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    Atmosphere

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    eternalnoire
    The atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and trace amounts of other gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. It is divided into distinct layers - the troposphere nearest the Earth's surface, where weather occurs; the stratosphere above that contains the ozone layer; the mesosphere and thermosphere above; and the exosphere, where the atmosphere blends into space. The composition and temperature of the atmosphere varies with altitude, with gases like oxygen decreasing higher in the layers and carbon dioxide and water vapor concentrated closer to the surface. Dust and other particles are also present in the lower atmosphere.

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    Atmosphere

    Uploaded by

    eternalnoire
    20 views2 pages
    The atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and trace amounts of other gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. It is divided into distinct layers - the troposphere nearest the Earth's surface, where weather occurs; the stratosphere above that contains the ozone layer; the mesosphere and thermosphere above; and the exosphere, where the atmosphere blends into space. The composition and temperature of the atmosphere varies with altitude, with gases like oxygen decreasing higher in the layers and carbon dioxide and water vapor concentrated closer to the surface. Dust and other particles are also present in the lower atmosphere.

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    The atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and trace amounts of other gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. It is divided into distinct layers - the troposphere nearest the Earth's surface, where weather occurs; the stratosphere above that contains the ozone layer; the mesosphere and thermosphere above; and the exosphere, where the atmosphere blends into space. The composition and temperature of the atmosphere varies with altitude, with gases like oxygen decreasing higher in the layers and carbon dioxide and water vapor concentrated closer to the surface. Dust and other particles are also present in the lower atmosphere.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    20 views2 pages

    Atmosphere

    Uploaded by

    eternalnoire
    The atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and trace amounts of other gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. It is divided into distinct layers - the troposphere nearest the Earth's surface, where weather occurs; the stratosphere above that contains the ozone layer; the mesosphere and thermosphere above; and the exosphere, where the atmosphere blends into space. The composition and temperature of the atmosphere varies with altitude, with gases like oxygen decreasing higher in the layers and carbon dioxide and water vapor concentrated closer to the surface. Dust and other particles are also present in the lower atmosphere.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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     Atmosphere is a mixture of different gases and it envelopes the earth all round.

    It contains life-
    giving gases like oxygen for humans and animals and carbon dioxide for plants.
     The air is an integral part of the earth’s mass and 99 per cent of the total mass of the atmosphere
    is confined to the height of 32 km from the earth’s surface.
     The air is colourless, odourless, intangible and can be felt

    COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE


    GASES-

     The Earth’s atmosphere comprises of gases. It has 78 percent Nitrogen, 21 percent Oxygen, 0.9
    percent Carbon Dioxide and other inert gases.
     The proportion of gases changes in the higher layers of the atmosphere in such a way that
    oxygen will be almost in negligible quantity at the height of 120 km. Similarly, carbon dioxide
    and water vapour are found only up to 90 km from the surface of the earth.
     Carbon dioxide is meteorologically a very important gas as it is transparent to the incoming
    solar radiation but opaque to the outgoing terrestrial radiation. It absorbs a part of terrestrial
    radiation and reflects back some part of it towards the earth’s surface. It is largely responsible
    for the green house effect. The volume of other gases is constant but the volume of carbon
    dioxide has been rising in the past few decades mainly because of the burning of fossil fuels.
     Ozone is another important component of the atmosphere found between 10 and 50 km above
    the earth’s surface and acts as a filter and absorbs the ultra-violet rays radiating from the sun and
    prevents them from reaching the surface of the earth.

    WATER VAPOUR

     Water vapour is also a variable gas in the atmosphere, which decreases with altitude.
     In the warm and wet tropics, it may account for four per cent of the air by volume, while in the
    dry and cold areas of desert and polar regions, it may be less than one per cent of the air.
     Water vapour also decreases from the equator towards the poles.
     It also absorbs parts of the insolation from the sun and preserves the earth’s radiated heat. It
    thus, acts like a blanket allowing the earth neither to become too cold nor too hot.
     Water vapour also contributes to the stability and instability in the air.

    DUST PARTICLES

     Atmosphere contains small solid particles which may originate from different sources and
    include sea salts, fine soil, dust and disintegrated particles of meteors.
     Dust particles are generally concentrated in the lower layers of the atmosphere; yet, convectional
    air currents may transport them to great heights.
     The higher concentration of dust particles is found in subtropical and temperate regions due to
    dry winds in comparison to equatorial and polar regions.
     Dust and salt particles act as hygroscopic nuclei around which water vapour condenses to
    produce clouds.

    STRUCTURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE


    THE TROPOSPHERE

     The troposphere is the lowermost layer of the atmosphere.


     Its average height is 13 km and extends roughly to a height of 8 km near the poles and about 18
    km at the equator.
     Thickness of the troposphere is greatest at the equator because heat is transported to great
    heights by strong convectional currents.
     This layer contains dust particles and water vapour.
     All changes in climate and weather take place in this layer.
     The temperature in this layer decreases at the rate of 1° C for every 165m of height.
    TROPOPAUSE

     The zone separating the tropsophere from stratosphere is known as the tropopause.
     The air temperature at the tropopause is about minus 800C over the equator and about minus
    45o C over the poles.
     The temperature here is nearly constant, and hence, it is called the tropopause.

    STRATOSPHERE

     The stratosphere is found above the tropopause and extends up to a height of 50 km.
     Stratosphere contains the ozone layer. This layer absorbs ultra-violet radiation and shields life
    on the earth from intense, harmful form of energy.

    MESOSPHERE

     The mesosphere lies above the stratosphere, which extends up to a height of 80 km.
     In this layer, temperature starts decreasing with the increase in altitude and reaches up to minus
    100° C at the height of 80 km.
    o MESOPAUSE- The upper limit of mesosphere is known as the mesopause.

    IONOSPHERE/ THERMOSPHERE-

     The ionosphere is located between 80 and 400 km above the mesopause.


     It contains electrically charged particles known as ions, and hence, it is known as ionosphere.
     Radio waves transmitted from the earth are reflected back to the earth by this layer.

    EXOSPHERE

     The uppermost layer of the atmosphere above the thermosphere is known as the exosphere.
     Whatever contents are there, these are extremely rarefied in this layer, and it gradually merges
    with the outer space.

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