4.

4 The Earth’s Atmosphere

&
4.5 Global Wind Patterns

John O October 2021

 Composition of the
Atmosphere
Atmosphere: envelope of air
surrounding the earth and bound to
the earth by the earth’s
gravitational attraction.

Extends from the Earth’s surface

into space with decreasing density
with height. No real top.

¾ of the atmosphere by mass lies

roughly in the first 10km above the
Earth’s surface.

John O October 2021

 Atmospheric
Constituents
Gas elements

John O October 2021

 Atmospheric
Constituents
Gas compounds
Water vapour H2O 0<4%
Carbon dioxide CO2 0.041
Methane CH4 0.00017
Nitrous oxide N2O 0.00003
Ozone O3 0.00000002
Sulphur dioxide SO2
Nitrogen dioxide

John O October 2021

 Atmospheric
Constituents
CO2: a greenhouse gas (very effective
absorber and emitter in the infrared).
O3: good in stratosphere (protects from UV),
bad near the surface (corrosive to lungs and
more)
SO2: emitted by volcanoes. Atmospheric
particles and acid rain
NO2: produced by combustion. Acid rain
and smog.
Water vapor: Critically important!
– Clouds and precipitation
– Important way to move energy around
– Major greenhouse gas
Methane (CH4): major greenhouse gas

John O October 2021

 Atmospheric
Constituents
Non gases
● Hydrometeors -rain clouds, hail
● Particulates and aerosols
○ Aerosol is a liquid or solid dispersed in
a gas, usually air
● Particulates can be
○ Inorganic - soil, smoke, dirt, sea salt,
volcanic dust, surface acid aerosol
○ Organic - seeds, spores, pollen, bacteria

John O October 2021

 Atmospheric
Constituents

John O October 2021

 Why are particles in the
air important?
• Act as condensation and freezing
nuclei
– Water likes to condense on or
freeze on to particles
• Can absorb or scatter radiation
• Reduce visibility
• Can scatter solar radiation to space:
cool planet
• Can impact human health.
– Can irritate lungs, initiate asthma,
heart disease

John O October 2021

 The Origin of the
Earth’s Atmosphere

Still Many
Uncertainties ….

John O October 2021

 The Origin of the
Earth’s Atmosphere
About 4.5 billion
years ago, Earth
formed out of
nebula of gases
and dust that
were to become
the solar system

Small objects--called
planetoids-- accreted
or combined together
to build larger
objects…such as
planets
John O October 2021
 The First Atmosphere
The early atmosphere would have
been similar to the Sun - mainly
hydrogen and helium, but this
atmosphere was lost quickly for at
least two reasons:

1. The gravity of the modest size earth was

not strong enough to prevent such light
gases from escaping to space. Particularly
since the early earth was hot!
2. It appears that around 30 million years after
the earth’s formation, it was struck by a
large object…the size of Mars. The result:
the origin of the moon and loss of earth’s
early H, He atmosphere.

John O October 2021

 Formation of Moon
from the Debris of the
Collision

John O October 2021

 Earth as Hell

• The surface of the earth during this

period was extremely hot with
numerous volcanoes
• The earth was under near constant
bombardment by objects of varying
sizes
• Slowly, the earth started to cool
down and the second atmosphere
began to form.

John O October 2021

 Earth’s Second
Atmosphere

A new atmosphere was established

by the outgasing of volcanoes…the
mixture of gases was probably
similar to those of today’s volcanoes:
• H20 vapor (roughly 80%)
• CO2 (roughly 10%)
• N2 (few percent)
• Small amounts of CO, HCL, HS
(Hydrogen Sulfide), SO2, CH4
(Methane), Ammonia (NH3), and
other trace gases.

John O October 2021

 Earth’s Second
Atmosphere
• Virtually no oxygen in that second
atmosphere.
• Thus, no ozone layer, so ultraviolet
radiation flooded the earth’s surface.
• With a huge influx of water vapor
and the cooling of the planet, clouds
and earth’s oceans formed.
• At that time the sun was about 30%
weaker than today…why didn’t the
earth freeze over?
• The apparent reason: so much CO2
so there was a very strong
greenhouse effect.

John O October 2021

 The Rise of Oxygen and the
Third Atmosphere

• In the first two billion years of the

planet’s evolution, the atmosphere
acquired a small amount of oxygen,
probably by the splitting of water (H20)
molecules by solar radiation.
• The evidence of this oxygen is suggested
by minor rust in some early rocks.
• The oxygen also led to the establishment
of an ozone layer that reduced UV
radiation at the surface.
• With the rise of photosynthetic bacteria
(cyanobacteria) and early plants, oxygen
levels began to rise rapidly as did
indications of rust in rocks
• Between 2.5 billion years ago to about
500 mya, 02 rose to near current levels.

John O October 2021

 The Rise of Oxygen and the
Third Atmosphere

John O October 2021

 The Third Atmosphere

While O2 was increasing, CO2

decreased due to several reasons:

1. In photosynthesis CO2 is used to

produce organic matter, some of
which is lost to the system (e.g.,
drops to the bottom of the ocean
or is buried)
2. Chemical weathering, which
removes CO2

John O October 2021

 Chemical Weathering
• H20 + CO2 --> H2CO3 carbonic acid

• CaSiO3 + H2CO3 --> CaCO3 + SiO2 + H20

Silicate Rock Carbonate

• At first this happened without life, but

the process was sped up tremendously
by living organisms
• Marine organisms would incorporate
carbonate into their shells, which
would fall to the ocean bottom when
they died---thus, removing them from
the system for a long time.
• The bottom line…CO2 was being
removed from the system.
John O October 2021
 The Third Atmosphere
More Changes

• Sulfur compounds were taken out

of the atmosphere as acid rain and
were deposited on the ground as
sulfates.
• N2 gas increased slowly but
progressively since it was
relatively inert.
• Current composition of the
atmosphere was established
approximately a billion years
ago.

John O October 2021

 Snowball Earth
• With lower CO2 levels the earth became
more susceptable to ice ages when solar
radiation decreases due to orbital
variations,
• It appears that around 750-550 million
years ago the earth cooled down and
became nearly entirely glaciated.

John O October 2021

 How Did We Get
Un-frozen?
• Volcanoes were still putting CO2
into the atmosphere
• Weathering was greatly
reduced…since little liquid
water.
• So CO2 increased until the
greenhouse effect was so large
the earth warmed up.
• Once warming started it would
have happened very rapidly.

John O October 2021

 The Last 500 million
Years
• The climate has not been
constant, with warm periods
interrupted by ice ages.
• Much of the variability forced by
changing solar radiation due to
periodic changes in the earth’s
orbital characteristics and tilt
(Milankovitch cycles) and major
volcanic eruptions (putting out
massive CO2 that caused
warming.

John O October 2021

 The Earth has had
regular glaciations and
melt backs…Why?

John O October 2021

 Structure of the
Atmosphere

John O October 2021

The Vertical Structure
of the Atmosphere

• The Earth’s atmosphere is made of

distinct layers
• Complex variation of temperature
with height
• Main layers to know:
– Troposphere
– Stratosphere
– Mesosphere
– Thermosphere
 The Vertical Structure
of the Atmosphere

John O October 2021

 Troposphere
• Surface to roughly 10 km (~1000 hPa to ~
250 hPa)
• ~3/4 of mass of atmosphere in this layer
• Most weather occurs in this layer
• Temperature generally decreases with
height in this layer (by ~6.5C per km, 3.6 F
per 1000 ft)
• The top of troposphere is called the
tropopause. Midlatitude jet stream tends
to be strongest near the tropopause.
• Above the tropopause is the stratosphere.

John O October 2021

 Stratosphere
• 10-50 km above the surface
• Temperature constant or
INCREASING with height
• Stable (not a lot of vertical mixing)
and dry
• Only occasionally get overshooting
tops from convection pushing into this
layer

John O October 2021

 Why constant temperature
and warm with in lower
stratosphere?

• Absorption of solar radiation by the

stratospheric ozone layer

John O October 2021

 Stratospheric Ozone
Layer
• Maximum ozone (O3) between 20
and 30 km.
• Protects the surface from harmful
ultraviolet (UV) radiation
• Ozone is produced photochemically

John O October 2021

 Mesosphere (50-80 km)
• A second region of temperature
decline with height
• Why? Getting away from ozone
heating
• Noctilucent Clouds-ice coated
meteor dust

John O October 2021

 Mesosphere

• Ends at mesopause (~80 km ~.01

hPa), the coldest place in the
atmosphere ~-90C)

John O October 2021

 Thermosphere

• 80-140km
• Region of warming with height
• Warming produced by absorption
of shortest wavelength ultraviolet
components in upper troposphere
by 02, ), N, N2
• Aurora in this layer

John O October 2021

 Ionosphere

The ionosphere is the ionised part of the

Earth’s upper atmosphere, from about 48
km to 965 km altitude, a region that
includes the thermosphere and parts of
the mesosphere and exosphere. The
ionosphere is ionised by solar radiation.

John O October 2021

 A Brief Look at Air
Pressure and Air
Densisty
Gravity pulls gases toward earth's surface,
and the whole column of gases weighs 14.7
psi at sea level, a pressure of 1013.25 mb
or 29.92 in.Hg.
The amount of force exerted over an area
of surface is called Air pressure.
Air Density is the number of air molecules
in a given space (volume).
Atmospheric pressure decreases rapidly
with height. Climbing to an altitude of
only 5.5 km where the pressure is 500 mb,
would put you above one-half of the
atmosphere’s molecules.
John O October 2021
 A Brief Look at Air
Pressure and Air
Densisty

John O October 2021

 Global Wind Patterns

John O October 2021

 Wind results from the
Movement of Air from
High to Low Pressure
Zones
Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure
to an area of low pressure.

Pressure is force per unit area and so air pressure is the

weight (force) of a column of air above a particular
location, per unit area.

Air pressure therefore depends on altitude (higher up means

less air above), the average temperature of the air above the
particular location (hot air is lighter than cold air), and what
the air's composition is. Air with a large amount of water
vapor is less dense than dry air and also as elevation or
altitude increases, air becomes less dense.

John O October 2021

 Uneven Heating from
the Sun

Large global wind systems are created by the uneven

heating of the Earth’s surface. These global wind
systems, in turn, drive the oceans’ surface currents.

Unequal heating of the Earth’s surface forms large

global wind patterns. In areas near the equator, the
sun is almost directly overhead for most of the year.
Warm air rises at the equator and moves toward the
poles. At the poles, the cooler air sinks and moves
back toward the equator.
John O October 2021
 Warm air at the Equator Rises;
Cool Air at the Poles Sinks

John O October 2021

 Coriolis Effect

However, it is not this simple! Nothing ever is!

Global winds do not move directly from north to

south or south to north because the Earth
rotates. Winds in the Northern Hemisphere
appear to curve to ther right as they move. In
the southern hemisphere, winds appear to curve
to the left. This is known as the Coriolis effect,
which is the apparent shift in the path of any
fluid or object moving about the surface of the
Earth due to the rotation of the Earth.

The Earth spins fastest at the Equator (1,674

kilometers per hour) and slowest at the Poles
(.00008 kph)

John O October 2021

 The Coriolis Effect is also
Responsible for the Rotation of
Hurricanes
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia
/coriolis-effect/

In between these hurricane zones lies the tropical convergence zone which
is why It is why it is extremely unlikely that Ecuador has tornadoes or
hurricanes.

John O October 2021

 These Combined Factors
Generate the Global Winds

John O October 2021

 Trade Winds

Trade Winds – About 30° north and south of the equator, the warm,
moist air that rose vertically cools and begins to sink. Here the sky is
clear. There are few clouds and little rainfall. Winds are calm. These are
called the horse latitudes, because when food ran out, sailors had to
throw horses overboard. Deserts, such as the Sahara in Africa, are also
found at 30°N and 30°S. At the horse latitudes some of the sinking air
travels back toward the equator. The air moving back toward the equator
forms warm, steady winds, known as the trade winds.

The rising air at the equatorial regions and the sinking air at about 30°N
and 30°S form huge convection current, known as a Hadley cell for the
English meteorologist who first proposed their existence to explain the
trade winds.

John O October 2021

 Prevailing Westerlies

Prevailing Westerlies – Some of the cool,

sinking air continues to move toward the North
and South. These winds are called the westerlies
and are located between 40°to 60° latitude in
both hemispheres.

John O October 2021

 Polar Easterlies

Polar Easterlies – In both hemispheres,

the westerlies start rising and cooling
between 50° and 60° latitude as they
approach the poles. They meet extremely
cold air flowing toward the equator from
the poles and form the polar easterlies.

John O October 2021

John O October 2021
 Don’t Forget Local Winds!

John O October 2021