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Atmospheric Structure

Atmospheric Structure. The atmosphere. The atmosphere is a thin blanket of gas that envelops the earth. The gases that make up the atmosphere are held close to the earth by the pull of gravity.

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Atmospheric Structure

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  1. Atmospheric Structure

  2. The atmosphere • The atmosphere is a thin blanket of gas that envelops the earth. • The gases that make up the atmosphere are held close to the earth by the pull of gravity. • With increasing distance from the earth’s surface, the temperature, density, and composition of the atmosphere gradually change • On the basis of air temperature, the atmosphere can be divided vertically into four major layers.

  3. Atmospheric structure

  4. Troposphere • The troposphere is the layer from the earth’s surface to the tropopause, which is at 10-15 km altitude depending on latitude and time of year. (Mt. Everest 8.85km) • As altitude increases, air temperature decreases at a rate of about 3.5o per 1000 ft. The tropopause has a temperature of about –57oC. • The lower part of the troposphere interacts directly with the surface of the earth–this part of the troposphere is generally called air. • The atmosphere in this layer is heated from below by convection and radiation from the earth’s surface. • Most of our weather occurs in the troposphere.

  5. Stratosphere • The stratosphere is the layer above the troposphere and extends to about 50km. • The temperature rises with increasing altitude, reaching a maximum of about –1oC at the stratopause. • The ozone layer is in the stratosphere. Ozone absorbs UV, causing the rising temperature with altitude in this layer. • The temperature structure keeps the air calm in this layer. (That’s why jet aircraft fly in the lower stratosphere!)

  6. Mesosphere • The mesosphere extends from the top of stratopause to ~80 km. • In the mesosphere, the temperature decreases with altitude.

  7. Thermosphere • The layer of air above mesosphere is called thermosphere. • In the thermosphere, temperature rises with altitude, caused by absorption of UV solar radiation by N2 and O2.

  8. The lower atmosphere • The troposphere and the stratosphere together are called the lower atmosphere. • The lower atmosphere account for 99.9% of total atmospheric mass • The lower atmosphere is the domain of main interest from an environmental perspective. • Ozone depletion (stratosphere) • Air pollution (troposphere)

  9. Ionosphere • Ionosphere is a region where ions and electrons are most abundant. • This region is located at altitude above 60km, therefore lie within the mesosphere and above.

  10. Ionosphere Ionosphere acts as a conducting layer in the upper atmosphere that would allow a transmitted electromagnetic signal to be reflected back toward the Earth.

  11. Ionosphere: Northern light (1)

  12. Ionosphere: Northern light (2) • Energetic events on the Sun can turn the solar wind into an intense solar "gale” which injects large numbers of energetic particles in the Earth's magnetosphere.

  13. Ionosphere: Northern light (3) • The charged particles travel along the field lines with so much energy that they penetrate the ionosphere, where they hit gas atoms and molecules. • These collisions give off energy that we see as colored light.

  14. vacuum h A B Mercury barometer atmospheric pressure The atmospheric pressure is the weight exerted by the overhead atmosphere on a unit area of surface

  15. Mass of the atmosphere Ps: the global mean pressure at the surface, Ps=9.84x104Pa. R=6400 km, the earth radius g=9.8m2/s, acceleration of gravity Results: ma = 5.2x1018kg

  16. Pressure profile

  17. Barometric law Where Ma: the molecular weight of air g: acceleration of gravity R: gas constant T: temperature z: altitude

  18. What fraction of total atmospheric mass is in the troposphere? The troposphere contains all of the atmospheric mass except for the fraction P(tropopause)/P(surface) that lie above the tropopause. P(tropopause) = 100 hPa P(surface)=1000hPa Result: Ftrop =0.90

  19. Units for pressure • International System of Units: Pascal (N/m2) • Hectopascal (hPa) • mm Hg or Torr • Millibar (mbar) • psi (lb/in2) 1 atm = 1.01325 x 105 Pascal (Pa) = 1.01325 x 103hPa 1 atm = 760 mmHg = 760 Torr 1 atm = 1013.25 mbar 1 atm = 14. 7 psi

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