The atmosphere is the gases that surround the Earth. It can be subdivided into layers going from the layer closest to Earth's surface upward until the atmosphere merges with interplanetary space.
The troposphere which is closest to Earth's surface extends about 10 km and is the place where weather occurs. The stratosphere, mesosphere, and exosphere do NOT experience weather conditions like those in the lower troposphere layer!
The next layer is the stratosphere where the...
The atmosphere is the gases that surround the Earth. It can be subdivided into layers going from the layer closest to Earth's surface upward until the atmosphere merges with interplanetary space.
The troposphere which is closest to Earth's surface extends about 10 km and is the place where weather occurs. The stratosphere, mesosphere, and exosphere do NOT experience weather conditions like those in the lower troposphere layer!
The next layer is the stratosphere where the temperature is fairly uniform and winds are very steady hence airplanes fly here to avoid weather conditions in the troposphere. This layer extends upward from 10-45 km. In this layer we find the ozone layer which helps to shield Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. However, most weather patterns are in the troposphere below and NOT in the stratosphere. It is quite stable in this layer, and there is little convection due to the fact that air temperature increases as altitude increases in the stratosphere.
Next is the mesosphere where temperatures steadily drop and this extends from 45-80 km. upward. This is where meteors burn up usually as they enter the atmosphere and sometimes lightning can occur. There are strange clouds that form sometimes in this layer, but are not associated with weather patterns like those in the troposphere.
The thermosphere is next which is extremely hot and extends from 80 to 500 km up. The amount of air is very thin in this layer and no weather conditions occur.
The exosphere is last which extends from 500 km until it merges with space.
The layer closest to Earth which is the troposphere is where we experience storms, winds and clouds which are all features of weather patterns and the other higher layers do not!
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