Atmospheric Zones, 2 Fonts, 2 Sizes, Image #1

Type: Tropophere Height (above earth’s surface): 5 miles at poles; 7 miles at mid-latitudes; 10 miles at Equator Temperature: Drops 3.6 °F every 1,000 ft up; minimum reaches -70°F What do we know?: Contains 75% of the total mass of the atmosphere. This is where life and almost all of our weather is found. The top of the troposphere is called the tropopause

Type: Thermosphere Height (above earth’s surface): 400 miles Temperature: Variable; can reach 441°F What do we know?: Gets so hot because the thin atmosphere reabsorbs a lot of radiation that bounces back from the lower layers

Type: Stratosphere Height (above earth’s surface): 30 miles Temperature: Stable at around -58°F What do we know?: Contains 24% of the total mass of the atmosphere. At the bottom of the stratrosphere is the ozone layer

Atmospheric Zones

Type: Mesosphere Height (above earth’s surface): 50 miles Temperature: Decreases from 20°F at base to -166°F, before rising again at top What do we know?: Meteors burn up in this zone to give “shooting stars;” together with the thermosphere, this layer contains many ionized particles, and they are collectively termed the ionosphere--this is the layer off which radio signals Type: bounce to allow radio Exophere: togehter with thermosphere, telecommunications makes up “outer atmosphere” Height (above earth’s surface): Up to 40,000 miles Temperature: Fall to near zero What do we know?: The atmospheric density at 6,000 miles is the same as outer space. Above this height, it is only the “atmosphere” in the sense that the Earth’s gravitational and magnetic field exert some influence. The exosphere contains the magnetosphere, where the aurorae appear

The Earth’s atmosphere is 78.08 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent argon, and 0.03 percent carbon dioxide.