ENVIRSC 1C03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Thermosphere, Lapse Rate, Tropopause
9 Jul 2020
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Methane: concentration increasing through fossil fuel, livestock digestion, and agriculture, absorber of terrestrial radiation, active role in near surface warming. Aerosols: solid or liquid particle, a particulate, remain suspended for long time. Decreasing amount of sunlight reaching earth s surface, scatter and absorb. Environmental lapse rate- how much temperature falls the higher you go, moving up a mountain vegetation sparser cause it"s colder at the summit. Troposphere- lowest and thinnest, named this because it promotes atmospheric overturning, contains 80% of mass, where all weather processes occur, warmed by solar radiation, Tropopause- top of troposphere where temperature stops cooling, 16 km thick over tropics, 8 km thick over pole. Stratosphere- little weather, temperature increases with elevation due to ultraviolet radiation, ozone max is at 25 km yet temperature max is 50 km. Mesosphere- decreasing temperature with height, coldest atmospheric layer cause of little ozone, molecules at top absorb less energy than at bottom. Thermosphere- upper most layer, increasing temperature with height,
