3.5: Review and Additional Resources
- Page ID
- 21665
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Assess your learning. Start with the "Important Terms and Concepts" to ensure you know the terminology related to the topic of the chapter and concepts discussed. Finally, test your overall understanding by taking the "Self-assessment quiz".
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- Heterosphere
- the outer most sphere where gases are distributed in distinct layers by gravity according to their atomic weight
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- Homosphere
- lies between the Earth's surface and the heterosphere. Gases are nearly uniformly mixed through this layer even though density decreases with height above the surface
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- Constant Gases
- Nitrogen, oxygen and argon are called the "constant gases" because their concentration has remained virtually the same for much of recent earth history
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- Variable Gases
- those present in small and variable amounts. These include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, water vapor, and particulates among others.
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- Ozone
- O3 is both beneficial and harmful to life on Earth
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- Carbon dioxide
- (CO2) makes up only .036% of the atmosphere by volume. Carbon dioxide is essential to photosynthetic processes of plants.
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- Methane
- (CH4) is a greenhouse gas contributing to about 18% of global warming and has been on the rise over the last several decades. Methane is a product of the decomposition of organic matter, with major natural sources being that which occurs from wetlands, termites, the oceans, and hydrates.
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- Particulates (and aerosols)
- very small particles of solid or liquid suspended in the air
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- Water Vapor
- an extremely important gas found in the atmosphere.
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- Environmental lapse rate (ELR)
- The rate of change in temperature with altitude
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- Normal lapse rate of temperature
- the average value of the ELR, .65o C /100 meters
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- Inverted lapse rate of temperature (inversion)
- when the air temperature actually increase with an increase in altitude above the Earth
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- Troposphere
- the layer closest to the Earth's surface
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- Tropopause
- lies above the troposphere. Here the temperature tends to stay the same with increasing height.
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- Stratosphere
- Above the tropopause lies the stratosphere. Through most of the stratosphere the air temperature increases with an increase in elevation creating a temperature inversion
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- Mesosphere
- air temperatures begin to decrease with increasing altitude
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- Thermosphere
- above the mesosphere. air temperature increasing with increasing altitude
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- Ionosphere
- not really a layer of the atmosphere, but an electrified field of ions and free electrons
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- Ozonosphere
- also called the "ozone layer", is the concentrated layer of ozone found in the stratosphere
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- Greenhouse effect
- longwave radiation emitted from the Earth's surface and directed toward the sky is readily absorbed by greenhouse gases. When absorbed, the temperature of the atmosphere increases. Some of this absorbed energy is emitted to space while some is emitted back towards the Earth.
Additional Resources
Use these resources to further explore the world of geography
- Focus on The Physical Environment: "The Carbon Cycle. NASA Earth Observatory" Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer, The New Yorker WGBH Forum
- Physical Geography Today: AIRNow - real time air quality data (US EPA)
- World of Change: Antarctic Ozone Hole
Multimedia
"The Precious Envelope" (Annenberg/CPB) The World of Chemistry video series "The Earth's atmosphere is examined through theories of chemical evolution; ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect are explained. (Material is somewhat dated but still useful.)
Go to the The World of Chemistry site and scroll to "The Precious Envelope". One-time free registration may be required.
The Ozone Layer: Closing the Gap (NASA, 2019) "In the 1980s, scientists began to realize that ozone-depleting chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs), were creating a thin spot—a hole—in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Through an international effort to decrease the use of CFCs, the ozone layer is starting to mend, and scientists believe it should mostly recover by the middle of the 21st century. This series of satellite images shows the ozone hole on the day of its maximum depth from 1979 through 2018."