What are the layers of atmosphere?

Question

What are the layers of atmosphere?

Answer 1

Here are all the layer's of the Earth's atmosphere:

Troposphere: The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass and almost all of its water vapor and aerosols. The average depth of the troposphere is about 11 km (7 miles) in the middle latitudes. It is deeper in the tropical regions (up to 20 km (12 miles)) and shallower near the poles (about 7 km (4 miles) in summer, indistinct in winter). The lowest part of the troposphere, where friction with the Earth's surface influences air flow, is the planetary boundary layer. This layer is typically a few hundred meters to 2 km (1.2 miles) deep depending on the landform and time of day. The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, called the tropopause, is a temperature inversion.

Most of the phenomena we associate with day-to-day weather occur in the troposphere.

Stratosphere - The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. In the stratosphere there is the jet stream and ozone layer. The stratosphere is situated between about 10 km (6 miles) and 50 km (31 miles) altitude above the surface at moderate latitudes, while at the poles it starts at about 8 km (5 miles) altitude.

Mesosphere - The mesosphere is located from about 50 km to 80-90 km altitude above Earth's surface. Within this layer, temperature decreases with increasing altitude. Temperatures in the upper mesosphere fall as low as -100°C

The stratosphere and mesosphere are referred to as the middle atmosphere. The mesopause, at an altitude of 80-90 km, separates the mesosphere from the thermosphere—the second-outermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere. This is also around the same altitude as the turbopause, below which different chemical species are well mixed due to turbulent eddies. Millions of meteors burn up daily in the mesosphere as a result of collisions with the gas particles contained there; this creates enough heat to vaporize almost all of the falling objects long before they reach the ground, resulting in a high concentration of iron and other metal atoms there.

Ionoshpere - The ionosphere is the uppermost part of the atmosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on the Earth. It is located in the Thermosphere.

Thermosphere - The thermosphere is the layer of the earth's atmosphere directly above the mesosphere and directly below the exosphere. Within this layer, ultraviolet radiation causes ionization. It is 90 km above Earth. The few particles of gas in this area can reach 2,500°C (4532°F) during the day. Even though the temperature is so high, one would not feel warm in the thermosphere, because it is so near vacuum that there is not enough contact with the few atoms of gas to transfer much heat. A normal thermometer would read significantly below 0°C. The dynamics of the lower thermosphere (below about 120 km) are dominated by atmospheric tide, which is driven, in part, by the very significant diurnal heating. The atmospheric tide dissipates above this level since molecular concentrations do not support the coherent motion needed for fluid flow.

Exosphere - The exosphere is the uppermost layer of the atmosphere. On Earth, its lower boundary at the edge of the thermosphere is estimated to be 500 km to 1000 km above the Earth's surface, and its upper boundary at about 10,000 km. It is only from the exosphere that atmospheric gases, atoms, and molecules can, to any appreciable extent, escape into space. The main gases within the exosphere are the lightest gases, mainly hydrogen, with some helium, carbon dioxide, and atomic oxygen near the exobase. The exosphere is the last layer before space.