Description: This sphere is the gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth, encompassing its composition, dynamics, and energy exchanges. It drives weather patterns and influences climate.
- Subclasses (Complexes):
- atmosphere_climate: Long-term weather patterns and trends (e.g., temperature projections, historical climate data, climate zones, greenhouse gas concentrations affecting climate).
- atmosphere_weather: Short-term atmospheric conditions and phenomena (e.g., temperature, precipitation, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, forecasts, severe weather events like storms and hurricanes).
- atmosphere_composition: Data related to the general gaseous and particulate composition of the air (e.g., major atmospheric gases, aerosols, background trace gases not considered pollutants).
- atmosphere_contaminants: Data related to the presence and distribution of pollutants in the atmosphere (e.g., NO2 levels, particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone-depleting substances, industrial emissions, air quality indices).
- Common Overlaps & Distinctions:
- Precipitation: While precipitation originates in the atmosphere, actual rainfall/snowfall data that interacts with the ground or water bodies is typically found under hydrosphere_atmospheric_water.
- Surface Temperature: Air temperature is atmosphere_weather, but the temperature of the land or sea surface is geosphere_landform_topography.
- Climate Change: The causes (GHG emissions from human activity) are
anthroposphere_contaminantsoranthroposphere_resource_utilisation. The atmospheric manifestations (temperature trends, changes in weather patterns) are atmosphere_climate. The impacts can span all other spheres.
Leaves
| Leaf | Question | Twigs in this sphere |
|---|---|---|
| Atmospheric Deposition and Emissions | What atmospheric emissions and deposition loads are modeled for this area? | atmosphere_contaminants |