Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere - Understanding and Reconciling Differences

Temperatures Vary Vertically The global temperature profile of the Earth’s atmosphere reflects a balance between the radiative, convective and dynamical heating/cooling of the surface-atmosphere system. Radiation from the Sun is the source of energy for the Earth’s climate, with most of it absorbed at the surface. Combined with the physical properties of the atmosphere and dynamical processes, the heat is mixed vertically and horizontally, yielding the highest temperatures, on average, at the surface, with marked seasonal and spatial variations. In the atmosphere, the distribution of moisture and the lower air pressure at progressively higher altitudes result in decreasing temperatures with height up to the tropopause, with the rate of decrease depending on geographical factors and meteorological conditions. The tropopause marks the top of the troposphere, i.e., the lower 8 to 16 km of the atmosphere (see Preface, Fig. 2), and varies with latitude and longitude. Above this altitude, the physical properties of the air produce a warming with height through the stratosphere (extending from the tropopause to ~50 km).