Where is the ionosphere and the exosphere

In this layer, the air is so thin that satellites travel around the Earth, within its boundaries, without much effect on their motion. The temperature in the exosphere drops off dramatically to that of near absolute zero in outer space. The ionosphere The ionosphere is a region within the upper mesosphere and thermosphere where solar radiation and particles in the "solar wind" strip electrons from atoms in the atmosphere and create an electrically charged zone of ions.

We use the ionosphere to communicate long distances by radio. Radio waves bounce off the ionosphere in much the same way that light is reflected by a mirror. The ionosphere changes its position from day to night, rising in the night and lowering in the day.

This is why radio signals from far off places can be detected at night, while only close by transmissions are detectable during the day. The magnetosphere Contained within the Earth's thermosphere, the magnetosphere is the region where the Earth's magnetic field interacts with the charged particles coming from the Sun in the solar wind. Earth's atmosphere has a series of layers, each with its own specific traits. Moving upward from ground level, these layers are named the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.

The exosphere gradually fades away into the realm of interplanetary space. The troposphere is the lowest layer of our atmosphere. Starting at ground level, it extends upward to about 10 km 6. We humans live in the troposphere, and nearly all weather occurs in this lowest layer. Air pressure drops, and temperatures get colder, as you climb higher in the troposphere. The next layer up is called the stratosphere. The stratosphere extends from the top of the troposphere to about 50 km 31 miles above the ground.

The infamous ozone layer is found within the stratosphere. Temperatures in the stratosphere are highest over the summer pole, and lowest over the winter pole. By absorbing dangerous UV radiation, the ozone in the stratosphere protects us from skin cancer and other health damage. However chemicals called CFCs or freons, and halons which were once used in refrigerators, spray cans and fire extinguishers have reduced the amount of ozone in the stratosphere, particularly at polar latitudes, leading to the so-called "Antarctic ozone hole".

Now humans have stopped making most of the harmful CFCs we expect the ozone hole will eventually recover over the 21 st century, but this is a slow process. The region above the stratosphere is called the mesosphere. The thermosphere lies above the mesopause, and is a region in which temperatures again increase with height. This temperature increase is caused by the absorption of energetic ultraviolet and X-Ray radiation from the sun. The region of the atmosphere above about 80 km is also caused the "ionosphere", since the energetic solar radiation knocks electrons off molecules and atoms, turning them into "ions" with a positive charge.

The temperature of the thermosphere varies between night and day and between the seasons, as do the numbers of ions and electrons which are present. The ionosphere reflects and absorbs radio waves, allowing us to receive shortwave radio broadcasts in New Zealand from other parts of the world.

The region above about km is called the exosphere. It contains mainly oxygen and hydrogen atoms, but there are so few of them that they rarely collide - they follow "ballistic" trajectories under the influence of gravity, and some of them escape right out into space. The earth behaves like a huge magnet. It traps electrons negative charge and protons positive , concentrating them in two bands about 3, and 16, km above the globe - the Van Allen "radiation" belts.

This outer region surrounding the earth, where charged particles spiral along the magnetic field lines, is called the magnetosphere. Skip to content Home Users' questions Where are the ionosphere and exosphere? Users' questions. Esther Fleming March 19, Table of Contents.

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