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    Layers of Atmosphere

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    taiba shams
    The document describes the five main layers of Earth's atmosphere: 1) The troposphere extends from the ground to about 10 km and contains nearly all weather and clouds. Air pressure drops and temperatures get colder with increased altitude in this layer. 2) The stratosphere extends from the top of the troposphere to about 50 km, contains the ozone layer, and gets warmer with increased altitude. Commercial jets fly in the lower stratosphere for its smoother ride. 3) The mesosphere extends from the stratosphere to 85 km, where temperatures once again get colder with altitude and contain the coldest temperatures on Earth. 4) The thermosphere extends from the mesosphere and contains the

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    Layers of Atmosphere

    Uploaded by

    taiba shams
    29 views1 page
    The document describes the five main layers of Earth's atmosphere: 1) The troposphere extends from the ground to about 10 km and contains nearly all weather and clouds. Air pressure drops and temperatures get colder with increased altitude in this layer. 2) The stratosphere extends from the top of the troposphere to about 50 km, contains the ozone layer, and gets warmer with increased altitude. Commercial jets fly in the lower stratosphere for its smoother ride. 3) The mesosphere extends from the stratosphere to 85 km, where temperatures once again get colder with altitude and contain the coldest temperatures on Earth. 4) The thermosphere extends from the mesosphere and contains the

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    The document describes the five main layers of Earth's atmosphere: 1) The troposphere extends from the ground to about 10 km and contains nearly all weather and clouds. Air pressure drops and temperatures get colder with increased altitude in this layer. 2) The stratosphere extends from the top of the troposphere to about 50 km, contains the ozone layer, and gets warmer with increased altitude. Commercial jets fly in the lower stratosphere for its smoother ride. 3) The mesosphere extends from the stratosphere to 85 km, where temperatures once again get colder with altitude and contain the coldest temperatures on Earth. 4) The thermosphere extends from the mesosphere and contains the

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    29 views1 page

    Layers of Atmosphere

    Uploaded by

    taiba shams
    The document describes the five main layers of Earth's atmosphere: 1) The troposphere extends from the ground to about 10 km and contains nearly all weather and clouds. Air pressure drops and temperatures get colder with increased altitude in this layer. 2) The stratosphere extends from the top of the troposphere to about 50 km, contains the ozone layer, and gets warmer with increased altitude. Commercial jets fly in the lower stratosphere for its smoother ride. 3) The mesosphere extends from the stratosphere to 85 km, where temperatures once again get colder with altitude and contain the coldest temperatures on Earth. 4) The thermosphere extends from the mesosphere and contains the

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Troposphere

    The troposphere is the lowest layer of our atmosphere. Starting at ground level, it extends
    upward to about 10 km (6.2 miles or about 33,000 feet) above sea level. We humans live in the
    troposphere, and nearly all weather occurs in this lowest layer. Most clouds appear here, mainly
    because 99% of the water vapour in the atmosphere is found in the troposphere. Air pressure
    drops, and temperatures get colder, as you climb higher in the troposphere.

    Stratosphere

    The next layer up is called the stratosphere. The stratosphere extends from the top of the
    troposphere to about 50 km (31 miles) above the ground. The infamous ozone layer is found
    within the stratosphere. Ozone molecules in this layer absorb high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light
    from the Sun, converting the UV energy into heat. Unlike the troposphere, the stratosphere
    actually gets warmer the higher you go! That trend of rising temperatures with altitude means
    that air in the stratosphere lacks the turbulence and updrafts of the troposphere beneath.
    Commercial passenger jets fly in the lower stratosphere, partly because this less-turbulent layer
    provides a smoother ride. The jet stream flows near the border between the troposphere and the
    stratosphere.

    Mesosphere

    Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere. It extends upward to a height of about 85 km (53


    miles) above our planet. Most meteors burn up in the mesosphere. Unlike the stratosphere,
    temperatures once again grow colder as you rise up through the mesosphere. The coldest
    temperatures in Earth's atmosphere, about -90° C (-130° F), are found near the top of this layer.
    The air in the mesosphere is far too thin to breathe; air pressure at the bottom of the layer is well
    below 1% of the pressure at sea level, and continues dropping as you go higher.

    Thermosphere

    The layer of very rare air above the mesosphere is called the thermosphere. High-energy X-rays
    and UV radiation from the Sun are absorbed in the thermosphere, raising its temperature to
    hundreds or at times thousands of degrees. However, the air in this layer is so thin that it would
    feel freezing cold to us! In many ways, the thermosphere is more like outer space than a part of
    the atmosphere. Many satellites actually orbit Earth within the thermosphere! Variations in the
    amount of energy coming from the Sun exert a powerful influence on both the height of the top
    of this layer and the temperature within it. Because of this, the top of the thermosphere can be
    found anywhere between 500 and 1,000 km (311 to 621 miles) above the ground. Temperatures
    in the upper thermosphere can range from about 500° C (932° F) to 2,000° C (3,632° F) or higher.
    The aurora, the Northern Lights and Southern Lights, occur in the thermosphere.

    Exosphere

    Although some experts consider the thermosphere to be the uppermost layer of our atmosphere,
    others consider the exosphere to be the actual "final frontier" of Earth's gaseous envelope. 

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