News tagged with upper atmosphere
Wild blue yonder: Engineers tackle challenges of hypersonic flight
(Phys.org) -- Aeronautical engineers believe hypersonic planes flying at seven to 15 times the speed of sound will someday change the face of air and space travel. That is, if they can master such flight's known unknowns.
May 16, 2012 |
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Scientists study of thunderstorm impacts on upper atmosphere
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other organizations are targeting thunderstorms in Alabama, Colorado, and Oklahoma this spring to discover what happens when clouds suck ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 01, 2012 |
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Scientists use new method to zero in on source of tropical clouds
(Phys.org) -- High above the Earth, clouds too thin to see cover the tropics. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found a creative technique to identify the clouds' origins. Using several ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 26, 2012 |
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Fireball over California/Nevada: How big was it?
(Phys.org) -- A bright ball of light traveling east to west was seen over the skies of central/northern California Sunday morning, April 22. The former space rock-turned-flaming-meteor entered Earth's atmosphere ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 25, 2012 |
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Solar storm dumps gigawatts into Earth's upper atmosphere
A recent flurry of eruptions on the sun did more than spark pretty auroras around the poles. NASA-funded researchers say the solar storms of March 8th through 10th dumped enough energy in Earth’s ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 23, 2012 |
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NASA sees Tropical Storm Irina heading back toward African mainland
Tropical Storm Irina continues to linger in the Mozambique Channel, and NASA satellite data revealed the strongest storms in the southern quadrant, and Irina is running into some dry air, which may help to ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 07, 2012 |
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NASA jet stream study will light up the night sky
High in the sky, 60 to 65 miles above Earth's surface, winds rush through a little understood region of Earth's atmosphere at speeds of 200 to 300 miles per hour. Lower than a typical satellite's orbit, higher ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 07, 2012 |
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MSU satellite surpasses goal; NASA taps MSU to queue up for another launch
The Montana State University satellite that rode into space on a NASA rocket has now gathered information longer than the historic U.S. satellite it was built to honor, says the director of MSU's Space Science ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 28, 2012 |
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Rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range
On Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8:41 p.m. Alaska time, scientists launched a NASA sounding rocket from Poker Flat Research Range into a brilliant aurora display. The rocket mission, designed to gather information on space weather ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 27, 2012 |
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Environment Canada cuts threaten science, international agreements
Recent cuts to the scientific workforce of Environment Canada, a government agency responsible for meteorological services and environmental research, threaten scientific research related to the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere ...
Feb 13, 2012 |
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Satellite observes spatiotemporal variations in mid-upper tropospheric methane over China
As a principal greenhouse gas, atmospheric methane is important to atmospheric chemical processes and climate change. In Vol. 56 of the Chinese Science Bulletin, a paper identified spatiotemporal variations of methane in the ...
Jan 20, 2012 |
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Climate balancing: Sea-level rise vs. surface temperature change rates
Engineering our way out of global climate warming may not be as easy as simply reducing the incoming solar energy, according to a team of University of Bristol and Penn State climate scientists. Designing the approach to ...
Jan 18, 2012 |
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Mars-bound NASA rover aiming for an August landing
A NASA spacecraft hurtling toward Mars prepared to fire its thrusters Wednesday to put itself on course for an August landing.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 11, 2012 |
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Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft: Trajectory maneuver slated for Jan. 11
(PhysOrg.com) -- An engine firing on Jan. 11 will be the biggest maneuver that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft will perform on its flight between Earth and Mars.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 09, 2012 |
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Upper atmosphere facilitates changes that let mercury enter food chain
Humans pump thousands of tons of vapor from the metallic element mercury into the atmosphere each year, and it can remain suspended for long periods before being changed into a form that is easily removed from the atmosphere.
Dec 18, 2011 |
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Earth's atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by the Earth's gravity. It has a mass of about five quadrillion metric tons. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.
There is no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. It slowly becomes thinner and fades into space. An altitude of 120 km (75 mi) marks the boundary where atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry. The Kármán line, at 100 km (62 mi), is also frequently regarded as the boundary between atmosphere and outer space. Three quarters of the atmosphere's mass is within 11 km (6.8 mi; 36,000 ft) of the surface.
For more information about Earth's atmosphere, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
