Lightning Talk (No.10) - The Atmosphere Above the Clouds

Abstract

We often see the clouds in the sky. Airliners usually fly at an altitude of 10 km. From the ground, they seem high. However, these altitudes are very low compared to the space. The term atmosphere commonly refers to the region from the ground up to an altitude of 100 km, and it is divided into the four regions: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and (lower) thermosphere. The temperature and wind distribution has quite different characteristics among the altitudes. It is warmer in the summer hemisphere than in the winter hemisphere in the stratosphere, whereas in the winter hemisphere in the mesosphere. The wind is easterly (westerly) in the summer (winter) hemisphere. In addition, the horizontal distribution has longitudinal dependencies in the Northen Hemisphere due to the complicated topography.