LAYERS OF AIR

 Layers  of air🌏🗺🌐  

  The atmosphere consists of layers based on temperature.  These layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.  Another region about 500 km above the earth's surface is called the exosphere.

  Different layers of the atmosphere.

  The atmosphere can be divided into layers based on its temperature, as shown in the picture below.  These layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.  Another region, which starts about 500 km above the earth's surface, is called the outer sphere.

•  Troposphere

  This is the lowest part of the environment - the part we live in.  It has most of our weather - clouds, rain, snow.  Temperatures in this part of the atmosphere get colder as the distance above the earth increases by about 6.5 ° C per km.  The actual change in temperature with altitude varies from day to day depending on the weather.

  The troposphere consists of about 75% of all air in the atmosphere and almost all of the water vapor (which forms clouds and rain).  A decrease in temperature with altitude is the result of a decrease in pressure.  If a parcel of air moves upwards, it expands (due to low pressure).  When the wind blows, it cools.  So the air above is cooler than the air below.

  The lowest part of the troposphere is called the boundary layer.  This is where the movement of air is determined by the characteristics of the earth's surface.  Turbulence occurs when the air moves to the surface of the earth, and when it is heated by the sun, the thermal energy that rises from the earth.  This turbulence redistributes heat and moisture within the boundary layer, as well as pollution and other components of the environment.

  The upper part of the troposphere is called the tropopause.  It is the lowest at the poles, where it is about 7-10 km above the earth's surface.  It is the highest (approximately 17-18 km) near the equator.

•   Stratosphere

  It stretches for about 50 km above the traps.  It contains most of the ozone in the atmosphere.  The increase in temperature with altitude is due to the absorption of ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun by this ozone.  The temperature in the stratosphere is highest at the summer pole and lowest at the winter pole.

  By absorbing dangerous UV rays, the ozone in the stratosphere protects us from skin cancer and other health hazards.  However, chemicals (called CFCs or freons, and halons) that were once used in refrigerators, spray cans, and fire extinguishers have reduced the amount of ozone in the stratosphere, especially at polar latitudes.  The so-called "Antarctic Ozone Hole" is formed.

  Humans have now stopped making the most harmful CFCs, which we hope will eventually heal in the 21st century, but it is a slow process.

•   Mesosphere

  The area above the stratosphere is called the Mesofer.  Here the temperature drops again with altitude, reaching at least -90 C at "Mesopause".

  Thermosphere and Ionosphere

  The thermosphere is located above the Mesopotamia, and is a region where temperatures rise again with altitude.  This increase in temperature is due to the absorption of energetic ultraviolet and X-ray rays from the sun.

  The region of the atmosphere above 80 km also causes an "ionosphere", because energetic solar radiation knocks electrons into molecules and atoms, converting them into "ions" with a positive charge.  The temperature of the thermosphere varies between night and day and between seasons, as do the number of ions and electrons.  The ion spare radio reflects and absorbs the waves, from which we receive shortwave radio broadcasts in New Zealand from other parts of the world.

•   Exosphere

  The area above 500 km is called Exosphere.  It consists mainly of oxygen and hydrogen atoms, but very few of them rarely collide - they follow "ballistic" speeds under the influence of gravity, and some of them are completely out.  Go out into space

•   Magnetic sphere

  The earth behaves like a big magnet.  It traps electrons (negative charge) and protons (positive), concentrating them in two bands about 3,000 and 16,000 kilometers above the earth - the Van Allen "radiation" belt.  This outer region around the earth, where charged particles rotate along the lines of a magnetic field, is called the magnetosphere.

 

  Read about our UV and ozone research

  Highlights

  Climate change information for climate solvers

  Helping you understand the science of climate change.  The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and with our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.

  Technicians are releasing a balloon on the louder.  The attached chemical sensors will measure the vertical ozone profile to an altitude of about 35 km before descending.

  Layers of air.