The atmosphere is the envelope of air surrounding the Earth. It consists of a physical mixture of gases and particle matter. Based on its temperature structure, the atmosphere can be divided into several sections. Below about 12 km is the troposphere, where the majority of the world’ weather occurs and the temperature broadly decreases from about 15°C at the Earth’ surface to −54°C at the top. Almost all of the processes of vertical transfer of atmospheric properties through turbulence and mixing occur in the troposphere.
Above the troposphere the temperatures increase to a level of about 50 km, in the region called the stratosphere. Here the atmosphere is very stable and contains layers of gaseous and particle matter, mainly of volcanic origin. The troposphere and the stratosphere are separated by the tropopause, which is located where temperatures suddenly begin to increase with altitude. Above the stratosphere is the stratopause, which separates the stratosphere from the mesosphere...
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Cross-references
Aerosols
Air Pollution Climatology
Atmospheric Nomenclature
Greenhouse Effect and Greenhouse Gases
Precipitation
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Bridgman, H.A. (2005). Atmosphere. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_22
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