Atmospheric Shell

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Atmospheric Shell

Any one of a number of strata or layers of the earth's atmosphere. Also called atmospheric layer, atmospheric region .
Temperature distribution is the most common criterion used for denoting the various shells. The troposphere (the region of change) is the lowest 10 or 20 kilometers of the atmosphere, characterized by decreasing temperature with height. The top of the troposphere is called the tropopause. Above the tropopause, the stratosphere, a region in which the temperature generally increases with altitude, extends to the stratopause, the top of the inversion layer, at about 50 to 55 kilometers. Above the stratosphere, the mesosphere, a region of generally decreasing temperatures with height extends to the mesopause, the base of an inversion layer at about 80 to 85 kilometers. The region above the mesopause, in which temperature generally increases with height, is the thermosphere.

The distribution of various physicochemical processes is another criterion. The ozonosphere, lying roughly between 10 and 50 kilometers, is the general region of the upper atmosphere in which there is an appreciable ozone concentration and in which ozone plays an important part in the radiative balance of the atmosphere; the ionosphere, starting at about 70 or 80 kilometers, is the region in which ionization of one or more of the atmospheric constituents is significant; the neutrosphere is the shell below this which is, by contrast, relatively unionized; and the chemosphere, with no very definite height limits, is the region in which photochemical reactions take place.
Dynamic and kinetic processes are a third criterion. The exosphere is the region at the top of the atmosphere, above the critical level of escape, in which atmospheric particles can move in free orbits, subject only to the earth's gravitation.
Composition is a fourth criterion. The homosphere is the shell in which there is so little photodissociation or gravitational separation that the mean molecular weight of the atmosphere is sensibly constant; the heterosphere is the region above this, where the atmospheric composition and mean molecular weight are not constant. The boundary between the two is probably at the level at which molecular oxygen begins to be dissociated, and this occurs in the vicinity of 80 or 90 kilometers.
The term mesosphere has been given another definition which does not fit into any logical set of criteria, i.e., the shell between the exosphere and the ionosphere. This use of mesosphere has not been widely accepted.
For further subdivisions, see ionosphere, troposphere, geocorona.

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use