Layers of the Atmosphere

Without our atm, t earnher would be no life on earth. ii gases make up the bulk of the earths standard atmosphere nitrogen (78%), and atomic number 8 (21%). Argon, degree Celsius dioxide and unhomogeneous trace gases make up the remainder. Scientists carve up the atmosphere into four classs according to temperature troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. The temperature drops as we go up through the troposphere, and it rises as we move through the attached layer, the stratosphere. The farther away from earth, the bladed the atmosphere gets. 1. TROPOSPHEREThis is the layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earths surface, extending up to close to 10-15 km in a higher place the Earths surface. It contains 75% of the atmospheres mass. The troposphere is wider at the equator than at the poles. Temperature and pressure drops as you go higher up the troposphere. The TropopauseAt the rattling top of the troposphere is the tropopause where the temperature reach es a (stable) minimum. both(prenominal) scientists refer the tropopause a thermal layer or cold trap because this is a point where rising water evaporation cannot go higher because it changes into ice and is trapped.If there is no cold trap, Earth would emancipate all its water Most of what we call weather occurs in the troposphere. The uneven horninessing of the regions of the troposphere by the cheer causes convection currents and winds. Warm credit line from Earths surface rises and cold demarcation in a higher place it rushes in to replace it. When warm stemma reaches the tropopause, it cannot go higher as the air preceding(prenominal) it (in the stratosphere) is warmer and lighter preventing often air convection beyond the tropopause. The tropopause acts like an covert barrier and is the reason why close clouds form and weather phenomena occur indoors the troposphere.The Greenhouse EffectHeat from the cheerfulness warms the Earths surface but most of it is rad iated and displace back into space. Water vapour and vitamin C dioxide in the troposphere trap some of this heat, preventing it from escaping and so keep the Earth warm. This trapping of heat is called the greenhouse effect. However, if there is besides such(prenominal) carbon dioxide in the troposphere past it will trap too much heat. Scientists be afraid that the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide would enhance the Earths surface temperature, bringing strong changes to worldwide weather patterns hifting in climatical zones and the melting of the polar ice caps, which could raise the level of the worlds oceans. 2. STRATOSPHERE This layer lies directly preceding(prenominal) the troposphere and is about 35 km deep. It extends from about 15 to 50 km above the Earths surface. The stratosphere is warmer at the top than the bottom. The bring low portion has a nearly unremitting temperature with height but in the upper portion the temperature increases with altitude becau se of absorption of sunniness by ozone. This temperature increase with altitude is the setback of the situation in the troposphere.The Ozone LayerThe stratosphere contains a thin layer of ozone molecules (with three oxygen atoms) which forms a protective layer protect life on Earth from the Suns harmful ultraviolet radiation. scarce this ozone layer is being depleted, and is getting thinner over Europe, Asia, North American and Antarctica. Holes be appearing in the ozone layer. 3. MESOSPHERE Directly above the stratosphere, extending from 50 to 80 km above the Earths surface, the mesosphere is a cold layer where the temperature principally decreases with increasing altitude.Here in the mesosphere, the atmosphere is very rarefied nevertheless thick passable to slow down meteors hurtling into the atmosphere, where they burn up, divergence fiery trails in the night sky. 4. THERMOSPHERE The thermosphere extends from 80 km above the Earths surface to out space. The temperature i s hot and may be as high as thousands of degrees as the fewer molecules that are present in the thermosphere take on extraordinary large amounts of readiness from the Sun.However, the thermosphere would actually feel very cold to us because of the probability that these few molecules will hit our skin and transfer enough energy to cause appreciable heat is exceedingly low. The thermosphere corresponds to the heterosphere , a zone where there is no uniform distribution of gases. In different words, the gases are not well-mixed instead they are stratified that is layered, in accordance to their molecular masses. In contrast, the gases in the homosphere (consisting of the troposphere, stratosphere and mesosphere) are uniformly distributed.