Earth ozone layer due to the subsequent conversion of atmospheric into. The ozone layer blocks ultraviolet solar radiation, permitting life on land. Other atmospheric functions important to life include transporting water vapor, providing useful gases, causing small meteors to burn up before they strike the surface, and moderating temperature. This last phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect: trace molecules within the atmosphere serve to capture thermal energy emitted from the ground, thereby raising the average temperature. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone are the primary greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Without this heat-retention effect, the average surface
Ocean planet the HZ and the magnitude of their greenhouse effect. Several other surface and interior processes affect the atmospheric composition, including but not limited to the ocean fraction for dissolution of and for atmospheric relative humidity, redox state of the planetary surface and interior, acidity levels of the oceans, planetary albedo, and surface gravity. The atmospheric structure, as well as the resulting HZ limits, depend on the density of a planet's atmosphere, shifting the HZ outward for lower mass and inward for higher mass planets. Theory, as well as computer models suggest that atmospheric composition for water planets in the habitable