Atmosphere in Motion Chapter 12

1
Atmosphere in MotionChapter 12

• By Amy Johnson

2
Atmosphere

• gases surrounding the Earth
• necessary for supporting life
• protects against harmful UV and X-ray radiation
• absorbs and distributes warmth

3
Galileo Galilei

• proved air must have weight and contain matter
• Weighed flask, injected air, and reweighed to
  find flask with injected air weighed more
• Air stores and releases heat, holds moisture, and
  can exert pressure

4
Composition of Atmosphere

• subject to the pull of gravity
• exerts pressure in all directions, therefore
  cannot be felt
• weight is equal to water over 10 m deep
• mixture of gases, liquid water, and microscopic
  particles of solids and other liquids

5
Gases of the Atmosphere

• Nitrogen most abundant (78)
• Oxygen necessary for human life (21)
• Variety of other gases in trace amounts
• water vapor is critical to weather (up to 4)
• Responsible for clouds and precipitation
• carbon dioxide allows plants to make food (.03)
• Absorbs heat and emits it back to warm Earth

6
Aerosols in the Atmosphere

• solids, such as dust, salt, and pollens and tiny
  droplets of acid
• dust comes from volcanoes and wind blowing across
  the soil
• salt results from wind blowing over the ocean
• pollen is released by plants
• burning coal in power plants also creates aerosols

7
Layers of the Atmosphere
based on temperature changes that occur with
altitude

• Upper Layers
• Mesosphere
• Ionosphere
• Thermosphere
• Exosphere

• Lower Layers
• Troposphere
• Stratosphere

8
Troposphere

• closest to the Earth (about 10 km)
• contains about ¾ of Earths entire atmosphere
  including clouds and weather
• about 50 of Suns energy passes through
• Earths surface heats by conduction
• the farther from the surface you get, the cooler
  it becomes

9
Stratosphere

• above troposphere (10 km 50 km)
• contains most of the ozone
• Absorbs ultraviolet radiation to warm area
• As you go up, you get warmer
• without ozone, the UV radiation would reach Earth
  and cause health problems

10
Mesosphere

• Extends 50km 85km above surface
• Contains very little ozone so temperature drops
  to the lowest in atmosphere

11
Ionosphere

• part of mesosphere and thermosphere
• due to intense interaction with the suns
  radiation
• reflects AM radio waves allowing long-distance
  communications possible
• static results when interaction between this
  layer and radiation is too active

12
Thermosphere

• reaches 85km 500km
• temperatures increase rapidly
• filters out harmful X-rays and gamma rays from
  the Sun

13
Exosphere

• outermost layer
• extends outward to where space begins
• no clear boundary to space

GREENHOUSE EFFECT
14
Earths Water

• 70 of Earths surface is water
• Stored throughout the land-ocean-atmosphere
  system in three different states
• Solid snow, ice, glaciers
• Liquid oceans, lakes, rivers
• Gas water vapor
• Water Cycle