ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH SCIENCE
ATMOSPHERE STRUCTURE AND VERTICAL MOVEMENT

DATE:

Using your class notes and the temperature profile graph, answer the following questions.

1. Label or circle the troposphere, tropopause (the top of the troposphere), stratosphere,  ozone "layer" on the diagram.

2. Why do temperatures decrease in the troposphere (hint: where is the main source of heat for the atmosphere)?

 

3. Why do temps increase in the stratosphere?

 

4. What is the tropopause? What is its altitude?

 

5. Using the temperature profile, fill in the following chart:

Altitude (km) Average Temperature (degrees Celsius) Altitude (km) Average Temperature (degrees Celsius)
0   9  
1   10  
2   11  
3   12  
4   13  
5   14  
6   15  
7   16  
8   17  

6. On average, how many degrees C does the troposphere cool off for each km of  altitude?

 

7. In order for a mass of warm air at the surface to rise, the air  must be at least what temperature on average? Why?

 

8. If a mass of air at the surface is 20 degrees C and it begins to rise, and it cools 10 degrees C for every km it rises, where will it stop rising? Why? Diagram this

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. What if the same mass of air only cooled at 5 degrees C for every km? Diagram this.

 

 

 

 

 

10. Where air is rising and LEAVING from an area at the surface, will the air pressure at the surface there be more or less than the surrounding air? Why? (Hint: If the air is leaving, there is less air there)

 

11. As cooled, denser air sinks and "piles up" over an area, will the air pressure at the surface be higher or lower than the surrounding air? Why? (Hint: If the air is coming down to the surface, there is more air there)

 

12. Draw a diagram showing a convection current of air rising over a warm surface, cooling along the tropopause, sinking over cooler surfaces and returning along the ground to the warmer area. Label the location of low and high air pressure on the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. How are plumes of smoke from very powerful volcanic eruptions able to pump particulates and gasses into the stratosphere?

 

14. What would happen to the tropopause and to rising air masses if ozone depletion cooled the stratosphere?

 

15. Where would most pollutants from urban and industrial areas end up if they travel with the warm air rising over these areas?