Atmosphere | Definition, Layers, & Facts (2024)

atmosphere, the gas and aerosol envelope that extends from the ocean, land, and ice-covered surface of a planet outward into space. The density of the atmosphere decreases outward, because the gravitational attraction of the planet, which pulls the gases and aerosols (microscopic suspended particles of dust, soot, smoke, or chemicals) inward, is greatest close to the surface. Atmospheres of some planetary bodies, such as Mercury, are almost nonexistent, as the primordial atmosphere has escaped the relatively low gravitational attraction of the planet and has been released into space. Other planets, such as Venus, Earth, Mars, and the giant outer planets of the solar system, have retained an atmosphere. In addition, Earth’s atmosphere has been able to contain water in each of its three phases (solid, liquid, and gas), which has been essential for the development of life on the planet.

The evolution of Earth’s current atmosphere is not completely understood. It is thought that the current atmosphere resulted from a gradual release of gases both from the planet’s interior and from the metabolic activities of life-forms—as opposed to the primordial atmosphere, which developed by outgassing (venting) during the original formation of the planet. Current volcanic gaseous emissions include water vapour (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), carbon monoxide (CO), chlorine (Cl), fluorine (F), and diatomic nitrogen (N₂; consisting of two atoms in a single molecule), as well as traces of other substances. Approximately 85 percent of volcanic emissions are in the form of water vapour. In contrast, carbon dioxide is about 10 percent of the effluent.

During the early evolution of the atmosphere on Earth, water must have been able to exist as a liquid, since the oceans have been present for at least three billion years. Given that solar output four billion years ago was only about 60 percent of what it is today, enhanced levels of carbon dioxide and perhaps ammonia (NH₃) must have been present in order to retard the loss of infrared radiation into space. The initial life-forms that evolved in this environment must have been anaerobic (i.e., surviving in the absence of oxygen). In addition, they must have been able to resist the biologically destructive ultraviolet radiation in sunlight, which was not absorbed by a layer of ozone as it is now.

Once organisms developed the capability for photosynthesis, oxygen was produced in large quantities. The buildup of oxygen in the atmosphere also permitted the development of the ozone layer as O₂ molecules were dissociated into monatomic oxygen (O; consisting of single oxygen atoms) and recombined with other O₂ molecules to form triatomic ozone molecules (O₃). The capability for photosynthesis arose in primitive forms of plants between two and three billion years ago. Previous to the evolution of photosynthetic organisms, oxygen was produced in limited quantities as a by-product of the decomposition of water vapour by ultraviolet radiation.

The current molecular composition of Earth’s atmosphere is diatomic nitrogen (N₂), 78.08 percent; diatomic oxygen (O₂), 20.95 percent; argon (A), 0.93 percent; water (H₂0), about 0 to 4 percent; and carbon dioxide (CO₂), 0.04 percent. Inert gases such as neon (Ne), helium (He), and krypton (Kr) and other constituents such as nitrogen oxides, compounds of sulfur, and compounds of ozone are found in lesser amounts.

This article provides an overview of the physical forces that drive Earth’s atmospheric processes, the structure of the Earth’s atmosphere, and the instrumentation used to measure the Earth’s atmosphere. For a full description of the processes that created the current atmosphere on Earth, see evolution of the atmosphere. For information on the long-term conditions of the atmosphere as they are experienced at the surface of Earth, see climate. For a description of the highest regions of the atmosphere, where conditions are set largely by the presence of charged particles, see ionosphere and magnetosphere.

Surface budgets