Category Earth Science

Planes usually fly in the troposphere, but may go up to the edge of the stratosphere. Little moisture enters the stratosphere, so clouds are rare. Even though the stratosphere has complex wind systems, violent storms don’t occur there. Because the air temperature in the stratosphere slowly increases with altitude, it does not cause convection and has a stabilizing effect on atmospheric conditions in the region. Stability generally limits vertical extensions of cloud and leads to the lateral spreading of high cumulonimbus cloud with characteristic anvil heads. This means that weather (in the form of clouds) is almost entirely confined to the troposphere below. That’s why airline pilots prefer to fly in the stratosphere.

 

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This thin layer, running across the stratosphere, contains a large amount of ozone, a gas that absorbs ultraviolet (UV) rays from the Sun. UV rays cause sunburn, and can cause skin cancer.

Approximately 90 percent of the atmosphere’s ozone occurs in the stratosphere, the region extending from 10–18 km (6–11 miles) to approximately 50 km (about 30 miles) above Earth’s surface. In the stratosphere the temperature of the atmosphere rises with increasing height, a phenomenon created by the absorption of solar radiation by the ozone layer. The ozone layer effectively blocks almost all solar radiation of wavelengths less than 290 nanometres from reaching Earth’s surface, including certain types of ultraviolet (UV) and other forms of radiation that could injure or kill most living things.

 

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Scientists launch these to collect information about conditions in Earth’s atmosphere that affect the weather, such as temperature and air pressure. The balloons are made of rubber and weigh up to one kilogram.

The information collected from the instruments on weather balloons are used to learn about current weather conditions, to help meteorologists to make weather forecasts, and to collect data for other scientific research projects. Weather balloons carry instrument packages that are called radiosondes. Scientists have been using them since the 1930s.

To gather information for weather forecasts, weather balloons are launched twice a day, every day, from 800 locations around Earth. They are launched at the same time all over the world. The balloons rise more than 24.14 kilometers (15 miles) while collecting data.

 

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These are bits of matter from outer’s space that burn up on entering Earth’s atmosphere, creating streaks of light. They are also called shooting stars.

 A meteor is a meteoroid that has entered the earth’s atmosphere.

It will then become brightly visible due to the heat produced by the ram pressure.

If a meteor survives its transit of the atmosphere to come to rest on the Earth’s surface, the resulting object is called a meteorite.

A meteor striking the Earth or other object may produce an impact crater.

During the entry of a meteoroid into the upper atmosphere, an ionization trail is created, where the molecules in the upper atmosphere are ionized by the passage of the meteor.

Such ionization trails can last up to 45 minutes at a time.

Small, sand-grain sized meteoroids are entering the atmosphere constantly, essentially every few seconds in a given region, and thus ionization trails can be found in the upper atmosphere more or less continuously.

When radio waves are bounced off these trails, it is called meteor scatter communication.

 

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These bright lights appear in the thermosphere when particles from the Sun fall into Earth’s atmosphere. Auroras are produced when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind that the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma, mainly in the form of electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere) due to Earth’s magnetic field, where their energy is lost.

The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emits light of varying color and complexity. The form of the aurora, occurring within bands around both Polar Regions, is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imparted to the precipitating particles. Precipitating protons generally produce optical emissions as incident hydrogen atoms after gaining electrons from the atmosphere. Proton auroras are usually observed at lower latitudes.

 

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These orbit Earth in the thermosphere and exosphere. We use them to make phone calls and watch TV. Scientists also use satellites to find out more about space.

Satellites come in many shapes and sizes. But most have at least two parts in common – an antenna and a power source. The antenna sends and receives information, often to and from Earth. The power source can be a solar panel or battery. Solar panels make power by turning sunlight into electricity.

Many NASA satellites carry cameras and scientific sensors. Sometimes these instruments point toward Earth to gather information about its land, air and water. Other times they face toward space to collect data from the solar system and universe.

 

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