EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -In the troposphere, the temperature generally decreases with altitude. The reason is that the troposphere’s gases absorb very little of the incoming solar radiation. Instead, the ground absorbs this radiation and then heats the tropospheric air by conduction and convection.

Detailed explanation-2: -As the density of the gases in this layer decrease with height, the air becomes thinner. Therefore, the temperature in the troposphere also decreases with height in response. As one climbs higher, the temperature drops from an average around 62°F (17°C) to-60°F (-51°C) at the tropopause.

Detailed explanation-3: -Temperature decreases with altitude because the troposphere is warmed from below, through absorption and re-emission of incoming solar radiation by the Earth’s surface, rather than being warmed from above by incoming solar radiation.

Detailed explanation-4: -The basic answer is that the farther away you get from the earth, the thinner the atmosphere gets. The total heat content of a system is directly related to the amount of matter present, so it is cooler at higher elevations.