The Atmosphere

THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS
MOVEMENTS
What is an Atmosphere?
―a layer or a set of layers of gases surrounding a

planet or other material body held by gravity
―functions:
➢ insulates the Earth from extreme temperature
➢ keeps heat inside the atmosphere
➢ blocks the Earth from much of the Sun’s incoming
ultraviolet radiation
The Earth’s Atmosphere
• it is about 1280 km thick, but most of it
(about 80%) is within 16 km of the
Earth’s surface
• it has no abrupt cutoff as it slowly
becomes thinner and fades away from
space
• atmospheric pressure, the density of
gases in the atmosphere, decreases with
altitude
Warming the Atmosphere
Greenhouse Effect – a phenomenon of the Earth’s
atmosphere by which solar radiation, trapped by the Earth
and re-emitted from the surface as infrared radiation, is
prevented from escaping by various gases in the
atmosphere.
Main Greenhouse Gases
✓ Carbon dioxide
✓ Methane
✓ Chloroflourocarbon (CFCs)
✓ Water Vapor
Meteorology
―the scientific study of the
atmosphere that focuses on
weather processes and
forecasting
Weather
―variation of atmospheric conditions
at any place over a short period of
time
―is a description of the condition of
the atmosphere (e.g., temperature,
precipitation, humidity, cloud cover,
visibility, and wind) over a certain
area for a particular day
Climate
―a composite of the average weather
conditions of a locality or region over
a long period of time (at least 30
years)
Water in the Atmosphere
Condensation
―conversion of a vapor to a liquid
―frequently achieve by letting the vapor come into
contact with a cold surface
―the process by which water vapor turns into fine
water droplets to form cloud
Clouds
―visible accumulations of water
droplets or ice crystals that float in
the Earth’s troposphere moving with
the wind
―form when air that contains water
vapor is cooled down to its dew-
point temperature
Wind
―the horizontal movement of air
caused by the uneven heating of the
Earth’s surface
―warm air rises, creating a low
pressure area (depression) and the
surrounding cold air or high pressure
(anticyclones) moves in to equalize
the pressure
Types of Global Wind Belts
1. Trade Winds – the prevailing winds that blow towards
the Equator from the northeast and southeast; caused
by hot air rising at the Equator and the consequent
movement of air from north and south to take its place
2. Westerlies – prevailing winds from the west that occur
in both hemispheres between latitudes of about 350
and 600, blow mainly from southwest in the northern
hemisphere and the northwest in the southern
hemisphere, bringing moist weather to the west coast
of the landmasses in these latitudes
Types of Global Wind Belts
Monsoon - a wind pattern that brings
seasonally heavy rain to South Asia as it
blows towards the sea in winter and
towards the land in summer
3. Polar Easterlies – produced if some of

the upper air continues on to the poles
and sink toward the surface, and
eventually moves toward the equator
Beaufort Scale
Local Winds
Air Masses
― a large body of air with particular
characteristics of temperature and
humidity
― forms when air rests over an area long
enough to pick up the conditions of that
area, but its own characteristics become
modified in the process
― air masses that meet form fronts
Weather Disturbances
Tropical depression
―an organized system of clouds and thunderstorms
with a defined surface circulation and maximum
sustained winds of less than 62 km/h
―it has no eye, and does not typically have the
organization or the spiral shape of more powerful
storms
Tropical storm
― an organized system of strong
thunderstorms with a defined surface
circulation and maximum sustained
winds between 62-117 km/h
― the distinctive cyclonic shape starts to
develop, though an eye is usually not
present
Hurricane/Typhoon
―simply referred to as
“tropical cyclone”
―an system sustained
winds greater than
62-117 km/h
Climatology
―the scientific study of climate,
includes construction of computer-
generated models, and considers not
only present-day climates, their
effects and their classification, but
also ling-term climate changes,
covering both past climates and
future predictions
Primary Factors Involving Climate Classification
➢ Latitude (as a result of the Earth’s rotation and orbit)
➢ Ocean currents
➢ Large-scale movements of wind belts and air masses over
the Earth’s surface
➢ Temperature differences between land and sea surfaces
➢ Topography
➢ Continental positions
➢ Vegetation
Possible Causes of Climate Variations
➢ Fluctuations in the amount of solar radiation
reaching the Earth – for example, sunspot
➢ Variation in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun,
known as Milankovitch hypothesis
➢ Volcanic eruptions
➢ El Niño Phenomenon
➢ Cloud seeding
➢ Global effects of acid
rain from industrial
emissions
➢ Pollution
➢ Destruction of the rainforests
Any Questions???

The Atmosphere

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The Atmosphere

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THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS

―a layer or a set of layers of gases surrounding a

3. Polar Easterlies – produced if some of

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