Rock, soil, and water on Earth absorb the Sun’s light and radiate it back into the atmosphere as heat. The temperature is also higher near the surface because of the greater density of gases.
The higher gravity
causes the temperature to rise. … This mixing causes the temperature gradient to vary with time and place.
What causes air temperature difference?
The temperature of the air is caused by
the combination of air, water, and land working together
. Those three factors heat and cool areas at different rates. Temperature also varies by the time of day, the season, or even the year. When weather people talk about temperature, they are talking about a mean temperature.
How does temperature vary in the atmosphere?
Temperature
increases as you gain altitude in the stratosphere and the thermosphere
. Temperature decreases as you gain altitude in the troposphere and mesosphere. Air temperature varies in complicated ways with altitude.
Why does the temperature of different layers of the atmosphere vary *?
What determines the temperature of atmospheric layers? The temperature of atmospheric layers varies because
of the way solar energy is absorbed by different gases
.
What variation does the temperature show in different layers of the atmosphere?
In the troposphere and mesosphere,
temperature generally falls with increasing altitude
, whilst in the stratosphere and thermosphere, temperature rises with increasing altitude. In addition to temperature, other criteria can be used to define different layers in the atmosphere.
Why the temperature decreases with altitude?
As you increase in elevation, there is less air above you thus the pressure decreases. As the pressure decreases,
air molecules spread out further
(i.e. air expands), and the temperature decreases. … The temperature in the troposphere — the lowest layer of the earth’s atmosphere — generally decreases with altitude.
What causes the temperature to change?
Earth’s temperature depends on the balance between energy entering and leaving the planet’s system. … Variations in the sun’s energy reaching Earth. Changes in the reflectivity of Earth’s atmosphere and surface. Changes
in the greenhouse effect
, which affects the amount of heat retained by Earth’s atmosphere.
How does air move in general?
Air in the atmosphere moves around the world in a pattern called global atmospheric circulation. … When
the air cools, it drops back to the ground, flows back towards the Equator, and warm again
. The, now, warmed air rises again, and the pattern repeats. This pattern, known as convection, happens on a global scale.
What are the 5 causes of weather?
These are
temperature, atmospheric pressure, cloud formation, wind, humidity and rain
. A small change to any of these conditions can create a different weather pattern.
What is the hottest layer in the atmosphere?
The thermosphere
is often considered the “hot layer” because it contains the warmest temperatures in the atmosphere. Temperature increases with height until the estimated top of the thermosphere at 500 km. Temperatures can reach as high as 2000 K or 1727 oC in this layer (Wallace and Hobbs 24).
Which is the coldest layer of our atmosphere?
Located between about 50 and 80 kilometers (31 and 50 miles) above Earth’s surface,
the mesosphere
gets progressively colder with altitude. In fact, the top of this layer is the coldest place found within the Earth system, with an average temperature of about minus 85 degrees Celsius (minus 120 degrees Fahrenheit).
What two gases are most common in our atmosphere?
Earth’s atmosphere is composed of about 78 percent
nitrogen
, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, and 0.1 percent other gases. Trace amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and neon are some of the other gases that make up the remaining 0.1 percent.
What are the different levels of the atmosphere?
The different layers of the atmosphere. The atmosphere can be divided into layers based on its temperature, as shown in the figure below. These layers are the
troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere
. A further region, beginning about 500 km above the Earth’s surface, is called the exosphere.
Why the layers of atmosphere become thinner with altitude?
Long answer –
The gravity causes the upper layers of atmosphere to exert force on the lower ones due to their weight
. This causes the air to compress and hence the air become dense at the lower level(closer to surface) while in comparison the air at heights( far from surface) is rarer or thinner.
Which is the coldest layer?
Mesosphere
, altitude and temperature characteristics
The top of the mesosphere is the coldest area of the Earth’s atmosphere because temperature may locally decrease to as low as 100 K (-173°C).
Which is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere?
The most abundant naturally occurring gas is
Nitrogen (N
2
)
, which makes up about 78% of air. Oxygen (O
2
) is the second most abundant gas at about 21%. The inert gas Argon (Ar) is the third most abundant gas at .
