mesosphere — LLMpedia

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mesosphere is the third layer of the Earth's atmosphere, extending from about 50 to 85 kilometers (31 to 53 miles) above the Earth's surface, and is a critical region for understanding NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data. The mesosphere is situated between the stratosphere and the thermosphere, and its unique characteristics are studied by European Space Agency (ESA) Swarm (spacecraft) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) TIMED (spacecraft) missions. The mesosphere plays a crucial role in the Earth's climate system, interacting with the troposphere and stratosphere through atmospheric circulation patterns, such as the Hadley cell and Ferrel cell, which are also studied by the University of California, Berkeley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Introduction

The mesosphere is a vital component of the Earth's atmosphere, and its study has been facilitated by space agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA), which have launched numerous spacecraft, including the UARS, GOES, and Swarm (spacecraft), to investigate its properties. The mesosphere is also of great interest to research institutions, such as the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and Harvard University, which have conducted extensive research on its composition, temperature, and atmospheric circulation patterns, including the jet stream and trade winds. Furthermore, the mesosphere has been studied by scientists, including James Hansen, Stephen Schneider, and Syukuro Manabe, who have made significant contributions to our understanding of the Earth's climate system and the role of the mesosphere in it, as well as its interaction with the ionosphere and magnetosphere.

The mesosphere is composed of nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and carbon dioxide (CO2), with smaller amounts of argon (Ar), helium (He), and hydrogen (H2), as measured by NASA's Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) and European Space Agency's (ESA) MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) instrument on the Envisat satellite. The mesosphere is divided into three sub-layers: the lower mesosphere, the middle mesosphere, and the upper mesosphere, each with distinct characteristics, such as the mesopause, which is studied by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Michigan. The mesosphere is also home to noctilucent clouds, which are formed when water vapor (H2O) freezes into ice crystals at high altitudes, and are studied by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The temperature in the mesosphere decreases with increasing altitude, ranging from about 200 K (-73°C) at the bottom to about 100 K (-173°C) at the top, as measured by NASA's Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on the TIMED (spacecraft) and European Space Agency's (ESA) GOMOS (Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars) instrument on the Envisat satellite. The mesosphere is characterized by strong atmospheric circulation patterns, including the zonal wind and meridional wind, which are studied by researchers at the University of Reading and University of Leeds. These winds play a crucial role in the formation of weather patterns, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which are also studied by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and University of Washington.

The mesosphere is a critical region for the study of meteoroids, which are small particles of debris that enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up, producing meteors, also known as shooting stars, which are studied by researchers at the University of Western Ontario and University of Calgary. The mesosphere is also home to noctilucent clouds, which are formed when water vapor (H2O) freezes into ice crystals at high altitudes, and are studied by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Wisconsin–Madison. These clouds are of great interest to research institutions, such as the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, which have conducted extensive research on their formation and properties, including their interaction with the aurora borealis and aurora australis.

The mesosphere plays a crucial role in the atmospheric escape of gases from the Earth's atmosphere into space, a process that is studied by NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission and European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta (spacecraft) mission. The mesosphere is also of great interest to research institutions, such as the University of California, Berkeley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which have conducted extensive research on the atmospheric escape of gases, including hydrogen (H2) and helium (He), and their interaction with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field. Furthermore, the mesosphere has been studied by scientists, including James Van Allen, Fred Whipple, and Carl Sagan, who have made significant contributions to our understanding of the Earth's atmosphere and its interaction with space. Category:Atmospheric science