Atmosphere Contents

1. Structure And Composition

There are various further layers of the atmosphere, which can affect the weather via the general circulation of the atmosphere

The mesosphere lies above the stratosphere and stretches up to 80 km. It is a layer of decreasing temperature with height. Above 80 km (the thermosphere) the temperatures again begin to rise with height. Noctilucent clouds can appear in this region. Above 100 km is an area referred to as the ionosphere. This is where the atmospheric constituents are ionised by cosmic rays, X-rays, and is where we get aurora. The exosphere base is between 500 and 750 km. The outer-most layer, the magnetosphere, is an area containing charged particles, electrons and protons. They appear trapped by the Earth's magnetic field. These are concentrated in two belts, known as the Van Allen belts. The inner belt starts at an altitude of about 800 km and reaches a maximum intensity at about 2000 km. The outer belt reaches a maximum intensity between 18 - 25,000 km. It is this layer which is affected by the solar wind.

What further layers of the atmosphere are there, above the stratosphere?