Weather

Weather
 Conditions of Earth’s atmosphere at
particular time and place
Climate

 Average weather conditions of a region

throughout the year
Atmosphere
 Layer of gases
that surround the
planet

 Earth’s
Atmosphere make
conditions on
Earth suitable for
living things
Earth’s Atmosphere
 Made up of nitrogen, oxygen,
carbon dioxide, water vapor,
and many other gases, as
well as particles of liquids and
solids
 Nitrogen (N) – 78%
 Oxygen (O) – 21%
 Other Gases – 1%
Layers of the Atmosphere

¤ Troposphere ¤ Stratosphere ¤
¤ Mesosphere ¤ Thermosphere ¤
 What are the four layers
of the atmosphere?
50 - 800 miles
Thermosphere

39 - 50 miles Mesosphere

9 - 39 miles Stratosphere Ozone Layer

0 - 9 miles
Troposphere
 What is the troposphere?
¤ Lowest layer ( You are in it right now ! )
Ground up to about 9 miles!
¤ Layer where all weather occurs
Temperature decreases as you go
up  -60oC at the top!

¤ 75% of the Earth’s air (most mass!)

 What is the stratosphere?
¤ 30 miles up from Troposphere (about 39
miles from the ground!)
¤ Contains the ozone layer
Ozone protects the Earth from the Sun’s
ultraviolet radiation
¤ Ozone’s reaction with UV rays causes
warming to 0oC

Ultraviolet radiation can cause skin cancer

and eye disease. Without the ozone layer, there
would be no life on Earth.
 What is the mesosphere?
¤ About 50 miles up!
¤ Temperature drops to -90oC
¤ Protect the Earth from meteoroids
Millions of meteors burn up daily in
the mesosphere when the meteors
collide with air molecules.
Meteors travel towards Earth at 45
miles per second. Friction with the
air causes the meteor to vaporize.

If you traveled at 45 miles per

second, you could go from
Newport News to LA in one minute
What is the thermosphere?

¤ Highest layer!
¤ Nitrogen and
oxygen molecules
can be 1,800oC
HOWEVER, they are so far apart
so a thermometer would show it as
very cold
¤ Contains little or no air
¤ Contains Earth’s man-made
satellites