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What d oes Atmosphere do to the Earth?

What d oes Atmosphere do to the Earth?. Amelia Ahern, Swathi Ayyagari, and Kia Davis G Block 12/03/08. How does the presence of “layers” in the atmosphere contribute to increased stability?. Weather occurs in the troposphere, the layer that is thickest and closest to Earth.

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What d oes Atmosphere do to the Earth?

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  1. What does Atmosphere do to the Earth? Amelia Ahern, Swathi Ayyagari, and Kia Davis G Block 12/03/08

  2. How does the presence of “layers” in the atmosphere contribute to increased stability? • Weather occurs in the troposphere, the layer that is thickest and closest to Earth. • Nearly all of Earth’s water vapor and solid particles are in the troposphere, maintaining all life in a centralized location. • The 5 layers balance each other out due to different altitudes and temperatures.

  3. How does the thinness of the atmosphere affect life on Earth? • The atmosphere is very thin (saran wrap around basketball), but still traps greenhouse gases that keep the planet warm and helps protect against UV rays. • Maintains a temperature suitable for life as we know it.

  4. Do nitrogen levels affect life on Earth? • It is a part of all living systems on Earth, necessary for nitrogen fixation, which enables other life cycles. • Nitrogen can bond with some elements to create compounds that play a vital role in everyday activities. • Nitrogen travels through environmental cycles easily. This is beneficial to systems, but is also a cause of eutrophication, acid rain, and global warming.

  5. What would happen if we didn’t have atmosphere? • Without the atmosphere, we would find it very hard to survive. Humans can last weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air. • It acts as a huge blanket, keeping the Earth warmer than it would be without the atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect. Without it, we would be burned by the intense heat of the sun during the day or frozen by the very low temperatures at night.(Without the atmosphere, the average temperature on Earth would be below freezing!) • The atmosphere also protects living things on Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. A thin layer of gas called ozone high up in the atmosphere filters out these dangerous rays. • The atmosphere also helps to sustain life of Earth. It provides oxygen for humans and animals to breathe, and carbon dioxide for plants. Through the hydrological (precipitation) cycle, plants and animals receive the water they need to survive. • The structure of the atmosphere allows it to perform some of it’s key functions, including screening out harmful solar radiation, warming Earth through the natural greenhouse effect, and cycling carbon. Physical processes shape the distributions of pressures and temperatures on Earth to create climate zones, weather patterns, and storms, creating conditions suitable for life around the planet. • Without its "wrapper," our world would be as cold and barren as the moon. Yet with it, the Earth is blanketed in all the essential ingredients-air, water, nutrients, and heat-needed to sustain the vast web of life.

  6. How does atmosphere transport heat? • Heat is transported through atmospheric and oceanic cycles. • The amount of heat transferred across the top of the atmosphere is equal to the difference between insolation (calculated by a solar constant and observations of reflected sunlight) and net infrared radiation.

  7. Sources • "Atmosphere." ncssm-apes. Dec 2008. WikiSpaces. 2 Dec 2008 <http://ncssm-apes.wikispaces.com/Atmosphere >. • Bergman, Jennifer. "Layer's of the Earth's Atmosphere." Windows to the Universe. 23 Sep 2004. UCAR. 2 Dec 2008 <http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosphere/layers.html>. • "Eutrophication." The Encyclopedia of Earth. 18 Dec 2007. 2 Dec 2008 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Eutrophication >. • "Layers." 1997. Cislunar Aerospace, Inc. 2 Dec 2008 <http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Atmosphere/instructor/layers-01.html >. • "Nitrogen." Periodic Table of the Elements. 20 Nov 2003. Chemistry Operations. 2 Dec 2008 <http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/7.html >. • Stewart, Robert. "Chapter 5 - The Oceanic Heat Budget." OceanWorld. 08 Sep 2008. 2 Dec 2008 <http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/ocng_textbook/chapter05/chapter05_07.htm >. • "Why do We Care About the Atmosphere?." 2 Dec 2008 <http://earth.rice.edu/mtpe/atmo/atmosphere/atmosphere_why.html >.

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