The Structure of the Earth’s Atmosphere - Cabrillo ….pptVIP

The Structure of the Earth’s Atmosphere * Chemical Composition * Vertical Layers * Coriolis Force * Hadley Cells Current Composition Atmospheric Composition today The Troposphere The surface layer up to about 30,000 ft Heated from below, by ground having absorbed solar energy Temperature highest near the ground, and falls all the way up to about 30,000 ft This means the possibility of convection, and therefore weather, as clouds form from rising air which cools by pressure drop, and clouds dissipate as air falls and heats. The Stratosphere Heated mostly by absorbing UV light from the sun by O3 (ozone), breaking it apart into O2 + atomic oxygen. When they recombine to make ozone, you get energy release and heating Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation, warming it up in the mid-upper parts of the layer. The reason for the increase in temperatures in the stratosphere with height relates to the wavelength of the incoming solar energy. At higher altitudes in the stratosphere, ozone very efficiently absorbs UV at wavelengths between 200 and 350 nanometers. At lower altitudes in the stratosphere, ozone absorbs UV at wavelengths between 44 and 80 nanometers but much less efficiently. This results in a rate of warming in the lower stratosphere that is less than the rate higher in the stratosphere, causing the temperature to increase with height. Therefore is hottest at the highest layers, cooler down where it contacts the cold upper troposphere At the bottom of the stratosphere, most UV has already been absorbed higher up, so further heating is very reduced, hence the temperature vs height is the opposite from the Troposphere This temperature inversion means no convection, no weather. The Mesosphere Above the Stratosphere, the mass of atmosphere is only 0.1% of the total, and the density is too low for ozone chemistry to heat the atmosphere Hence, we get the normal trend we saw in the troposphere re-asserting itself – lower temperature with lower press