In this activity, students learn that the atmosphere can be divided into layers based on temperature changes at different altitudes, by making a graph. They will read the background material, plot data points, and determine where layers begin and end from their comprehension of the reading material. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

Jack Fearing

English

Digital Library for Earth System Education

Layers of the Atmosphere 
 
By Jack Fearing, Lincoln Junior High School, Hibbing, Minnesota 
 
Teacher’s Page 
Objective:  To discover how the atmosphere can be divided into layers based on 
temperature changes at different heights, by making a graph. Students must read the 
background material, plot data points, and determine where layers begin and end from 
their comprehension of the reading material. 
 
Grade Level: 6-10 
 
Time Required:  35 - 45 minutes 
 
Materials:  No additional materials are needed. 
 
Background:  Students should know how to plot data on a graph with negative numbers.  
Go over the instructions carefully, reading the background paragraph aloud.  Watch them 
carefully during the activity, making sure graphing is correct.  They may need help 
understanding that they find the layer divisions based on what they read in the text. 
 
Evaluation:  Students should be graded on the correct plotting of the points in the table 
onto the graph. They should also label eight items on the graph: troposphere, tropopause, 
stratosphere, stratopause, mesosphere, mesopause, thermosphere and ozone layer.   
Questions: 
1.  The variations in temperature changes. 
2.   troposphere:  decrease 
 stratosphere:  increase 
 mesosphere:  decrease 
 thermosphere:  increase 
3.   tropopause:  about 12-18 km  about –60 
       stratopause:  about 46-54 km  about –2 to 0 
 mesopause:   about 85-90 km  about –90 
4.  The temperature increases in the stratosphere due to ozone layer capturing ultraviolet 
radiation.  The temperature decreases in the mesosphere since there is no ozone and the 
amount of air is decreasing. 
5.  As solar energy hits the earth’s surface, it is converted into heat.  That heat radiates 
upward from the earth’s surface.  The farther away from the warm earth’s surface we go, 
the less heat we feel until we hit the ozone layer in the stratosphere. The temperature of 
the troposphere therefore decreases steadily until the stratosphere.  
 
By Jack Fearing, Lincoln Junior High School, Hibbing, Minnesota 
 
Edited by Christine McLelland, Subaru Distinguished Earth Science Educator, 2002-
2003, Geological Society of America, 3300 Penrose Place, Boulder, CO 80301 
Student’s Pages follow:
Name ________________________ 
 
Layers of the Atmosphere 
 
By Jack Fearing, Lincoln Junior High School, Hibbing, Minnesota 
  
OBJECTIVE: To discover how the atmosphere can be divided into layers based on 
temperature changes at different heights, by making a graph. 
  
BACKGROUND: 
The atmosphere can be divided into four layers based on temperature variations.  The 
layer closest to the Earth is called the troposphere.  Above this layer is the stratosphere, 
followed by the mesosphere, then the thermosphere.  The upper boundaries between these 
layers are known as the tropopause, the stratopause, and the mesopause, respectively. 
 
Temperature variations in the four layers are due to the way solar energy is absorbed as it 
moves downward through the atmosphere.  The Earth’s surface is the primary absorber of 
solar energy.  Some of this energy is reradiated by the Earth as heat, which warms the 
overlying troposphere.  The global average  temperature in the troposphere rapidly 
decreases with altitude until the tropopause, the boundary between the troposphere and 
the stratosphere. 
 
The temperature begins to increase with altitude in the stratosphere.  This warming is 
caused by a form of oxygen called ozone (O3) absorbing ultraviolet radiation from the 
sun.  Ozone protects us from most of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, which can cause 
cancer, genetic mutations, and sunburn.  Scientists are concerned that human activity is 
contributing to a decrease in stratospheric ozone.  Nitric oxide, which is the exhaust of 
high-flying jets, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used as refrigerants, may 
contribute to ozone depletion.   
 
At the stratopause, the temperature stops increasing with altitude.  The overlying 
mesosphere does not absorb solar radiation, so the temperature decreases with altitude.  
At the mesopause, the temperature begins to increase with altitude, and this trend 
continues in the thermosphere.  Here solar radiation first hits the Earth’s atmosphere and 
heats it.  Because the atmosphere is so thin, a thermometer cannot measure the 
temperature accurately and special instruments are needed. 
  
DIRECTIONS: 
1.  Table 1 contains the average temperature readings at various altitudes in the Earth’s 
atmosphere.  Plot this data on the graph on the worksheet, and connect adjacent points 
with a smooth curve.  Be careful to plot the negative temperature numbers correctly.  
This profile provides a general picture of temperature at any given time and place; 
however, the actual temperature may deviate from the average values, particularly in the 
lower atmosphere.  
 
 
TABLE 1 
Average Temperature Readings at Various Altitudes 
 
Altitude (km) Temp (oC) Altitude (km) Temp (oC) 
0 15 52 -2 
5 -18 55 -7 
10 -49 60 -17 
12 -56 65 -33 
20 -56 70 -54 
25 -51 75 -65 
30 -46 80 -79 
35 -37 84 -86 
40 -22 92 -86 
45 -8 95 -81 
48 -2 100 -72 
 
2.  Label the different layers of the atmosphere and the separating boundaries between 
each layer.   
 
3.  Mark the general location of the ozone layer. You should place eight words on your 
graph in the correct locations:  troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere, stratopause, 
mesosphere, mesopause, thermosphere and ozone layer.    
 
QUESTIONS: 
1.  What is the basis for dividing the atmosphere into four layers? 
 
 
2.  Does the temperature increase or decrease with altitude in the: 
 
 troposphere? _____________  stratosphere? ________________ 
 
 mesosphere? _____________  thermosphere? _______________ 
 
3.  What is the approximate height and temperature of the: 
 
 tropopause: _______________ _____________ 
 
stratopause: _______________ _____________ 
 
 mesopause: _______________ _____________ 
 
4.  What causes the temperature to increase with height through the stratosphere, and 
decrease with height through the mesosphere? 
 
 
5.  What causes the temperature to decrease with height in the troposphere? 
Graph of Temperature at Various Altitudes 
 
ALTITUDE  (km above sea level – Y-axis)  
    100 
 
      95 
             
 
      90 
             
 
      85 
             
 
      80 
             
 
      75 
             
 
      70 
             
 
      65 
             
 
      60 
             
 
      55 
             
 
      50 
             
 
      45 
             
 
      40 
             
 
      35 
             
 
      30 
             
 
      25 
             
 
      20 
             
 
      15 
             
 
      10 
             
 
        5 
             
 
        0 
             
     -100      -90      -80      -70       -60        -50       -40       -30        -20       -10         -5          0          10    20 
     Temperature (oC) 


Layers of the Atmosphere

http://www.geosociety.org/educate/LessonPlans/Layers_of_Atmosphere.pdf

Layers of the Atmosphere

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