The atmosphere surrounding the Earth's surface is multi-layered. In this sense, the troposphere is the layer that is closest to the earth's surface. The temperature of this layer gradually decreases the higher the height. On the other hand, the different meteorological phenomena that make up the weather take place in the troposphere.
If we talk about climate, this concept includes the average weather over a large number of years. This implies that the weather varies from day to day, but the climate remains stable.
Layers of the atmosphere
After the troposphere comes a next layer, the stratosphere. In it the temperature increases progressively the higher the altitude.
Behind the stratosphere there is a new layer, the mesosphere, in which the temperature decreases as the altitude increases and can reach -90 degrees Celsius.
The fourth layer is known as the thermosphere and in it the air is very light and the temperature changes depending on solar activity (if the Sun is active, temperatures reach 1500 degrees Celsius).
Keep in mind that the thermosphere includes another specific region, the ionosphere.
The troposphere and the factors that determine time
The meteorological changes that take place in the troposphere occur as a consequence of several factors: temperature, precipitation, fronts, types of clouds and the force of the wind.
The atmospheric temperature on Earth oscillates between -80 degrees Celsius at the Earth's poles and 50 degrees Celsius in the desert territories.
Depending on the type of cloud, temperature and humidity, different types of precipitation occur
Precipitation in liquid form is known as rain or drizzle and precipitation in solid form is known as hail or snow.
The meteorological fronts are divided into hot or cold. A cold front is a zone of bad weather that forms when a mass of cold air collides with a mass of warm air. The term front is taken from military terminology and refers to the collision of two air masses.
The types of clouds also determine the weather. There are six kinds of clouds: strata, cumulus, stratocumulus, high strata, tall cumulus, and nimbus cumulus.
Finally, changes in the troposphere are produced by the action of the wind, which is formed from gas currents. These are produced by the differences in temperature caused by the energy of the Sun that impacts on the Earth when it rotates on its axis.
Photos: Fotolia - Inna
