Meteorology (Atmosphere layers and climate) - Branch of Geology

Introduction

What is Meteorology?

Meteorology is branch of geology that deals with the scientific study of atmosphere (gaseous envelop surrounding earth) held around the earth due to gravity and the weather process, there are various major gases that make up atmosphere. The most common gas is nitrogen that make up 78% of atmosphere, oxygen is 21%, and 1 % as argon, carbon-dioxide and few trace gases. There are many more gases found in small quantities including water vapor which is in very small quantity which is important for the weather. It is a sub-discipline of Atmospheric Science that majorly focuses on weather processes and forecasting. Meteorology includes both climate and weather and is concerned with the physical, chemical and dynamical state of the Earth’s atmosphere and its interactions between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. The major responsibility of the meteorologist is to monitor and analyse its changes to make predictions and interpretations about weather conditions for the benefit of the man.

Weather

  The weather is due to the atmospheric circulation tilt in of our axis and orbit around the sun. Due to our location we get seasons. We pointed towards the sun in summer and away from the sun in winter. Since earth has spherical shape we get unequal heating of  planet and the convection current lead to cells in the atmosphere that are moving in atmosphere around on our planet and as our planet spin it create Coriolis effect and the combination of these two lead to atmospheric circulation. There are ocean that even affect our climate with movement of atmosphere the ocean move which give rise to ocean currents example el Nino or Enso oscillation.

There are 3 cells: 

1. Hadley cell - Also known as tropical cell which is located in tropical region where high temperature is observed that is at equator and go on decreasing towards the pole north or south. This result in low pressure belt near the equator.

2. Ferrel cell - It is the mid latitudinal cell between 30° to 65°, which the air  blow from subtropical high pressure belt to subpolar low pressure belt in which the wind is diverted towards west.

3. Polar cell - It is region above subtropical i.e above 60° latitude, at the poles the air is cool and dry as compared to equator. The low pressure at the subtropical region allow the wind to move upward due to Coriolis force. 

Atmosphere Circulation - Coriolis Effect

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is the air around the earth surface that support the development of living organism consist of five layers that protect us from the dangers from out of space.

Refer the following diagram for the atmospheric 5 layers i will explain them step by step

1. Troposphere - This is there layer where we live and all weather occurs, it begins from the earth surface and extend between 4 to 12 miles high where 4 miles at poles and 12 miles at equator. In troposphere density decrease with height that means as we go up in altitude the temperature decreases and the air becomes thinner. At the top of troposphere or troposphere the temperature will decrease to minus 60 degree Fahrenheit or minus 51 degree Celsius

2. Stratosphere - This is the layer that extend from the tropopause up to about 31 miles above the earth's surface. In this layer temperature increases with height due to ozone which is present in this layer.

3. Mesosphere - This layer is above stratosphere which extent about 50 - 85 kms (31 to 53 miles) where temperature remain constant throughout the altitude which is the coldest part

4. Thermosphere - This is outermost layer which has high temperature above mesosphere, with this layer ultraviolet radiation cause ionization

5. Exosphere - It is thin air bound around the planet where density is too low