Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.

Earth's Atmosphere

The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and other gases (1%) that surrounds Earth. High above the planet, the atmosphere becomes thinner until it gradually reaches space. It is divided into five layers. Most of the weather and clouds are found in the first layer.

The atmosphere is an important part of what makes Earth livable. It blocks some of the Sun's dangerous rays from reaching Earth. It traps heat, making Earth a comfortable temperature. And the oxygen within our atmosphere is essential for life.

Over the past century, greenhouse gases and other air pollutants released into the atmosphere have been causing big changes like global warming, ozone holes, and acid rain.

On May 20, 2013, a massive EF5 <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/tornado.html">tornado</a> hit Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities and lives. The tornado, on the ground for 40 minutes, took a path through a subdivision of homes, destroying block after block of homes, and hitting two elementary schools just as school was ending as well as a hospital. Hundreds of people were injured, and 24 were killed.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Ks0stm, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license</em></small></p><a href="/earth/Atmosphere/tstorm/tstorm_lightning.html">Lightning</a> is the most spectacular element of a <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/tstorm.html">thunderstorm</a>. A single stroke of lightning can <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/temperature.html">heat</a> the air around it to 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand explosively. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/tstorm/lightning_thunder.html">sound wave</a>, better known as thunder.<p><small><em> Image Courtesy of University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/Carlye Calvin</em></small></p><a href="/earth/Atmosphere/clouds/stratocumulus.html">Stratocumulus clouds</a> belong to the <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/clouds/low_cloud.html">Low Cloud</a> (surface-2000m) group. These clouds are low, lumpy, and gray. Only light <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/precipitation.html">precipitation</a>, generally in the form of <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/precipitation/drizzle.html">drizzle</a>, occurs with stratocumulus clouds. To distinguish between a stratocumulus and an <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/clouds/altocumulus.html">altocumulus</a> cloud, point your hand toward the cloud. If the cloud is about the size of your fist, then it is stratocumulus.<p><small><em> Courtesy of Carlye Calvin/UCAR</em></small></p>Anti-crepuscular rays are beams of sunlight that appear to converge on a point opposite the sun. They are similar to crepuscular rays, but are seen opposite the sun in the sky. Anti-crepuscular rays are most frequently visible near sunrise or sunset. This photo of anti-crepuscular rays was taken at sunset in Boulder, Colorado. Crepuscular rays are usually much brighter than anti-crepuscular rays.<p><small><em> Image Courtesy of Carlye Calvin</em></small></p>Greenland’s <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html">ice sheet</a> saw a record <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/headline_universe/olpa/greenland_10dec07.html">melt</a> in July 2012. Scientists studying this event have found that this melting event was triggered by an influx of unusually warm air and amplified by the presence of a blanket of thin low-level <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a> which pushed temperatures up above freezing. For more information see the <a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/21638">press release</a> from the University of Wisconsin Madison.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>An image of Hurricane Sandy taken by the GOES-13 satellite on October 28. This category 1 <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/hurricane.html">hurricane</a> was huge, spanning a horizontal distance of about one-third the US continental landmass. The storm came onshore in New Jersey, and gradually moved northeast. The storm disrupted the lives of tens of millions in the eastern US, doing billions of dollars in damage, resulting in over 30 deaths. Visit the National Hurricane Center's webpage on <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/">Hurricane Sandy</a> for details.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>

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Explore Earth's Atmosphere

Layers of the Atmosphere

The atmosphere is divided into five layers. It is thickest near the surface and thins out with ...Read more

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place. Most weather takes place ...Read more

Climate

Warm near the equator and cold at the poles, our planet is able to support a variety of living ...Read more

The Polar Atmosphere

Phenomena in the Polar Atmosphere There are some unique phenomena that happen in the atmosphere ...Read more

Atmospheric Optics

Have you ever seen clouds in the sky that looked different than "normal" clouds? Or have you ...Read more

Air Pollution

What do smog, acid rain, carbon monoxide, fossil fuel exhausts, and tropospheric ozone have ...Read more

Ozone Holes

The Ozone Hole is a major "thinning" of the ozone layer in Earth's atmosphere. It ...Read more

Modeling the Atmosphere

Clouds are an important part of Earth's weather and climate. Scientists use computer models ...Read more

Arts and Culture About Clouds, Weather, and Climate

Whether it is how an artist paints the shapes of clouds or how a poet describes a gloomy weather ...Read more

Atmosphere News

Read about current science, happenings and discoveries related to Earth's atmosphere! ...Read more

More about Earth's Atmosphere

Historical Events

5/24 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, died on this date in 1543 Details
5/30 7.5 magnitude quake hits Quetta, Pakistan in 1935
5/31 7.9 magnitude earthquake hits Peru in 1970

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Did you know?

Did you know that the upper atmosphere of the Earth overlaps with the Earth's ionosphere?

Did you know that the ionosphere makes radio communication possible?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

Seiche
xSeiche : A standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, and seas. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water

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Research Highlights

Silver Tells a Story of Early Earth: Water Here Since Planet's Very Early Days

Tiny variations in the isotopic composition of silver in meteorites and Earth rocks are helping scientists put together a timetable of how our planet was assembled, beginning 4.568 billion years ago. Results...Read more

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