The Atmosphere

The primitive atmosphere of Earth may

have been similar to the composition of the
solar nebula from which Earth came from.
Because of its exposure to various interstellar
interactions, it eventually lost its primitive
features to space, and was further replaced by
compounds released from the crust and
impacts to comets and other planetary objects
rich in volatile materials.
Composition of the Atmosphere
The present atmosphere is composed of 78%
nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases such as
carbon dioxide, argon and water vapor. This
composition has significantly deviated from the
original profile of the primitive atmosphere. In the
early atmosphere, carbon dioxide was predominant
because it was one of the gases that escaped from the
interior of the Earth. As Earth’s atmosphere evolved,
its composition changed.
The present atmosphere consists of large proportions
of nitrogen. Nitrogen gas was thought to have come
from ancient planetary bodies that float during the
formation of the early Earth. Oxygen, on the other
hand, did not have the same levels as in the modern
atmosphere. It dramatically rose to its current levels
only after the first organisms were formed and
multiplied. It is said that these organisms were mostly
plants and thus would release oxygen into the
atmosphere, that were then captured stored by
oxygen-rich rocks.
Layers of the Earth
The atmosphere is composed of various layers
which differ in thickness, temperature and density.
It is these layers that protect Earth from many
external threats in space, such as impacts from
celestial bodies and radiation. The boundaries of
the different layers of Earth were also established
based on the temperature trends observed in each
layer.
Each layer of the atmosphere has a specific
protective function or importance in making the
surface of Earth habitable for organisms. It is
important then to improve our air quality by
minimizing the emission of air pollutants and to
avoid the destruction of the layers of the
atmosphere.
 Troposphere
The troposphere is considered to be the
densest among the layers of the atmosphere
because of the weight of all the layers
compressing it. Because temperature drops
with altitude, warm air on the surface of
Earth rises readily. Air molecules travel up
and back down causing the formation of
clouds and eventually rain from the
moisture in the air.
The vertical movement of air molecules also
form air pockets that cause turbulence in this
layer. Most types of clouds are in the
troposphere which can be as high as 12 miles
or 65 000 feet near the equator and 4 miles or
20 000 feet over the poles in winter. The
bottom of this layer is at Earth’s surface.
Almost all weather variations occur within the
troposphere. Most jets and planes would fly
slightly above the troposphere to avoid this
turbulence in weather.
Prior to reaching the next layer above the
troposphere is a thin buffer zone called
tropopause. It differs from the troposphere
in that it is relatively characterized by a
constant temperature.
 Stratosphere
The air in this layer has strong, steady horizontal
winds which are advantageous to long-distance
flights. At its upper region is the ozone layer at
about 6.2 miles or about 33 000 feet above Earth's
surface which contains a high concentration of
ozone.
There are different types of radiation that enters
Earth's atmosphere. One type, the UV-B, has been
known to be hazardous as it penetrates directly
through the protective layers of organisms,
damaging their DNA molecules and thus may
cause cancer.
Without the ozone layer, most of the life forms
on Earth would have perished. In the past
decades, the ozone layer has been observed to
be thinning. With further studies, it was
determined that certain sprays and chemicals
used in modern appliances use ozone-
depleting substances (ODS) that directly
destroy the ozone molecules in the ozone
layer. Most kind of ODS contain chlorine.
When these reach the stratosphere, contact
with the ultraviolet radiation causes the release
of chlorine which reacts with the ozone
molecules.
It is speculated that one chlorine atom can
actually destroy 100 000 ozone molecules.
Unlike other air pollutants, ODS are invisible
and odorless and hence were not immediately
recognized to be depleting the ozone layer.
Now that these have identified, ODS are
banned all over the world. Examples of ODS
are some hair sprays, insulating foams,
refrigerants and solvent. Above the
stratosphere is another thin buffer zone called
stratopause. This zone separates the
stratosphere from the mesosphere.
 Mesosphere
The mesosphere is the layer above the
stratosphere. The temperature here reaches a
minimum of -90ºC and is considered to be the
coldest layer. The mesosphere layer may be
the coldest because the heat from the sun is
decreased as absorbed by the gases.
Additionally, radiative emission of the carbon
dioxide in this layer allows for absorption of
solar heat and emits the heat back to space.
The mesosphere is important in protecting Earth
from planetary debris. This is where most of the
space rocks, like meteors get burned up or break
down into smaller pieces.
The thin buffer zone above the mesosphere is
called mesopause. This zone is actually the
coldest region in the entire Earth.
 Thermosphere
The thermosphere layer is the hottest because
it absorbs highly energetic heat from the sun.
Depending on the solar activity, the
temperature in this layer can rise higher and
reach beyond 1000°C. This extreme heat
causes the atmospheric particles to become
electrically charged making possible radio
waves to bounce off and be received beyond
the horizon.
The lower part of the thermosphere is the
ionosphere where most collision of oxygen and
nitrogen particles are electrically charged by the
solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of
energized, charged particles flowing from the sun.
The charged particles, called ions, consist of
electrons and protons with high kinetic energy and
the high temperature of the corona. The ions
which stream continuously from the sun's surface
are called solar winds. As the solar winds gets
blocked by Earth's magnetic field, some of the
ions are able to reach the ionosphere.
In the ionosphere, the solar wind ions collide with
Earth's oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The energy
released during the collisions causes a colorful
glow around the poles, called auroras. Auroras
occur at about 60-620 miles above Earth's surface.
The rate of intensity aurora depends on the strength
of the solar wind. Hence, during an intense solar
storm, more visible colorful lights can be seen in
the sky. The type of collision of electrically charged
particles also affects the colors that appear.
For example, collision with oxygen produces
yellow and green colors, while collision with
nitrogen produces red, violet, and blue colors.
The aurora may be visible in high altitudes of
Earth. If witnessed in the northern regions like
the Arctic and Northern Canada, it is called
"aurora borealis" or "Northern Lights." If seen
in the southern region like the Antarctica and
Southern Australia, it is called "aurora
australis."
There exists a thermopause above the
thermosphere which also serves a buffer effect
along with the exosphere and which separates
Earth's atmosphere from space. The exosphere
is not considered as another layer but it
separates Earth's atmosphere from
interplanetary space.