Structure of the Atmosphere

1. Structure of the Atmosphere Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere

2. Troposphere The bottom layer in which we live, where temperature decreases with an increase in altitude, is the troposphere. The term literally means the region where air “turns over,” a reverence to the turbulent weather in this lowermost zone. The troposphere is the chief focus of meteorologists, because it si in this layer that essentially all important weather phenomena occur. The thickness of the troposphere is not the same everywhere; it varies with latitude and the season. The outer boundary of the troposphere is the tropopause.

3. Stratosphere Beyond the tropopause is the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, the temperature remains constant to a height of about 20 kilometers and then begins a gradual increase that continues until the stratopause, at a height of about 50 kilometers above Earth’s surface. Below the tropopause, atmospheric properties like temperature and humidity are readily transferred by large-scale turbulence and mixing. Above the tropopause, in the stratosphere, they are not. The reason for the increased temperatures in the stratosphere is that the atmosphere’s ozone is concentrated in this layer. The ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation fro the sun. As a consequence, the stratosphere is heated.

6. Mesosphere In the third layer, the mesosphere, temperatures again decrease with height until, at the mesopause, approximately 80 kilometers above the surface, the temperature approaches -90 degrees Celsius.

7. Thermosphere The fourth layer extends outward from the mesopause and has no well-defined upper limit. It is the thermosphere, a layer that contains only a minute fraction of the atmosphere’s mass. In the extremely rarefied air of this outermost layer, temperatures again increase due to the absorption of very short-wave, high-energy solar radiation by atoms of oxygen and nitrogen.

8. Thermosphere, continued Temperatures rise to extremely high values of more than 1000 degrees Celsius in the thermosphere. But such temperatures are not comparable to those experienced near Earth’s surface. Temperature is defined in terms of the average speed at which molecules move. Since the gases of the thermosphere are moving at very high speeds, the temperature is very high. But the gases are so sparse that collectively, they possess only an insignificant quantity of heat. If an astronaut inside a satellite orbiting the Earth were to expose his or her hand, it would not feel hot.