone (O3) 0.000004% Nitrous oxide (NO2) 0.00003%
Hydrogen (H2) 0.00006% Iodine (I) Trace

2) Water vapour :
Water vapour contributed by evaporation from water bodies and soils and
transpiration from plants constitutes an important component of the atmosphere. The
content of water vapour is highly varying. It may ranges from minute proportion to a
maximum of 4 per cent by volume.
3) Aerosols or impurities or dust :
These are suspended particle of sea salt, dust, organic matter, smoke etc. in the
air. Aerosols enter the atmosphere by urban and industrial pollution, agricultural
practices, forest fires, sea sprays, volcanic activities and wind raised dust. It may
contribute up to 30% of atmospheric air.
4) Carbon dioxide (0.033%) :
It is important climatological and biological points of view. It is good absorber of
heat. It work like an insulating blanket and regulates the air temperature near the
surface. It is essential for growth of plant life. The concentration of CO2 in the
atmosphere is increasing rapidly due to deforestation and burning of wood, coal and oil.
The concentration of CO2 in last 70-80 years has risen by 10-12% of its original
percentage and warns of large scale climatic change.
5) Ozone (O3) :
It is another form of oxygen, is very important constituent. It found in traces in
the lower layer but is concentrated in upper atmosphere between 20-25 km. It is the most
efficient absorber of ultraviolet ray. The ozonosphere protects all forms of life from
excessive quantities of the deadly rays and makes life possible on earth.
Properties of atmosphere :
1. It exerts pressure
2. It has weight
3. It support combustion
4. It diffuses heat and gases
5. It conduct sound
6. It is denser to the surface of earth and becomes thinner as it goes up to a height
of 3½ miles.
7. The temperature of atmosphere decreases by about 1 0C for every 100 m in
altitude. But this fall in temperature does not take place beyond a certain limit.

LAYERING OF ATMOSPHERE –
Atmosphere can be divided into two spheres on the bases of its compositions with
respect to height.
1) Homosphere 2) Heterosphere
 1) Homosphere – In the lower region, up to the height of 80-90 km, various gases are
thoroughly mixed and are homogeneous due to the process of turbulent mixing
and diffusion. Composition of this sphere remains normally same.
2) Heterosphere – In heterosphere gaseous composition changes and the various,
gases form individually separate layers.
Extent of the atmosphere
There is no sharp boundary between the atmosphere and extra terrestrial space. It
is difficult to ascertain the height of atmosphere. Its density becomes less and less with
altitude. Half of mass of atmosphere is up to 5.5 km from the ground surface. Air may
exist up to 400 km in perceptible quantity. The weight of atmosphere is 5.6 x 1014 metric
tones.
Physical structure of atmosphere :
On the basis of vertical temperature difference the atmosphere can be divided in
to four horizontal layers or shells.
1. Troposphere
2. Stratosphere
3. Mesosphere
4. Thermosphere.
1. Troposphere :
 The word “Trop” means mixing or turbulence and “sphere” means region.
 It extends upto 16-17 km extension this layer not same at all latitudes. It is about
17 km at equator, 12.5 km at 450 N and 4.5 km over the polar region.
 Under normal conditions the height of the troposphere changes from place to
place and season to season.
 Various types of clouds, thunderstorms, cyclone and anticyclones occur in this
sphere because of the concentration of almost all the water vapour and aerosols in
it. So, this layer is called as “seat of weather phenomena”.
 The wind velocities increase with height and attain the maximum at the top of
this layer.
 In this layer temperature decreases @ 6.5 0C per 1 km. this lapse rate changes
abruptly at an altitude about 14 km.
 Most of the radiation received from the sun is absorbed by the earth’s surface. So,
the troposphere is heated from below.
  In this layer, about 75 per cent of total gases and most of the moisture and dust
particles present.
 A the top of the troposphere there is a shallow layer separating it from the
stratosphere which is known as the “Tropopasue “.
 Tropopause is almost well defined in the tropics but not so much in Polar
Regions..
2. Stratosphere :
 This layer exists above the tropopause (around 20 km onwards) and extends to
altitudes of about 50-55 km.
 This layer is called as “Seat of photochemical reactions”
 The temperature remains practically constant at around 20 km and is
characterized as isothermal because air is thin, clear, cold and dry near
tropopause.
 The temperature of this layer increases with height and also depends upon the
troposphere because the troposphere is higher at the equator than at the poles.
 In the upper parts of the stratosphere the temperatures are almost as high as
those near the earth’s surface, which is due to the fact that the ultra-violet
radiation from the sun is absorbed by ozone in this region. The air density is so
much less that even limited absorption of solar radiation by the atmospheric
constituents notably ozone produces a temperature increase.
 Less convection takes place in the stratosphere because it is warm at the top
and cold at the bottom.
 There is also persistence of circulation patterns and high wind speeds.
 The upper boundary of the stratosphere is called the stratopause.
3. Mesosphere :
 There is a maximum concentration of ozone between 30 and 60 km above the
surface of the earth and this layer is known at the ozonosphere.
 A property of the ozone is that it absorbs UV rays. Had there been no layer of the
ozone in the atmosphere, the ultraviolet rays might have reached the surface of
the earth and no life can exist.
 Temperature of the ozonosphere is high (warm) due to selective absorption of
U.V radiation by ozone.
  Because of the preponderance of chemical process this sphere is called as the
“chemosphere”
 In this layer the temperature increases with height at the rate of 5 0C per km.
 According to some leading scientists the ionosphere is supposed to start at a
height of 80 km above the earth’s surface. The layer between 50 and 80 km is
called as “Mesosphere”. In this layer the temperature decreases with height. The
upper boundary of this layer is called the “Mesospause”.
 Mesosphere is the coldest region in the atmosphere with temperature reaching the
lowest value of nearly -95 0C at the mesopause (80km)
4. Thermosphere :
 The thermosphere layer lies beyond the ozonosphere (mesosphere) at a height of
about 80 km above the earth’s surface and extends upto 400 km.
 The atmosphere in the ionosphere is partly ionised enriched ion zones exist in the
form of distinct ionised layers. So, this layer is called as the ionosphere.
 Above the mesosphere the temperature increases again and is in the order of
1000°C.
 The ionosphere reflects the radio waves because of one or multiple reflections of
shortwave radio beams from the inoised shells. So, long distance radio
communication is possible due to this layer.
5. Ionosphere :
Above 100 km the atmosphere is increasingly affected by solar X-rays and
ultraviolet radiation which causes ionization. The term ionosphere is commonly applied
to the layers above 80 km, although sometime it is used only for the region of high
electron density between about 100 to 300 km.
Ionosphere is further subdivided into different layers called D layer (80 to 100
km), E layer (100-130 km), Kennelly sporadic E layer (110 km), E 2 layer (150 km), F layer
(F1 and F2 150-380 km) and G layer (400 km and above).
In these layer gases are highly refried. The layer above ionosphere is also called
exosphere. It extends from 400 to 1000 km. density of atoms is extremely low;
atmosphere is very rarefied. It resembles a nebula where hydrogen and helium gases
predominate. At the uppermost boundary of the atmosphere the kinetic temperature is
very high about 5568 0C.
 In the heterosphere (above ionosphere) the gases appear to be arranged in four
spherical shells viz., nitrogen layer, oxygen layer, helium layer and hydrogen layer, from
bottom to top, in that order. The nitrogen layer extends upto 200 km, above the exists the
oxygen layer-atomic oxygen-extending upto 1120 km. this layer is overlain by helium
layer extending upto 3520 km. the uppermost layer is the hydrogen layer.

VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE

ATMOSPHERIC WEATHER VARIABLES OF WEATHER ELEMENTS :
The aspects involved in weather include small areas and duration, expressed in
numerical values. The different physical parameters, which characterize in numerical or
describe the instantaneous physical condition of the atmosphere are called as weather
elements. The most common and familiar type of weather elements are listed below,
which are measured directly in meteorological observatory.
1) Radiation 2) Temperature, 3) Sunshine hours
4) Atmospheric pressure 5) Relative humidity
6) Wind 7) Rainfall 8) Cloudiness
9) Frost 10) Hail 11) Drought
All these weather elements vary from day to day at any one place. The day - to -
day change in weather, and the regional variation in climate are largely the results of
variation in the amount, intensity, and distribution over the earth of the weather
elements.