Earth's atmosphere: Facts about our planet's protective blanket

Earth's atmosphere is a thin band of air made up of numerous layers based on temperature. Without this protective blanket, life on Earth would not exist as it protects us from heat and radiation emitted from the sun and contains the air we breathe.

Though oxygen is crucial for life on Earth, it is not the primary component of our atmosphere. According to education site Vision Learning Earth's atmosphere is composed of approximately 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent Argon, 0.04 percent carbon dioxide as well as trace amounts of neon, helium, methane, krypton, ozone and hydrogen, as well as water vapor.

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Even more sniffling and sneezing: Longer allergy season possible due to climate change, study suggests

The seasonal sniffling and sneezing could last longer for allergy sufferers. A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that climate change will lengthen allergy season.

Two scientists from the University of Michigan examined climate data and pollen data and found that pollen emissions later this century would likely start 10-40 days earlier in the spring and end up to 19 days later in the fall.

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Megadrought Expands Into America's Breadbasket: Hot Dry Conditions Headed to Heartland

Scientific researchers and a federal agency are putting out a warning that much of the U.S. faces hot, dry conditions this summer.

The country’s grain-producing heartland will be at the eastern edge of the conditions that have plagued California and other Western states since the summer of 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Spring Outlook.

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