ATMOSPHERE OF THE EARTH

The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases

surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's
gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing
ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat
retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature
extremes between day and night.

Atmospheric stratification describes the structure

of the atmosphere, dividing it into distinct layers, each with
specific characteristics such as temperature or composition.
The atmosphere has a mass of about 5×10 18 kg, three quarters of which is within about 11 km
(6.8 mi; 36,000 ft) of the surface. The atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner with increasing
altitude, with no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. An altitude of
120 km (75 mi) is where atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry of
spacecraft.

Gases that are most important to man are:

Nitrogen- a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions,
constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere.
Oxygen- the third most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen and helium and
- the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust, making up
almost half of the crust's mass.
Helium- a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert monatomic gas that heads the
noble gas group in the periodic table.

COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE

Air is mainly composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and
argon, which together constitute the major gases of the
atmosphere.

The remaining gases are often referred to as trace

gases, among which are the greenhouse gases such as water
vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
Filtered air includes trace amounts of many other chemical
compounds. Many natural substances may be present in
tiny amounts in an unfiltered air sample, including dust,
pollen and spores, sea spray, and volcanic ash. Various
industrial pollutants also may be present, such as chlorine
(elementary or in compounds), fluorine compounds,
elemental mercury, and sulfur compounds such as sulfur
dioxide [SO2].
LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
Troposphere
The troposphere begins at the surface and extends to between 9 km (30,000 ft) at the
poles and 17 km (56,000 ft) at the equator, with some variation due to weather. The troposphere
is mostly heated by transfer of energy from the surface, so on average the lowest part of the
troposphere is warmest and temperature decreases with altitude. The troposphere contains
roughly 80% of the mass of the atmosphere. The tropopause is the boundary between the
troposphere and stratosphere.

Stratosphere
The stratosphere extends from the tropopause to about 51 km (32 mi; 170,000 ft).
Temperature increases with height due to increased absorption of ultraviolet radiation by the
ozone layer, which restricts turbulence and mixing. While the temperature may be −60 °C
(−76 °F; 213.2 K) at the troposphere, the top of the stratosphere is much warmer, and may be
near freezing. The stratopause, which is the boundary between the stratosphere and mesosphere,
typically is at 50 to 55 km (31 to 34 mi; 160,000 to 180,000 ft). The pressure here is 1/1000 sea
level.

Ionosphere
The ionosphere, the part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation, stretches
from 50 to 1,000 km (31 to 620 mi; 160,000 to 3,300,000 ft) and typically overlaps both the
exosphere and the thermosphere. It forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical
importance because it influences, for example, radio propagation on the Earth. It is responsible
for auroras.

Exosphere
The outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere extends from the exobase upward. It is mainly
composed of hydrogen and helium. The particles are so far apart that they can travel hundreds of
kilometres without colliding with one another. Since the particles rarely collide, the atmosphere
no longer behaves like a fluid. These free-moving particles follow ballistic trajectories and may
migrate into and out of the magnetosphere or the solar wind.
CLOUD FORMATION
A cloud is a visible mass of water droplets
or frozen ice crystals suspended in the Earth's
atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or other
planetary body. Clouds are masses of cooled water
vapor floating in the atmosphere.

Types of Clouds
The most convenient method of classification of clouds is based on the altitude. The
major cloud types and their principal subdivision are as follows:

1. High clouds- the bases of these clouds are at an altitude above 6,000 meters or higher. They
are composed of ice crystals and are generally clean. The outline of the san or mood maybe seen
through the principal forms:

a. Cirrus- thin, feather-like clouds with a delicate appearance frequently arrange in bands
across the sky sometimes called marestales.
b. Cirrocumulus- like patches of cotton or a mass of small white flakes frequently in groups or
lines sometimes called mackerel sky.
c. Cirrostratus- whitish layer, like a sheet of veil giving the sky a milky appearance.
They often produce a halo around the sun of moon.

2. Middle clouds- found at heights ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 meters. The principal forms are:
a. Altocumulus- gray to bluish layers of clouds, often with lumpy appearance formed at a
high level.
b. Altostratus- thin gray to bluish layers of clouds.

3. Low clouds- range from near the surface to about 2,000 meters.
a. Stratus- low, uniform sheet-like cloud similar to fog but not resting on the ground.
b. Stratocumulus- large rounded clouds with a soft appearance, usually arranged in some
pattern with spaces in between.
c. Nimbostratus- low, shapeless, thick layers, dark gray in color, usually accompanied
by rain or snow.

4. Clouds with vertical development- called clouds of vertical development; these clouds are
related to one another and are associated with unstable air.
FORMATION OF PRECIPITATION
  Moisture is evaporated from the ocean

 Moisture rises in the air convection current

 The air cools as it rises

 Moisture condenses into rain

The Bergeron process

The Bergeron–Findeisen process (after Tor Bergeron and W. Findeisen), also known as
the cold rain or ice crystal process, is the formation of precipitation in the cold clouds of the mid
and upper latitudes by ice crystal growth. The equilibrium vapor pressure over water is greater
than the saturation vapor pressure over ice, at the same temperature. Therefore in a mixed phase
cloud, the liquid water will be out of vapor pressure equilibrium and will evaporate to reach
equilibrium. The water droplets will move toward the lower pressure over the ice and diffuse
onto the ice crystals. The vapor will be condensed and freeze onto the ice crystal, causing it to
grow larger.

-In order for the Bergeron Process to occur, supercooled water droplets and ice crystals
must be present together in the cloud.

-The Bergeron Process often results in precipitation. As the crystals grow and fall, they
pass through the base of the cloud, which may be above freezing. This causes the crystals to melt
and fall as rain. There also may be a layer of air below freezing below the cloud base, causing
the precipitation to refreeze in the form of ice pellets. Similarly, the layer of air below freezing
may be at the surface, causing the precipitation to fall as freezing rain. The process may also
result in no precipitation, evaporating before it reaches the ground, in the case of forming virga.

Collision-coalescence
-process occurs when the raindrops formed are warm clouds (above 0 degree Celsius ) where big
cloud droplets collide and join together with smaller droplets to form raindrops.

One theory explaining how the behavior of individual droplets leads to the formation of
clouds is the collision-coalescence process. Droplets suspended in the air will interact with each
other, either by colliding and bouncing off each other or by combining to form a larger droplet.
Eventually, the droplets become large enough that they fall to the earth as precipitation. The
collision-coalescence process does not make up a significant part of cloud formation as water
droplets have a relatively high surface tension.
Forms of Precipitation
SLEET - a wintertime phenomenon.
- Refers to the fall of small, clear to
translucent particles of ice.
Produced through:
1. a layer of air with
temperatures above freezing overlies
a subfreezing layer near the ground.
2. when the raindrops, which
are often melted snow, leave the
warmer air and encounter the colder
air below, they solidify and reach the
ground as small pellets of ice not
larger than the raindrops from which
they were formed.

HAIL - precipitation in the form of hard

rounded pellets or irregular lumps of ice.
Large hailstones often consist of a series
of nearly concentric shells of differing
densities and degrees of opaqueness.
- Have a diameter of about 1cm, but vary
in size from 5mm to more than 10cm in
diameter.
- Produce only in cumulonimbus clouds
where updrafts are strong and where
there is an abundant supply of super
cooled water.
Produced through:
First, rain is lifted above the
freezing level by the rapidly ascending
air
Second, small ice granules
grow by collecting super cooled
cloud droplets as they fall through the
clouds.

SNOW- most common form of solid

precipitation
- forms when falling ice crystals fail to
melt before reaching the ground
FOG
-clouds with its base at or very near the ground.
-While fog is a type of a cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more
generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often
generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from
nearby moist ground or marshes)

Characteristics

Fog forms when the difference between temperature and dew point is generally less than
2.5 °C or 4 F.

Fog begins to form when water vapor condenses into tiny liquid water droplets in the air.
The main ways water vapor is added to the air are: wind convergence into areas of upward
motion, precipitation or virga falling from above, daytime heating evaporating water from the
surface of oceans, water bodies or wet land, transpiration from plants, cool or dry air moving
over warmer water, and lifting air over mountains. Water vapor normally begins to condense on
condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. Fog, like its slightly
elevated cousin stratus, is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is
trapped underneath a warm air mass.
Visibility hazard

Shadows- Shadows are cast through fog in three dimensions. The fog is dense
enough to be illuminated by light that passes through gaps in a structure or tree,
but thin enough to let a large quantity of that light pass through to
illuminate points further on. As a result, object shadows appear as "beams"
oriented in a direction parallel to the light source. These voluminous shadows
are due to the same cause as crepuscular rays, which are the shadows of
clouds, but in this case, they are the shadows of solid objects.
Types of Fog
Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm
conditions with clear sky.

Ground fog is fog that obscures less than 60% of the sky and does not extend to the base
of any overhead clouds.

Advection fog occurs when moist air passes over a cool surface by advection (wind) and
is cooled.

Precipitation fog (or frontal fog) forms as precipitation falls into drier air below the
cloud, the liquid droplets evaporate into water vapor.

Upslope fog or hill fog forms when winds blow air up a slope (called orographic lift),
adiabatically cooling it as it rises, and causing the moisture in it to condense.

Valley fog forms in mountain valleys, often during winter. It is the result of a
temperature inversion caused by heavier cold air settling into a valley, with warmer air
passing over the mountains above.

Freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or
hard rime.

Frozen fog (also known as ice fog) is any kind of fog where the droplets have frozen into
extremely tiny crystals of ice in midair. Generally this requires temperatures at or below
−35 °C (−30 °F), making it common only in and near the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Artificial fog is artificially generated fog that is usually created by vaporizing a water
and glycol-based or glycerine-based fluid.

Garua fog is a type of fog which happens to occur by the coast of Chile and Peru.

Hail fog sometimes occurs in the vicinity of significant hail accumulations due to
decreased temperature and increased moisture leading to saturation in a very shallow
layer near the surface.

Ice fog or pogonip is rare, but can occur when temperatures are below -40 °C (-40 °F),
when ice crystals freeze while suspended in the air, then stay.

CLIMATE AND WEATHER OF THE PHILIPPINES

Weather - condition of the atmosphere at a particular time
- Thought of in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness,
brightness, visibility, and wind on a certain day or hour.

Climate- long term manifestation of weather

- Statistical collective weather condition during a specified interval of time, usually
decades.
- Includes the long-term average conditions, the extremes as well as variability of
weather elements such as the highest and lowest temperatures, the greatest
amount of rainfall recorded, etc.

The Prevailing Wind Systems Over The Philippines Are As Follows:

a. THE NORTHERN MONSOON (NORTHEAST MONSOON)
-from November to February
b. THE SOUTHWEST MONSOON
-comes from the southwest
-prevails during the months of July, August and September.
c. THE TRADES OR TRADE WINDS
-prevailing wind systems over the tropics.
-come from the east
-prevail during the rest of the year and whenever the northeast
monsoon and southwest monsoon are weak.
Climates of the World
1. Tropical Climate- located within 30 degrees above and below the equator
-it is where the sun is nearly overhead at noon.
Includes:
 tropical rainforests  tropical desert
 savannah  tropical steppe
2. Middle Latitude Climate- located between 30 degrees and 65 degrees latitude
- it is where the average temperature is 10 degrees Celsius
Includes:
 Mediterranean  humid continental
 humid subtropical  dry continental
 marine west coast  subarctic
3. Polar Climate- close to the poles, the sun is not seen, bringing winter for as
long as 6 months
-the temperature of the warmest month is below 10 degrees Celsius and it
is known for its enduring cold.
Includes:
 Tundra
 ice cap