Atmosphere

An atmosphere (from Ancient Greek ἀτμός

(atmós) 'vapour, steam', and σφαῖρα
(sphaîra) 'sphere')[1] is a layer of gas or
layers of gases that envelop a planet, and
is held in place by the gravity of the
planetary body. A planet retains an
atmosphere when the gravity is great and
the temperature of the atmosphere is low.
A stellar atmosphere is the outer region of
a star, which includes the layers above the
opaque photosphere; stars of low
temperature might have outer
atmospheres containing compound
molecules.

The planet Mars has an atmosphere

composed of thin layers of gases.

The atmospheric gases around Earth

scatter blue light (shorter
wavelengths) more than light toward
the red end (longer wavelengths) of
the visible spectrum; thus, a blue glow
over the horizon is seen when
observing Earth from outer space.
 A diagram of the layers of
Earth's atmosphere

The atmosphere of Earth is composed of

nitrogen (78 %), oxygen (21 %), argon
(0.9 %), carbon dioxide (0.04 %) and trace
gases.[2] Most organisms use oxygen for
respiration; lightning and bacteria perform
nitrogen fixation to produce ammonia that
is used to make nucleotides and amino
acids; plants, algae, and cyanobacteria use
carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. The
layered composition of the atmosphere
minimises the harmful effects of sunlight,
ultraviolet radiation, solar wind, and
cosmic rays to protect organisms from
genetic damage. The current composition
of the atmosphere of the Earth is the
product of billions of years of biochemical
modification of the paleoatmosphere by
living organisms.[3]

The composition of gases in an

atmosphere can affect the color and
opacity of a planet's sky.[4][5]

Composition

The initial gaseous composition of an

atmosphere is determined by the
chemistry and temperature of the local
solar nebula from which a planet is
formed, and the subsequent escape of
some gases from the interior of the
atmosphere proper. The original
atmosphere of the planets originated from
a rotating disc of gases, which collapsed
onto itself and then divided into a series of
spaced rings of gas and matter that, which
later condensed to form the planets of the
Solar System. The atmospheres of the
planets Venus and Mars are principally
composed of carbon dioxide and nitrogen,
argon and oxygen.[6]

The composition of Earth's atmosphere is

determined by the by-products of the life
that it sustains. Dry air (mixture of gases)
from Earth's atmosphere contains 78.08%
nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon,
0.04% carbon dioxide, and traces of
hydrogen, helium, and other "noble" gases
(by volume), but generally a variable
amount of water vapor is also present, on
average about 1% at sea level.[7]

The low temperatures and higher gravity of

the Solar System's giant planets—Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—allow them
more readily to retain gases with low
molecular masses. These planets have
hydrogen–helium atmospheres, with trace
amounts of more complex compounds.
Two satellites of the outer planets
possess significant atmospheres. Titan, a
moon of Saturn, and Triton, a moon of
Neptune, have atmospheres mainly of
nitrogen. When in the part of its orbit
closest to the Sun, Pluto has an
atmosphere of nitrogen and methane
similar to Triton's, but these gases are
frozen when it is farther from the Sun.

Other bodies within the Solar System have

extremely thin atmospheres not in
equilibrium. These include the Moon
(sodium gas), Mercury (sodium gas),
Europa (oxygen), Io (sulfur), and Enceladus
(water vapor).
The first exoplanet whose atmospheric
composition was determined is HD
209458b, a gas giant with a close orbit
around a star in the constellation Pegasus.
Its atmosphere is heated to temperatures
over 1,000 K, and is steadily escaping into
space. Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and
sulfur have been detected in the planet's
inflated atmosphere.[8]

Structure of atmosphere

Earth

The atmosphere of Earth is composed of

layers with different properties, such as
specific gaseous composition,
temperature, and pressure.

The troposphere is the lowest layer of the

atmosphere. This extends from the
planetary surface to the bottom of the
stratosphere. The troposphere contains
75–80 % of the mass of the atmosphere,[9]
and is the atmospheric layer wherein the
weather occurs; the height of the
troposphere varies between 17 km at the
equator and 7.0 km at the poles.

The stratosphere extends from the top of

the troposphere to the bottom of the
mesosphere, and contains the ozone layer,
at an altitude between 15 km and 35 km. It
is the atmospheric layer that absorbs
most of the ultraviolet radiation that Earth
receives from the Sun.

The mesosphere ranges from 50 km to

85 km, and is the layer wherein most
meteors are incinerated before reaching
the surface.

The thermosphere extends from an

altitude of 85 km to the base of the
exosphere at 690 km and contains the
ionosphere, where solar radiation ionizes
the atmosphere. The density of the
ionosphere is greater at short distances
from the planetary surface in the daytime
and decreases as the ionosphere rises at
night-time, thereby allowing a greater
range of radio frequencies to travel greater
distances.

The exosphere begins at 690 to 1,000 km

from the surface, and extends to roughly
10,000 km, where it interacts with the
magnetosphere of Earth.

Pressure

Atmospheric pressure is the force (per

unit-area) perpendicular to a unit-area of
planetary surface, as determined by the
weight of the vertical column of
atmospheric gases. In said atmospheric
model, the atmospheric pressure, the
weight of the mass of the gas, decreases
at high altitude because of the diminishing
mass of the gas above the point of
barometric measurement. The units of air
pressure are based upon the standard
atmosphere (atm), which is 101,325 Pa
(equivalent to 760 Torr or 14.696 psi). The
height at which the atmospheric pressure
declines by a factor of e (an irrational
number equal to 2.71828) is called the
scale height (H). For an atmosphere of
uniform temperature, the scale height is
proportional to the atmospheric
temperature, and is inversely proportional
to the product of the mean molecular
mass of dry air, and the local acceleration
of gravity at the point of barometric
measurement.

Escape

Surface gravity differs significantly among

the planets. For example, the large
gravitational force of the giant planet
Jupiter retains light gases such as
hydrogen and helium that escape from
objects with lower gravity. Secondly, the
distance from the Sun determines the
energy available to heat atmospheric gas
to the point where some fraction of its
molecules' thermal motion exceed the
planet's escape velocity, allowing those to
escape a planet's gravitational grasp.
Thus, distant and cold Titan, Triton, and
Pluto are able to retain their atmospheres
despite their relatively low gravities.

Since a collection of gas molecules may

be moving at a wide range of velocities,
there will always be some fast enough to
produce a slow leakage of gas into space.
Lighter molecules move faster than
heavier ones with the same thermal kinetic
energy, and so gases of low molecular
weight are lost more rapidly than those of
high molecular weight. It is thought that
Venus and Mars may have lost much of
their water when, after being
photodissociated into hydrogen and
oxygen by solar ultraviolet radiation, the
hydrogen escaped. Earth's magnetic field
helps to prevent this, as, normally, the
solar wind would greatly enhance the
escape of hydrogen. However, over the
past 3 billion years Earth may have lost
gases through the magnetic polar regions
due to auroral activity, including a net 2 %
of its atmospheric oxygen.[10] The net
effect, taking the most important escape
processes into account, is that an intrinsic
magnetic field does not protect a planet
from atmospheric escape and that for
some magnetizations the presence of a
magnetic field works to increase the
escape rate.[11]

Other mechanisms that can cause

atmosphere depletion are solar wind-
induced sputtering, impact erosion,
weathering, and sequestration—
sometimes referred to as "freezing out"—
into the regolith and polar caps.

Terrain

Atmospheres have dramatic effects on the

surfaces of rocky bodies. Objects that
have no atmosphere, or that have only an
exosphere, have terrain that is covered in
craters. Without an atmosphere, the planet
has no protection from meteoroids, and all
of them collide with the surface as
meteorites and create craters.

Most meteoroids burn up as meteors

before hitting a planet's surface. When
meteoroids do impact, the effects are
often erased by the action of wind.[12]

Wind erosion is a significant factor in

shaping the terrain of rocky planets with
atmospheres, and over time can erase the
effects of both craters and volcanoes. In
addition, since liquids can not exist
without pressure, an atmosphere allows
liquid to be present at the surface,
resulting in lakes, rivers and oceans. Earth
and Titan are known to have liquids at their
surface and terrain on the planet suggests
that Mars had liquid on its surface in the
past.
Atmospheres in the Solar System

Graphs of escape velocity against surface

temperature of some Solar System objects
showing which gases are retained. The
objects are drawn to scale, and their data
points are at the black dots in the middle.

Atmosphere of the Sun

Atmosphere of Mercury
Atmosphere of Venus
Atmosphere of Earth
Atmosphere of the Moon
Atmosphere of Mars
Atmosphere of Ceres
Atmosphere of Jupiter
Atmosphere of Io
Atmosphere of Callisto
Atmosphere of Europa
Atmosphere of Ganymede
Atmosphere of Saturn
Atmosphere of Titan
Atmosphere of Enceladus
Atmosphere of Uranus
Atmosphere of Titania
Atmosphere of Neptune
Atmosphere of Triton
 Atmosphere of Pluto

Outside the Solar System

Main article: Extraterrestrial atmosphere

Atmosphere of HD 209458 b

Circulation

The circulation of the atmosphere occurs

due to thermal differences when
convection becomes a more efficient
transporter of heat than thermal radiation.
On planets where the primary heat source
is solar radiation, excess heat in the
tropics is transported to higher latitudes.
When a planet generates a significant
amount of heat internally, such as is the
case for Jupiter, convection in the
atmosphere can transport thermal energy
from the higher temperature interior up to
the surface.

Importance

From the perspective of a planetary

geologist, the atmosphere acts to shape a
planetary surface. Wind picks up dust and
other particles which, when they collide
with the terrain, erode the relief and leave
deposits (eolian processes). Frost and
precipitations, which depend on the
atmospheric composition, also influence
the relief. Climate changes can influence a
planet's geological history. Conversely,
studying the surface of the Earth leads to
an understanding of the atmosphere and
climate of other planets.

For a meteorologist, the composition of

the Earth's atmosphere is a factor
affecting the climate and its variations.

For a biologist or paleontologist, the

Earth's atmospheric composition is closely
dependent on the appearance of life and
its evolution.
See also

Weather
portal

Atmometer (evaporimeter)
Atmospheric pressure
International Standard Atmosphere
Kármán line
Sky

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Further reading

Sanchez-Lavega, Agustin (2010). An

Introduction to Planetary Atmospheres.
Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1420067323.

External links

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