Chapter Three: The Atmosphere and Its Phenomena - PDF

Chapter Three: The Atmosphere and Its Phenomena Weather and Climate Weather: 1. Definition: Weather refers to the current atmospheric conditions at a specific time and place. It includes factors such as temperature, wind speed, humidity, clouds, and precipitation (such as rain or...

Chapter Three: The Atmosphere and Its Phenomena Weather and Climate Weather: 1. Definition: Weather refers to the current atmospheric conditions at a specific time and place. It includes factors such as temperature, wind speed, humidity, clouds, and precipitation (such as rain or snow). 2. Rapid Changes: Weather can change quickly over short periods of time, and it can vary from day to day or even within hours. 3. Measurements: Weather measurements consist of the daily information available about the state of the atmosphere, such as temperature forecasts, wind speed, and the chance of precipitation.. Climate: 1. Definition: Climate refers to the long-term weather patterns in a specific region. Climate is determined by analyzing weather data over extended periods, such as years or decades. 2. Slow Changes: Climate changes slowly over long periods of time. There may be extreme climate changes over epochs, but they are not as noticeable over short periods of a few days. 3. Measurements: Climate measurement involves collecting long-term data about average temperatures, rainfall amounts, and timing of precipitation over years or decades Layers of Atmosphere The atmosphere has five distinct layers that are determined by the changes in temperature that happen with increasing altitude. Layers of Earth’s atmosphere are divided into five different layers as: 1.Thermosphere 2.Mesosphere 3.Stratosphere 4.Troposphere 5.Exosphere Troposphere The troposphere is the lowest layer in the climate. It stretches out upward to about 10kms above ocean level beginning from ground level. The most minimal piece of the lower atmosphere is known as the limit layer and the highest layer is the tropopause. The troposphere contains 75% of all air in the environment. Most mists show up in this layer on the grounds that 99% of the water fume in the environment is found here. Temperature and pneumatic force drop as you go higher in the lower atmosphere. At the point when a bundle of air moves upwards, it grows. At the point when the air grows it cools. Because of this explanation, the base of the troposphere is hotter than its base on the grounds that the air in the outside of the Earth retains the sun’s energy, gets warmed up and moves upward because of which it chills off. Stratosphere Over the lower atmosphere lies the stratosphere. It reaches out from the highest point of the lower atmosphere to around 50 km (31 miles) over the ground. The ozone layer exists in the stratosphere. Ozone particles in this layer retain high- energy bright (UV) light from the Sun and convert it into heat. Along these lines, in contrast to the lower atmosphere, the stratosphere gets hotter the higher you go! Mesosphere Over the stratosphere is the mesosphere and it reaches out to a stature of around 85 km (53 miles) from the beginning. Here, the temperature becomes colder as you ascend through the mesosphere. The coldest pieces of our climate are situated in this layer and can reach – 90°C. Thermosphere Thermosphere lies over the mesosphere and this is where the temperature increments as you go higher up. The temperature increment is the cause of the retention of vivacious bright and X-Ray radiation from the sun. However, the air in this layer is slight to the point that it would feel freezing cold to us! Satellites circle Earth inside the thermosphere. Temperatures in the upper thermosphere can go from about 500° C to 2,000° C or higher. The aurora, the Northern Lights and Southern Lights, happen in the thermosphere. Exosphere Exosphere is the vast wilderness of the Earth’s vaporous envelope. The air in the exosphere is continually yet slowly spilling out of the Earth’s climate into space. There is no obvious upper limit where the exosphere at long last blurs away into space. Ionosphere The ionosphere is anything but a particular layer not at all like different layers in the air. The ionosphere is a progression of areas in pieces of the mesosphere and thermosphere. It has high-energy radiation from the Sun that has thumped electrons free from their parent particles and atoms.