How do the properties of the atmosphere change with altitude?

I will only provide you with the highlights of this topic because it could fill several chapters in a textbook.

Because pressure is directly proportional to the amount of atmosphere above you, pressure decreases with altitude; that is, the higher you go, the less atmosphere above you.

Once you reach the Tropopause, which is the layer between the Troposphere and Stratosphere, the temperature stops dropping because of the ozone layer, which blocks the majority of UV light energy that comes to Earth from the sun. As a result, the ozone layer heats up, which balances out the temperature drop caused by lowering pressure. Temperature decreases with altitude up to a point; this relationship is seen in Gay-Lussac's law.

The pressure decreases with altitude in the stratosphere, reaching nearly zero at which point air molecules and atoms are separated (often traveling vast distances apart without interacting).

The top of the mesosphere is the coldest part of the atmosphere, and temperatures there continue to drop above the stratosphere. The reason for this temperature drop is not well understood, as it is evidently unrelated to pressure as there is virtually no pressure throughout the entire layer. At these altitudes, the atmosphere is primarily heated by the Earth, so heat from the Earth does not reach it.

The thermosphere is located above the mesosphere, where the atmosphere becomes less uniform and consists only of individual particles that are heated to extreme temperatures by solar radiation; at this point, the particles are so far apart that they hardly ever interact, even though the temperature of the individual particles can reach over 2000 degrees.

As altitude increases, atmospheric pressure and density decrease, while temperature can vary.

As altitude increases, several key properties of the atmosphere change:

1. Temperature: Generally, the temperature decreases with an increase in altitude. This is known as the lapse rate. However, there are variations, such as the stratosphere where the temperature can increase with altitude due to the presence of the ozone layer.

2. Pressure: Atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing altitude. This is because there is less air above pushing down on the air below.

3. Density: Similar to pressure, air density decreases with increasing altitude. This means there are fewer air molecules per unit volume at higher altitudes.

4. Composition: The composition of the atmosphere remains relatively constant with altitude, with the majority of the atmosphere consisting of nitrogen (about 78%) and oxygen (about 21%), along with trace amounts of other gases.

5. Water Vapor: The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere generally decreases with increasing altitude, leading to drier conditions at higher altitudes.

6. Weather: Weather conditions can vary significantly with altitude. For example, temperature inversions can occur in the lower atmosphere, where temperature increases with height, leading to stable atmospheric conditions.

These changes in atmospheric properties with altitude have important implications for weather, climate, and the behavior of aircraft and other vehicles that operate in the atmosphere.