Science Facts - Lapse Rate - Standard Atmosphere

The atmosphere is dynamic, continuously changing.

Just like scientists have computed an average temperature for the entire planet (15°C), they have also defined a standard temperature profile for the atmosphere ... modified as more data becomes available.

U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976, 1958, 1962, 1966
International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) - the same as the U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976
ICAO Standard Atmosphere - 1964 - via Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, FMH No. 3, Rawinsonde and Pibal Observations (PDF) Appendix D (PDF) (FMH - Federal Meteorological Handbook)
Navel Research Lab NRLMSISE-00 empirical model of the atmosphere - the standard for international space research (Wikipedia)

In the tables below, be sure to notice that the temperature of the stratopause is different (-2.5 vs 9.5).

Also note that the average surface temperature is 15°C (59°F) and that other references (including the IPCC ) claim that it should be 14°C (57°F).

International Standard Atmosphere / U.S. Standard Atmosphere - 1976
Layer		Height Above Sea Level		dT/dh		Temp at base
Layer		Meters	Feet	°C/km	°F/1,000 ft	°C	°F
Troposphere		0	0	-6.5	-3.6	15.0	59.0	Cooler with height
Tropopause		11,000	36,089	0.0	0.0	-56.5	-69.7	No change with height
Stratosphere	Lower	20,000	65,617	1.0	0.55	-56.5	-69.7	Warmer with height
Stratosphere	Upper	32,000	104,987	2.8	1.5	-44.5	-48.1	Warmer with height
Stratopause		47,000	154,199	0.0	0.0	-2.5	27.5	No change with height
Mesosphere	Lower	51,000	167,323	-2.8	-1.5	-2.5	27.5	Colder with height
Mesosphere	Upper	71,000	232,940	-2.0	-1.1	-58.5	-73.3	Colder with height
Mesopause		84,852	278,386	0.0	0.0	-86.2	-123.2	No change with height

ICAO Standard Atmosphere - 1964
Layer	Height Above Sea Level		dT/dh		Temp at base
Layer	Meters	Feet	°C/km	°F/1,000 ft	°C	°F
Troposphere	0	0	-6.5	-3.6	15.0	59.0	Cooler with height
Tropopause	11,000	36,089	0.0	0.0	-56.5	-69.7	No change with height
Stratosphere	25,000	82,020	3.0	1.6	-56.5	-69.7	Warmer with height
Stratopause	47,000	154,199	0.0	0.0	9.5	49.1	No change with height

Notes

The U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976 document says (on page 20) that The International Standard Atmosphere sea-level temperature of 15°C was adopted in 1924 by Resolution 192 of the International Commission for Air Navigation. Later, the 1954 Tenth General Conference on Weights and Measures "set the fixed point of the Kelvin temperature scale to 273.16 K, which is 0.01 K above the ice-point temperature at standard sea-level pressure".

The same reference states that the standard sea-level atmospheric pressure was set to 1.013250 x 10^5 Pa in 1947.

Author: Robert Clemenzi

Science Facts - Lapse Rate - Standard Atmosphere

Notes

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