Air, Climate, Weather and Biodiversity

Air
The earth’s atmosphere is a blanket of gases approximately 350km (218 miles)
thick. It is a large and complex system that interacts with the Sun, the land, and
the oceans in order to produce both the Earth’s weather and climate. The earth’s
atmosphere has four distinct layers:

Thermosphere: the layer of atmosphere most distant from the Earth is the
thermosphere, which begins approximately 80km in altitude. It is also the hottest
layer “thermo” a Greek word of heat. The temperatures in the thermosphere
increase with altitude due to the absorption of intense solar radiation by limited
amount of remaining molecular oxygen.

Mesosphere: the mesosphere extends from 50 to 80km in altitude with very

sparse atmosphere, accounting for only about 0.1 of the mass of the atmosphere
as a whole. Temperatures decline within the mesosphere as altitude rises,
containing the coldest temperatures within the earth’s atmosphere.

Stratosphere: the stratosphere extends from approximately 10-12 km to 50 km

above the Earth’s surface. The air temperature remains relatively constant up to
an altitude of 25 km, then increase gradually having a stabilizing effect on
atmospheric conditions. The stratosphere contains nearly 90 percent of the
atmospheric ozone, which plays major role in regulating temperatures as solar
energy is converted to kinetic energy when the ozone molecules absorb
ultraviolet radiation, resulting in the heating of the stratosphere.

Troposphere: the troposphere is the closest to the earth’s surface, containing

more than 80 percent of total atmospheric mass – composed of 78 percent
nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, other trace gases, water droplets, dust and other
particles. The troposphere is where most weather occurs; the circulation of air in
intensive vertical movements result in the formation of clouds, while horizontal
movements result in wind. Both temperature and water vapor content decrease
rapidly as altitude increase within the troposphere. Nearly 99 percent air
temperature as it absorbs solar energy and thermal radiation from the planet’s
surface. In the troposphere, air rises as it is heated by the sun, falls earthward as
it cools, and intermixes with evaporated water from the planet’s bodies of water
to from clouds and precipitation. The uneven heating of the Earth’s rotation,
creates rising (convection), falling (advection), and horizontal air movements
(wind). The results of these processes occurring in the form of rain, snow, heat or
freezing cold, at a particular place and time, is called weather. The longer term
trends in patterns of temperature, rainfall, and other weather indicators over
time, usually in blocks of 30 years that can affect the entire Earth, is called
climate.

Climate

Is the statistics of weather over long period of time. It is measured by

assessing the patterns of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric
pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other
meteorological variables in a given region over long period of time. Climate differs
from weather, and weather only describes the short-term conditions of these
variables in a given region.

A region’s climate is generated by the climate system, which has five

components:

Atmosphere Cryosphere Biosphere

Hydrosphere Lithosphere

The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain and altitude as well as
nearby water bodies and their currents. Climates can be classified according to
the average and the typical ranges of different variables, most commonly
temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used classification was the
Koppen climate classification. The Thornthwaite system in use since 1948,
incorporates evapotranspiration along with temperature and precipitation
information and is used in studying biological diversity and hoe climate change
affects it. The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification Systems focus on the
origin of air masses that define the climate of a region.

Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates. Since direct observations of

climate are not available before the 19th century, paleoclimates are inferred from
proxy variables that include non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lake
beds and ice cores, and biotic evidence such as tree rings models of pasts, present
and future climate. Climate change may occur over long or short timescales from
a variety of factors; recent warming is discussed in global warming.

Weather

Is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which
it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather
phenomena occur in the lowest level of the atmosphere, just below the
stratosphere. Weather refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation
activity, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions
over longer periods of time. When use without qualification, “weather” is
generally understood to mean the weather of Earth.

Weather is driven by air pressure, temperature and moisture differences

between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the sun’s
angle at any particular spot, which varies with latitude. The strong temperature
contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the largest scale atmospheric
circulations: the Hadley Cell, the Ferrel Cell, the Polar Cell, and the jet stream.
Weather systems in the mid-latitude, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused
by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earth axis is titled relative to its
orbital plane sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year.
On Earth’s surface, temperature usually range +40 degree Celsius annually. Over
thousands of years changes in Earth’s orbit can affect the amount and distribution
of solar energy received by the earth, thus influencing long term climate and
global climate change. Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure
differences. Higher altitudes are cooler then lower altitudes, as most atmospheric
heating is due to contact with the earth’s surface while radiative losses to space
are mostly constant. Weather forecasting is the application of science and
technology to predict the state of the atmosphere of a result of feature time and
a given location. The Earth’s weather system is a chaotic system; as a result small
changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as
a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout
history, and there is evidence that human activities such as agriculture and
industry have modified weather patterns.

Biodiversity

Generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. According to

the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), biodiversity typically measures
variation and genetics, species and eco system level. Terrestrial biodiversity tends
to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate
and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth and
is richest in the tropics. These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10
percent of the world’s species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along
coasts in the western pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the
latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster
hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the
future. Rapid and environmental changes typically cause mass extinction. More
than 99.9 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five
billion species are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth’s
current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million
have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More
recently in May 2016, scientist reported that one trillion species are estimated to
be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described the
total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 10 and
weighs 50 billion tones.