What Is The Atmosphere?
The atmosphere is a collection of gases that make Earth habitable. It is the only thing that keeps us from burning up everyday, helps to bring the rain that our plants need to survive, not to mention it holds the oxygen that we need to breath. But little may you know our atmosphere is becoming little day by day.
Structure And Composition
The atmosphere consists of 4 layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere. And all of them have their different characteristics that make Earth livable. All of these layers are divided according to their major temperature changes.
- Troposphere 0 to 12 km : This is the one we live in and its where all the weather occurs. As height increases, temperature decreases. Because of the lithospheres heating coming from the sun it heats up the land, which also heats up the troposphere, causing temperature differences and weather. ~Tropopause - Located at the top of the troposhere. The temperature remains fairly constant here. This layer separates the troposphere from the stratosphere. We find the jet stream here. - Stratosphere 12 to 50 km : This layer is the layer that contains the ozone, which protects us from UV light. Which can be harmful to human skin if contacted with for a long time. In the lower part of the stratosphere the temperature stays pretty constant. Because of the ozone layer this causes a temperature increase in the top part of the stratosphere. - Mesosphere 50 to 80 km: This layer is the coldest region in the atmosphere. This layer protects Earth from meteoroids, they burn up in this area.The temperature decreases with the height, just like it does in the troposphere. - Thermosphere 80 km and up: The air is very thin in this layer, the temperature is very high in this layer because ultraviolet radiation is turned into heat. Thermosphere means " heat sphere". And these two sub layers are also part of the thermosphere layer. ~ Ionosphere: This is the lower part of the thermosphere. It extends from about 80 to 550 km. This layer generally helps radio communication from all the radio waves this layer receives. ~ Exosphere: The upper part of the thermosphere, it extends from about 550 km to thousands of kilometers. Air is very thin here. This is where satellites orbit the Earth. Composition: The atmosphere contains many gases, most in small amounts, including some pollutants and greenhouse gases. The most abundant gas in the atmosphere is nitrogen, with oxygen being the second one. And Argon being the third abundant gas in the atmosphere. ~ Nitrogen: 78% ~ Oxygen: 21% ~ Argon: 0.9% ~ Carbon Dioxide (Co2): 0.03% ~ Other: 0.07% |
Weather VS Climate
Weather is the state of the atmosphere at the present time. Climate is the atmospheric conditions averaged over a long period of time. Meteorologists study weather over periods of minutes to weeks or even months. While climatologists study climate over periods of months to centuries and beyond. And weather is natural, while climate can either be man or naturally made.
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Human Impact On Water
1. Ozone
- Humans have a significant impact on the ozone layer by polluting the air with chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, which are found in the many different things we use on a daily basis such as hair spray, air fresheners and fossil fuels like coal and oil. When these things are released into the atmosphere by doing everyday things like driving our cars, it eats away at the ozone layer that protects us from harmful UV radiation coming from the zone.
2. Climate Change: Natural vs. Man Made?
- Climate is usually defined as the "average weather" in a place. It includes patterns of temperature, pph (rain or snow), humidity, and seasons. The climate can affect every living thing and our health directly through increases in temperature. And sometimes climate change can cause economic losses. El Nino, natural or man made causes can change the climate in a place.
El Nino is a warm ocean current that develops off the W. Coast of South America and can cause short-term, worldwide climate changes. El Nino contributes to climate change because of the strong current that switches the temperature of the water and ocean breezes. Because of El Nino warm pool feeds thunderstorms above, it creates increased rainfall across the East-Central and Eastern Pacific ocean. And all of this current is moved by trade winds which distribute El Nino to different places. Trade winds slow, warm water stays off the coast of South America in the Americas it will get warmer and pph(precipitation) will increase, possible floods, Australia and Asia will be in a period of drought.
Natural climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Global warming is a very important ecological issue, and it has many negative effects on our environment. Global warming is also known as the greenhouse effect. The Greenhouse Effect is the absorption of energy radiated from the Earth's surface by carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere causing the atmosphere to become warmer. Examples of natural causes that cause natural change are ice ages and sun spot activity, nutation, and precession.
People are believing that we are causing climate changes by burning fossil fuels and cause catastrophic changes. And this type of climate is called man- made climate change, climate changed by people. And we contribute to this by putting pollution into the atmosphere. But the most used gas that goes into the atmosphere is Co2 or carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide referred to as " carbon emissions" released by burning fossil fuels, and its warming the atmosphere causing global climate changes.
But at the end both of these contribute to climate change. Most of the people in the world think we cause climate change, but I think not. Both of these types of climate changes affect us and other biotic factors. The real reason climate changes is by nature, that's my opinion. Because all we do is put Co2 into the atmosphere and nature does so much more than that like cause volcanoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms and other natural catastrophic events.
3. Pollution
- In everyday life we pollute all sorts of gases and toxic chemicals into our precious air. The most polluted gas in the atmosphere is carbon monoxide and dioxide, which comes from our cars we use everyday to go to places. And also these come from power plants, which we need to get electricity to use household items to live. As each day pass on by our ozone layer is being eaten away by all these gases in our atmosphere. We do have alternative ways to produce energy but they're either expensive or not in the right location.
- Humans have a significant impact on the ozone layer by polluting the air with chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, which are found in the many different things we use on a daily basis such as hair spray, air fresheners and fossil fuels like coal and oil. When these things are released into the atmosphere by doing everyday things like driving our cars, it eats away at the ozone layer that protects us from harmful UV radiation coming from the zone.
2. Climate Change: Natural vs. Man Made?
- Climate is usually defined as the "average weather" in a place. It includes patterns of temperature, pph (rain or snow), humidity, and seasons. The climate can affect every living thing and our health directly through increases in temperature. And sometimes climate change can cause economic losses. El Nino, natural or man made causes can change the climate in a place.
El Nino is a warm ocean current that develops off the W. Coast of South America and can cause short-term, worldwide climate changes. El Nino contributes to climate change because of the strong current that switches the temperature of the water and ocean breezes. Because of El Nino warm pool feeds thunderstorms above, it creates increased rainfall across the East-Central and Eastern Pacific ocean. And all of this current is moved by trade winds which distribute El Nino to different places. Trade winds slow, warm water stays off the coast of South America in the Americas it will get warmer and pph(precipitation) will increase, possible floods, Australia and Asia will be in a period of drought.
Natural climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Global warming is a very important ecological issue, and it has many negative effects on our environment. Global warming is also known as the greenhouse effect. The Greenhouse Effect is the absorption of energy radiated from the Earth's surface by carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere causing the atmosphere to become warmer. Examples of natural causes that cause natural change are ice ages and sun spot activity, nutation, and precession.
People are believing that we are causing climate changes by burning fossil fuels and cause catastrophic changes. And this type of climate is called man- made climate change, climate changed by people. And we contribute to this by putting pollution into the atmosphere. But the most used gas that goes into the atmosphere is Co2 or carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide referred to as " carbon emissions" released by burning fossil fuels, and its warming the atmosphere causing global climate changes.
But at the end both of these contribute to climate change. Most of the people in the world think we cause climate change, but I think not. Both of these types of climate changes affect us and other biotic factors. The real reason climate changes is by nature, that's my opinion. Because all we do is put Co2 into the atmosphere and nature does so much more than that like cause volcanoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms and other natural catastrophic events.
3. Pollution
- In everyday life we pollute all sorts of gases and toxic chemicals into our precious air. The most polluted gas in the atmosphere is carbon monoxide and dioxide, which comes from our cars we use everyday to go to places. And also these come from power plants, which we need to get electricity to use household items to live. As each day pass on by our ozone layer is being eaten away by all these gases in our atmosphere. We do have alternative ways to produce energy but they're either expensive or not in the right location.