Royal Belgian Institute for Space AeronomyPhysics and chemistry of the atmosphere of the Earth and other planets, and of outer space.
Chemical composition and climate
The number of molecules of gases that you will find in one cubic meter decreases as you go up from the surface to 100 km altitude.
1992 mission with experiments for understanding the interaction between the sun and the Earth's atmosphere. Belgian astronaut Dirk Frimout flew along.
Short-lived gases are mainly relevant to air quality and the longer-lived gases more to climate, but there is a very strong link between the two phenomena.
Nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere has both natural and anthropogenic sources, with humans causing the vast majority.
Air quality is the composition of the atmosphere in our immediate environment and climate is the average "weather" over a long term period.
The substances that determine the composition of the atmosphere in our immediate vicinity and/or the average "weather" over a long-term period occupy only 1% of the volume of the atmosphere.
For most measurements of atmospheric ingredients, the same technique is used: the DOAS method.
Atmospheres of planets glow constantly during both day and night as sunlight interacts with atoms and molecules.
Which phenomenon causes the sky on our planet to turn blue? And why at sunset red or orange?
The troposphere region contains the air we breathe and is like the stage for meteorology and climate.
Small droplets, injected in the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions, play an important role in the physico chemistry of the stratosphere.
The presence of ozone in the stratosphere causes temperature in the stratosphere to rise with altitude.
When temperatures fall below -80° C stratospheric particles turn into microscopic ice crystals that play an important role in ozone destruction.
Layers containing artificial satellites like the International Space Stations (ISS), spacecrafts, astronauts and cosmonauts in orbit.
Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs dangerous UV radiation to protect us, while ozone in the troposphere is poisonous substance.
Transitional zone between space and the completely different atmospheric layers closer to the ground at altitudes between 50 and 90 kilometers. Temperature may decrease as low as 100 K (-173°C).
Ozone destruction, leading to the ozone hole over Antarctica, becomes faster as temperature falls and the area gets isolated.
From ground to space each layer is characterized by specific temperatures: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere
A multidisciplinary science based on observations of the atmospherical environment (terrestrial and extraterrestrial).
Night shining clouds at an altitude of around 80 km (mesosphere) become more and more visible in the skimming light of the setting sun.
Elevated ozone levels can be harmful for health and vegetation. Tropospheric ozone is not directly emitted, but produced by chemical reactions.
Human activities like energy use and agriculture are responsible for the emissions of various chemical compounds in the atmosphere, causing a spectacular increase of tropospheric gaseous pollutants.
The greenhouse effect makes Earth suitable for life, but the rapidley increasing amount of greenhouse gases is worrisome for the future.
Next to water vapour and CO2, what other gases are to be found in Earth's troposphere?