Atmosphere - layer of gases that surrounds a planet or moon held by gravity (ocean of air)

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Atmosphere - layer of gases that surrounds a
planet or moon held by gravity(ocean of air)
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Composition

• Atmosphere is a Mixture of
• Gases
• Dust
• Water vapor
• clouds and precipitation (rain)
• Absorbs heat and energy from the sun
• changes by time and place

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Ozone (O3) very rare and less stable type of
oxygen molecule that combines 3 atoms of oxygen

• Thin layer is found in the Stratosphere
• 3 ozone for every 10,000,000 air molecules
• Protects living things from harmful UV sun rays
• Manmade chemicals destroy ozone. Humans have
  thinned the layer above the Antarctic

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Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - naturally occurring gas in
our atmosphere

• Needed for photosynthesis to occur during the
  Carbon Cycle
• (photosynthesis) -plants take in (CO2), solar
  energy, and water and produce carbohydrate energy
  (sugars) and Oxygen

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Water Vapor - water in the atmosphere

• Key to understanding atmosphere processes
• Water vapor is the source of all precipitation
• Examples
• Clouds
• Fog
• Rain
• Snow
• Sleet
• hail

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Changing state of matter

• changing matter requires energy is transferred in
  the form of heat
• Latent heat heat used doesnt cause temperature
  change

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How water changes states of matter in the
atmosphere

• All water passes through the atmosphere as water
  vapor
• Water changes from one state of matter to another
• Solid to liquid
• Liquid to gas
• Solid to gas

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Greenhouse Effect The warming of Earths surface
and lower atmosphere when carbon dioxide, water
vapor and other gases absorb and reradiate (heat)
energy
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The atmosphere is divided into 4 main layers by
temperature

• Troposphere (bottom layer)
• Stratosphere (where important weather occur)
• Mesosphere
• Thermosphere (top layer)
• It generally gets colder as altitude increases
• Layers of the atmosphere are divided by
  temperature and height

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Layers of the atmosphere
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Weather the state of the atmosphere at any
given time and place

• Climate average weather conditions in an area
  over a long period of time

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Earth-Sun relationship

• Almost all energy that causes Earths weather and
  climate comes from the sun
• Unequal heating of Earth causes weather

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Heat transfer

• Heat transfers in 3 ways
• Conduction transfer of heat through molecular
  activity (high to low temp)
• Convection transfer of heat by mass movement or
  circulation within something
• Radiation transfer of heat in all directions

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Solar radiation when radiation strikes an
object, 3 things happen

1. Energy is absorbed by the object
2. Energy is transmitted and doesnt add to the
   object
3. Energy is reflected or bounced off the object

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• Reflection when light bounces off an object

Scattering when a large number of weaker rays
are produced traveling in different direction
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Other factors that influence energy coming into
the atmosphere

• Earths rotation spinning
• Earths revolution orbit around sun
• Earths orientation how Earth is tilted on its
  axis in relation to the sun

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Humidity the amount of water vapor in the air

• Relative humidity the amount of water in the
  atmosphere. of how much the air can hold
• Saturation when the atmosphere has reached its
  maximum amount of water vapor it can hold at a
  temperature and pressure

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Dew point

• The temperature when water vapor in the air
  condenses (changes) into a liquid from a gas

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Cloud Formation

• As air rises in the atmosphere it expands and
  cools
• When air reaches its dew point, clouds begin to
  form

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Air compression

• When air pressure increases, air temperature
  rises
• Motion of the gas molecules increases

• When air pressure decreases, air expands and
  temperature cools
• Motion of the gas molecules slows

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Orographic Lifting

• when air is forced to rise and cool due to
  terrain features such as hills or mountains

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Frontal Wedging

• When cold dense air acts as a barrier and causes
  warmer, less dense air to rise

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Convergence

• When air masses flow together from more than 1
  direction, air rises.

Low pressure is the result
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Localized convective heating

• Unequal heating of Earths surface causes pockets
  of air to be warmed more than surrounding air
• Causes pockets of air to rise, forming thermals

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Clouds 3 basic types are classified on form and
height
Cirrus
Cumulus
Stratus
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High Clouds

• cirrus
• cirrostratus
• cirrocumulus
• Thin and white
• Low precipitation
• May warn of approaching stormy weather

cirrocumulus
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Middle Clouds - alto

• Altocumulus large and dense
• Altostratus white or gray sheet covering sky
• Cumulonimbus -
• Infrequent light snow or drizzle

altocumulus
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Low clouds

• Stratus fog like layer covering sky
• - Occasionally produce light precipitation
• Stratocumulus rainy clouds
• Nimbostratus main precipitation maker
• Cumulus - clouds with vertical development

Stratocumulus
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Fog cloud with base at or near the ground

• Form by
• Cooling air over a cold surface
• Evaporation when cool air moves over warm water
  (steaming)

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How precipitation forms

• Tiny cloud droplets grow in volume by about
  1,000,000 times.

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Cold cloud precipitation

• Ice crystals contact with cloud droplets causing
  them to freeze
• Causes ice to grow into snowflakes
• Rain often begins as snow high in the clouds

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Warm cloud precipitation

• Large droplets moving through the clouds collide
  and join (coalesce) with smaller droplets

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The type of precipitation that reaches Earths
surface depends on temperature in the lower
atmosphere

• Rain
• Snow
• Sleet
• Glaze
• Hail

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Atmosphere key ideas

1. Earths atmosphere is made up of a combination
   of gases. The major components of nitrogen,
   oxygen, and argon remain constant over time and
   space, while trace components like CO2 and water
   vapor vary considerably over both space and time.
   
2. The atmosphere is divided into the thermosphere,
   mesosphere, stratosphere and troposphere
3. boundaries between these layers are defined by
   changes in temperature and height
4. Pressure decreases exponentially with altitude in
   the atmosphere.
5. Our knowledge about the atmosphere has developed
   based on data from a variety of sources,
   including direct measurements from balloons and
   aircraft as well as remote measurements from
   satellites.