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Weather and Climate

Structure of the atmosphere and the heat budget

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 4

Overview

How temperature changes with height in the troposphere, role of the ozone layer in making the surface habitable and atmospheric heat budget.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Name the four main layers of the atmosphere in order from the surface.

Key term

In which layer does almost all weather occur, and why?

Key term

Why does temperature rise with height in the stratosphere?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name the four main layers of the atmosphere in order from the surface.

    Model answer

    The troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere.

  2. 2

    In which layer does almost all weather occur, and why?

    Model answer

    The troposphere, because it holds most of the atmosphere's water vapour and is heated from below, so it convects.

  3. 3

    Describe how temperature changes with height in the troposphere.

    Model answer

    It falls with height, at an average environmental lapse rate of about 6.5°C per kilometre.

  4. 4

    Why does temperature rise with height in the stratosphere?

    Model answer

    Ozone there absorbs ultraviolet radiation, warming the layer from above rather than from the surface below.

  5. 5

    What is the tropopause?

    Model answer

    The tropopause is the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere, where the fall of temperature with height ceases.

  6. 6

    Explain the role of the ozone layer in making the surface habitable.

    Model answer

    It absorbs most incoming ultraviolet radiation, which would otherwise damage living tissue at the surface.

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