Kashish Bhatia

BBA(II)
* Chemical Composition
* Vertical Layers
* Coriolis Force
* Hadley Cells
Current Composition
Atmospheric Composition today
 The Troposphere
• The surface layer up to about 30,000 ft
• Heated from below, by ground having abs
orbed solar energy
• Temperature highest near the ground, and
falls all the way up to about 30,000 ft
• This means the possibility of convection, a
nd therefore weather, as clouds form from
rising air which cools by pressure drop, an
d clouds dissipate as air falls and heats.
 The Stratosphere
• Heated mostly by absorbing UV light from the sun by O3 (ozone), breaking i
t apart into O2 + atomic oxygen. When they recombine to make ozone, you
get energy release and heating
• Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation, warming it up in the
mid-upper parts of the layer. The reason for the increase in temperatures in
the stratosphere with height relates to the wavelength of the incoming solar
energy. At higher altitudes in the stratosphere, ozone very efficiently absorb
s UV at wavelengths between 200 and 350 nanometers. At lower altitudes i
n the stratosphere, ozone absorbs UV at wavelengths between 44 and 80 n
anometers but much less efficiently. This results in a rate of warming in the l
ower stratosphere that is less than the rate higher in the stratosphere, causi
ng the temperature to increase with height.
• Therefore is hottest at the highest layers, cooler down where it contacts the
cold upper troposphere
• At the bottom of the stratosphere, most UV has already been absorbed high
er up, so further heating is very reduced, hence the temperature vs height is
the opposite from the Troposphere
• This temperature inversion means no convection, no weather.
 The Mesosphere
• Above the Stratosphere, the mass of atmospher
e is only 0.1% of the total, and the density is too
low for ozone chemistry to heat the atmosphere
• Hence, we get the normal trend we saw in the tr
oposphere re-asserting itself – lower temperatur
e with lower pressure and lower altitude.
• This layer is 30-50 miles above the ground.
The Ionosphere (= Thermosphere)

• Above mesosphere; density so low the Sp

ace Shuttle and ISS orbit here, with little dr
ag
• Temperature can be very high; 4,000F. But
no significant heat because density is so lo
w.
• Heated by ionization by UV from the sun,
and the solar wind.
 Don’t Stress!
• Only the Troposphere and Stratosphere ar
e substantial enough to really affect climat
e and weather.
• They are our focus in later chapters
• Don’t stress too much about the mesosph
ere and thermosphere
Hadley Cells
 Hadley, Ferrel, Polar Cells
• The Coriolis deflection sets the major constraint
on how many cells the atmosphere of a planet di
vides into. Coriolis force is stronger for more rapi
d rotation. It is the size of the planet and speed o
f rotation (and a lesser extent, the depth of the at
mosphere) which determines how many of these
. Earth’s atmosphere divides into 3 cells.
• For Jupiter, it is many more, as it is 12 times larg
er in diameter and yet has a day only 12 hrs lon
g. Coriolis Force is very strong.
 The Coriolis Effect
• 6 min YouTube (start 1min in for merry-go-
round demo)
 The Hadley Cell
• Solar heating at the equator is strongest, causin
g rising convective air which is pushed north and
south at the tropopause (troposphere/stratosphe
re boundary).
• At ~30deg latitude it has deflected enough by th
e Coriolis force to be moving almost due east. H
ere, it meets air moving down from the north (Fe
rrel Cell air) and both meet and descend, warmi
ng and drying
• The return of the air, now a surface wind, to the
equator is called the “trade winds”.
 Mid-latitudes - The Ferrel Cell

• Convective rising air near 60 deg latitude arrives at the tropopause,

moves (in part) to the south, deflecting by Coriolis to the west, till it
meets the northerly moving air from the tropical Hadley cell, forcing
both to descend
• These are the “Horse Latitudes” at +-30 deg latitude. Descending air
dries. Deserts here (e.g. Sahara, Mojave/Sonora)
• Northerly moving surface winds deflected east - “the Westerlies” - ca
rrying heat from the lower latitudes to higher mid latitudes
• The primary circulation on Earth is driven by the equatorially heated
Hadley Cell, and the polar cooled Polar Cell. The Ferrel cell is a wea
ker intermediate zone, in which weather systems move through driv
en by the polar jet stream (boundary between Ferrel and Polar cell,
at the tropopause) and the tropical jet stream (boundary between Fe
rrel and Hadley cells, at the tropopause).
• The jet streams have irregular paths as the convective instabilities m
igrate, and these drive the many cold and warm fronts which move t
hrough the Ferrel Cell (where we live here in Santa Cruz)
 The Polar Cell
• Easiest of the cells to understand – rising
air from the 60 degree latitude area in part
moves north to the pole, where it’s cold en
ough to densify, converge with other north
erly winds from all longitudes, and descen
ds.
• This makes a “desert” at the north and sou
th poles.
 As winds move towards either pole, winds veer to the right relative to the und
erlying ground, due to the Coriolis Force:
The velocity of the ground goes from 25,000 mi/day at the equator, down to z
ero at the pole; winds moving across this differentially rotating landscape will a
ppear to veer to the right for someone riding with the wind.
Key Points – Structure of Earth’s Atmosphere

• 78% Nitrogen which is fairly inert. 21% oxygen, 400ppm CO2

• Troposphere – heated from sun-warmed ground, T falls with height
• Stratosphere, heated from above by UV absorbed by ozone; T rises
with height
• Troposphere can have convection = weather; stratosphere cannot
• Mesosphere; where meteors burn up. Ionosphere, heated by solar w
ind, aurorae. Top two layers almost no mass, little influence on clima
te
• Hadley/Ferrel/Polar cells. Their general circulation
• Ferrel cell is weakest; having neither a strong heat source nor sink
• Coriolis force stronger with more rapid rotation and larger planet size
, making more cells
• Jet streams – tropical and polar – boundaries between the cells at th
e tropopause