NASA's page about Earth atmosphere models gives a weird equation about temperature change in different atmospheric layers. One of the formulas looks like this:
Can someone explain to me what this means?
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Sign up to join this communityNASA's page about Earth atmosphere models gives a weird equation about temperature change in different atmospheric layers. One of the formulas looks like this:
Can someone explain to me what this means?
There's some kind of explanation about the units under the picture. The formula is based off the average temperature in degrees Celsius (measured over the entire year, and the entire Earth), which is 15.04 at sea level, and the temperature decreases by 0.00649 degrees every meter above sea level (the average lapse rate). The formula is 'valid' until 11 kilometers, where the troposphere ends.
It's just a model of the average temperature; of course, at the poles it will be colder and at the equator it will be warmer. The lapse rate also varies, while the average of 6.5 °C per kilometer is quite well-known, it can vary between 9.8 °C when it's dry and about 5 °C when it's moist; see Wikipedia for the derivation of these rates.