Sentence starter: The relationship
between temperature and altitude in
Earth’s atmosphere is …

The relationship between temperature and altitude in Earth’s atmosphere is complex and varies across different atmospheric layers. Generally, as altitude increases within the troposphere—the lowest layer of the atmosphere—temperature decreases. This decrease continues up to the tropopause, the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, temperature begins to rise with altitude due to the absorption of ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer. Above the stratosphere, in the mesosphere and thermosphere, temperature trends can vary again, often decreasing in the mesosphere and increasing sharply in the thermosphere. These temperature variations are influenced by factors such as solar radiation, atmospheric composition, and pressure changes, resulting in the distinct thermal structure of Earth’s atmosphere.