Composition of Earth's Atmosphere

The early Greeks considered "air" to be one of four elementary substances; along with earth, fire, and
water, air was viewed as a fundamental component of the universe. By the early 1800s, however,
scientists such as John Dalton recognized that the atmosphere was in fact composed of several
chemically distinct gases, which he was able to separate and determine the relative amounts of within
the lower atmosphere. He was easily able to discern the major components of the atmosphere:
nitrogen, oxygen, and a small amount of something incombustible, later shown to be argon.

The development of the spectrometer in the 1920s allowed scientists to find gases that existed in much
smaller concentrations in the atmosphere, such as ozone and carbon dioxide. The concentrations of
these gases, while small, varied widely from place to place.

The graph indicates that nitrogen and oxygen are the main components of the atmosphere by volume.
Together these two gases make up approximately 99% of the dry atmosphere. Both of these gases have
very important associations with life. Nitrogen is removed from the atmosphere and deposited at the
Earth's surface mainly by specialized nitrogen fixing bacteria, and by way of lightning through
precipitation. The addition of this nitrogen to the Earth's surface soils and various water bodies supplies
much needed nutrition for plant growth. Nitrogen returns to the atmosphere primarily through biomass
combustion and denitrification.

Nearly all of the argon in Earth's atmosphere is radiogenic argon-40, derived from
the decay of potassium-40 in the Earth's crust. In the universe, argon-36 is by far the most common
argon isotope, being the preferred argon isotope produced by stellar nucleosynthesis in supernovas.

Argon is produced industrially by the fractional distillation of liquid air. Argon is mostly used as
an inert shielding gas in welding and other high-temperature industrial processes where ordinarily
unreactive substances become reactive; for example, an argon atmosphere is used in graphite electric
furnaces to prevent the graphite from burning. Argon is also used in incandescent, fluorescent lighting,
and other gas discharge tubes. Argon makes a distinctive blue-green gas laser. Argon is also used in
fluorescent glow starters.
Oxygen is exchanged between the atmosphere and life through the processes
of photosynthesis and respiration. Photosynthesis produces oxygen when carbon dioxide and water are
chemically converted into glucose with the help of sunlight. Respiration is a the opposite process of
photosynthesis. In respiration, oxygen is combined with glucose to chemically release energy for
metabolism. The products of this reaction are water and carbon dioxide.

The next most abundant gas on the table is water vapor. Water vapor varies in concentration in the
atmosphere both spatially and temporally. The highest concentrations of water vapor are found near the
equator over the oceans and tropical rain forests. Cold polar areas and subtropical continental deserts
are locations where the volume of water vapor can approach zero percent. Water vapor has several very
important functional roles on our planet. It redistributes heat energy on the Earth through latent
heat energy exchange. The condensation of water vapor creates precipitaion that falls to the Earth's
surface providing needed fresh water for plants and animals. It also helps warm the Earth's atmosphere
through the greenhouse effect.

The fifth most abundant gas in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide. The volume of this gas has increased
by over 35% in the last three hundred years (see Figure 7a-1). This increase is primarily due to human
induced burning from fossil fuels, deforestation, and other forms of land-use change. Carbon dioxide is
an important greenhouse gas. The human-caused increase in its concentration in the atmosphere has
strengthened the greenhouse effect and has definitely contributed to global warming over the last 100
years. Carbon dioxide is also naturally exchanged between the atmosphere and life through the
processes of photosynthesis and respiration.

Methane is a very strong greenhouse gas. Since 1750, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have
increased by more than 150%. The primary sources for the additional methane added to the atmosphere
(in order of importance) are: rice cultivation; domestic grazing animals; termites; landfills; coal mining;
and, oil and gas extraction. Anaerobic conditions associated with rice paddy flooding results in the
formation of methane gas. The average concentration of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide is now
increasing at a rate of 0.2 to 0.3% per year. Its part in the enhancement of the greenhouse effect is minor
relative to the other greenhouse gases already mentioned. However, it does have an important role in
the artificial fertilization of ecosystems.

Ozone's role in the enhancement of the greenhouse effect has been difficult to determine. Accurate
measurements of past long-term (more than 25 years in the past) levels of this gas in the atmosphere
are currently unavailable. Moreover, concentrations of ozone gas are found in two different regions of
the Earth's atmosphere.

Characteristics of the Earths Atmosphere

Temperature in the Atmosphere
The lowermost 12 to 18 km of the atmosphere, called the troposphere, is where all weather occurs
clouds form and precipitation falls, wind blows, humidity varies from place to place, and the atmosphere
interacts with the surface below. Within the troposphere, temperature decreases with altitude at a rate
of about 6.5 C per kilometer. At 8,856 m high, Mt. Everest still
reaches less than halfway through the troposphere. Assuming a
sea level temperature of 26 C (80 F), that means the
temperature on the summit of Everest would be around -31 C (-
24 F). In fact, temperature at Everest's summit averages -36 C,
whereas temperatures in New Delhi (in nearby India), at an
elevation of 233 m, average about 28 C (82.4 F).

At the uppermost boundary of the troposphere, air temperature

reaches about -100 C and then begins to increase with altitude.
This layer of increasing temperature is called the stratosphere.
The cause of the temperature reversal is a layer of
concentrated ozone. Ozone's ability to absorb
incoming ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun had been
recognized in 1881, but the existence of the ozone layer at an altitude of 20 to 50 km was not postulated
until the 1920s. By absorbing UV rays, the ozone layer both warms the air around it and protects us on
the surface from the harmful short-wavelength radiation that can cause skin cancer.

It is important to recognize the difference between the ozone layer in the stratosphere and ozone
present in trace amounts in the troposphere. Stratospheric ozone is produced when energy from the sun
breaks apart O2 gas molecules into O atoms; these O atoms then bond with other O2 molecules to form
O3, ozone. This process was first described in 1930 by Sydney Chapman, a geophysicist who synthesized
many of the known facts about the ozone layer. Tropospheric ozone, on the other hand, is a pollutant
produced when emissions from fossil-fuel burning interact with sunlight.

Above the stratosphere, temperature begins to drop again in the next layer of the atmosphere called
the mesosphere, as seen in the previous figure. This temperature decrease results from the rapidly
decreasing density of the air at this altitude. Finally, at the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere, the
intense, unfiltered radiation from the sun causes molecules like O2 and N2 to break apart into ions. The
release of energy from these reactions actually causes the temperature to rise again in
the thermosphere, the outermost layer. The thermosphere extends to about 500 km above
Earth's surface, still a few hundred kilometers below the altitude of most orbiting satellites.

Pressure in the Atmosphere

Atmospheric pressure can be imagined as the weight of the overlying
column of air. Unlike temperature, pressure decreases exponentially
with altitude. Traces of the atmosphere can be detected as far as 500
km above Earth's surface, but 80 percent of the atmosphere's mass is
contained within the 18 km closest to the surface. Atmospheric
pressure is generally measured in millibars (mb); this unit of
measurement is equivalent to 1 gram per centimeter squared (1
g/cm2). Other units are occasionally used, such as bars, atmospheres,
or millimeters of mercury.

At sea level, pressure ranges from about 960 to 1,050 mb, with
an average of 1,013 mb. At the top of Mt. Everest, pressure is as low as
300 mb. Because gas pressure is related to density, this low pressure
means that there are approximately one-third as many
gas molecules inhaled per breath on top of Mt. Everest as at sea level which is why climbers experience
ever more severe shortness of breath the higher they go, as less oxygen is inhaled with every breath.

Though other planets host atmospheres, the presence of free oxygen and water vapor makes our
atmosphere unique as far as we know. These components both encouraged and protected life on Earth
as it developed, not only by providing oxygen for respiration, but by shielding organisms from harmful
UV rays and by incinerating small meteors before they hit the surface. Additionally, the composition and
structure of this unique resource are important keys to understanding circulation in the
atmosphere, biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, short-term local weather patterns, and long-term
global climate changes.

Climate and weather

Earth is able to support a wide variety of living beings because of its diverse regional climates, which
range from extreme cold at the poles to tropical heat at the Equator. Regional climate is often described
as the average weather in a place over more than 30 years. A region's climate is often described, for
example, as sunny, windy, dry, or humid. These can also describe the weather in a certain place, but
while the weather can change in just a few hours, climate changes over a longer span of time.

Earth's global climate is an average of regional climates. The global climate has cooled and warmed
throughout history. Today, we are seeing unusually rapid warming. The scientific consensus is that
greenhouse gases, which are increasing because of human activities, are trapping heat in the
atmosphere.

Layers of the Atmosphere

The Troposphere: The Layer in Which We Live

The lowest layer of the atmosphere, which lies next to the Earth's surface, is called the troposphere. The
troposphere is also the densest atmospheric layer. It contains almost 90% of the atmosphere's total
mass! Almost all of the Earth's carbon dioxide, water vapor, clouds, air pollution, weather, and life-forms
are in the troposphere.
The Stratosphere: Home of the Ozone Layer

The atmospheric layer above the troposphere is called the stratosphere. Gases in the stratosphere are
layered and do not mix as much as gases in the troposphere. The air is also very thin in the stratosphere
and contains little moisture. The lower stratosphere is extremely cold. Its temperature averages -60C.
But temperature rises as altitude increases in the stratosphere. This rise happens because ozone in the
stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which warms the air. Almost all of the ozone in
the stratosphere is contained in the ozone layer. The ozone layer protects life on Earth by absorbing
harmful ultraviolet radiation.

The Mesosphere: The Middle Layer

Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere. The mesosphere is the middle layer of the atmosphere. It is
also the coldest layer. As in the troposphere, the temperature decreases as altitude increases in the
mesosphere. Temperatures can be as low as -93C at the top of the mesosphere.

The Thermosphere: The Edge of the Atmosphere

The uppermost atmospheric layer is called jhe thermosphere. Here, temperature again increases with
altitude because concentrations of-nttrogen and oxygen are high. Nitrogen and oxygen absorb solar
radiation and release thermal energy, which causes temperatures in the thermosphere to be l,OOOC or
higher.

The Ionosphere: Home of the Auroras

In the upper mesosphere and the lower thermosphere, nitrogen and oxygen atoms absorb harmful solar
energy. As a result, the thermosphere's temperature rises, and gas particles become electrically charged.
Electrically charged particles are called ions. Therefore, this part of the thermosphere is called the
ionosphere.