One key part of the story of global warming is told by the overall temperature profile of the atmosphere and this introduces the idea of tropospheric lapse rate.

Open Earth's Atmosphere learning tool to familiarize yourself with the temperature profile of Earth’s atmosphere, focusing on the troposphere. In the “Temperature Profile” dropdown menu, choose “Overlay.” Next, move the red pointer up and down to view how temperature varies with altitude. Write down answers to the following three results.

• What is the temperature at 5km?
• What is the temperature at 10km?
• What is the temperature at 15km?

Based on your results, does the temperature of the troposphere increase or decrease with altitude?