• Atmospheric Pressure

• Structure of the Atmosphere

• Layers of the Atmosphere
 ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Force exerted by the weight of the air

Why does Air pressure or atmosphere pressure (also
called barometric pressure) change ?

1. Elevation
 increase in altitude, decrease in pressure

2. Temperature
 Temp. increases; pressure decreases
molecules move further apart as air is heated.
- so fewer air molecules than in same volume of cool air.

warmer air ---- lower pressure; cold air --- higher pressure

3. Humidity
 As humidity increases, pressure
decreases
Units of Pressure
 inches of mercury (“Hg)
- used by aviators

 millibars (mb)
- used by meteorologists and can be seen in
weather maps
 atmosphere (atm)

1 atm = 1013.25mb = 29.92 “Hg (at mean sea level)

 Atmospheric
Pressure and Altitude

How does atmospheric pressure

behaves / responds to changing altitude?

Atmospheric pressure decreases

rapidly with altitude near the Earth’s
surface but much more slowly at
higher altitudes
 Atmospheric Pressure
&
Temperature

A vertical profile of the atmosphere reveals

that it can be divided into a series of layers.
Layers of the atmosphere
based on

a. Temperature (red line)

(by the manner in which the air temperature
varies through it)

b. Composition (green line)

(by the gases that comprise it)

c. Electrical properties (dark blue line).

(by its electrical properties)

(An active sun is associated with large

numbers of solar eruptions.)
Atmosphere’s Vertical Structure

Thermosphere
Mesopause

Mesosphere

Stratopause

Stratosphere

Tropopause
Troposphere
Profile based on temperature
 Troposphere
• from the Greek tropein, meaning to turn or
change.

• Generally, about 11 km from surface of the

Earth to where air stops becoming colder with
height

• Where all weather happens as region is kept

well stirred by rising and descending air currents
(convection currents are).

• Common for air molecules to circulate through a

depth of more than 10 km in just a few days.
 Tropopause

 This region, where, on average, the air

temperature remains constant with height, is
referred to as an isothermal (equal
temperature) zone.

 The bottom of this zone marks the top of the

troposphere and the beginning of another
layer, the stratosphere.

 The boundary separating the troposphere

from the stratosphere is called tropopause.
 Stratosphere

• The air temperature begins to increase with height,

producing a temperature inversion.
• It is a stratified layer.

The inversion region, along with the lower isothermal layer, tends
to keep the vertical currents of the troposphere from spreading
into the stratosphere. The inversion also tends to reduce the
amount of vertical motion in the stratosphere itself;

The reason for the inversion in the stratosphere is that the gas
ozone plays a major part in heating the air at this altitude. Some
of this absorbed energy warms the stratosphere, which explains
why there is an inversion. If ozone were not present, the air
probably would become colder with height, as it does in the
troposphere.
 Stratopause

 the transitional zone of maximum temperature

between the stratosphere and the mesosphere.
 Mesosphere
• The air at this level is extremely thin and the
atmospheric pressure is quite low, averaging about 1
Mb, which means that only one-thousandth of all the
atmosphere’s molecules are above this level and 99.9
percent of the atmosphere’s mass is located below it.
• The percentage of nitrogen and oxygen in the
mesosphere is about the same as at sea level. Given the
air’s low density in this region, however, we would not
survive very long breathing here, as each breath would
contain far fewer oxygen molecules than it would at sea
level.
• Exposure to ultraviolet solar energy, for example, could
cause severe burns on exposed parts of the body. Also,
given the low air pressure, the blood in one’s veins
would begin to boil at normal body temperatures. Air in
the mesosphere becoming colder with height up to an
elevation near 85 km.
 Mesopause

 the boundary in the earth's atmosphere

between the mesosphere and the
thermosphere, at which the temperature
stops decreasing with increasing height
and begins to increase.
 Thermosphere
The “hot layer” above the mesosphere is the
thermosphere. The boundary that separates the lower,
colder mesosphere from the warmer thermosphere is the
mesopause.

 Here, oxygen molecules (O2) absorb energetic solar rays,

warming the air.
 Because there are relatively few atoms and molecules in the
thermosphere, the absorption of a small amount of energetic
solar energy can cause a large increase in air temperature.
 the amount of solar energy affecting this region depends
strongly on solar activity, temperatures in the thermosphere
vary from day to day
 the low density of the thermosphere also means that an air
molecule will move an average distance (called mean free
path) of over one kilometer before colliding with another
molecule.
 Moreover, it is in the thermosphere where charged particles
from the sun interact with air molecules to produce dazzling
aurora displays.
 Exosphere
 Represents the upper limit of our atmosphere.

 The region where atoms and molecules shoot

off into space.

 At the top of the thermosphere, about 500 km

(300 mi) above the earth’s surface, molecules
can move distances of 10 km before they
collide with other molecules.

 Here, many of the lighter, faster-moving

molecules traveling in the right direction
escape the earth’s gravitational pull.
 Homosphere Heterosphere
LAYERS BASED ON THE COMPOSITION
In the heterosphere, the gases
In the homosphere, the gases are separated by their
are well mixed and their molecular weight and their
concentrations are uniform. concentrations vary with
altitude.
The heterosphere extends
from the top of the
The homosphere extends
homosphere up to the
from the Earth’s surface up
exosphere, which is the
to about 80-100km.
outermost layer of the Earth’s
atmosphere.

The primary gases in the The primary gases in the

homosphere are nitrogen heterosphere are hydrogen
and oxygen. and helium.

The homosphere is the

The heterosphere is too thin
region where weather occurs
and too high for most aircraft
and where aircraft and
and balloons.
balloons can operate.

The heterosphere is largely

The homosphere is the inaccessible to humans and is
region of the atmosphere mainly studied by remote
where we live and breathe. sensing instruments on
satellites.
LAYERS BASED ON ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
Ionosphere
• The ionosphere is not really a layer, but
rather an electrified region within the
upper atmosphere where fairly large
concentrations of ions and free electrons
exist.