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The thermosphere (or the upper atmosphere) is the height region above 85 kilometres (53 mi), while the region between the tropopause and the mesopause is the middle atmosphere (stratosphere and mesosphere) where absorption of solar UV radiation generates the temperature maximum near an altitude of 45 kilometres (28 mi) and causes the ozone layer.
The lower part of the thermosphere, from 80 to 550 kilometres (50 to 342 mi) above Earth's surface, contains the ionosphere. The temperature of the thermosphere gradually increases with height and can rise as high as 1500 °C (2700 °F), though the gas molecules are so far apart that its temperature in the usual sense is not
The temperature of the thermopause could range from nearly absolute zero to 987.547 °C (1,810 °F). Below this, the atmosphere is defined to be active [ clarification needed ] on the insolation received, due to the increased presence of heavier gases such as monatomic oxygen.
The variation in temperature that occurs from the highs of the day to the cool of nights is called diurnal temperature variation. Temperature ranges can also be based on periods of a month or a year. The size of ground-level atmospheric temperature ranges depends on several factors, such as: Average air temperature; Average humidity
Most scientists measure temperature using the Celsius scale and thermodynamic temperature using the Kelvin scale, which is the Celsius scale offset so that its null point is 0 K = −273.15 °C, or absolute zero. Many engineering fields in the US, notably high-tech and US federal specifications (civil and military), also use the Kelvin and ...
For example, when the air temperature is 32 °C (90 °F) with 70% relative humidity, the heat index is 41 °C (106 °F). heat lightning heat wave A period of weather characterized by excessively high temperatures, which may or may not be accompanied by high humidity or by drought. Very hot weather is often only referred to as a heat wave if the ...
A temperature gradient is a physical quantity that describes in which direction and at what rate the temperature changes the most rapidly around a particular location. The temperature spatial gradient is a vector quantity with dimension of temperature difference per unit length. The SI unit is kelvin per meter (K/m).
A multi-layered model of a greenhouse atmosphere will produce predicted temperatures for the atmosphere that decrease with height, asymptotically approaching the skin temperature at high altitudes. [3] The temperature profile of the Earth's atmosphere does not follow this type of trend at all altitudes, as it exhibits two temperature inversions ...