Is Earth's Temperature Up or Down or Both? |Tweet|Is Earth's
Temperature Up or Down or Both? Scientists Investigate Reasons
for Temperature Trend "Disagreements" Between Layers of the
Atmosphere February 6, 1997 Thermometers on the ground,
measuring the near-surface air temperature, demonstrate a marked
increase in globally-averaged temperature over the past two
decades. Computer models of global warming predict that the
temperature trend in the Earth's thick lower atmosphere, called
the lower troposphere, should be experiencing an even more
pronounced warming that increases smoothly with altitude. And
yet, satellite observations of the temperature of the Earth's
lower troposphere do not reveal any overall warming trend.
Although interpreted by some as a controversy, research from
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center and the Global Hydrology and
Climate Center now suggests that the temperature structure of
the atmosphere is more complex than we (and our computer models)
originally thought. These results will be