Your Turn
Gases play an important role in determining the temperature of the atmosphere. How does the temperature of the atmosphere change as altitude increases? What causes the temperature changes in the troposphere and stratosphere?
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- In the troposphere, the temperature decreases as altitude increases. This naturally occurs because the gases that make up the atmosphere are compressible. At the bottom of the troposphere the gases are more compressed and hence warmer than are the gases at the top of the tropsphere. Greenhouse gases do not directly determine the rate at which temperature decreases as you go up in the troposphere but they do determine the hieight at which IR photons are able to radiate energy back into space.
- In the stratosphere, the temperature increases as altitude increases, because, as altitude increases, the rate of the reactions involving oxygen, ozone and sunlight increases. These reactions convert ultraviolet light to heat, so as altitude increases, the rate of the production of heat energy increases.
- In the mesosphere, the temperature decreases as altitude increases.
- In the thermosphere, the temperature increases as altitude increases.