SWK GEOGRAPHY NOTES CLASS 11

Chapter 8
Composition and Structure
of Atmosphere
Atmosphere
 Our planet earth is enveloped by a deep blanket of gases
extending several thousands of kilometres above its surface. This
gaseous cover of the earth is known as the atmosphere.
 Like land (lithosphere) and water (hydrosphere), the atmosphere
is an integral part of the earth.
 Compared to the earth’s radius, the atmosphere appears to be
only a very thin layer of gases. However, because of the force of
gravity, it is inseparable from the earth.

Atmospheric pressure:
 The air exerts pressure on earth’s surface by virtue of its
weight. This pressure is called atmospheric pressure.
Atmospheric pressure is the most important climatic element.
The atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1034 gm per square
centimeter

Role of Earth’s Atmosphere

 The atmosphere contains various gases like oxygen, carbon
dioxide, nitrogen etc.
 Plants require carbon dioxide to survive while animals and many
other organisms need oxygen for their survival. The
atmosphere supplies these life giving gases.

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 All life forms need a particular range of temperature and a

specific range of frequencies of solar radiation to carry out
their biophysical processes. The atmosphere absorbs certain
frequencies and lets through some other frequencies
 of solar radiation. In other words, the atmosphere regulates
the entry of solar radiation.
 The atmosphere also keeps the temperature over the earth’s
surface within certain limits. In the absence of the
atmosphere extremes of temperature would exist between day
and night over the earth’s surface.
 Harmful ultraviolet radiation would find its way through, if the
atmosphere (ozone in stratosphere to be specific) were absent.
 The atmosphere also takes care of extra-terrestrial objects
like meteors which get burnt up while passing through the
atmosphere (mesosphere to be precise) due to friction.
 Weather is another important phenomenon which dictates the
direction of a number of natural and man-made processes like
plant growth, agriculture, soilformation, human settlements,
etc. Various climatic factors join together to create weather.

Composition of Atmosphere

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 The atmosphere is a mixture of many gases. In addition, it

contains huge numbers of solid and liquid particles, collectively
called ‘aerosols’.
 Some of the gases may be regarded as permanent atmospheric
components which remain in fixed proportion to the total gas
volume.
 Other constituents vary in quantity from place to place and
from time to time. If the suspended particles, water vapour
and other variable gases were excluded from the atmosphere,
then the dry air is very stable all over the earth up to an
altitude of about 80 kilometres.
 The proportion of gases changes in the higher layers of the
atmosphere in such a way that oxygen will be almost in
negligible quantity at the height of 120 km. Similarly, carbon
dioxide and water vapour are found only up to 90 km from the
surface of the earth.
 Nitrogen and oxygen make up nearly 99% of the clean, dry air.
The remaining gases are mostly inert and constitute about 1%
of the atmosphere.
 Besides these gases, large quantities of water vapour and dust
particles are also present in the atmosphere. These solid and
liquid particles are of great climatic significance.
 Different constituents of the atmosphere, with their individual
characteristics, are discussed below.

Oxygen
 Oxygen, although constituting only 21% of total volume of
atmosphere, is the most important component among gases. All
living organisms inhale oxygen. Besides, oxygen can combine with
other elements to form important compounds, such as, oxides.
Also, combustion is not possible without oxygen.

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Nitrogen
 Nitrogen accounts for 78% of total atmospheric volume. It is a
relatively inert gas, and is an important constituent of all organic
compounds. The main function of nitrogen is to control combustion
by diluting oxygen. It also indirectly helps in oxidation of
different kinds.
Carbon Dioxide
 The third important gas is Carbon Dioxide which constitutes only
about 03% of the dry air and is a product of combustion. Green
plants, through photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and use it to manufacture food and keep other bio-
physical processes going.
 Being an efficient absorber of heat, carbon dioxide is considered
to be of great climatic significance. Carbon dioxide is considered
to be a very important factor in the heat energy budget.
 With increased burning of fossil fuels – oil, coal and natural gas –
the carbon dioxide percentage in the atmosphere has been
increasing at an alarming rate.
 More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means more heat
absorption. This could significantly raise the temperature at
lower levels of the atmosphere thus inducing drastic climatic
changes.

Ozone (03)
 Ozone (03) is another important gas in the atmosphere, which is
actually a type of oxygen molecule consisting of three, instead of
two, atoms. It forms less than 00005% by volume of the
atmosphere and is unevenly distributed. It is between 20 km and
25 km altitude that the greatest concentrations of ozone are
found. It is formed at higher altitudes and transported
downwards.

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 Ozone plays a crucial role in blocking the harmful ultraviolet

radiation from the sun.
 Other gases found in almost negligible quantities in the
atmosphere are argon, neon, helium, hydrogen, xenon, krypton,
methane etc.

Water Vapour
 Water Vapour is one of the most variable gaseous substances
present in atmosphere – constituting between 02% and 4% of the
total volume (in cold dry and humid tropical climates respectively).
90% of moisture content in the atmosphere exists within 6 km of
the surface of the earth. Like carbon dioxide, water vapour plays
a significant role in the insulating action, of the atmosphere.
 It absorbs not only the long-wave terrestrial radiation (infrared
or heat emitted by earth during nights), but also a part of the
incoming solar radiation.
 Water vapour is the source of precipitation and clouds. On
condensation, it releases latent heat of condensation —the
ultimate driving force behind all storms.

Solid Particles
 The Solid Particles present in the atmosphere consist of sand
particles (from weathered rocks and also derived from volcanic
ash), pollen grains, small organisms, soot, ocean salts; the upper
layers of the atmosphere may even have fragments of meteors
which got burnt up in the atmosphere. These solid particles
perform the function of absorbing, reflecting and scattering the
radiation.
 The solid particles are, consequently, responsible for the orange
and red colours at sunset and sunrise and for the length of dawn
(the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise) and

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twilight (the soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below
the horizon, caused by the reflection of the sun’s rays by the
atmosphere. Dusk: the darker stage of twilight.). The blue colour
of the sky is also due to selective scattering by dust particles.
 Some of the dust particles are hygroscopic (i.e. readily absorbing
moisture from air) in character, and as such, act as nuclei of
condensation. Thus, dust particles are an important contributory
factor in the formation of clouds, fog and hailstones.

Structure of Atmosphere
The atmosphere can be studied as a layered entity – each layer
having its own peculiar characteristics. These layers are
systematically discussed below

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Troposphere
 It is the atmospheric layer between the earth’s surface and an
altitude of 8 km at the poles and 18 km at the equator.
 The thickness is greater at the equator, because the heated air
rises to greater heights.
 The troposphere ends with the Tropopause.
 The temperature in this layer, as one goes upwards, falls at the
rate of 5°C per kilometer, and reaches -45°C at the poles and -
80°C over the equator at Tropopause (greater fall in temperature
above equator is because of the greater thickness of troposphere
– 18 km). • The fall in temperature is called ‘lapse rate’. (more
about this in future posts)
 The troposphere is marked by temperature inversion, turbulence
and eddies.
 It is also meteorologically the most significant zone in the entire
atmosphere (Almost all the weather phenomena like rainfall, fog
and hailstorm etc. are confined to this layer).
 It is also called the convective region, since all convection stops
at Tropopause.
 The troposphere is the theatre for weather because all cyclones,
anticyclones, storms and precipitation occur here, as all water
vapours and solid particles lie within this.
 The troposphere is influenced by seasons and jet streams.

Tropopause

 Top most layer of troposphere.

 It acts as a boundary between troposphere and stratosphere.
 This layer is marked by constant temperatures.

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Stratosphere

 It lies beyond troposphere, up to an altitude of 50 km from the

earth’s surface.
 The temperature in this layer remains constant for some distance
but then rises to reach a level of 0°C at 50 km altitude.
 This rise is due to the presence of ozone (harmful ultraviolet
radiation is absorbed by ozone).
 This layer is almost free from clouds and associated weather
phenomenon, making conditions most ideal for flying aeroplanes.
So aeroplanes fly in lower stratosphere, sometimes in upper
troposphere where weather is calm.
 Sometimes, cirrus clouds are present at lower levels in this layer.

Ozonosphere

 It lies at an altitude between 30 km and 60 km from the earth’s

surface and spans the stratosphere and lower mesosphere.
 Because of the presence of ozone molecules, this layer reflects
the harmful ultraviolet radiation.
 The ozonosphere is also called chemosphere because, a lot of
chemical activity goes on here.
 The temperature rises at a rate of 5°C per kilometer through the
ozonosphere. Mesosphere
 This is an intermediate layer beyond the ozone layer and
continues upto an altitude of 80 km from the earth’s surface.
 The temperature gradually falls to -100°C at 80 km altitude.
 Meteorites burn up in this layer on entering from the space

Thermosphere
 In thermosphere temperature rises very rapidly with increasing
height.

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 Ionosphere is a part of this layer. It extends between 80-400

km. • This layer helps in radio transmission. In fact, radio waves
transmitted from the earth are reflected back to the earth by
this layer.
 Person would not feel warm because of the thermosphere’s
extremely low pressure.
 The International Space Station and satellites orbit in this layer.
(Though temperature is high, the atmosphere is extremely
rarified – gas molecules are spaced hundreds of kilometers apart.
Hence a person or an object in this layer doesn’t feel the heat)
 Aurora’s are observed in lower parts of this layer.

Ionosphere
 This layer is located between 80 km and 400 km and is an
electrically charged layer.
 This layer is characterized by ionization of atoms.
 Because of the electric charge, radio waves transmitted from the
earth are reflected back to the earth by this layer.
 Temperature again starts increasing with height because of
radiation from the sun.

Exosphere
 This is the uppermost layer of the atmosphere extending beyond
the ionosphere above a height of about 400 km.
 The air is extremely rarefied and the temperature gradually
increases through the layer.
 Light gases like helium and hydrogen float into the space from
here.
 Temperature gradually increases through the layer. (As it is
exposed to direct sunlight)

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 This layer coincides with space.

Speed of sound follows temperature profile

 This is because speed of sound is directly proportional to
temperature as we move away from earth.

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Koeppen’s Climate Classification

 Koeppen’s Classification of climate is the most commonly used
classification of climate.
 This climate classification scheme was developed by Wladimir
Peter Koeppen in 1884.
 He recognized a close relationship between the distribution of
vegetation and climate.
 The categories are based on the data of annual and monthly
averages of temperature and precipitation.
 He selected specific values of temperature and precipitation and
related them to the distribution of vegetation and used these
values for classifying the climates.
 The Koeppen climate classification system recognizes five major
climatic types and each type is designated by a capital letter- A,
B, C, D, E, and H.
 The seasons of dryness are indicated by the small letters: f, m, w,
and s.

◦ f -no dry season

◦ m – Monsoon climate
◦ w- Winter dry season
◦ s – Summer dry season

 The small letters a, b, c, and d refer to the degree of severity of

temperature.

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