Atmospheric services



The atmosphere. It's probably a good thing, obviously. But do we really appreciate all the things it does for us? This graphic is based on work by two of my colleagues at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, Dr Michaela Kendall* and Gyula Kothencz. It explains how different parts of the atmosphere play different roles in supporting our lives.

I was going to have a nice curve of the earth at the bottom to orient the viewer. However, as its circumference is around 40,000km at the equator, the curvature wasn't really discernible in any way, even in the wide lines that separate out the different altitudes (the one at the top of the troposphere is called the tropopause, apparently, if you're into that kind of thing).




* See Thornes, J et al. 2010. Communicating the Value of Atmospheric Services. Meteorological Applications 17(2); 243 - 250.

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