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Solar System

The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude, warming near the surface due to heat absorption from the ground, cooling with increased altitude in the troposphere and mesosphere as heat decreases further from the surface, but warming again in the stratosphere due to ozone absorption of ultraviolet light and in the thermosphere due to oxygen absorption of solar radiation.

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Ashok Rajanavar
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51 views1 page

Solar System

The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude, warming near the surface due to heat absorption from the ground, cooling with increased altitude in the troposphere and mesosphere as heat decreases further from the surface, but warming again in the stratosphere due to ozone absorption of ultraviolet light and in the thermosphere due to oxygen absorption of solar radiation.

Uploaded by

Ashok Rajanavar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Most people know that it is colder on top of a mountain compared to the ground, but few actually know

why. And even less know that the atmosphere actually warms up again! The true temperature profile of
the atmosphere is shown in the image.
The air at the surface up to around 10 kilometers is called the troposphere. The reason it is warmer at
the surface is simple. The air is warmed by heat given off by the Earth! The farther away from the
surface the air moves, the less heat there is to absorb.
From 10 to 20 kilometers the atmosphere is stable. This region is called the tropopause. From 20 to
about 50 kilometers is the stratosphere. In this region the air actually warms with height! Ozone is
concentrated in this part of the atmosphere and it absorbs ultraviolet light from the Sun. More light is
absorbed at higher altitudes compared to the lower stratosphere, so the temperature increases.
But at 50 kilometers, the temperature levels out again in a region called the stratopause. At about 55
km, the mesosphere begins. In the mesosphere, the temperature decreases with height again, because
there is very little ozone to warm up the air.
Finally, the mesopause divides the mesosphere from the thermosphere, which is the section of the
atmosphere higher than 90 km. In this region, the temperature increases again! This time, it is
molecular oxygen (O2) that causes the temperature increase. The oxygen absorbs light from the Sun,
and since there is very little air in the thermosphere, just a little absorption can go a long way

http://www.windows2universe.org/kids_space/temp_profile.html

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