Lecture (Middle and Upper Atmosphere)

Middle and Upper
Atmosphere
Terms and Definitions
Atmosphere
– The mixture of gases, water droplets, and solid particles above the earth’s
surface
Weather
– Short-term atmospheric phenomena lasting from hours up to about a week
(e.g. thunderstorms, hurricanes, periods of high winds, drizzle)
Climate
– Long-term atmospheric conditions lasting from weeks to years (e.g. average
yearly Lubbock precipitation, global warming)
Meteorology
– The study of weather
Climatology
– The study of climate
Thickness of the Atmosphere
 How high is the atmosphere?
o No defined top
o 99.99997% of atmosphere is below 100 km (60 mi)
o Weather occurs in lowest 11 km (7 mi)
o Atmospheric depth is very thin relative to earth’s
horizontal distances
Composition of the Modern Atmosphere
The atmosphere today contains:

 Gases (permanent and variable)
 Water droplets (clouds and precipitation)
 Microscopic solid particles (aerosols)
The Permanent Gases
 Permanent gases form a constant proportion of the
atmosphere, and have long residence times
(thousands to millions of years)
The Variable Gases
Variable gases vary in atmospheric
concentration in both time and space
Water Vapor
 Water vapor (H2O) – Extremely important variable gas
with short residence time (~10 days)
 Water vapor is the invisible gaseous phase of water
(you can only see liquid water droplets!)
 Atmospheric concentration highest near ocean surface
in tropics (~4%)
 Atmospheric concentration lowest in deserts and at
high altitudes (near 0%)
Carbon Dioxide
 Carbon dioxide (CO2) – An important greenhouse gas
with concentration 0.0386% (386 ppm) and residence
time of 150 years
• Sources - 1) Plant and animal respiration

2) Volcanoes
3) Organic decay
4) Combustion
• Sinks - 1) Photosynthesis (plants)

2) The oceans
Ozone
 Ozone (O3) – A beneficial and harmful

variable gas
 O3 concentrations in the stratosphere (~16-50 km. ~10-30
miles above sea level) are relatively high (15 ppm), occurs
from natural chemical reactions
Absorbs UV radiation!!
 O3 concentration near earth’s surface is usually near zero, but

can increase to 0.15 ppm through chemical reactions in
polluted air
Irritant!!
Aerosols
Aerosols – Small solid particles (e.g. dust,
smoke, sea spray, volcanic ash)
 Typical concentration = 17,000/in3
 Typical diameter = 10 microns (0.00001 meter)
 Typical life span = days to weeks
 Mostly from natural sources
 Primary sinks include dry and wet deposition
 Act as cloud condensation nuclei (without
aerosols, there would never be clouds)
Aerosols
Haboob in Phoenix, AZ
Forest fire smoke in CA Eruption of Mount St. Helens

Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere
There are various ways to characterize the

vertical nature of the atmosphere
 Density profile
 Chemical profile
 Temperature profile (Most common)
 Electrical profile
The Density Profile
Density is defined as the amount of mass per

unit volume
Density of various materials

1) Water 1000 kg/m3
2) Steel 7800 kg/m3
3) Air (at sea level) 1.2 kg/m3
The Chemical Profile
Homosphere – The atmosphere below 80 km

(~50 miles)
 Permanent gases are in constant concentration
 Generally “atmosphere” refers to the homosphere
Heterosphere – Above the homosphere

 Lighter gases dominate (helium, hydrogen)
 No permanent gases
Layers in atmosphere
 Troposphere
 Stratosphere
 Mesosphere
 Thermosphere
 Exosphere
Troposphere
 Lowest layer of atmosphere
 Contains 75% of the atmosphere’s mass and 99% of its
water vapor & aerosols
 Begins at Earth’s surface and extends ~ 6.5-20 km, 4-12
miles
 Almost all weather occurs here
 Height varies at equator and poles. At equator, the height
is ~17-20 km, 11-12 miles.
 At poles it is under 6 km, 4 miles. Also varies with
season. Low in winter, high in summer.
Troposphere
 Next layer above the troposphere is the stratosphere
 Border between troposphere and stratosphere is called
the tropopause
 Lowest layer of troposphere that touches the Earth is
called the planetary boundary layer
Traveling up in the Troposphere
 Density of gases decrease with
height
 The air becomes thinner and
colder as you go upward
 Water vapor decreases with height
(water vapor condenses out)
 Pressure is greatest at sea level
and decreases with height
Troposphere Flow
 Wind/weather patterns generally move
from west to east (if interrupted, can go
from north to south or south to north)
Stratosphere
 Extends around ~50 km 31 miles above the Earth’s
surface (can be 6-19 km, 4 to 12 miles)
 Holds 19% of the atmosphere’s gases but very little
water vapor
Stratosphere Temperature
 Temperature increases with height
 Heat produced through the process of

Ozone formation
 Temperature goes from about -51 oC or -60

deg F (at the tropopause to a max of about -
15 oC, 5 deg F at the top of the stratosphere
Temp divide in the stratosphere
 Since the air in the stratosphere is

warmer at the top of the layer and
cooler at the bottom layer, there is no
“convection”
 There is no upward movement of gases
 But winds are fast! Moving at 320
kmph,199 mph: “Jet Streams”
Mesosphere
 Extends 31- 53 miles (50 – 85 km) above Earth’s surface
 Temp in this layer deceases as altitude increases
 Upper boundary is called the mesopause, the coldest naturally
occurring place on Earth with temps below -226 deg F
Hard to Study the Mesosphere

 Weather balloons and other
aircrafts cannot fly high
enough to reach the
mesosphere
 Satellites orbit above it,
cannot directly measure traits
 Use rockets to sample this
layer, but flights are brief
and infrequent
Mesosphere
 Most meteors vaporize here
 Some material from meteors linger so this layer will have a high
concentration of iron and other metals
 Can sometimes have clouds near the poles called “noctilucent
clouds”
Thermosphere
 Extends from about 56 miles (90 km) to a range of 311 to 621
miles (500- 1000 km)
 Right below the exosphere
 Boundary between the thermosphere and exosphere is called the
thermopause
The Thermosphere is HOT

 Temperatures climb QUICK in the lower thermosphere, then level off and
stay steady with increasing altitude
 Temp is hot due to solar activity
 Typically about 360 deg F hotter in daytime than night
 Temps in upper Therm can range from about 932 deg F to 2,000 deg F or
higher
Thermosphere to us?
 The thermosphere would feel cold to us, just a little below
freezing
 WHY?? The individual air particles can hold a lot of heat BUT
they are very few and very far apart
 There’s not enough kinetic energy between those particles to
make it seem hot to us
Thermosphere and Space
 Air density is SO low that most of this layer is what we consider
outer space
 The space shuttle and International Space Station both orbit Earth in
this layer
 X-ray radiation is absorbed here
Thermosphere Waves
 High-energy solar photons strip off
electrons from atoms in this layer and
create ions
 Just like the ocean, the thermosphere
has “waves” and “tides”
 These “waves” and “tides” move the
ions around and can create electrical
currents
The Aurora
 The “Southern and Northern Lights”
 Charged particles (ions) from space collide with molecules in
the thermosphere and “excite” them into a higher energy state
 Those excited molecules shed this excess energy by emitting
light
Exosphere
 The most outer layer

 Gradually fades into the vacuum of
space
 Air is extremely thin, gas atoms
BARELY collide
 Basically the same as outer space
Where does the exosphere start?
 When the sun is active around the peak of the sunspot cycle it can “puff
up” the thermosphere, which moves the boundary of where the
exosphere starts (thermopause)
 Sometimes the start of the exosphere will be at 620 miles, and
sometimes at 310 miles
 So the start really depends on how active the sun is
Is it part of our atmosphere?

 Scientists disagree whether its really a part of the Earth’s
atmosphere
 Some think the exosphere is just a part of space
 Other scientists do actually consider it part of our atmosphere
Where does the Exosphere end?
 No clear upper boundary
 Gradually fades into outer space
 Some consider the outermost limit
to be at about 120,000 miles,
which is about halfway to the
moon
Characterizing the Atmosphere Based on
Electrical Properties
The ionosphere is an atmospheric layer located
from the upper mesosphere into the thermosphere
 The ionosphere contains electrically charged particles called
ions due to UV radiation
 The ionosphere affects AM radio waves, absorbing them in
the day and reflecting them at night
 The ionosphere creates the northern lights (aurora borealis)
and the southern lights (aurora australis) through
interactions between the sun’s rays and earth’s magnetic field
Ionosphere
 The Ionosphere is a region of the
upper , from about 50 km to 450
km altitude, and includes the
thermosphere and parts of the
mesosphere and exosphere.
 Covers the portion of exosphere,
mesosphere and thermosphere.
 At day time it can stretch from 60
km up to 1000 km.
 Consists of D, E and F layer.
 High concentration of electrons.
 It controls radio signal effectively.
Phenomena in Ionosphere
 Sources of Ionization in  UV rays constantly hit to our
Ionosphere atmosphere.
 The energy radiated by UV rays
 Process of Ionization in Ionosphere or other sources collide with the
 Recombination in this Layer. particles forming the ionized
particles.
 Different Layers’ Characteristics  Radio signal entering to this
region, is getting refracted.
Recombination in this Layer

 Particles are constantly in
motion.
 In the process they also
recombine to get stable.
 But particles remaining in this
layer will be mostly ionized.
Different Layers’ Characteristics
 D Layer.
 E Layer.
 F Layer.
Ionosphere’s Effect in Radio
Communication
 Total Internal Reflection of Radio Wave.
 Formation of Skip Distance and Skip Zone.
 Ionosphere’s effect to increase the range of radio signal.
 Formation of Sporadic E and Sporadic F.
 About VHF Band
Advantages of ionosphere in arial
propagation
 D Layer Helps to Determine Lowest Usable Frequency(LUF).
 F Layer Helps to Identify Maximum Usable Frequency(MUF).
 Helps to change the Frequency at Day and Night.
 Helps to increase the range of HF Communication.

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Middle and Upper

The atmosphere today contains:

• Sources - 1) Plant and animal respiration

• Sinks - 1) Photosynthesis (plants)

 Ozone (O3) – A beneficial and harmful

 O3 concentration near earth’s surface is usually near zero, but

Forest fire smoke in CA Eruption of Mount St. Helens

There are various ways to characterize the

Density is defined as the amount of mass per

Density of various materials

Homosphere – The atmosphere below 80 km

Heterosphere – Above the homosphere

 Temperature increases with height

 Heat produced through the process of

 Temperature goes from about -51 oC or -60

 Since the air in the stratosphere is

Hard to Study the Mesosphere

The Thermosphere is HOT

 The most outer layer

Is it part of our atmosphere?

Recombination in this Layer

 F Layer Helps to Identify Maximum Usable Frequency(MUF).

 Helps to change the Frequency at Day and Night.

 Helps to increase the range of HF Communication.

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