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Encyclopedia > Troposphere
Atmosphere diagram showing the mesosphere and other layers. The layers are not to scale: from Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius.
View of Earth's troposphere from an airplane.

The Troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It is the densest layer of the atmosphere and contains approximately 75% of the mass of the atmosphere and almost all the water vapor and aerosol. Image File history File links Atmosphere. ... Image File history File links Atmosphere. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Troposphere_CIMG1853. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Troposphere_CIMG1853. ... An Air France Boeing 777, a modern passenger jet. ... Layers of Atmosphere (NOAA) Air redirects here. ... Water vapor, also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. ... Aerosol pollution over Northern India and Bangladesh - Photo: NASA Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter (PM), aerosols or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid (a smoke) or liquid (an aerosol) suspended in a gas. ...

The troposphere extends from the Earth's surface up to the tropopause where the stratosphere begins. The depth of the troposphere is greatest in the tropics (about 16km) and smallest at the poles (about 8km). The lower part, where friction on the Earth's surface influences with air flow, is the planetary boundary layer or peplosphere which is 2 km deep on average, dependent on the landform, and which is separated from the rest of the tropospere by the capping inversion layer. The tropopause is a boundary region in the atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere. ... Atmosphere diagram showing stratosphere. ... Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. ... The planetary boundary layer (PBL) is also known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). ... A landform comprises a geomorphological unit. ... A capping inversion is an elevated inversion layer that caps a convective boundary layer. ...

The word troposphere stems from the Greek "tropos" for "turning" or "mixing". The troposphere is the most turbulent part of the atmosphere and is the part of the atmosphere in which most weather phenomena are seen. Generally, jet aircraft fly just above the troposphere to avoid turbulence. In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by chaotic, stochastic property changes. ... Weather is a term that encompasses phenomena in the atmosphere of a planet. ... Jet aircraft with condensation trail Jet aircraft are aircraft with jet engines. ...

Temperature and pressure against altitude from the NRLMSISE-00 standard atmosphere model

## Contents

Image File history File links Atmosphere_model. ... Image File history File links Atmosphere_model. ... NRLMSISE output The NRLMSISE-00 is an empirical, global model of the Earths atmosphere from ground to space. ... Atmospheric pressure is the pressure caused by the weight of air above any area in the Earths atmosphere. ...

## Pressure and temperature structure GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

### Pressure

The pressure of the atmosphere is highest at the surface and decreases with height. This is because air at the surface is compressed by the weight of all the air above it. At higher levels the weight of the air above is smaller and so the air is compressed less and has a lower pressure. This change in pressure with height can be predicted with the hydrostatic equation: Fluid statics (also called hydrostatics) is the science of fluids at rest, and is a sub-field within fluid mechanics. ...

$frac{dp}{dh} = -rho g = - frac {pg}{RT}$

where:

g = the acceleration due to gravity
ρ = density
h = height
p = pressure
R = universal gas constant
T = temperature

assuming a constant temperature, pressure decreases exponentially with height: For other uses, see g force. ... Density (symbol: Ï - Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per volume. ... The gas constant (also known as the universal or ideal gas constant, usually denoted by symbol R) is a physical constant used in equations of state to relate various groups of state functions to one another. ... The term exponential may refer to any of several topics in mathematics: Exponential distribution Exponential function Exponential growth, exponential decay Exponential time Matrix exponential Exponential map (in differential geometry) All relate in some fashion to exponents. ...

$p(h) = p(0) e^{ - frac{gh}{RT}}$

### Temperature

Main article: Lapse rate

In the troposphere the temperature decreases with height at an average rate of 6.4 °C for every 1 km increase in height. This decrease in temperature is caused by adiabatic cooling - as air rises the atmospheric pressure falls and so the air expands. In order to expand the air must do work on its surroundings and therefore its temperature decreases (due to Conservation of energy). The lapse rate is the rate at which an atmospheric variable (usually temperature) decreases with altitude. ... This article covers adiabatic processes in thermodynamics. ... Mechanical work is a force applied through a distance, defined mathematically as the line integral of a scalar product of force and displacement vectors. ... Conservation of energy states that the total amount of energy (often expressed as the sum of kinetic energy and potential energy) in an isolated system remains constant. ...

Temperatures decrease at middle latitudes from approx. +17°C at sea level to approx. -52°C at the beginning of the tropopause. At the poles, the troposphere is thinner and the temperature only decreases to -45 °C, while at the equator the temperature at the top of the troposphere can reach -75 °C. The tropopause is a boundary region in the atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere. ... World map showing the equator in red The Equator is an imaginary circle drawn around a planet (or other astronomical object) at a distance halfway between the poles. ...

### Tropopause

Main article: Tropopause

The tropopause is the boundary region between the troposphere and the stratosphere. The tropopause is a boundary region in the atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere. ...

Measuring the temperature change with height through the troposphere and the stratosphere identifies the location of the tropopause. In the troposphere, temperature decreases with altitude. In the stratosphere, however, the temperature increases with altitude. The region of the atmosphere where the lapse rate changes from positive (in the troposphere) to negative (in the stratosphere), is defined as the tropopause.

An idealised view of three large circulation cells.

Image File history File links atmospheric circulation diagram, showing the Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell, the Polar cell, and the various upwelling and subsidence zones between them. ... Image File history File links atmospheric circulation diagram, showing the Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell, the Polar cell, and the various upwelling and subsidence zones between them. ...

## Atmospheric circulation

The basic structure of large scale circulation in the atmosphere remains fairly constant. There are three convection cells in each hemisphere: the Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell, and the Polar cell which guide the prevailing winds and transport heat from the equator to the poles. Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air, and the means (together with the ocean circulation, which is smaller [1]) by which heat is distributed on the surface of the Earth. ... The Hadley cell is a circulation pattern that dominates the tropical atmosphere, with rising motion near the equator, poleward flow 10-15 kilometers above the surface, descending motion in the subtropics, and equatorward flow near the surface. ... The Ferrel cell is usually shown between the Hadley and Polar cells, e. ... Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earths surface. ...

Results from FactBites:

 Troposphere Information - pictures of troposphere (450 words) The troposphere is the lowermost portion of Earth's atmosphere location of troposphere and troposphere stratosphere the one in which most weather phenomena occur. The lapse rate, which is the change of temperature the troposphere with respect to troposphere weather height, is what is the troposphere made of larger than troposphere in other layers, the temperature temperatures in the troposphere decreasing at middle latitudes from approx. For every 1000 meter increase in altitude, the temperature goes down by approximately properties of the troposphere 6.4°C. this is because wavelength of radiation present in the troposphere the higher the altitude, the less atmospheric particles what are some characteristics of the troposphere there are to trap the heat, therefore resulting in the heat escaping.
 Troposphere (324 words) The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary marked by stable temperatures. The troposphere is denser than the layers of the atmosphere above it (because of the weight compressing it), and it contains up to 75% of the mass of the atmosphere. The troposphere is capped by the tropopause, a region of stable temperature.
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