Is the temperature higher on the surface of the earth or in the air?

According to the vertical structure of atmospheric temperature, the atmosphere can be divided into troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.

(1), troposphere:

The lowest layer of the atmosphere above the ground is called the troposphere, and the pressure at the top of the troposphere is about 200 hectopascals. The height of the tropopause is higher in summer than in winter, about 17- 18 km near the equator, with an average of 10- 12 km in mid-latitude and 8-9 km in high latitude. The troposphere is only a shallow layer for the whole atmosphere, but it concentrates more than 80% of the atmospheric quality, and almost all major weather phenomena and processes such as water vapor, clouds and precipitation, cold wave, typhoon, thunderstorm and lightning occur in this layer. The main features of the troposphere are:

I) Temperature decreases with height. Because the atmosphere can't absorb solar short-wave radiation, but the ground can absorb solar radiation to warm up and release long-wave radiation, the atmosphere can only warm up by absorbing long-wave radiation from the ground and absorbing heat from the ground through convection and turbulence, so the closer the atmosphere is to the ground, the more heat it gets, and the lower the temperature of the troposphere with height.

Ii) Strong vertical mixing. Due to the heat obtained from the ground, the lower air is heated and the upper cold air sinks, resulting in strong vertical mixing in the troposphere. The tropical ground temperature is high, the vertical mixing energy can reach a very high height, and the tropopause height is high; The polar ground temperature is low, the vertical mixing is weak and the tropopause height is low.

Iii) Uneven horizontal distribution of meteorological elements. Due to the difference of latitude and surface properties, the air above the ground has different physical properties in the horizontal direction, and the horizontal distribution of air pressure, temperature and humidity is uneven, resulting in various weather processes and weather changes.

(2) Stratosphere:

The tropopause is about 50 kilometers from the stratosphere. The pressure at the top of the stratosphere is about 1 hectopascal. The temperature in the lower stratosphere does not change much with height. In the upper stratosphere, there is an ozone layer (22-35km), which absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun and raises the atmospheric temperature. This inversion structure makes the stratosphere stable and the convection weak. Most of the air moves horizontally, and air pollutants such as nuclear explosion fragments and volcanic ash can stay in the stratosphere for a long time. There is almost no water vapor and dust in the stratosphere, and there are no clouds and weather phenomena in the troposphere.

(3) Intermediate layer:

The stratosphere is called the mesosphere when it reaches about 85 kilometers. The top pressure of the middle layer is about 0.0 1 hectopascal. The temperature of the middle atmosphere decreases with the height, and there is little water vapor and strong vertical mixing. Atmospheric molecules begin to ionize over 60 kilometers, and the bottom of the ionosphere is in the middle layer.

(4) Thermosphere: The atmosphere above the middle layer is called the thermosphere. The temperature of this layer increases with the increase of height. This is because molecular oxygen and atomic oxygen in the thermosphere can absorb 0. 17 micron solar ultraviolet radiation and solar particle radiation. However, due to the difficulty of convection in the thermosphere, the heat of the atmosphere mainly depends on heat conduction, and due to the scarcity of molecules, the heat conductivity is very small, resulting in a huge temperature gradient and temperature difference between day and night. During the daytime, the temperature is as high as 2000 k, and at night, the temperature is only 500 k in the calm period of the sun. The thermosphere air is in a highly ionized state. Due to the thin air in the upper thermosphere, atmospheric particles rarely collide with each other, and the high-speed moving air mass points may escape to interstellar space against the gravity of the earth, also known as escape layer.