The lower layer of the atmosphere, extending to 16 km above ground level at the equator, 11 km at 50 °N and S, and 9 km at the poles. Most clouds and precipitation, and, indeed, weather events, occur within this layer. Increasingly, it is understood that air movements in the upper troposphere greatly influence weather systems in the lower troposphere. See also jet stream; rossby waves.
Within the troposphere, temperatures of rising air fall, at varying lapse rates, because the air expands and, therefore, cools. Sinking parcels of air experience a corresponding heating. Most of the water vapour in the troposphere is concentrated in the lower, warmer zone; there is little where the temperature falls below about –40 °C because moist air, rising through convection or turbulence, condenses out as ice crystals form.