# Presentation: 054649

## TEMPERATURE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TEMPERATURE**

- AIR TEMP NORMALLY  DECREASES FROM THE EARTH’S SURFACE UP TO AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 11 km (7 mi.)
- THE RATE IN WHICH AIR TEMPERATURE DECREASES WITH HEIGHT IS CALLED THE TEMPERATURE **LAPSE RATE.**

## LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- BY: AG2(SW) LANE

## TEMPERATURE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TEMPERATURE**

- THE AVERAGE LAPSE RATE IN THE TROPICAL REGION OF THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE IS ABOUT 6.5 deg C FOR EVERY 1000 meters RISE IN ELEVATION OR ABOUT 3.6 deg F FOR EVERY 1000 ft.

## TEMPERATURE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TEMPERATURE**

- ON SOME DAYS, THE AIR BECOMES COLDER MORE QUICKLY AS WE MOVE UPWARD.  THIS WOULD INCREASE OR STEEPEN THE LAPSE RATE.
- ON OTHER DAYS, THE AIR TEMPERATURE WOULD DECREASE MORE SLOWLY WITH HEIGHT, AND THE LAPSE RATE WOULD BE LESS.

## TEMPERATURE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TEMPERATURE**

- OCASSIONALLY, THERE ARE REGIONS WHERE THE AIR TEMPERATURE ACTUALLY INCREASES WITH HEIGHT.  SUCH AN INCREASE IN AIR TEMPERATURE WITH HEIGHT IS CALLED AN INVERSION.   ***SO THE LAPSE RATE FLUCTUATES, VARYING FROM DAY TO DAY AND SEASON TO SEASON.***

## TROPOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TROPOSPHERE**

- THIS PART OF THE ATMOSPHERE (FROM THE SURFACE UP TO ABOUT 11 km) CONTAINS ALL OF THE WEATHER WE ARE FAMILIAR WITH ON EARTH**.  **ALSO, THIS REGION IS KEPT WELL STIRRED BY RISING AND DESCENDING AIR CURRENTS.

## STRATOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERE**

- JUST ABOVE 11 km THE AIR TEMPERATURE NORMALLY STOPS DECREASING WITH HEIGHT.  HERE THE LAPSE IS ZERO.  THIS REGION, WHERE THE AIR TEMPERATURE REMAINS CONSTANT WITH HEIGHT, IS REFERRED TO AS AN ISOTHERMAL (EQUAL TEMPERATURE) ZONE.
- THE BOTTOM OF THIS ZONE MARKS THE TOP OF THE TROPOSPHERE AND THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER LAYER, THE *STRATOSPHERE.*

## TROPOPAUSE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TROPOPAUSE**

- THE BOUNDARY SEPERATING THE TROPOSPHERE FROM THE STRATOSPHERE.
- THE HEIGHT VARIES.  IT IS NORMALLY FOUND AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS OVER EQUATORIAL REGIONS, AND IT DECREASES IN ELEVATION AS WE TRAVEL POLEWARD.

## TROPOPAUSE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**TROPOPAUSE**

- GENERALLY THE TROPOPAUSE IS HIGHER IN SUMMER AND LOWER IN WINTER IN ALL LATITUDES.

## STRATOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERE**

- IN THE STRATOSPHERE AT AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 20 km (12 mi), THE AIR TEMPERATURE BEGINS TO INCREASE WITH HEIGHT.  THIS REGION REPRESENTS AN INVERSION, WHICH, ALONG WITH THE LOWER ISOTHERMAL LAYER, TENDS TO KEEP THE VERTICAL CURRENTS OF THE TROPOSPHERE FROM SPREADING INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.

## STRATOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERE**

- EVEN THOUGH THE AIR TEMPERATURE IS INCREASING WITH HEIGHT, THE AIR AT AN ALTITUDE OF 30 km IS EXTREMELY COLD, AVERAGING -46 deg C (-51 deg F).

## STRATOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERE**

- AT THIS LEVEL ABOVE POLAR LATITUDES, AIR TEMPERATURES CAN CHANGE DRAMATICALLY FROM ONE WEEK TO THE NEXT AS A SUDDEN WARMING CAN RAISE THE TEMPERATURE IN ONE WEEK BY MORE THAN 50 deg C (90 deg F).

## STRATOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERE**

- SUCH A RAPID WARMING IS PROBABLY DUE TO SINKING AIR ASSOCIATED WITH CIRCULATION CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN LATE WINTER OR EARLY SPRING.

## STRATOSPHERIC OZONE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERIC OZONE**

- THE REASON FOR THE INVERSION IN THE STRATOSPHERE IS THAT THE GAS OZONE PLAYS A MAJOR PART IN HEATING THE AIR AT THIS ALTITUDE.
- RECALL THAT OZONE IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT ABSORBS ENERGENTIC ULTRAVIOLET (UV) SOLAR ENERGY.

## STRATOSPHERIC OZONE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERIC OZONE**

- SOME OF THIS ABSORBED ENERGY INCREASES THE MOTION (KINETIC ENERGY) OF THE OZONE MOLECULES, WHICH IN TURN PASS A PORTION ON TO OTHER MOLECULES DURING COLLISION.

## STRATOSPHERIC OZONE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERIC OZONE**

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**STRATOSPHERIC OZONE**

- THE INCREASED MOTION OF THESE GASES REPRESENTS A HIGHER TEMPERATURE, WHICH EXPLAINS WHY THERE IS AN INVERSION.
- WITHOUT AN OZONE PRESENT, THE AIR PROBABLY WOULD BECOME COLDER WITH HEIGHT, AS IT DOES IN THE TROPOSPHERE.

## MESOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**MESOSPHERE**

- LAYER ABOVE THE STRATOSPHERE, SEPERATED BY THE STRATOPAUSE.
- THE AIR LEVEL IS EXTREMELY THIN AND THE ATMOSPHERIC LEVEL IS QUITE LOW.

## THERMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**THERMOSPHERE**

- ABOVE ABOUT 85 km, THE AIR TEMPERATURE FIRST BECOMES ISOTHERMAL, THEN IT INCREASES WITH HEIGHT.  THIS NEW LAYER IS CALLED THE *THERMOSPHERE*.

## THE BOUNDARY THAT SEPARATES THE LOWER, COLDER MESOSPHERE FROM THE WARMER THERMOSPHERE.

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**MESOPAUSE**

## BELOW ABOUT 85 km THE COMPOSITION OF AIR REMAINS FAIRLY UNIFORM; IT IS KEPT HOMOGENOUS BY TURBULENT MIXING.

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**HOMOSPHERE**

## ABOVE 85 km, THE ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION VARIES WITH HEIGHT.

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**HETEROSPHERE**

## IONOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

**IONOSPHERE**

- NOT REALLY A LAYER, BUT RATHER AN ELECTRIFIED REGION WITHIN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE - _PRIMARILY THE THERMOSPHERE -_ WHERE FAIRLY LARGE CONCENTRATIONS OF IONS AND FREE ELECTRONS EXIST.