LAYERS OF THE EARTH’S

ATMOSPHERE
Composition of the Atmosphere

Atmosphere: envelope of air surrounding the

earth and bound to the earth by the earth’s
gravitational attraction.

Extends from the surface into space with

decreasing density with height. No real top.
The atmosphere is really very shallow
compared to the size of the planet

 Just a thin
veneer
 ¾ of the
atmosphere by
mass is in the
lowest 33,000 ft,
roughly 10 km
Earth’s Atmosphere Is a Thin Veneer
Earth’s radius is about 6400 km
(3840 miles)

Nearly all of the atmosphere is contained

in the layer from the surface to 100 km.
Habitable atmosphere only the first 5 km.

So the habitable atmosphere is only

5/6400 km….00078 ….or 1/1280th of the
distance to the earth’s center. Much
thinner than the peel on an orange.
CO2: a greenhouse gas (very effective absorber and emitter in the
infrared).
O3: good in stratosphere (protects from UV), bad near the surface
(corrosive to lungs and more)
SO2: emitted by volcanoes. Atmospheric particles and acid rain
NO2: produced by combustion. Acid rain and smog.
Variable gases
 Water vapor (~0 to 4%). Critically important!
 Clouds and precipitation
 Important way to move energy around
 Major greenhouse gas!
 Methane (CH4): major greenhouse gas
 Non-Gas Constituents
 Hydrometeors -rain clouds, hail
 Particulates and aerosols
 Aerosol is a liquid or solid dispersed in a gas,
usually air
 Particulates can be
 Inorganic- soil, smoke, dirt, sea salt, volcanic dust,
surface acid aerosol
 Organic- seeds, spores, pollen, bacteria
Why are particles in the air
important?
 Act as condensation and freezing nuclei!
 Water likes to condense on or freeze on to
particles
 Can absorb or scatter radiation
 Reduce visibility
 Can scatter solar radiation to space: cool planet
 Can impact human health.
 Can irritate lungs, initiate asthma, heart disease
How Did We Get UnFrozen?

 Volcanoes were still putting CO2 into the

atmosphere
 Weathering was greatly reduced…since little
liquid water.
 So CO2 increased until the greenhouse effect
was so large the earth warmed up.
 Once warming started it would have
happened very rapidly.
The Last 500 million Years

 The climate has not been constant, with

warm periods interrupted by ice ages.
 Much of the variability forced by changing
solar radiation due to periodic changes in the
earth’s orbital characteristics and tilt
(Milankovitch cycles) and major volcanic
eruptions (putting out massive CO2 that
caused warming.
Layers of the Earth’s Atmosphere
From top to Bottom
Exosphere
 Thermosphere
 Mesopause
 Mesosphere
 Stratopause
 Stratosphere
 Tropopause
 Troposphere
 TROPOSPHERE
• Lowest and thinnest layer
— 16 km at equator, 8 km at poles
• 80% of the atmosphere’s mass
 Temperature decreases with altitude
— 6°C per kilometer
— Top of troposphere averages
— –50°C
 All weather associated cloud types are found here
 All weather occurs in this layer
 Temp decreases as altitude increases because at higher
altitudes the atmosphere becomes thinner and absorbs
less solar radiation
The lowest part of the troposphere is the warmest part

 Boundary between the troposphere,

and the stratosphere is called the
tropopause
 STRATOSPHERE
 Extends from 12 km to 50 km above the ground
 Less dense (less water vapor)
 Temperature increases with altitude due to the presence
 of ozone
 Almost no weather occurrence
 Contains high level of ozone which absorbs UV rays from
the sun and releases some of its energy in this layer
> ozone layer
This layer protects life on earth by absorbing the UV
rays
It is in this layer where jet planes fly
This layer lacks weather-producing turbulence and is
almost completely free of clouds and other forms of
weather

 Upper boundary is called

stratopause
 MESOSPHERE
 Extends to almost
80 km high
 Gases are less dense.
 Temperature decreases as altitude
increases.
 Gases in this layer absorb very little
UV radiation.
The coldest region in the atmosphere
is in the upper mesosphere.
This layer protects Earth from
meteoroids.
Most meteroids that enter the
atmosphere burn up due to the
intense friction that builds up in the
between the air and the meteoroid
Burning meteoroid is seen on earth as
shooting stars.
 THERMOSPHERE
 above the mesosphere and extends to
almost 700 km high
 temperature increases with altitude
 readily absorbs solar radiation
 Temperature can go as high as 1,500 °C
 reflects radio waves
 Nitrogen and Oxygen absorb a great deal
of UV radiation and turns it into heat
 The portion of the thermosphere between
80 and 550 km above the earth is called
IONOSPHERE, a layer consisting of
highly-ionized gases.
 The ionized gas is formed when UV rays
knock off electron from Nitrogen and
Oxygen
IONOSPHERE
the ionosphere is used in sending radio waves to great distances

 The ions in the atmosphere form bands or layers.

 These layers reflect ordinary radio waves back t5o Earth
over and over.
 These layers help the radio waves pass around Earth.
 The layer of the ionosphere that reflects radio waves is
called KENNELLY-HEAVISIDE LAYER.
 At the poles, the ions interact with air molecules to form
an aurora.
 Depending on their location, they maybe called aurora
borealis, or aurora australis, also called northern lights,
or southern lights
EXOSPHERE
 the interface between Earth
and space
 atoms and molecules can
escape to space
 The outermost layer of Earth’s
atmosphere
 Extends at about 700 km to
above 1000 km above sea
level
 Most of the orbiting satellites
as well as low density
elements like Hydrogen, and
Helium are found here
Structure of Atmosphere
Stratospheric ozone is good ozone
— protects Earth from harmful UV
radiation
— depletion is detrimental to life

Tropospheric ozone is bad ozone

— In the troposphere, ozone is a
pollutant .
• CFCs (pollutant)
Ozone Depletion
 main cause is CFC pollution
 radiation from the sun causes the
CFCs to break down
 releases one chlorine atom

 Chlorine atom reacts with ozone

(O3 ) molecules forming chlorine

oxide(ClO) and oxygen gas ( O2).
Global Warming

 Anincrease in Earth’s average

surface temperature caused by
an increase in greenhouse gases.

 caused by Greenhouse Effect

Greenhouse Effect

the trapping of heat by gases in the

atmosphere
Greenhouse gases
> carbon dioxide
> sulfur dioxide
> ozone
> CFCs
> water vapor
Effects of Greenhouse Gas Pollution
 Global warming
> ice in polar caps will begin to melt
> water in the ocean expands
> flooding in lowlands
and coastal areas
> changes in weather
patterns
Recall

Identify the layers of the atmosphere based on

the given descriptions.
1. the layer where weather occurs - TROPOSPHERE

2. the coldest layer- mesosphere

3. the ozone layer is part of this layer-stratosphere
4. the hottest layer- thermosphere, ionosphere
5. the layer above the troposphere- stratosphere