Atmosphere
"The World's Biggest Membrane"
Protection of all life from hazardous or deadly radiation from space (filter for
UV- and x-rays from sun).
Letting pass the vitally important sunlight to the surface of the continents and
oceans (energy source).
Protections from rapid colling at night and heating at day.
Makes possible a mean temperature on Earth's surface of +15 °C instead of -
18 °C as would be without atmosphere.
Transport of energy (warmth of air that can be felt and latent warmth of water
vapour) from the equatorial regions to medium and higher latitudes.
Transport of water vapour through dynamic processes of general air circulation
that determines precipitation.
Storage of huge amounts of nitrogen (important for plants).
Reservoir for carbon dioxide and oxygen.
Is part of different vital cycles of matter.
Dissipation and decomposition (oxidation, reaction with radicals, photolysis) of
natural and anthropogenic (man-made) emissions.
Protection from smaller meteorites that burn up by heating from the friction
when entering the Earth's atmosphere and can not reach the surface.
Atmospheric Properties
Vertical structure of the Earth's Atmosphere
Atmospheric Properties
The thin envelope of air that surrounds our planet is a
mixture of gases, each with its own physical properties.
Two elements, nitrogen and oxygen, make up 99% of the
volume of air.
The other 1% is composed of "trace" gases, the most
prevalent of which is the inert gaseous element argon.
The rest of the trace gases, although present in only
minute amounts, are very important to life on earth.
Two in particular, carbon dioxide and ozone, can have a
large impact on atmospheric processes.
Another gas, water vapor, also exists in small amounts. It
varies in concentration from being almost non-existent
over desert regions to about 4% over the oceans. Water
vapor is important to weather production since it exists
in gaseous, liquid, and solid phases and absorbs radiant
energy from the earth.
The word troposphere comes from tropein, meaning to turn or change. All of
the earth's weather occurs in the troposphere.
It extends from the earth's surface to an average of 12 km (7 miles).
The pressure ranges from 1000 to 200 millibars (29.92 in. to 5.92 in.).
The temperature generally decreases with increasing height up to the
tropopause (top of the troposphere); this is near 200 millibars or 36,000 ft.
◦ The temperature averages 15°C (59°F) near the surface and -57°C (-71°F) at the
tropopause.
◦ The layer ends at the point where temperature no longer varies with height. This area,
known as the tropopause, marks the transition to the stratosphere.
Winds increase with height up to the jet stream.
The moisture concentration decreases with height up to the tropopause.
◦ The air is much drier above the tropopause, in the stratosphere.
◦ The sun's heat that warms the earth's surface is transported upwards largely by
convection and is mixed by updrafts and downdrafts.
The troposphere is 70% and 21% . The lower density of molecules higher up
would not give us enough to survive.
Troposphere
Above the troposphere is the stratosphere,
where air flow is mostly horizontal.
The stratosphere lies above the troposphere
at 12 - 50 km.
It is characterized by an increase of ozone
with a maximum ozone concentration at
ybout 30 km of height.
This layer is primarily responsible for
absorbing the ultraviolet radiation from the
Sun.
Temperature also increases with height and
reaches 0 °c at about 50 km
The Stratosphere and Ozone Layer
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 mesosphere (50 - 85 km) is charaterized by a continuous decrease of temperature.
It reaches it minimum with almost -100 °C at about 80 km of height. This also is the upper
boundary of the mesosphere.
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.
In the thermosphere (85 - 500 km) no temperatures but only emittances may be measured
because of the very low densitiy of particles.
The structure of the ionosphere is strongly influenced by the charged particle wind from the Sun
(solar wind), which is in turn governed by the level of Solar activity.
The exosphere (> 500 km) starts depending on definition at 500 - 1000 km of height. Here,
pressure is so low that it can already be called vacuum.
The Mesosphere and Ionosphere
By international agreement and atmosphere model
has been accepted and is used as the basis for all
aircraft performance work.
It is known as the International Standard Atmosphere
and is generally referred to as the ISA or just the
Standard Atmosphere.
The ISA assumes the air acts as a perfect gas and the
effects of dust and water vapor are negligible.
The ISA datum is:
Reference pressure p0 = 101.325 kPa
Reference temperature T0 = 288.15 K
Reference density ρ0 = 1.225 kg/m3
The Standard Atmosphere Model
