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Article: Atmospheric Composition and Structure
- Article from:
- World of Earth Science
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Atmospheric composition and structure
During most of history, Earth's atmosphere was regarded as little more than a mass of air and
clouds
. Simple observations from the ground yielded little more than a basic understanding of the atmosphere's characteristics.
Manned balloon ascents in the late 1700s and early 1800s were restricted to about 5 miles (8 km), the limit of life-supporting
oxygen
. There were also risks to human life. From a practical standpoint, it was difficult to make widespread observations over
space
and time.
Breakthroughs in atmospheric research came as new inventions made it possible to obtain information from unmanned balloon flights. The first of these was the ...