You can see some interesting observations from the above data though. One suprise may be that the earth receives almost twice as much heat from the atmosphere as it does from the sun. But the sun only shines on a given point on the earth half the time, while the atmosphere radiates continuously. The atmosphere loses heat in only 2 ways-radiation to space, and radiation back to the earth. The heat is added to the upper levels by convection and long and short wave absorption, and by condensation of water vapor.
Adiabatic processes are important in some types of cloud formation.
Earth's surface is primarily from long wave radiation. Since there is a greater concentration of these gases near the earth's surface, more is absorbed closest to the surface and less with increasing height. Therefore, for this reason also, during the day, the temperature decreases with height in the boundary layer. So, adiabatic cooling and the distance from the earth's surface are both important. Long wave radiation is most effective in heating the air, with direct contact of the air with the ground being less important.