THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE

The Earth and its Atmosphere

This chapter discusses:

1. Gases in Earth's atmosphere

2. Vertical structure of atmospheric pressure &

temperature

3. Types of weather & climate in the atmosphere

 Solar Energy as Radiation

Figure 1.1
Nearly 150 million kilometers separate the sun and earth, yet solar radiation drives earth's
weather.
Solar Energy
-Often called the solar resource or just sunlight, is a general term for
electromagnetic radiation emitted by sun.

Solar Radiation
- Is made up of the sun electromagnetic energy for various wave length.
Appropriately as radiation enters the earth atmosphere half is reflected
into space while the other half passes through earth surface.
Four Main Effects of Solar Radiation
1.Atmospheric effect including absorption scattering
2.Local Variation in the atmospheric such as water vapor , cloud pollution
3. Latitude and Location
4. Season and the year of time and day
 Earth's Atmosphere

Thin Gaseous envelope

Figure 1.2
99% of atmospheric gases, including water vapor, extend only 30 kilometer (km) above earth's
surface.

Most of our weather, however, occurs within the first 10 to 15 km.

COMPOSITION OF
ATMOSPHERE
• Nitrogen - 78%
• Oxygen - 21%
• Water Vapor – 0 to 4%
• Carbon Dioxide - .037%
• Other gases make up the rest
 Atmospheric Gases
Nitrogen, oxygen, argon,
water vapor, carbon dioxide,
and most other gases are
invisible.

Clouds are not gas, but

condensed vapor in the form
of liquid droplets.

Ground based smog, which

is visible, contains reactants
of nitrogen and ozone.

Ozone – is the primary ingredient of smog!

ATMOSPHERIC
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
• The warming of the atmosphere by its absorbing and
emitting infrared radiation while allowing shortwave
radiation to pass through. The gases mainly responsible
for the earth’s atmospheric greenhouse effect are water
vapor and carbon dioxide.
Greenhouse Effect
-way in which heat is trapped close to Earth's surface by “greenhouse
gases.” These heat-trapping gases can be thought of as a blanket wrapped
around Earth, keeping the planet toastier than it would be without them.
-The level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising
consistently for decades and traps extra heat near Earth's surface, causing
temperatures to rise.
 Aerosols & Pollutants

Human and natural

activities displace tiny
soil, salt, and ash
particles as suspended
aerosols,

as well as sulfur and

nitrogen oxides, and
hydrocarbons as
pollutants.

Figure 1.6
Atmospheric Aerosol
- Also known as particulate matter, as a suspension and fine solid particles
and liquid. Droplets in the air they may originate from both natural
sources such as sea salt, dessert dust, volcanic eruption and forest fire,
atmospheric sources such as fossils fuels and biomass burning.
Example of Aerosols
-Fog
-Mist
-Smoke
-Automobile exhaust
Pollutants
-A substance that pollute something especially water or the atmospheric

Types of Pollution
-Air pollution
-Noise pollution
-Water pollution
-Soil pollution
Density
-Is a mass per volume. Density is measure of how closely molecules are
patched together. The closer together they are the great density since air is
gas, molecules can patch tightly a spread out.
Air Pressure
- Because air is gas, its molecules have a lot energy. Air molecules move
a lot and bump into things. It is defined as the weight of air processing
against in a given area.
Vertical pressure variation
-is the variation in pressure as a function of elevation. The vertical
variation is especially significant, as it results from the pull of gravity on
the fluid; namely, for the same given fluid, a decrease in elevation within
it corresponds to a taller column of fluid weighing down on that point.
 Vertical Pressure Profile

Atmospheric pressure decreases

rapidly with height. Climbing to
an altitude of only 5.5 km where
the pressure is 500 mb, would put
you above one-half of the
atmosphere’s molecules.
Temperature Inversion
-When cold air is trapped at the ground under layer of warm air.
-Also called thermal inversion a reversal of normal behavior of
temperature in troposphere in the region of atmosphere nearest earth
surface in without cold air at the surface is overlain by a layer of warm
air.
TEMPERATURE INVERSION

• An increase in air temperature with height often called

simply an inversion.

• Radiosonde – an instrument that measures the vertical

profile of air temperature in the atmosphere (sometimes
exceeding 100,000 ft)
Atmospheric Layer
-Can be defined as blanket of gas on the surface on planet Earth
atmosphere is the mixture of gases that surrounds the planet
Atmospheric Layers

8 layers are defined by constant

trends in average air
temperature (which changes
with pressure and radiation),
where the outer exosphere is
not shown.

1. Troposphere
2. Tropopause
3. Stratosphere
4. Stratopause
5. Mesosphere
6. Mesopause
7. Thermosphere
8. Exosphere
Eight Layers of Atmospheric

1.Troposphere
- the lowest layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, and
contains 75% of the total mass of the planetary atmosphere,
99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols, and is
where most weather phenomena occur.
2. Tropopause
- is the atmospheric boundary that demarcates the
troposphere from the stratosphere, which are the lowest two
of the five layers of the atmosphere of Earth.
3. Stratosphere
- is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth,
located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere.
The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of
stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air
high in the sky and the cool layers of air in the low sky,
close to the planetary surface of the Earth.
4. Stratopause
- is the level of the atmosphere which is the boundary
between two layers: the stratosphere and the mesosphere. In
the stratosphere, the temperature increases with altitude, and
the stratopause is the region where a maximum in the
temperature occurs.
5. Mesosphere

-is the third layer of the atmosphere, directly above

the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere.
- coldest atmospheric layer surrounding the earth
- layer where most meteor burn up
6.Mesopause
- point of minimum temperature at the boundary
between the mesosphere and the thermosphere
atmospheric regions. Due to the lack of solar heating
and very strong radiative cooling from carbon dioxide,
the mesosphere is the coldest region on Earth.
7. Thermosphere
- is the layer in the Earth's atmosphere directly above
the mesosphere and below the exosphere.
- hottest layer on ionosphere absorbs the sun radiation
8. Exosphere
- the outermost layer of atmosphere
- is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet
or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally
bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the
molecules are essentially collision-less.
 Atmospheric Layers

Tropopause separates Troposphere from

Stratosphere. Generally higher in summer
Lower in winter.
Troposphere – Temp decrease w/ height
Most of our weather occurs in this layer
Varies in height around the globe, but
Averages about 11 km in height.
Figure 1.7
The troposphere is the lowest major atmospheric layer, and is located from the Earth's surface up to the
bottom of the stratosphere. It has decreasing temperature with height (at an average rate of 3.5° F per
thousand feet (6.5 ° C per kilometer); whereas the stratosphere has either constant or slowly increasing
temperature with height. The troposphere is where all of Earth's weather occurs. The boundary that
divides the troposphere from the stratosphere is called the "tropopause", located at an altitude of
around 5 miles in the winter, to around 8 miles high in the summer, and as high as 11 or 12 miles in
the deep tropics. When you see the top of a thunderstorm flatten out into an anvil cloud, like in the
illustration above, it is usually because the updrafts in the storm are "bumping up against" the bottom
of the stratosphere
 Atmospheric Layers

Stratosphere
Temperature inversion in stratosphere
Ozone plays a major part in heating the air
At this altitude

Figure 1.7
 Atmospheric Layers

Mesosphere
Middle atmosphere – Air thin, pressure low,
Need oxygen to live in this region. Air
quite Cold -90°C (-130°F) near the top of
mesosphere

Figure 1.7
 Atmospheric Layers

Thermosphere
“Hot layer” – oxygen molecules absorb
energy from solar Rays warming the
air. Very few atoms and molecules in
this Region.

Figure 1.7
 The Stratosphere and Ozone Layer
Above the troposphere is the stratosphere, where air flow is mostly horizontal. The thin ozone layer in the upper
stratosphere has a high concentration of ozone, a particularly reactive form of oxygen. This layer is primarily
responsible for absorbing the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. The formation of this layer is a delicate matter, since
only when oxygen is produced in the atmosphere can an ozone layer form and prevent an intense flux of ultraviolet
radiation from reaching the surface, where it is quite hazardous to the evolution of life. There is considerable recent
concern that manmade flourocarbon compounds may be depleting the ozone layer, with dire future consequences for
life on the Earth.
The Mesosphere and Ionosphere
Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere and above that is the ionosphere (or thermosphere), where many atoms are
ionized (have gained or lost electrons so they have a net electrical charge). The ionosphere is very thin, but it is where
aurora take place, and is also responsible for absorbing the most energetic photons from the Sun, and for reflecting radio
waves, thereby making long-distance radio communication possible.
Radio Wave
- called transmitter which is connected to an antenna connected to a radio
receiver which process the received signal.
Example of Radio Waves
1.Radio Broadcasting when audio is transmitted from one place to another
2.Cellular Networks
3.Radar
4.Satellite Communication
5.Navigation and Air Traffic control
Weather
-What you see outside on any particular day
-The connection in the air at a particular tie such as wind rain or
temperature
-Refers to the temperature condition of the atmosphere layer of air that
surround the earth
-A specific event like a rainstorm, a hot day that happened our a few
hours
Elements of Weather
1.Temperature
- the degree of hotness or coldness of object
- measure of hotness or coldness expressed in term of a secular scale includes
of Celsius
2. Air Pressure
- is the force per unit of area exerted on the earth surface by the weight of air
force the pressure
3. Humidity
- the amount of water vapor in air
4. Clouds
- a visible mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere, typically
high above the ground
5. Precipitation
- the action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution and any
liquid water that forms in the atmosphere to falls back to the earth.
6. Visibility
- the measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly
discerned.
7. Sunshine Duration
- the amount of sunshine the Earth receives (which is a characteristic
of solar radiation) greatly influences other elements of the weather like
ambient temperature, and more indirectly, humidity and air pressure.
8. Wind
- moving of air that is caused by difference in air pressure within on
atmosphere.
Climate
- the sum total of weather condition and variations over a large area in a period of
time

Types of Climate
1.Tropical
2.Day
3.Warm
4.Cold (snow forest)
5.Cold (climate)
Satellite Instruments
- routinely taking measurements of the Earth's surface temperature that are
essential for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. By measuring the
infrared emissions from the Earth surface it is possible to derive the temperature by
means of the Planck radiation law.
Example of Satellite instrument
-Weather forecasting
-Television Signal
-Amateur radio and internet communication
 Satellite Instruments
Meteorologists may study larger
weather patterns with space
borne instruments, while ground-
based tools often measure a
single point. (GOES SAT)

Meridians
Longitude
Latitude
Middle Latitudes – 30-50N
Middle-latitude cyclonic storm
Hurricane
Thunderstorm
Tornado – most violent disturbance in atms

Figure 1.10
Weather Map
- is a chart showing the current climate while allowing us to predict
future weather trends.
- the information is obtained from ground based weather station to
measure wind speed, humidity, surface temperature and precipitation.
 Surface Weather Map

Meteorologists generate
diagrams of observed
weather from ground-
based instruments.

This surface map overlaps

in time with the previous
satellite image.

Figure 1.11
Low
High
Fronts
Wind Direction
Impacts of Weather 1/5

Figure 1.12
Impacts of Weather 2/5

Figure 1.13
Impacts of Weather 3/5

Figure 1.14
Impacts of Weather 4/5

Figure 1.15
146 people die each year
In US from flash floods
Impacts of Weather 5/5

Lightning strikes earth

100 times every second

Figure 1.16