ATMO 336 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Eustachian Tube, Dew Point, The Vibrations
15 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Vertical structure of the atmosphere and the skew-t diagram. Does not consider large scale movements of air like wind currents. Static structure: average vertical structure of temperature, density, and pressure in earth"s atmosphere. Earth"s atmosphere is often divided into several layers according to air temperature changes. Focus of this class are on the troposphere, the tropopause, and the stratosphere. Surface of earth to about 11 km in altitude on average. Anywhere from 6 km in winter, to 16 km over warmest regions. (cid:862)turning or changing sphere(cid:863): characterized by strong vertical mixing or overturning of air. Most weather and clouds occur in this overturning layer. Contains about 75% of the total mass of the atmosphere. Maximum air temperature occurs near the surface of the earth and drops with increasing height. Temperature inversions: a shallow layer of air where the air temperature actually increases with increasing altitude. Drops at an average rate of 6. 5 c per 1000 meters.
